As I reflect on the importance of Black History Month and the work I do as a clinician and member of the Easterseals Southern California IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Access) team, I think of my own cultural background and how that shapes how I see, experience and perceive the world. I realized that although I was raised by my grandmother, in her home, we had different experiences within the same culture. That keeps me mindful of seeking to understand other’s experiences within and across cultures. Recently, I further reflected and appreciated my grandmother’s experience, and I listened to her recall some very trying times.
Crystal Leonard, PsyD, BCBA (right) with her grandmother Mary (left).
I had the privilege of visiting my family in McAlmont, Arkansas for the holidays and was immediately transported back to the days of me growing up in the kitchen, cooking many of the holiday black family staples with my grandmother. We made black eyed peas, greens, yams, dressing, ox tails (this was a first for me), and the most touted delicacy of them all, chitlins, or chitterlings if you will.
Slave owners would take the best part of the pig while enslaved people were given the scraps of pigs, which included the intestines, feet and ears. Chitlins (chitterlings), the pig’s intestines, cooked and served by slaves became a demonstration of surviving, persevering and making the best of the worst.
The pride I felt in the kitchen this holiday season while we prepared chitlins and ox tails was a realization of my grandmother honoring where she came from, recognizing the peril of that time while appreciating the freedom of the present. I listened as I cleaned out the deep freezer for her and she talked about the big boss and the straw boss of the cotton field; she described her picking cotton for the boss and the urge to meet the quota for the day fast enough to still be able to pick enough for her to sell to provide for her own family.
It took a while for me to understand and not groan when I had to clean out the deep freezer as a young child. I loathed the days of taking out all the frozen food, leftovers and on sale food items packed full to the brim of the deep freezer kept in the laundry room of our house. After removing all the food, the task was to chip away built-up ice so that we could of course fit more leftovers and food to use for the next holiday or any old Tuesday. But what I didn’t immediately understand was that my grandmother had an internal worry that she wouldn’t have enough because of the many days when she didn’t have enough. So, she stocks up, to never have to be without. Trauma response to some, survival and celebration to others. I get it, and happily clean out the deep freezer and revel in the goodness and the beauty of her pride of owning her own home, filling her deep freezer weekly and her 89-year-old memory that keeps her cooking on any old Tuesday, because she can.
Learn more about Easterseals Southern California’s IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Access) initiative as we develop resources for associates to ensure our services are inclusive to the diverse populations we serve and to advance health equity in our communities.
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