Black and White
by Ben Burgess Jr
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GENRE: Contemporary Fiction
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BLURB:
When
the prestigious law firm of Wayne, Rothstein, and Lincoln catches two major
cases. Bill O'Neil and Ben Turner are tasked to handle these racially charged
litigations. The cases hit emotional chords with the two lawyers. Will the
racial tension of their cases destroy them or make them stronger?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Excerpt:
Ben
Blessings
We arrived at Becky's parents' house. Their butler, Bernard,
greeted us at the door and escorted us to the dining room.
"Hey, Dad. Hey, Mom."
Susan hugged Becky and gave me a light peck on the cheek.
Mr. Preston greeted us with a faux-grin, hugged Becky and
grudgingly gave me a weak handshake.
"Glad to see you could make it, Ben," he said
nonchalantly.
"I'm glad I could make it. Mr. Preston, can I talk to
you about something later?"
He looked at me skeptically. "Sure thing."
Becky leaned over and asked me, "What do you have to
talk to him about?"
"Nothing. Just man stuff."
Becky smiled. "You're up to something."
I gave her a quick kiss.
We sat down at the table, and as usual, Becky tried to
impress her parents by telling them about my accomplishments and successes, but
they were unmoved. She told them about my new case and how important it would
be for my career.
"Ben has been working so hard at his firm that he was
given that case that's all over the news."
"What case is that, dear?" Susan asked.
"You know, the one with the rapper that killed the two
cops and gay couple. He's being considered for partnership."
For once, Mrs. Preston looked impressed by the news.
"That's wonderful!"
Mr. Preston grunted and faced me. "Who else is up for
consideration?"
"Bill, another lawyer who has also been winning a lot
of cases for the firm," I said.
"Let me guess: Bill is White."
"Not that it matters, but yes."
Mr. Preston sighed. "Of course you wouldn't think it
matters. Are there any Black partners in your firm?"
"No, but—"
"I'm sure it doesn't matter how hard Bill works; you'll
end up getting the position over him. That's how things work nowadays."
Becky squeezed my hand, attempting to keep me calm while he
continued.
"You'll get it automatically because you're Black, and
the White guy will probably never move up in your firm." Richard
snickered. "The media is always talking about White privilege, but the
only privilege I see is with you people."
I curled my bottom lip to hold my tongue from cursing him
out.
He was part of the reason why I worked so hard. He fueled my
endless motivation. Every day I busted my ass to show people like him that
Black people weren't just thugs, criminals and drug addicts. I wanted to prove
to him and small-minded individuals that my people were sophisticated,
intelligent and just as good as his were. Even though I knew he believed his
race was superior, I wanted him to see there was no difference or gap between
us. I was equally as capable and as smart as anyone in his race.
"You know what you minorities will never
understand?" Mr. Preston asked me.
"What would that be, sir?"
"Steven—" Mrs. Preston said.
"No, society coddles minorities too much. He needs to
hear this, Susan." He faced me. "You people always want more and
think things should be equal. When does it end? I'm not blind. I know that
right now, White people hold the majority of power in this country, but why
should we give it up? We built this country—"
"Off the backs of those minorities you're talking
about," I said.
"Regardless of that, it was White men who built this
country, and if minorities had it their way, they'd push White people out of
power and make us the minority. While that's good for you and your people, what
about my race? Why would I want to see a shitty world like that?"
"It wouldn't be a bad world. It would be how races
should be treated in this world: equal."
"Again, you're still not grasping, how does that
benefit me as a White person?"
"You wouldn't feel good doing what's right?"
"Please, don't talk to me about morals," he said.
"You're getting paid well to represent a murderer, and I'm sure as an
attorney you've manipulated the law plenty of times to benefit your firm when
you knew it wasn't morally right. The same rules apply to me. I'm not worried
about your race or any other minority. I'm concerned about my own
benefit."
He laughed and said, "Frankly, as a White man I don't
give a shit about minorities killing each other. It's one less mouth on welfare
mooching off of my tax dollars."
Becky rested her hand on my thigh to calm me.
Before things got out of hand, I said, "Let's just
agree to disagree."
"Ben, that's the smartest thing you've said all
night," he said.
After listening to Mr. Preston talk for a good two hours about
how he was so happy to see Obama leave and proud to have a strong, wealthy
White man back in the White House again, he finally shut up and asked me to
speak with him privately.
"Ben, while the women gossip, let's go into my study so
we can talk man to man."
I nodded and followed him.
As soon as the door shut, Mr. Preston stopped smiling.
"Have a seat, Ben. We can drop the bullshit now; you
know my daughter can't hear us in here."
I sat down. Mr. Preston leaned back in his black leather
executive chair, lit a cigar and blew the smoke in my direction.
"Now, what do you want?" he asked, and took
another long puff on his cigar.
"I won't beat around the bush. I love Rebecca, and I
wanted to ask you for your blessing when I ask her to marry me."
He laughed at me. "Absolutely not. I've entertained
this phase she's going through and put up with your sham of a relationship for
years because I love my daughter, but there's no way in hell I'd allow you to
ever marry her. No matter what you do, you'll never be good enough for my
daughter. "
"Why is that? I'm no slouch. I've worked hard all my
life, and I've always done well…"
"You people are all the same. You might be wrapped in a
nicer package, but when it comes down to it, you're no different from the other
Blacks I've met."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
He sighed. "I thought you were smarter than that. Do
you need me to spell it out for you? OK, here goes: you've gone to prestigious
schools, so you're not a complete dummy. You have a decent job and you drive
around in a nice car, but nothing will change the fact that you're Black. It
doesn't matter how many fancy degrees you have or how much money you make; you
can't change that fact. I don't want my daughter to just do 'well.' If she
married you, it would be a downgrade."
"Downgrade? I work just as hard if not harder than
you."
"But you're still Black."
"So?" I asked.
"I don't want people in power to look at my daughter in
pity when they know she's married to you. If you were married, any children you
had would be Black, and I don't want your race ruining my gene pool. I'd rather
my daughter be a lesbian than marry a nigger. That might sound harsh to you,
but I'm being honest."
With his last comment, I stood up and headed for the door.
My hand on the doorknob, I turned to him and said, "With your blessing or
without it, I love Becky, and nothing you say or do will stop me from asking
her to marry me."
"I'll never let it happen."
"We'll just have to see, won't we?"
The tragedy of it all was that I'd been law-abiding all my
life, received a high education, a great career and now I was rising to gain
the American dream by being a Black partner in a White-dominated firm, but in
the eyes of many ignorant people like Mr. Preston, I would never be more than a
nigger.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This book will completely draw you in! To me it was a page turner, I needed to know what was coming next. Once finished it's hard to walk away from. I think my family was ready for me to stop reading..oops. But in all seriousness to is a must read book!
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Ben
Burgess Jr is the author of the award-winning novels "Monster,"
"Wounded," "Love and Happiness," " Daddy's Girl,"
and the new novel "Black and White." He is an active performer of
spoken word poetry. Ben Burgess Jr uses his love of writing to inspire and
influence youths to strive for what they believe in and to never give up on
their dreams. His novels "Monster" and "Wounded" are
currently used in schools on the lower east side of Manhattan. Ben Burgess has
a BA degree in Business Management and an MA degree in Educational Leadership.
He is the proud father of his daughters Jaelynn and Jaclyn and he is active in
trying to improve urban neighborhoods and communities.
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