Color struck, high yellow, Oreo, red-bone, ink spot and spade are all terms used when defining conflicts within the
Black community. Parade of Shades, a debut novel, shows both sides of this prejudice.
All of her life Karen Baker reacts to people who praise or resent her tawny complextion. When her mother abandons the family, a biracial (Arab/White) mentor briefly steps into place and begins a change in Karen. She quickly learns everything has a price. For instance, her entertainment choices are even more unpopular among her classmates than her vocabulary. Lacking a sense of belonging, Karen feels misunderstood in high school and defensive in college. Her failed relationships with men of various ethnic groups make her life worse. Her problems follow her as she enters the business world and leaves, Homewood, Pittsburgh's largest ghetto. As she journeys through life, she gives up the idea that light skin and long hair are the main definitions of beauty. She stops believing that people with a college education are better than those who lack a degree. Karen learns to deal with the effects of having a childhood end abruptly and the importance of forgiveness.
Excerpt
Karen led Joe to their father’s bedroom, and pounded on the door.
“Wake up, Daddy,” she commanded.
“Y’all keep that noise down,” he ordered.
The sight of him infuriated her. He hadn’t removed his shoes before taking a nap on the bed she made earlier. There was dried mud on the crumpled bedspread.
“We’ve got trouble. Now, get off that bed, and be a father to this family!”
This was the first time she ever sounded like his wife. Karen even looked like her mother at this moment. With eyes showing anger and disgust, she looked at her father and didn’t see someone she feared. She saw a failure.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
Camille and Wanda rushed to the open doorway, curious about the commotion.
After Karen finished telling her father everything, Joe Sr. spoke. “Who G Money be?”
“Joe said he’s new around here,” Karen said.
Her brother laughed.
Camille rolled her eyes and said, “I guess you haven’t heard this at that white cocoon of a school where you go. They call all the dudes G Money.”
“I wanna know who gave you the bike.” Their father demanded.
“A friend,” Joe said.
Camille volunteered the information. “It has to be G. G. Turner. He took over Tip Roger’s drug business when they sent Tip to prison. He uses little kids to make drops to the dealers who work for him. If the kids get caught, they don’t get into the same kind of trouble as adults, especially when the kids are as young as Joe.”
“Come with me, boy,” he said.
The girls watched as Joe followed their father out of the bedroom, through the narrow hall, and down the steep steps. Karen, Wanda and Camille went as far as the steps and stood motionless, without uttering a word. They heard the floor of their old house creak under their father’s weight.
When the backdoor slammed, the spell was broken. They no longer stood like statues. The young women ran to the window at the end of the hall to see what kind of punishment their father would administer.
“What’s he doing?” Camille asked.
“I don’t know,” Karen replied.
“Where’s Joe at?” Wanda asked.
“I can’t see him from here.” Karen answered.
“Why does Daddy have that big hammer?” Camille asked.
“I don’t know,” Karen said. She began to cry and wished she hadn’t told her father anything. She should have handled it herself.
“He ain’t gonna hit Joe with it, is he?” Wanda asked.
“NO!” Karen screamed.
Their brother had the bike by his side. They watched Fred. push the bike to the ground and step away. Like a strong man at a carnival, he lifted the sledgehammer high above his head. The first blow bent the spokes of the front tire. The second blow smashed the headlight. The third blow sent the seat flying into the air. They knew their father used his anger on the bike rather than his son. The blows landed on the bike one right after another. Long after the bike was nothing more than scrap metal, Joe Sr. still struck with fury as the boy watched.
At last, Fred. grew tired of pounding the bike into the ground, and ordered his son to his room. The tall, thin man stood there for a long time staring at the mangled bike. At length Karen interrupted his trance. “Daddy, I’ve got to go back to school. Can you give me a ride to the bus station?” Karen asked.
For a while, the drive was silent. Then Joe looked at Karen and said, “I didn’t know I had to watch a boy like I had to watch you girls.”
What the hell is he talking about? Karen asked herself. I didn’t know he watched anybody.
“You girls had sense enough to bring home the right kind of friends. Wanda made that mistake, but you can’t look at a boy like Beemer and tell what he’s like. Doesn’t matter what kind of family’s he’s from. A boy’s going to have urges. It’s up to the girl to do right when it comes to that stuff.”
“Daddy, what are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about them dark skin boys Joe-Joe’s been hanging around. I shoulda known they was trouble.”
“You can’t possibly believe dark skin people are trouble makers, just because of their skin,”
“Yeah, I’m sayin’ it. They bitter and jealous, so they have a tendency to make trouble.”
“Let me remind you that your light skin, curly haired son with his light gray eyes was in the middle of this mess.”
“It’s the fault of those dark boys. They the ones gang bangin’ and shit. And I hope you’re satisfied about the way things was handled,” he said. “I’m gonna see to it that none of this happens again.”
“No. I’m not satisfied,” Karen hissed. “I haven’t been satisfied for a very long time.”
He frowned at her response.
“You think putting a roof over your children’s heads and filling their stomachs with food was all we ever needed. Well, you’re wrong. It takes a lot more than that. Children require attention with every damn detail of their lives.
“At first I just blamed Mama for deserting us. After a while I knew in your own way you left us, too. You ignored us and didn’t show us any affection. You never asked us what was going on in our lives. I did my best to raise the kids when I was just a kid myself. I don’t blame Mama for leaving you. But I hope she burns in hell for not taking us with her.”
Yankee Doodle Daddy is a historical Appalachian Family Saga. The story follows a mother's reckoning as she struggles to survive and keep her four daughters alive.
Yankee Doodle Daddy is a historical Appalachian Family Saga. The story follows a mother's reckoning as she struggles to survive and keep her four daughters alive.
Exploring the impact of literary icon Flannery O'Connor's noted legacy on the cultural realities of modern-day America, the world, and a certain author.
