owls | Straightspeak

Talk to the animals, they’ll tell you the truth

By DHughes|2018-01-16T13:59:41-05:00May 4th, 2012|Categories: social|Tags: endangered species, Grizzly bears, owls, polar bears, red knot birds, turtles, wolves, World Wildlife Foundation|

(photos courtesy Joel Sartore, all rights reserved: http://www.joelsartore.com/galleries/the-biodiversity-project/) We're killing each other and one of us knows why– and doesn't care Go ahead, look them in the eye and tell them you don't give a good damn about them or their habitat, their life, their future. Because it's the truth. Except for a handful of humans, the rest of us 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.