Blue Farm by Charles C. Anderson Heartbreaking, Horrible in Several Ways! Kidnapped!

Although the twins, Jack and Ava Carlson had perfect SAT scores at age fourteen, their mom Lindsey refused to allow them to go off to college. Her minimum age for college was sixteen years old. Being a child prodigy and a warrior at the same time was tricky enough. Lindsey and Andy Carlson agreed that Jack and Ava needed to put puberty behind them, develop some much-needed social skills, and grow up physically in order to blend with other college students...
The twins announced their intention to visit the University of Virginia in Charlottesville on the upcoming weekend. They planned to take their five-year-old brother Peewee with  them.
After the three kids had left the farmhouse, Andy tried to restrain his joy at the prospect of Jack and Ava attending a prestigious Southern university a scant fifty-five miles from the Farm they grew up on...

~~~

Blue Farm

By Charles C. Anderson

"Aren't you being a little selfish, Andy, wanting your kids to be close to home?"

"I'm sure that's a factor," he said, "but I'm thinking of our son Peewee the most. He has special needs. Peewee must grow up with his oler brother and sister close by. You know as well as I do that the twins taught each other more than we taught them. Their competitiveness has given them that edge you say in unfair. A five-year-old brainiac needs other brainiacs to interact with. You and I aren't brainiacs...

The Rotunda at the University of Virginia. Charlottesville, Virginia, United States (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

While Andy and Lindsey argued at home over when, where and which university their twins would attend, Ava and Jack were 

approaching the campus of the University of Virginia. Although they had looked at other schools, they had already decided, and knew that they would be going to this school so they would be near PeeWee their brother. Now they wanted to have Peewee look around, starting with the Rotunda.

Jack had immediately offered Peewee a ride on his shoulders since his brother could not easily handle steps and there were many up and into the building.

Ava had moved on ahead since they planned to start at the top and move down. Peewee and Jack had started to talk about the architecture on the campus.

They were the only visitors in the dome room.

"This is the largest round room I've ever been in," Peewee said, back on his own feet. He shoved his spiral notepad back in his right slash pocket. "I like those pairs of columns on the perimeter," he said. He looked up. "And that round skylight makes it bright in here." He walked toward the columns.

Jack walked toward a painting above one fireplace and Ava walked toward the painting over the opposite fireplace.

Peewee called, "There're bookcases behind these columns."

After examining one of the two paintings, Jack decided that the men depicted were Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe. All three Virginians had served as President of the United States. At one time James Madison had been a neighbor to James Carlson. A bridge across the Appomattox River at Sandy Ford connected Madison's property with Carlson's. All three presidents had visited the Carlson plantation.

"Peewee," Jack called, "come look at this." He stared at Thomas Jefferson's profile as he waited for Peewee to make his way to the fireplace.

Ava called from the opposite side of the dome room, "Peewee,"

Peewee didn't answer.

Ava and Jack met each other in the center of the round room. "He went behind a couple of columns over there," Jack said, pointing. They walked toward the perimeter of the dome room...The huge room was silent.

Ava appeared from behind two columns, "I don't like this, Jack," she said. "Peewee doesn't play hide and seek."...

Jack had almost come full circle when he heard Ava scream...

At the base of the column were the remains of Peewee Carlson's industrial-strength glasses. The thick left lens was cracked. The left temple that fit tightly over Peewee's ear had been crushed. The bridge was bent. Jack smelled the glasses...There were five tiny drops of blood on the cracked left lens, in a splatter pattern. The broken left temple had bright red blood on it. A blood trail pointed toward the stairs...

They lay on their sides, their foreheads touching, communicating without speaking for a few moments. They they cried like the day they were born. Peewee had been kidnapped.

~~~

The entire Carlson family were devastated when their five-year-old special needs child was taken, kidnapped during that trip. Jack and Ava, however, blamed themselves and were distraught, but they quickly made notifications and started to search the campus and interview the few students that were around. Andy and Lindsey, of course, were quickly on the way and got both the CIA and FBI involved. Hamilton was the CIA representative to come, quickly pointing out they didn't have any responsibility for this type of issue.

