Alex Gee's 'Justified Journey'

Rev. Dr. Alex Gee, who I interviewed for discovering America's Black DNA, is Black. But, it’s more complicated than that.

Gee and I have been friends for years now. He is the pastor of a massive Evangelical church in my town as well as the head of numerous foundations and organizations. He's fascinated with his family's genealogy. I can't imagine how he felt after digging and digging into his past to find that he was a direct descendent of a white slave owner. One side of the family was born of rape and cruelty white the other side was born into land and money.

I interviewed Gee about his discovery back in 2018. Since then, he has gone to produce a detailed podcast series on the black and white sides of his family. He has also produced a documentary film on the subject, "Justified Journey," which has been accepted into the Winnipeg Film Festival and won the 2020 Indian Indie film festival’s documentary of the year.

Genes don't lie — we are who we are. But who we become, well, that's a different matter.

–Charles