Yesterday Theo Maya and I take a lime on Cabier Beach. Sunday afternoon vibes. Pots of food cooking; bottles clanking from coolers; children running in and out of indigo blue; sea licking ankles; people stretched under shade, a man and woman cuddling on a bench; wet fingers in corn curl bags, roots reggae music from van radios; youth diving floating, playing, hugging up; fathers and mothers with babies and toddlers stuck to chests floating over rolling water; white billowy clouds decorating skies
In all this magic we meet Della. A brisk 12 year old girl who immediately comes up to us, asks if Maya goes to SAASS, “What form she in? I does see she in Grenville.” Tells us ‘Todays she birthday.’ Her laugh like fireworks, like the first suck of a sweet Julie mango. She turns to Theo and says “Ras you taking them on a tour?” Theo replies, “Tour? That’s mi daughter and wife” I laugh and say, “We family.” Della turns to Theo with her mango burst smile “Ahh in truth Ras? Well Ras you done well” We all let out a big laugh. Della with a big people grin and big people talk as she admires and praises Theo for having found a white women, for having made a fair skin child.
While driving home Maya and I playfully imitate Della to Theo “Eh Eh Ras well you done well!” We talk about colonial mind, how Della learnt these thoughts, these notions from society, from media, from history. Colonial thinking passed through to the next generation. We ask ourselves, would Della think Theo ‘done well’ if he was with a brown skin wife and child? Would we have met Della at all if we all shared Theo’s skin. Would Della have said this to me if both Theo and Maya were brown skin “You done well!”
We guess probably not.