Andy quickly pointed out that they had just been actively involved with a major CIA action, when the President had personally called for their assistance. The end result had been the loss of a number of individuals from the same family--this could be revenge for those deaths! Hamilton accepted this was a point and agreed to a combined task force. but he wanted Andy's agreement that he would become an active CIA agent and accept special jobs, one for which he was already needed, but could wait until after they had found their son. Both Lindsey and Andy quickly agreed, but then was perplexed about what they might have committed to...

Soon, however, a demand for $5M was made. And they further demanded that Ava be the person who brought the money... It was felt that the exchange site was going to be a problem, until they learned more...

Life went on but the Carlsons were changed by the kidnapping... Still the twins had already signed up for the next semester and finally decided to go... Especially when they learned that the two remaining members of the Ivanov family were also scheduled to attend there...

But none of what happened could have ever been planned... The only thing possible was trying to protect Jack and Ava, who might be the next to be targeted... The ending of this one should be a major surprise on several counts...

Charles Anderson has created a series that attracts readers not only for the action-packed thrills, but also for the issues addressed as the family is raised as well as what the United States faces. Using true-to-life situations, the author openly shares about our government, world issues, and how to be prepared to live with the threat of terror...from anywhere and at anytime. Readers may not agree with his conclusions, but I think there is ample evidence that he's working continuously to pinpoint concerns about which we, as citizens, should be aware, prepared for, and alert to possible action. It is not unpatriotic to express opinions and highlight issues that must be addressed. If you are a concerned citizen, you just may become a warrior as well!

Although it is hard to read about a small child being callously hurt, the book brings us forward, better prepared and watchful... Highly recommended...

GABixlerReviews

Second in Farm Series by Charles C. Anderson, Tense, Darker, as Terrorists Threaten Nuclear War, Including in U.S...

...Andy and Lindsey's precocious twins, Jack and Ava, had not just grown up. They had taken over...Jack now considered himself Andy's understudy in all matters. Ava considered herself equal to any boy except Jack. Both parents had prepared themselves for an orderly progression of childhood landmarks, like walking by age one and talking in short sentences by age two.
The children had maintained a high degree of alertness as infants. This was their parents' first clue to what was in store for them. Both children had unusually long attention spans as infants and toddlers. At age six months they rocked in mechanical swings and watched television programs intended for two year olds.
At ten months they listened attentively for an hour at a time as Lindsey read from books for three years olds...At fourteen months the toddlers walked into Lindsey's kitchen and announced, "We think Big Bird is stupid." At age two, Lindsey gave them a video called "Elmo's Potty Time." The children watched this video several times with great interest and then announced, "We're potty trained."
...The twins were introduced to the woods on the farm as toddlers. They could recognize each animal on the farm by age three and had been taught by their dad to stalk animals at age five. It was Andy's philosophy that the worst thing a father could say to his child was "You're too young to do that."
Instead, he thought the parent should be saying, "That's such an important subject that I'd like to teach you about it myself, so that you won't make the same mistakes I did."

...Not surprisingly, both twins were enthusiastic about the same things that Andy enjoyed. Lindsey watched her seven year olds paint their faces with camouflage makeup at 4:30 in the morning before walking out in the dark with their bows and arrows. It was easy to see why they enjoyed doing things together. They wanted to be like their daddy. She couldn't tell who was having the most fun...

~~~

If You Haven't Read The Farm, First in Series, Click Over to Read My Review to Learn a Little!

Nuclear Farm

By Charles C. Anderson

This novel turned out to be much more intense as the title warrants. When nuclear weapons are involved, everybody must act immediately and meticulously to track and then ensure the bombs are not used! Almost immediately I noticed a different tone, almost stilted, but then I recognized that it was tense, intensively including details of what was happening, how devastating it could be. And what it would take to complete this assignment...

From the President of the United States...

Dear President Umar:
Within a few days there will be a nuclear explosion
in the Middle East. You are receiving this advance
warning in order that you might better comprehend
what is in store for you in you interfere in the
coming Middle East war...
At this time we have two nuclear warheads already
in the United States, much larger than the one
that you will hear about in a few days...Such
weapons are also in place in Britain. These
warheads can annihilate any city. They do not
need to arrive by missiles. They are already
manned by martyrs...
...We will know your answer by what you do.
And then we will know what we must do.
Islamic Jihad
~~~

