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Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781982211653 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Balboa Press |
| Publication date: | 01/04/2019 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 138 |
| File size: | 5 MB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
A MAN AND HIS BOOKS
* * *
I write for Negroes, Colored Folks, and Niggers. I also write for white folks and red necks just above the poverty level who have the ability to read. I do not write for Islanders, for Afro-Americans, Caucasians, Europeans, WASPS, or Asians because neither of these have the background to comprehend my style and poetic hyperbole.
Think I'm not sincere? Do you know what "Play Lacking" is? Do you understand "Swimming in the head?" What does "fixin' to be" mean? See what I mean!
Also, I am unwilling to be held down by facts. My mind wanders to and fro. People born in the ghettos, on farms, plantations or in the country who have elevated themselves through education could be the exceptions to my rules. They perhaps, can follow me, providing they are not caught up in their superficial intellectual worlds.
You know I'm a fan of the Temptations – not the new ones but the old original ones. What does this have to do with today's ventures – Mississippi writings? You see, their greatest lead singer was David Ruffin who was from Meridian, Mississippi. His words inspired me like, "I can turn the gray skies blue," "I can make it rain whenever I want it to," or "It was just my imagination running away with me – just my imagination running – away – with me!"
When I am at my desk alone at my home in Mississippi with my pen in my hand, my imagination just doesn't run, it sometimes soars past the speed of light then trickles to the drop of a slow leaking faucet with moments of moderation in between. What can I do? I seem to be unlimited. My mind is free to compose, free to wander, free to write about anything that I choose. Boo Boo, Dough Dough, Wee Wee – The Jitney Man, Preachers, Teachers, Doctors, Lawyers, the Supernatural. I can make things fly like birds in the sky. I can make myself fly! I can create rain, thunder, tornadoes, hurricanes or sprinkles, or gentle breezes. I can love, hate, build or destroy. Whatever I choose.
These are the prerogatives of a fiction writer. Non-fiction writers cannot enjoy this freedom. They are limited by truth, facts – restricted to relaying things just as they are or were not how they would have them to be. They must tell the world exactly how Adolph Hitler was or how Osama bin Laden is. They cannot cover them up with glory. Unlike me, I can transform beasts into beauties, ugly ducklings into swans, a Mississippi homeboy into a Minnesota or Cape Cod hero.
If Abe Lincoln was ugly, he was ugly. There is nothing you can write to the contrary. But I can make my characters ugly or beautiful, tall or short, naked or clothed, winsome or foolish.
There is no greater freedom than writing. If you are a non-fiction writer, then you enjoy the expressions of telling the truth. I can see why, now those who were imprisoned could write so well. Their bodies were jailed but their minds were free, the apostle Paul, for example, but he wrote facts. Unlike him, I am unwilling to be held down by facts. Writing about President Barack Obama was both a challenge and a thrill, with no exaggerations, only the truth.
My books are dedicated to YOU!
You can follow the sequences of my mind through patterns of obscurities, and ambiguous places and scenes; tolerate my profanity and obscene expressions; cry with me in inhumane acts and brutality on mankind; laugh when laughter is merited at things that are laughable and comical. You, who will ride, run or walk with me through narrow paths and widen streets, march through the valleys of death to the avenues of life – to hell and back again. You who can dream and imagine and like to read my writings!
These books are dedicated to you and you alone! You, You and nobody else but You!
If you finished the third grade and can read, welcome to my world.
S. Earl Wilson, III
CHAPTER 28 YEARS OF GLORY
* * *
"F — Barack Obama," I said. "Forget him. Who does he think he is, invading my life which is already filled with black heroes?"
I'm a Morehouse man, and so was my father before me; so was Martin Luther King, Jr. and his father before him. I always thought that if any black scholar should become President of the United States, of America, it would be a Morehouse College graduate. Nobody else is qualified. In my eyesight, Barack, although seemingly perspicuous in his prose, handsome and well learned, still was not a Morehouse man then, at that time. Why am I so predisposed and adamant about Morehouse graduates, men of eminence, grandeur, and magnificence? Look at these:
Academia
Perhaps, in the future, the next Black President of the United States will be a Morehouse College graduate. Gradually, my prejudice began to dissipate after watching and listening to Barack Obama's voice in debates, speeches, and presentations. His mind was alert, his dialogue and reasoning articulate and transpicuous. This was no ordinary "dude." I began to remind myself that all of my idols were not Morehouse men – Michael Jordan, Elgin Baylor, Bill Russell, Joe Louis, Jackie Robinson, Laurence C. Jones (Piney Woods School), nor Richard Wright went to Morehouse. Barack's mind was clever, brilliantly so. This superhuman was a "smart cookie."
