Times of the Islands Fall 2020

Most people come of age in their teens. I came of age
during the Civil Rights Era of the 1960s. I was well aware
of Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech when
in 1964, I grabbed the chance to march with many others
down Yonge Street in Toronto against segregation
in Selma, Alabama. Busloads of Canadians travelled to
Selma to encourage Black voter registration—which had
only recently become legal. It was my first year teaching.
I was 22 years old.
In his speech, Dr. King said he could see, “One day
when little black children would walk hand in hand with
little white children . . . ” He was shot and killed in 1968.
In the early 1980s, I had the opportunity to live and
work on a conch farm in a primarily Black community on
a small island in the Turks & Caicos Islands. By then, I was
the mother of a one-year-old. It was pure joy for me to see
my little white child playing with little black children, living
out Martin Luther King’s dream. In the Islands, there
was the chance to right the wrongs of the past, to live
life the way it should be lived, free from the prejudices
of race and colour. It was a chance for our children to
lead us to a brighter future, to rise from history’s pain.
Everyone, black and white, loved Ben and I loved sharing
him.
I have a photo of little Ben playing in the sand with his
young friend Nevil Missick. They are both 3 1/2 years old.
The placid ocean is just a few feet away. They are both
on their knees, bodies energetically engaged in a fantastic
creation. Both have their weight on one arm Harbour while Club:Layout 1 8/17/16 10:16 AM Diane Page 1 Taylor
the other arm is madly pulling sand into a castle that
defies architectural logic, but is clearly amazing to them.
And they had to be fast, for the sun was almost down
on another perfect day and their mothers would soon be
taking them home.
Ben died not long after that photo. A Ben-less future
was unimaginable and unacceptable. Poems were a way
of connecting with his spirit and keeping him with me. I
shared them with family at the time, but not since. They
are too tender a part of me to be casually shared.
Then, George Floyd. After so many others. That’s
why this is the right time and the right place for the boy
named Benjamin to emerge from the bottom drawer into
the light. a
Diane Taylor lived on Pine Cay for three years in the early
1980s. She now teaches memoir writing and has published
The Gift of Memoir: Show Up, Open Up, Write. She
is part of Spirit of the Hills Writers. For more information,
visit https://dianemtaylor.com.
16 www.timespub.tc
Harbour Club Villas
Turtle Tail Drive, Providenciales
Six one-bedroom villas.
Dive operators at our dock.
Bonefishing in the lake.
Fabulous beaches nearby.
Ideal for couples or groups.
Trip Advisor
Travellers’ Choice
Awards Winner
For Martin Luther King
She had a dream
That one day
Her little blond boy
Would walk hand in hand
With little black children.
The dream came to pass.
They walked hand in hand,
Trekked island paths,
Built castles in the sand,
Ran Time into the ground.
But, it turns out it’s Time,
Noncommittal and cold,
Does the running,
And Time runs out,
Into the costly cosmos.
Dr. King? That little blond boy—
Please take his hand in yours.
E: harbourclub@tciway.tc
T: 1 649 941 5748
See our website
for details.
www.HARBOURCLUBVILLAS.com