Andy was asleep when Lindsey gently shook his shoulder. "Honey, it's me. I'm sorry. Something terrible has happened and I can't watch it by myself."
"Watch what?" Andy blinked his eyes and sat up. Lindsey's eyes were red. He put his arms around her.
"It's started, Andy."
"What's started?"
"The first nuclear war in the twenty-first century."

"there has been a catastrophic
 explosion at the Saudi port of Ras
Tanura. There is no doubt that this
was a nuclear terrorist attack...
Ras Tanura was one of the largest
oil export terminals in the Persian
Gulf...which handled fully ten per
cent of the entire world's supply
of oil...
~~~

...Cnn spit a continuous visual and verbal stream of horrific news. A nuclear blast had destroyed the Saudi port of Ras Tanura in the Persian Gulf. Andy sat down on the couch with Lindsey. Jack and Ava were already riveted to the TV. 
                   ~~~

The President was aware that Andy's family were friends of King Fahd. Andy was being asked to represent the President with the Saudi King. That country had just had a nuclear explosion that destroyed Ras Tanura, a key Saudi terminal near the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. (and Britain) had already been warned to stay out of it...

Upon return to the U.S., Andy had met and reported to the President, along with his own impressions and his recommendations on how to proceed.

Andy and his wife both had experience with warheads, with of course Lindsey having the academic credentials as a nuclear physicist, to perform the actual disarming. Andy also confirmed that they had past knowledge that the warheads in the States were real and referred him to Hamilton of the CIA for the background on the Russians' buying and selling, although never acknowledged.

With the United States and Britain standing down, a war against Israel would begin... 

Jack and Ava's 10th Birthday...

But the ones who were working the U.S. activities had already infiltrated the Carlson family. Ironically, they were still more interested in the Civil War-era gold that had been once stored on the Farm and were making another try for it... The family had been tucked into one of their secret places, but Lindsey was always a Mom first and was upset she had forgotten candles for the twin's 10th birthday cake. They captured her while she was back in the house...

Andy called the twins together and laid out the strategy to be used in rescuing their mother!

But that was not to be the end...When it was apparent that Andy would have to be involved in finding and eliminating the warhead threat, he was reinstated into the CIA and with the loan of a jet from the Saudi King...went about doing just that... I'm just not sure whether the President realized that Andy's entire family would be involved in the operation!

Could you prepare your family to at least protect themselves? Check out my interview with Dr. Anderson this Wednesday when I'll be asking him about training his kids to use weapons to protect their family.

This book is deep into one operation after another and there is little time for anything else and even a birthday party is disrupted by those threatening the Carlson family... When Ava had been given a blowgun as one of her primary weapons, she initially assumed the man she shot was sleeping... She faced it on her own, analyzed what had happened and realized he had been her first kill. It wasn't to be her last, but that first one had helped save her mother's life! She would do it again if needed!

I have mixed feelings about the potential reality of Dr. Anderson's message in this complex thriller. But then I think about the fact that I have a sharp knife next to my bed, a shotgun in the cabin and another knife right inside my outside entry door... Always praying that I'd never have to use any of them, but realizing that today's world already includes such dangers and calls for the citizen warriors that David H. Brown first wrote about and now, also Dr. Anderson. We all must be diligent. Are you prepared to protect your home?

Not an easy book to read...Make sure you know what the plot is and who will be involved with the highest stakes we could ever face! For me, I consider this a must-read...


GABixlerReviews

I am a retired Naval officer and emergency physician who has spent the last 38 years directing intensive care units, directing emergency departments, or working as a physician in trauma centers or emergency departments. I live on a family plantation which was purchased from King George II in 1743. This plantation has been at the crossroads of American history more than once, and I am the direct descendant of its original owner. My passions are history, reading novels, writing thrillers, visiting battlefields, building historical structures like covered bridges and grist mills, and honing my expertise in both primitive and modern weapons.
In my first thriller,"The Farm" I utilized my Navy background and exposure to SEALS, my emergency medicine career, my knowledge of the Civil War, my expertise with weapons, and my childhood experiences growing up on a colonial plantation to weave a story of a modern patriot sucked into a nuclear conspiracy.
In my second thriller,"The First To Say No" I called on my years of experience in emergency departments to highlight a little known scandal in American medicine, the rising level of patient violence toward healthcare workers. Were you aware that healthcare workers are twice as likely to be assaulted on the job as police officers? Healthcare assaults account for over 60% of all workplace assaults in America. In this book, emergency department physicians and nurses in an inner-city hospital devise a unique and permanent solution for a local gang that preys on them. All of the evil people in this book were real patients of mine under different names. I didn't invent them. Every event in this book occurred in front of my eyes over 38 years. People who are unaccustomed to seeing evil are sometimes uncomfortable with the choices forced upon victims, especially if the victims are care-givers. Some people believe that care-givers are obligated to be victims.

Hey Everybody! Come Meet Toby! He Wants to Say "Be a Buddy Not a Bully! A Very Cool Dog!

Today, Toby, the Pet Therapy Dog, is going to visit children at school. Toby is wearing his therapy dog uniform which shows others that he is a special "working" dog...

"Good morning class," said Mrs. Johnson. "Let's welcome Toby and Miss Charmaine. Today Toby is receiving an important award.  He is receiving the Gold Star Friendship Award for being a buddy, not a bully."

Toby Says Be a Buddy Not

      a Bully

By Charmaine Hammond

)

I loved this vid with Toby as the Star Based upon First Book...to become Movie!

)

Unfortunately, we know it is never too early to help children understand about those who are mean and do naughty things just to express that feeling. There's a special word for them--Bullies! This book is written for ages 3-10 and is perfect for school or church teachers or any other organized group where children potentially meet those who choose to be mean and nasty!

"That dog was really mean to you," said Lauren.
"We would never do that to you, or anyone,
Toby."
Toby was listening to every word, and was so happy
that he wagged his tail back and forth, very fast.
~~~