His inauguration, Tuesday, January 20, 2009, as the first Black and 44th President of the United States of America, filled me with pride as I began to smile and simultaneously weep. Morehouse man or not, this man was a genius.
CHAPTER 3PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS
January 29, 2009
* * *
My fellow citizens: I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you've bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.
Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often, the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill of those in high office, but because we, the people, have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebears and true to our founding documents. So it has been; so it must be with this generation of Americans.
That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsiblity on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost, jobs shed, businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly, our schools fail too many – and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet. These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable, but no less profound, is a sapping of confidence across our land; a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, that the next generation must lower its sights.
Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this America: They will be met.
On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord. On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas that for far too long have strangled our politics. We remain a young nation. But in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea passed on from generation to generation; the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.
In reaffirming the greatness of our nation we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted, for those that prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things – some celebrated, but more often men and women obscure in their labor – who have carried us up the long rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.
For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life. For us, they toiled in sweatshops, and settled the West, endured the lash of the whip, and plowed the hard earth. For us, they fought and died in places like Concord and Gettysburg, Normandy and Khe Sahn.
Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions, greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.
This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week, or last month, or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions – that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.
For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift. And we will act, not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We'll restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. All this we will do.
Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions, who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short, for they have forgotten what this country has already done, what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage. What the cynics fall to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them, that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply.
The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works – whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who mange the public's dollars will be held to account, to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day, because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.
Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched. But this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control. The nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity, on the ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart – not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils that we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man – a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience sake.
And so, to all the other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born, know that America is a friend of each nation, and every man, woman and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity. And we are ready to lead once more.
Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with the sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.
We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort, even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and old foes, we'll work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet.
We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense. And for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken – you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.
For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and nonbelievers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.
To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West, know that your people will judge you on what you candidate build, not what you destroy.
To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history, but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.
To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside to you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds.
And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to the suffering outside our borders, nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.
As we consider the role that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who at this very hour patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages.
We honor them not only because they are the guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service – a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves.
And yet at this moment, a moment that will define a generation, it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all. For as much as government can do, and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child that finally decides our fate.
Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends – honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism – these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "8 Years of Glory"
by .
Copyright © 2019 S. Earl Wilson, III.
Excerpted by permission of Balboa Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Introduction, xi,
As An Inspiration For Afro/American Youth, xiii,
One or Some of Sam Wilson's Books, xix,
A Man And His Books, 1,
8 Years of Glory, 3,
President Barack Obama's Inaugural Address, 32,
Inaugural Ball, 38,
He Be Proud, 40,
Blowing Your Mind, 42,
He Don't Play, 43,
The Welcoming News of the Death of Osama Bin Laden, 43,
Love of Country Over Race, Religion and Dangers, 43,
He Got Game, 45,
Damn, He's Cool, 53,
He Be Calm and Collected, 54,
"Ain't He Got Good Religion? Certainly, Certainly Lord", 55,
He Be Cool And Determined, 57,
He Be A Funny Man, 58,
Foods That Barack Obama Eats, 62,
Drinking And Eating Habits Of United States Presidents, 65,
Two Places Of Grandeur, 69,
Petra, 71,
Patriarch-Paternity, 72,
8 Years of Glory, 76,
America Is Beautiful, But, 77,
In Times Of Disaster, 79,
About The Songs, 80,
In Times Like These, 81,
US Automobile Industry Saved, 82,
Science, Medicine, Technology, 83,
The Precision Medicine Initiative, 84,
President Obama Visits Atlanta, 86,
And We'll Ever Yea Forever Give Ourselves In Loyalty, 89,
President Obama Delivers Morehouse College Commencement Address, 90,
And Barack Becomes A Morehouse Man!, 100,
Epilogue, 101,
Hallelujah! Glory!, 103,
Appendix, 105,
The City Of Michelle's, 109,
Today, Tomorrow, Forever?, 113,
Addendums-Accomplishments-Achievements (11), 115,