Karen chose to "step back" for our spring meeting and selected the 1st book we read as a book club, "The Darkest Child" by Delores Phillips. We met at the intracoastal waterway restaurant, Down Under, located under the Shave Bridge at the foot of the entry onto the Isle of Eight Flags, Amelia Island.
The venue was rustic with a cool breeze blowing, which was perfect for our discussion because we needed some calming winds for our discussion.
After our blessing by Dee, JayBee welcomed her guests, beginning with Celestial on her 16th visit, Sharon on her 11th and author, Shakira Thompson on her 4th book club visit.
Karen's questions began with the obvious - our impression of Rozelle's character. Well, it was unanimous, we ALL felt that she was evil as well as mentally challenged, but maybe not clinically diagnosed.
Unconditional love or fear? This was the question when discussing why Rozelle's daughter, Tangy Mae did not rebel against her mother. Was her desire for her mother's love so great that she was willing to continuously suffer unfathomable abuse at the hands of her mother?
Was having ten (10) children an option for Rozelle, or was she "birthing" free labor for her calls of "coffee" and "bath water"? Did Rozelle not have access to birth control methods? If nothing else, she had access to the rhythm methodology for sure.
As we were enjoying our meals and discussion, Mary Monroe, Service Center Manager from the Salvation Army's Hope House, Amelia Island joined us to collect
our non-perishable food donations. During her introduction, she told us about the Hope House and how it evolved from a former home (it actually was a former very popular BBQ establishment during the 70s) and some other mis-information regarding the demography of the area. I only add this "tidbit" because working with all layers of finance (housing and investment); I have access to data that classifies demographic information throughout the Country. Amelia Island has had a major demographic shift in 2014 which changed the area where the Hope House is located from low-moderate income to "middle" income. This shift is due to a large scale revitalization in the area, which will impact property taxes dramatically within the next 5-10 years. As we are reading a book about racial segregation, I could not help but feel the representative indicated that the area was "bad" (her words, not mine) because historically, it is one of two areas primarily occupied by African-Americans on the Island. As a native of the Island, we (African-Americans) occupied, the Northside, Southside and Franklin Town. This is a primary example of stereotyping.
Upon arriving home, after the meeting, I immediately began reviewing the statistical data, for the area. I found it quite interesting that South and North Fletcher have had the largest increase in crime rates of any area on the Island over the most recent five years. Okay, enough said on that topic; moving on.
The topics of colorism and shadism once again reared their ugly heads and we were consumed with this conversation for the remainder of the meeting.
The Darkest Child has many plots, twists and turns rooted in segregation and civil injustices. There were also topics of child abuse, child trafficking, prostitution, witchcraft and murder.
Twilla mentioned that there were four (4) chapters of a sequel (that Ms. Phillips may have entertained prior to her passing) in the print version that may not have been included in the E-book. We can only imagine what she had in store. Hopefully one of her relatives, that are authors as well, may pick up these chapters and continue her writing.
Once we were done with our discussion, author Shakira Thompson updated us on her upcoming book, her participation in The Dee Lee Podcast and other projects that she has been working on.
Thank you, Karen for taking us back to the beginning...back to 2004 when you originally introduced our book club of four, to Delores Phillips and "The Darkest Child".
Much has changed since that meeting - we have become older, wiser, more structure and have grown from 4 to 14. We can only imagine what the next 15 years will hold.