Even Toby had been bullied!

Miss Charmaine explained that she had always had a little teddy bear for Toby to cuddle since he was a pup. Now she would take one with them to the park in case he wanted to play fetch...

But when Toby went after his teddy...you guessed it! A bully was there already...

...Toby and I were at the park, there was another dog who was very mean to Toby. The other dog took Toby's favorite toy teddy bear and shook it so hard, that it tore. The dog also growled at Toby!

                   ~~~

When Toby had his toy taken away, he felt just like you would feel if somebody took something of yours! So, of course, all of the children at school wanted to know more about what happened and they wanted to assure Toby that they were not bullies like that mean dog! Instead of getting into a fight, he came to Miss Charmaine and sought help. Toby always wanted to be kind, but it was many times hard to be when somebody was picking on him...

There were a lot of other questions and then Toby got his gold star and they had  party! They even had broccoli and ice cream...Ah... Ok.  If that's what
Toby and others want, it's ok by me...LOL

Now the things I liked about the book were the
questions at the end which reviewed the story so that the children have a chance to remember and think about what they had learned.

There was also a list of Toby's rules for being a Buddy--Not a Bully!

But most of all I enjoyed learning what Toby says about practicing acts of kindness...
Like:
Say "Thank you" when someone is helpful or says something nice to you.

The book itself has been beautifully illustrated by Rose Anne Prevec and includes children of all races and even one little boy who just may be a bully and is not sure what to do when he hears the story...Or at least the little boy with red hair and a green shirt looked like that to me...what do you think? Wouldn't it be wonderful to have this book available for appropriately-aged school classes so that a similar discussion could occur where "potential" bullies learn that other children don't like, want, or are willing to accept a child who is a bully?!

