'It gives me a stronger sense of who I am'

James B. Meadow, Rocky Mountain News

Thursday, February 22, 2007

FIFTH IN A SIX-DAY SERIES

A number of Denver blacks had their cheeks swabbed and their DNA collected last year in order to trace their lineages back to Africa. Then they waited for their pasts to emerge.

Here is another in a series of sketches recounting the personal discoveries made by eight Denver residents, a celebration of Black History Month.

Gloria Neal was so excited to find out about her link to the Mafa people of Cameroon that she couldn't wait to call her mother.

Mom's reaction?

"Oh my - I didn't know they let black people into the Mafia."

Though Neal laughs at the memory of that exchange, the 42-year-old local radio personality's mellifluous voice takes on a more urgent tone as she explains what it was like to discover the link.

"I felt, 'I've got another piece of the puzzle,' " she says. "In at least one area of my life, I felt there was a completion of sorts. I mean, you can't go back any further than 500 years on your mother's side, so for all intents and purposes, this was the beginning you, the roots of you. It just gives me a stronger sense of who I am."

Then Neal adds, "I don't think there is one person alive who doesn't want to know on some level where they came from, where it really all began for them."

Certainly, Neal's three siblings felt that way.

"Their feelings all mirrored mine," she says. "They really want to delve into it more. They wanted to know, 'What jobs did they have?' I told them, 'Well, I don't know what the Mafa did - they didn't exactly have a department of employment back then, did they?" she adds with a laugh.

She's not laughing when she talks about visiting Africa.

"Oh, absolutely, I want to go. To set foot on the continent, in Cameroon, knowing that those same footsteps could have been taken by my ancestors . . . " says Neal, her voice trailing off, thinking of the future, of the past. Thinking that returning to where it all began for her would be an offer she couldn't refuse.

Profiles in the series

Saturday: donnie l. betts, filmmaker, and Landri Taylor, Forest City Stapleton vice president

Monday: Dianne Reeves, Grammy-winning singer

Tuesday:Wil and Roz Alston, Denver politicos

Wednesday: Gin Butler, deputy director of economic development and international trade under former Gov. Bill Owens

Friday: Wellington Webb, former Denver mayor

meadowj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2606