Janaiya Banks

Where The Road Never Ends

"Shhh Gilia. Listen to that sound. Janaiya, I don't hear anything. What are you talking about? That's exactly what I mean Gilia, it's so peaceful here.” I cannot count how many times I've had that conversation with someone while being in North Carolina. 1369 Church Hill Rd Macon County, North Carolina. I think I memorized that address before I even memorized my own. Why? Because it was here that I felt the most peaceful, an unsurmountable amount of love and the warmth of family. Granted, I have love and family right here in New York, but there's just something about North Carolina. I love the people, the food, the fresh air but most of all I love the heritage. My great grandfather, Wille Taylor, walked from Dinwiddie Virginia all the way to Macon County, North Carolina a journey of 413 miles. Here, he purchased 88.9 acres of land from a white man, who in the end told him "If I had known you'd pay of the land I never would have sold it to you”. Our land in North Carolina is not merely a place to go vacation at. It represents the drive my family has, it lets me know that everything is possible. In a time where it was extremely hard for a black man to own property, my great grandfather did it. My grandmother was raised on that land with her 8 siblings. My father was raised on that land, along with his six siblings. In a time where most families couldn't even take care of 4 people let alone 9, they did it. The land in North Carolina lets me know that I can have anything I want, that I can accomplish whatever I put my mind too.