The book came to me in a large card-sized envelope which I thought was also cool, because moms, grandparents, teachers--everybody--can easily and quickly send a copy of the book to their relatives or students. I was impressed with not only this book, but the whole Toby program...

and here's what Team Toby kids are saying:

I'm so happy to have had the opportunity to share this book with you. I'm afraid that bullying might be the first step that a child can make, leading to other criminal activities. Having this book and/or other programs to help children understand how cruel it is to be a bully should be everybody's responsibility. I support this book as someone who was once bullied and who hopes we continue to work to help children learn kind acts of friendship instead!

GABixlerReviews

Charmaine Hammond, is an international transformational speaker (has spoken to more than 75,000 people around the globe), and is a #1 international best selling and award winning author of dog book On Toby's Terms, (Bettie Youngs Books), Toby The Pet Therapy Dog & His Hospital Friends, and Toby The Pet Therapy Dog Says Be a Buddy Not a Bully. Her children's books are A Mom's Choice Awards Recipient, and also received the Parent Tested Parent Approved Award. She is co-author of wildly popular new book, GPS Your Best Life-charting your destination and getting there in style. Charmaine was the winner of the 2012 Business Matchmaker of the Year award, an international award (eWomenNetwork)and the Outstanding Alumni Award. On Toby's Terms won a GOLD in the Reader's Favorite Book Awards.

Charmaine is a professional speaker and has spoken to audiences internationally and is a sought after speaker at corporate events, conferences and author conventions. Charmaine is also a founding and board member of the Evolutionary Business Council, and host of three wildly popular radio shows. She also teaches and mentors authors on Your Book as a Business.

Charmaine has been featured in the Metro USA, Metro Canada, Edmonton Journal, Edmonton and Spruce Grove Examiner, Calgary and Edmonton Sun, Del Mar Times, National Post, Global TV, CTSTV, Alberta Prime Time (CTV) and on many radio stations in the US and Canada.

www.TheOriginalTeamToby.com www.ontobysterms.com www.CharmaineHammond.com
and http://www.howtosellandmarketyourbook.com
www.gpsyourbestlife.com

OMG, Nevada Barr with Destroyer Angel Just What I Wanted! Starts Top 10 Favorites for Year...

All forms of sorrow and delight. All Solemn Voices of the Night...

The words seemed to form from from the soughing of the wind in dying leaves. The mystical ululation of a loon, a sound that seemed to Anna to linger on the water long after the bird had ceased to call, punctuated the thought. Wadsworth? Frost?...
Enjoying nostalgia, a luxury she seldom allowed herself, she lay back in the stern of the canoe as it drifted down the Fox River as light and quiet as a leaf on a pond. A new moon, a dime-sized wraith barely edged with light, was almost lost in a dense sea of glittering stars. This far north, this far from neon, fluorescent, incandescent and halogen, this far from television screens, stars and sky appeared simultaneously close and impossibly distant. If Anna let her fingers loose from where they relaxed around the gunwales, she might fall up and forever.
There was nowhere she needed to be, no one she needed to serve. The owner of the convenience store at the put-in said the camp they'd planned on using had been burned over by a forest fire, so they stopped a few miles upstream. Anna reveled in the extra time to do absolutely nothing productive. She knew she should be missing Paul. A beter husband than Paul Davidson would only serve to make a woman feel chronically inadequate.
It wasn't that she didn't enjoy his company; they'd been married several years and she was still crazy in love with the man. Catching his smile in a crowd never failed to make her heart skip a beat. The thing was, when she was alone in wild country--or as wild as country got in these United States--Anna didn't miss anyone, not her friends, not her dog or cat, not her sister, Molly, not her husband...

~~~

Destroyer Angel:

An Anna Pigeon Novel

By Nevada Barr

Anna Pigeon just may be my favorite female character. I've been her fan since she first appeared in Track of the Cat, working as a Forest Ranger... But this book? OMG, it totally blew me away! Imagine if you would, a group of women and girls who have gone camping. For Anna, it's her vacation. There's a purpose for the trip--to test equipment created by one of the women. It is to be tested by another of the women, who uses a wheelchair due to an accident...

That's it! That's the Plot... Other than, of course, that somebody has hired a group of mercenaries to either bring back or murder everybody from the female group.  Apparently the designer is worth millions; her daughter is with her. But are they going to be ransomed or killed as well? Readers really don't know...

The book comes out on April Fools Day? Guess who gets fooled? Certainly not readers because I'm positive everybody who reads it will be fully satisfied...unless, they, too are mercenaries... I probably shouldn't have said that...a giveaway? Sure, but it's so obvious, why not celebrate it! Of course, it could also be...me...who is planting the April Fools joke because, in reality, the final outcome is not even included as the book ends... so chew on that for awhile... LOL

Perceptions not provable in a lab informed Anna
that the pure nastiness of humanity was polluting
the Fox River. Pure nasty humanity was the
problem she had with Paul's God of Love. Too many
people were involved. Had love of one's neighbor
referred only to those with fur or feathers, she
might have become a believer...
A man's voice rumbled downriver, chasing the
crying of a woman or girl. No barking or growling.
Where was Wily? As he aged, his joints had
grown stiff, but his hearing was still keen...
Four men were visible; the nearest was a head
taller than his companions...
These were men who stalked alleys, bars, and
city parks...
Two teenaged girls, a slightly mad scientist, a
paraplegic, and an old dog. Anybody who would
prey on such as these would stomp kittens and
dry-swallow ducklings.
~~~

