'Go back to Africa'? Before the pilgrims and Jefferson, we were here | Opinion – Detroit Free Press

“Before the pilgrims landed at Plymouth, we were here,” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. eloquently wrote. “Before the pen of Jefferson etched the majestic words of the Declaration of Independence across the pages of history, we were here.” 
So one must ask: Why do some continually tell African Americans to “Go back to Africa?” Or tell any minority to go back to their ancestral country? Or characterize Black Americans, and the needs of the neighborhoods and cities where many dwell, as separate from “real America”?
We need to accept that we are one nation, and recognize that our differences make us stronger, and that our destinies should be linked to our unity and pride in the freedoms and democracy our country affords us.
For the record, the Pew Research Center shows that 90% of Americans of African descent were born in the United States, but cannot trace their family lineage. Conversely, the overwhelming percentage of white Americans can trace their lineage to European origins.
My family’s history, like most Americans of African descent, has ancestors who were born into slavery. However, my research shows that they came to America, though not by choice, and have a history in our country that I can trace back more than two centuries. We are a family, born and raised here, with multiple members who have honorably served, protected and even died for our country.
I am a real American.
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I was born in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1943. My family moved to Detroit in 1953, and has lived here since. My parents, grandparents and great-grandparents were born in Alabama. Some of them were born into slavery. In fact, my American lineage can be traced back to the early 1800s, less than 25 years after the Declaration of Independence was signed, when my great-great-grandparents, Lavenia and Isaac McKinnon were born in South Carolina.
They were enslaved by Daniel McKinnon, who gave them to his daughter in his will, which reveals how my family’s surname originated.
My first encounter with racist language occurred in Montgomery, Alabama, when I was 8 and on my way to school. A young white man drove past me and yelled, “Go back to Africa,” followed by the N-word. I told my third-grade teacher, Mrs. Thomas, and she told me to forget it, and to hold my head up high.
I did forget it, until 1957, when my dad, brother and I were returning from my grandmother’s funeral in Alabama, and a car with six young white men drove next to us and yelled out the same slur.
After joining the U.S. Air Force in July of 1961, I was assigned to Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, for basic training. After the fifth week, we were given a one-day pass and I decided to visit the city and go to a movie. As I approached the theater and attempted to purchase a ticket, the cashier said, “We don’t allow n—-s into this theater.” Incensed, I replied, “Look, I’m a member of the U.S. Air Force and just want to see the movie.” She responded, “I don’t care. You don’t belong in my country.”
This was the first, but not the last such incident that occurred during my military career.
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After basic training, my first duty assignment was at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota. While stationed there, I witnessed derogatory name calling toward Native American, Hispanic and Jewish airmen.
And while serving in Da Nang, Vietnam, four white airmen in a nearby tent loudly sang, “Two, four, six, eight. We don’t want to integrate. Go back to Africa, all you n—–s.” This was the epitome of ignorance and racism, as it was at the height of the Civil Rights Movement and we were fighting a war 8,000 miles from home.
In 1965, following my honorable discharge, I joined the Detroit Police Department. The insulting language didn’t stop. One day, as my partner and I, both Black officers, were dispatched to a break up a neighborhood fight. As we approached the building, the two men who were physically fighting stopped, and yelled to us, “We don’t need any n—-r cops. Send us the white Police, because they’re real Americans.”
During my years on the department, not only was the N-word a commonly used part of some officers’ vocabularies, as they patrolled the streets of our city, I often heard some fellow officers, and even supervisors, use equally racist terms toward Hispanic, Jewish and Arab citizens. Unfortunately, since some of the supervisors participated, or silently found it amusing, no one was disciplined.
The reality is that the use of the N-word, or any other descriptive minority slur, is used to imply that the person is less than human. That they don’t belong here. Over the years, many Black officers in Detroit shared similar stories with me. And during my career, as I traveled and spoke with other minority police from various cities and states, their experiences were similar.
As I rose through the ranks in Detroit, and specifically to chief, it became painfully obvious to me that a percentage of those involved in law enforcement were not taking the initiative, without direct orders or discipline, to make substantive changes in this type of behavior. It became necessary to require direct responsibility for higher-level managers to take corrective action. Classes in different languages and mandatory visits to precinct businesses, schools and religious institutions were instituted.
Since I retired as chief, entered the university field of higher education and began consulting and conducting law enforcement cultural diversity training classes, I’ve heard many current African American, Hispanic, Arab and LGBTQ+ officers speak in class of incidents that are still occurring today. It is truly an education to hear both young and older officers openly discuss the racist and sexist slurs used by and towards them.
I applaud the Detroit, Dearborn and Inkster Police Departments, and the Macomb, Oakland, Wayne and Washtenaw County sheriff departments for being at the forefront of recognizing and improving their hiring and disciplinary process to mitigate and remove problematic trainees and sworn officers from their departments. Education, tolerance and open discussions are some of the tools to foster understanding and change.
King said that our history and destiny is tied to the destiny of America.
Whatever your personal ancestral story or heritage as an American might be, let’s honor the shared history of our great country, celebrate all that connects us and respect our differences, so we can move forward together to a peaceful American future for all current and future generations.
Isaiah “Ike” McKinnon served as a Detroit police officer for 19 years and served as chief from 1993 to 1998. He earned a Ph.D. from Michigan State University, became a tenured professor at the University of Detroit-Mercy and served as deputy mayor from 2013-1016.

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