Our Ancestors were Enslaved. Not pilgrims.

A brief personal reflection of creating unity with more thought

I recently came across a protest sign that read: “This is America. We are all immigrants. We are all pilgrims.” And while I can guess that the intention behind that message was to promote unity, I have to be real: that statement is deeply incorrect and painfully dismissive of so many people’s lived histories. As someone who comes from communities built on survival, resistance, and complex identity, I can’t help but sigh.

Let’s be honest: not everyone in this country came here by choice.

Millions of Black people were forcibly taken from their homelands, kidnapped, sold, and enslaved in what became the foundation of America’s economy. They were not immigrants. They didn’t come here seeking freedom or opportunity—they were stripped of both. To call them immigrants is to whitewash that brutal truth and erase centuries of trauma, resistance, and resilience.

And then there’s the word “pilgrims”—a term so closely tied to a narrow, whitewashed version of history that celebrates colonizers while ignoring the Indigenous people they displaced and slaughtered. Native communities didn’t “immigrate” to this land. They’ve been here since before borders, before boats, before forced assimilation policies. They are the original caretakers of this land, and any story that doesn’t begin there is dishonest.

I understand that saying “we’re all immigrants” is a feel-good phrase that attempts to promote unity but it just smooths over the very real and very violent ways this country was built. It erases enslaved Africans, it erases Indigenous genocide, and yes, it even erases the colonization many of us from Latin America experienced before arriving here. Not all journeys to this country are rooted in freedom. Some are rooted in survival from systems this very nation helped create or benefit from.

This is especially important for Latinos to understand. So many of us come from diasporas shaped by conquest, by U.S. imperialism, and by migration driven by poverty, war, and displacement. While many of us are proud of our immigrant roots, we have to recognize that not everyone shares that story. And when we lump everyone into the same immigrant box, we reinforce a narrative that centers whiteness and convenience, not truth.

What we need is a fuller picture—a story that holds the pain, the power, and the ongoing fight for justice. One that sees the enslaved, the colonized, the Indigenous, and yes, the immigrant. All of it. Not to divide us, but to make space for all our truths to live side by side.

Because we can’t build a future that includes all of us if we’re still confused about how we got here.

I’d love to hear from you…