Nevada Barr is an awesome writer. Her first book won the Agatha Award for Best First Novel and I've traveled with her all over the United States with her job, but I think the scariest for me was when the trip deep into a cave system took place. This one just may have been scarier...but it had some major humor scenes that lightened the horror... kinda...

Anna, as you discovered in the excerpt above, was out on the lake by herself, when the initial camp invasion occurred. When the question came about the 5th woman, it was calmly announced that family issues had prevented her coming. That same woman took advantage of another situation and screamed "Stay the Hell Away!"

But Anna had no weapons with her...how was she going to help?

If Anna went for help, it would be thirty-six hours minimum before it arrived. Thirty-six hours would be too late.
Monsters weren't known for deferring gratification... 
With luck, and the good wood of a canoe paddle, a lone gunman could be taken down by five women. There would be a cost, but it could be done...
Four gunmen was a different story. Still, Anna would stay, would watch. She would wait for an opening, a chance, then we would take it. Too many years rescuing lost hikers, mourning friends, and seeking justice for the dead had passed for her not to know she was, and always would be, her sister's keeper.

~~~

"Kill" was the word she used in her mind, not stop, disable, or detain but barbaric, irreversible, unforgivable killing. Time and life were the only true riches humans had. To waste either was a crime and a sin, if sin existed...
Still, she would slaughter these men if he got a chance. She would kill them all. This was not the time or place for knocking people out, tying them up, then hoping they stayed knocked out and tied up. There were too many of them, too few of her, and the stakes were too high. When it was done, she would have unclean hands. Paul would smell the blood on them. Like Lady Macbeth, she'd see the stains in her dreams.
Nightmares would be a small price to pay for Heath, E. Leah, and Katie.
And Wily. She wouldn't forget Wily.
~~~

Other than the leader of the men who everybody called the Dude, there was a gangbanger from the city, a pedophile which probably wasn't discovered until he began his campaign to connect in some way with Katie, Leah's daughter. Leah is a wonderfully conceived character. She is

obviously brilliant, but somewhat like Bones in the program by the same name... But since Leah is a designer, she spends so much time alone and in complete concentration of her work, she has absolutely no people skills, even with her daughter, who is raised by her father and is almost estranged from her mother and definitely spoiled.

