Jumping the Broom...

I was just sitting here thinking about all of the decisions I have made in my life both conventional and those unconventional decisions that made people involve scratch their heads. No one has ever accused me of being the ethnocentric or xenocentric type, I also tend not to dig to deep into deep rooted customs or practices of the ethnic group of which I belong or into those of others.

For that reason it was very strange for friends of mine to understand the reason behind jumping the broom when I married my now ex-husband over 5 years ago. It probably wouldn't have been that big of a deal if I was marrying a black man, but my ex-husband is white and so many people didn't/couldn't understand why I would take this custom so rooted into the African experience of marrying as slaves and "jump the broom" with a white man.

Here was my answer to them...

Jumping the broom for so many slaves stood as the only evidence of marriage in their lives. This wasn't because they were ashamed of the person they were marrying, but because it was illegal for them to marry. I chose to "jump the broom" with my husband because in our own way we were representative of our ancestors slave and slave owner, servant and master, and as representatives of said ancestors it was our job to break down the racial walls and boundaries and do our part (small or large) to bring together cultures, ethnic groups, and push past the past.

AG