Bill Gates | Straightspeak

“Hindsight is worth a million bucks” … but is it worth the loss of millions of lives?

By DHughes|2020-03-26T16:11:50-04:00March 26th, 2020|Categories: business, community, politics, social|Tags: Bill Gates, Conte, COVID-19, Ford, pandemics, Sanchez, Trudeau, Trump|

The ignorance of our so-called leaders is exposed when real leaders can say, "I told you so." (2 min read) Nobody was listening then. Is anyone listening now? Bill Gates, one of the more enlightened animals in the genus homo sapiens, told us in 2015 – 5 years ago – "We’ve actually invested very little in a system to Read more...

America! Where is your outrage? Because …

By DHughes|2017-05-26T08:15:04-04:00May 25th, 2017|Categories: business, community, politics, social, trumpwatch|Tags: Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand, Bill Gates, Comey, Mueller, Trump, Warren Buffett|

Atlas can't keep shrugging off this guy Trump Three things you might not know – and one you do Rex Tillerson, US Secretary of State, said his favorite book is Ayn Rand's 1957 novel Atlas Shrugged. That's troublesome. In Greek mythology, Zeus makes Atlas, a Titan, forever hold the heavens on his shoulders. Rand's title means he carries the Read more...

My personal history is the stuff they write books about. And that's what I am doing. The working title "Five Generations to Freedom."

It's historical fiction because, unfortunately, I can not find enough records to substantiate all facets of the story. I've combed the genealogy, traveled to my father and grandmothers' birthplace, walked the graveyards, searched the churches and ... well, the facts just aren't there. I have written three books based on other families and their genealogy but my ancestors emerged from a journey that left few records – slavery.

My great grandmother, on my father's side, was a "freed slave." My grandmother, Amelia, was born to a white, French plantation owner in Grenada and a black slave named Mary, who worked on the Count de Poulain's plantation. Amelia was raised in her father's home and in adulthood, in an attempt to escape her black heritage, she "disowned" her mother Mary. Once, when Mary visited her daughter, Amelia told her, "Get out and never come back." And Amelia, as a mother herself (twelve children), told all of them, "Marry white." And many did, including my father. My mother was white Anglo-Saxon protestant born in England. They met in Canada where dad became a doctor.

It has taken five generations for the descendants of Mary (we do not know her last name) to free themselves from the bondage and stigma of their black heritage. But today, my children embrace it and are damn proud of it. Unfortunately, the 150 years in between has been a wasteland of bigotry, racism and bullying, Filled with anger, rejection, shame, fear, violence, murder and ... love, romance, kindness, perseverance and pride.