The final man, Sean, was described as being hard to read, but he was so creepy that nobody wanted to look at him long enough to learn more. It appeared that the Dude was the only one with any kind of vested interest in actually completing the job. When the Dude announced "We're not taking the cripple," one of the women quickly persuaded three of them that she had even more money than Leah and the three convinced the Dude to take her...

One key plot issue allows the whole activity to occur. A forest fire had destroyed the original site where the women were to camp...By the time everything started happening, the distance to get back to civilization was much greater. But how would that affect the men being willing to take "the cripple?"

I guess I'd better stop! I'd love to tell you much more, but that would prevent you from enjoying the book...what I've shared is mostly just from the first few chapters! I'll give you two clues--wolves and demons...LOL!

For me, this is undoubtedly the first I'm placing in my top ten favorite books for 2014! I loved it and easily give it a 10! 'Nuf said!

GABixlerReviews

Nevada Barr is the author of the New York Times bestselling novels featuring Anna Pigeon, a law enforcement part ranger. She won the Agatha Award for best first novel for Track of the Cat. Like her character, Barr worked for the National Park Service as a park ranger before resigning to write full time. She lives in New Orleans. NevadaBarr.Com

This is a different book, but it fits with some of my interests in this book...

Black Dad--White Dad: The James Womack Story "Where Is it?" is What I Want to Know!

Separate "white" and "colored" entrances
 to a cafe in Durham, North Carolina, 1940

The origin of the phrase "Jim Crow"
 has often been attributed to "Jump Jim Crow",
a song-and-dance caricature of blacks
 performed by white actor Thomas D. Rice
 in blackface, which first surfaced in 1832
 and was used to satirize Andrew Jackson's
 populist policies. As a result of Rice's fame,
 "Jim Crow" had become a pejorative expression
 meaning "Negro" by 1838. When southern
 legislatures passed laws of racial segregation
 – directed against blacks – at the end of the
 19th century, these became
known as Jim Crow laws.
~~~

The Jim Crow laws were racial segregation laws enacted between 1876 and 1965 in the United States at the state and local level. They mandated de jure racial segregation in all public facilities in Southern states of the former Confederacy, with, starting in 1890, a "separate but equal" status for African Americans. The separation in practice led to conditions for African Americans that tended to be inferior to those provided for white Americans, systematizing a number of economic, educational and social disadvantages. De jure segregation mainly applied to the Southern United States. While Northern segregation was generally de facto, there were patterns of segregation in housing enforced by covenants, bank lending practices, and job discrimination, including discriminatory union practices for decades.

Some examples of Jim Crow laws are the segregation of public schools, public places, and public transportation, and the segregation of restrooms, restaurants, and drinking fountains for whites and blacks. The U.S. military was also segregated.

These Jim Crow Laws followed the 1800–1866 Black Codes, which had previously restricted the civil rights and civil liberties of African Americans with no pretense of equality. State-sponsored school segregation was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1954 in Brown v. Board of Education. Generally, the remaining Jim Crow laws were overruled by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

 



Black Dad--White Dad...
The James Womack Story
  Co-author Anna Allen

I finished the last page of "The James Womack Story" and sat there, angry... Where is it? Where is the anger that this man deserves to have? And, if I am a Christian like him, why do I feel so angry on his behalf? Writers should probably realize by now that sometimes I get emotional about some books... So I apologize to James, though not for what I want to say. 

James and I grew up about the same time! What a difference, however... Could I have gone through what he has and still be faithful? I don't think so... I even wondered if, in getting somebody to work with him, Anna Allen, that he needed somebody who could be the unemotional writer--to tell his story, without the negative feelings... Perhaps? I don't know, because all of it sounds so true...  except the parts where you omitted the anger, frustration--the inability to continue to accept what the world has done, no matter what? I wanted it there--I wanted to share it with you... I felt you left out a very important part of the book... Is your faith so much stronger than mine? Of course, it must be. How else can you have survived?

Why aren't you as mad as I am, James? When your beautiful wife was left on the ground that day, why didn't you curse, shout out and...break...why wasn't that the final straw that broke your back? Of course not, because now your love for her keeps you going, taking care of her... I admire you, James Womack...  May your story help many others find the inner strength exhibited in your story.

When I came into the world, the midwife handed
Dad a new baby boy with light brown skin, blue eyes
and a head full of long, straight, black hair.
Because Dad did not understand the miracle by
which God mixes chromosomes and DNA, he took
one glimpse at my blue eyes and straight black hair
and disowned me. I was born, accepted, and
rejected all within the time span of one
minute. Dad handed me straight back to the
midwife. That was the first and last time I felt
the tenderness of his touch. He never touched
me again except to beat my buttocks. The
beatings began when I was around six years old,
which was about the time when I had the
intellectual awareness that he was hurting
Mom. I irritated the hell out of Dad by screaming
when he beat her. He always aimed for her head
with any object he could find...
Dad died without ever giving me a hug, a smile,
a kind word of encouragement or validation of
my existence. His repudiation had a profound
effect on my self-esteem...
~~~ 

