AndoverMagSpring2015

CONNECTIONAlumniShare a piece of yourselfAlumni Out of the Blue features true Abbot- or Andover-relatedstories written by alumni about issues of class, race, gender,religion, sexual orientation, geographic origin, and/or (dis)ability.This new section is inspired by Out of the Blue, a groundbreaking2013 student publication comprising 90 narratives about identitywritten by recent and current Andover students.E-mail your 350-word story to alumnioutoftheblue@gmail.com.Please include a brief bio and a high-res photo of yourself.Pot Pourri“After politelyturning himdown for a date,he spit back,‘You knowyou’re not white,don’t you?’ Myimmediate andonly responsewas to laugh offwhat he clearlyintended to bea rhetoricalquestion….”You Know You’re Not White, Don’t You?Allison Picott ’88Every so often as I’m leaving a parking garage in Boston,the cashier will ask, “Where are you from?” The firstcouple of times this happened, I was surprised by thequestion and uncertain of how to respond. This initialquestion is typically followed by a second question, “Areyou Eritrean?” And then a third, “Are you Somalian?” Inresponse, I tell the attendant, “No, I’m African American.I was raised in Massachusetts and don’t know exactlywhere in Africa my ancestors came from.” My responseusually leads to the attendant (who I learn is Eritrean)spending the next few minutes explaining why he/shethinks I’m Eritrean or Somalian.These curious yet friendly encounters about my ethnic identity can be contrasted to oneconfrontational exchange I had with an African American law school classmate of mine some20 years ago. After politely turning him down for a date, he spit back, “You know you’renot white, don’t you?” My immediate and only response was to laugh off what he clearlyintended to be a rhetorical question, but I’ve long wished I’d been able to proffer some sortof undisputed evidence to refute his statement.I’ve always known that I was more than just black or Afro-American. I grew up hearingstories from family members about our ancestral roots. That we were part Native American.That the Picott family came to the United States as free people from France. That thePicotts had roots in the French West Indies. I never had any tangible evidence of my fullethnic background until three years ago when my sister submitted a sample of her DNA toAncestry.com for genetic testing. The test results confirmed that she and I are 75 percentWest African, but also, to our surprise, that we are 11 percent Eastern European, 10percent Central European, and 4 percent Other. Last year, Ancestry.com provided us withan updated DNA analysis that showed we are 36 percent Nigerian, 22 percent Beninese/Togolese, 8 percent British, and 5 percent Irish, in addition to some dozen other ethnicities.Surprisingly—and contrary to what I’ve believed all my life—I am less than 1 percent NativeAmerican and have no direct genetic connection to France or the French West Indies.So the next time someone asks me, “Where are you from?” I just may decide to pull out aworld map and say, “Here, let me show you.”Allison Picott, a PA trustee, lives in Concord, Mass., with her “modern family,” whichincludes her Ashkenazi Jewish husband and three stepchildren: two stepdaughters adoptedfrom China and her husband’s biological son, who is part Irish/Italian-American.56 Andover | Spring 2015