Chapter 1 West Indian Roots

My mother is a garat rebel. For those not from the West Indies, that means she is from Antigua and a born rebel who is not afraid to fight for her rights. Her father was from Seaview Farm village and was rumored to have been a Garveyite. For those not familiar with Black Indigenous history, that means he was either a follower or supporter of Marcus Mosiah Garvey, the charismatic leader of the largest Pan-African organization in history, the UNIA.

Ironically, my grandfather’s name was David King (King David) and my father, born on the island of Dominica, is named Solomon. I believe there are no mistakes in nature, so when my mother named me Deborah, it must have been written in the stars that I’d have a message to share, just like the prophetess Deborah of the bible.

My grandfather’s first child, my uncle Peter, was one of the first black doctors in Antigua, and it’s rumored that he was poisoned by jealous people with no purpose. (He taught black history, etccc)

Although my uncle was a great man and legend still exists around his life and times, he would have been an inhibiting factor in my mom’s life had she not had the insight and courage to break free like the rebel she truly is. As the last of 10 children and the only girl out of four to get a formal education, she was fortunate enough to attend the prestigeous Antigua Girls High School. This was no small feat because it cost a fortune at the time.

At 21 while working in her brother’s doctor’s office as a secretary, my mom Daisy had big dreams of going to the University of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica and becoming a registered nurse and being someone important, like her brother. She had already sent in her application and was excitedly waiting to hear back from UWI.  What she wasn’t prepared for was what happened next.

Some how, some way my mother came upon a series of correspondences between her brother Peter and UWI. In one correspondence, Peter had written the school saying that their father had recently died and that it would not be a good idea for her sister to attend the University. In another correspondence, the school had replied indicating they understood the situation and that perhaps she could attend at a later time.

After reading this, my mom’s eyes grew as large as watermelons and all she could see was red! She immediately wrote the school back informing them that she was planning to attend asap and she had no idea that her brother had initially written the school. Being the rebel that she is, she retold the story of how she went marching into her brother’s office and right in front of his good friend Lester Bird (who would one day become prime minister of Antigua) demanded that he cough up the money so she could attend the UWI and how dare he try to hold her back.

She loved to tell how after she graduated from UWI, she remembers calling her brother on one of those old fashioned rotary phones, and saying. “This is your sister Daisy and I’m just calling to let you know that I’ve made it!”

If anything could summarize my mother’s personality, resilence and well rebel personality, it would be that event. However, this whole event possibly shaped my mother’s personality more than she counted for. She was always the first to notice how the woman were always being held back and she decided early in life that she wasn’t having any of that. Since then, my mother had a chip on shoulder. As my Uncle James put it, “all you had to do was touch the helm of her garment and she would be ready to go off!” As with all things, everything has it’s pro’s and cons.

Pro’s: (Incorporate Pro’s and Con’s in one sentence or together)

If it wasn’t for her ambition and tenacity, I might not have had the opportunity to leave Antigua and provide the resources I was able to have access to.

If it wasn’t for this rebel personality which gave my mother the courage to leave my father traveling cross country in a car he didn’t even know she had bought, with 4 children and a sister to start a life for herself as a registered nurse say. “You are not going to have all the priviledges of a married man and live like a single man” If it wasn’t for doing the unheard of for a West Indian woman at her time, I might have grown up thinking I had to do anything ANYTHING in order to keep a man.

If it wasn’t for her never dating after she left my father and devoting all her time to getting an education two masters and providing and, I probably never would have had the opportunity to grown up thinking or seeing model that I didn’t need a  man to be happy and to value education like I did.

Yet if I Segway into my mother’s influence….

Three Important Influences of My Mom

My Mom was a Garat Rebel:

Although it was hard raising 3 boys and 1 girl on her own, she did the best she could, even if that meant working 2 jobs and us being latch-key children. (Do the laundry list of events- like the time she, and she, and she….)

She also grew up thinking she was a princess and that her father had his own business, school named after people that looked like her, didn’t know the effect growing up in the OC suburbs would have on my psyche

So when I got called nigger in school, we were told to xyz, and I grew up fighting. I remember their was a older girl bully and my mother would let my brothers come back into the house until she beat her down!

*Not Fitting in- dual culture (was actually a blessing)

While did this instill anger it’s better than being stuck solely in the stage of guilt for being black or denial of my blackness. I wasn’t liked and therefore, I wasn’t a oreo of which I’m thankful for.

Story of Mr. Severin and my mom teaching me balance with rebellion. My first black teacher who worked with my mom to tame me, would tell me years later, that I gave him hives. Yet the spirit of resistance was strong. It’s even what got me expelled from catholic school which I’m so thankful for now.- a list: bit the teachers hand, Mr. Severin would talk to me and picked me up and shaked me

My Mom was a Goal Setter

My best friend Shara remembers my list I wrote of what we’ll do for her visit. I never knew what an influence that would be

Helped me when I’d late co-create things like manifesting a black b-ball coach or a Black Heritage Club on my high school campus which I’ll get into in the next chapter

My Mom Had Three Life Changing Books

Explain mom loved to read & was a roscicur.

Destiny Cycles

Reincarnation Through the Signs

The Psychology of Winning

This is essentially the foundation of everything else that shaped me. A understanding of how cycles work and the importance of our mind in creating our reality. Well, that and my brothers influence growing up in OC