Family Reunion in Black & White
Truth, Reconciliation and the Twymans
By W.F. Twyman, Jr.
To be an American is to move beyond divisions of race to an understanding of universal humanity. -W.F. Twyman Jr in On the Road to Oak Lawn.
As my daughter and wife oftentimes have said, “family… it’s the people you know”. I didn’t know these people in the heartland of America. There are many tragedies in the American Experience, one soft tragedy being how genetic cousins of the 4th and 5th degree can be absolute strangers to one another even while we carry around the same name in life. Even in this podcast, we see the coincidence and power of a name in one genetic family. Our acclaimed guest, my cousin, is named James Twyman. James Twyman is also the name of my grandfather, and uncle. They say the most powerful name in the English language is the sound of one’s own name.
Let that realization settle in for a moment.
In this podcast, we are brought together for the first time. Yes, one of us is white and one is black. It is also true we are both writers. One of us lives in a hermitage in Mexico and the other loves solitude at the monastery in Big Sur, California. One of us chose to drink Ginger Beer for this podcast and the other chose Ginger Beer as well. And we both share the same bloodline back to George Twyman I (1661–1703). We are remnants of a courageous teenager who left all that he knew in Kent, England for the New World in 1677. The most powerful sound in the English language binds us together. We are both Twymans.
My lovely daughter once said, “Dad, family are people who cared for you. Family are people who loved you. Did you know these people? They’re not family if you didn’t know them. What difference do they make in my life?”
My daughter deserves an answer to her sharp questions. In this podcast between two distant cousins named Twyman, we explore the possibility of something more, something greater than racial divides. We aim towards the divine, a profound understanding of the inner nature of things. There is something about the approach of truth which we all know to be true. We know it in our bones. We know it in our souls. Truth is brilliant, never muddy, always clear.
Welcome to the pull of something more in our past. Welcome to a better time ahead — small moves towards family, a place we as black and white cousins together can call the Road to Oak Lawn.
The Hold My Drink Podcast — navigating the news with a chaser of civility — in Episode 5, Family Reunion in Black and White, W.F. Twyman Jr and James Twyman join me to discuss coming together as family across racial divisions, all over a ginger beer. A multicultural family reunion in time for Thanksgiving!
Hold My Drink welcomes all people with all kinds of beverages to join us as we discuss what it takes to imagine a new American identity, together.
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Readings:
The Moses Code: The Most Powerful Manifestation Tool in the History of the World, James Twyman
On the Road to Oak Lawn: Truth, Reconciliation and the Twymans, W.F. Twyman, Jr.
The Dead Hand of Daniel Brown, Truth in Between, W.F. Twyman Jr & J.D. Richmond
The Light, Bright and Almost White in Black America, Truth in Between, W.F. Twyman Jr & J.D. Richmond
Nothing to Talk About: Affinity in the Age of Diversity, Areo Magazine, W.F. Twyman Jr & J.D. Richmond
Kin, Tribes and the Dark Side of Identity, Quillette, Robert Lynch
Slavery: Let it Go, The Baltimore Sun, W.F. Twyman, Jr.
The Turning Point of Self-Loathing, Richmond Times Dispatch, W.F. Twyman, Jr.
To the Coming of a Better Time: A Golden Age in Black Culture and Consciousness, Truth in Between, W.F. Twyman, Jr.
Against All Odds: The Story of Sadie Tanner Mossel Alexander, Pennsylvania Lawyer, W.F. Twyman, Jr.
Before Higginbotham and Hastie: The Story of James B. Raymond, Pennsylvania Lawyer, W.F. Twyman, Jr
A Career in Exile, Pennsylvania Lawyer, W.F. Twyman, Jr.
Self-Portrait in Black and White: Unlearning Race, Thomas Chatterton Williams
James Twyman is the author of sixteen books, including the NYT Bestseller The Moses Code. Known as the Peace Troubadour, he has been invited by world leaders and peace organizations to perform the Peace Concert in countries such as Iraq, Croatia, Bosnia, and South Africa — often while wars or conflicts raged around him.
W.F. Twyman Jr is a former law professor and descendant of George Twyman I (1661–1703), W. F. Twyman, Jr. lived on Twyman Road in then-Chesterfield County, Virginia until the age of eight. Everyone living on Twyman Road was a Twyman. Twyman is the author of essays and articles in the South Carolina Law Review, the Virginia Tax Review, the National Black Law Journal, St. Croix Review, the Pennsylvania Lawyer, the Intellectual Conservative and the Civil War in Pennsylvania: The African American Experience. His self-published works are On the Road to Oak Lawn: Truth, Reconciliation and the Twymans (December 1, 2018) and Gotterdammerung (July 3, 2019). A lawyer, writer, husband, and Dad, the author lives in San Diego, California with his wife, Schuyler a descendant of Congressman Joseph Hayne Rainey (1832–1887).
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