Mr. Samson* was a mysteriously diabolical man with many faces and personalities. He was a frugal landowner and businessman by day with a large area of farmland and thirty to forty sharecroppers he directed. When the sun set, his character became more sinister as he quickly transitioned to one of the hooded night riders surrounded by flaming crosses that terrorized sharecroppers who ventured to step out of line. I remember all of that as if it were yesterday.

1922

His voice was unpleasant. We heard it on
the first Friday of every month when he
delivered a five-gallon jug of white
lightning, a colorless brew of homemade
whiskey, to my father. His appearance was
a signal that Dad had to vacate his home
immediately. Mr. Samson had a habit of
bellowing out orders from about three
hundred feet from our home....He never
came close enough for anyone to see his
face, except for Mom.
~~~

The amazing thing about James' story was that the actions of the KKK were not the worst part of what Mr. Samson did to the Womack family. He would
provide whiskey to his Dad, who was then forced to leave his home, while Mr. Samson visited...
When the children were older, they were sent away also...but didn't realize...

...My father's actions, and my lack of understanding
left me with deep emotional scars. To endure these
scars required a strong faith. There is an old adage
that you do not find atheists in foxholes. Well, I was
incarcerated in the pit of a  deep, dark insidious
foxhole the day I was born. Emotionally and
intellectually, I dwelled therein for thirty-seven
years.
To get through, I emulated Mom's faith...I learned
from her to sing a joyful song regardless of the
circumstances, but especially when frustrated.
~~~

His mother's favorite song was Precious Lord...

At the same time, his father rejected him, his mother was such a woman of faith, that her strength and love obviously became the stronger of the emotions from his parents... It is her faith, accepted by James as true, that undoubtedly has brought him through his life, albeit while facing tremendous odds.

I thought it was ironic that his one fortunate circumstance of falling in love at first sight, also had a negative response...His wife was white and they thus received all of the negative aspects of being an "interracial couple"!

Promises made from recruiting officers, though not fulfilled, resulted in James ultimately becoming a lifer in the military. Then went into Federal Government jobs-- both with discriminatory acts or lies affecting his career. He even had a firm basis, in my opinion, for an anti-discrimination case, having a young white female hired instead of him... but then, I can say that because I know the rules and regulations that existed at that time for Affirmative Action and Equal Employment Opportunities. I know that much was not clear and many used the laws to do what they wanted to do...

His time in Vietnam has been shared more deeply than others that I've read, for which I was grateful, even as it was hard to read... I am sure the comments he shared when he got home was thought, but possibly never spoken: Veterans will appreciate hearing his words.

I did not understand how the American public could
think so little of the soldiers who were doing their duty, and who were defending themselves and their comrades. I felt like I did not understand anything anymore. How could people be so violent toward one another? How could we treat our fellow humans with such total disrespect? How could we not reach out and support each other in such difficult times instead of
criticizing and condemning one another? I could not answer these questions. I could not understand this world of war and I pray that I never do.

~~~

There was so much in this book with which I related. James Womack's story has touched me in so many ways. His book ends with his personal testimony of God's place in his life...

It speaks so much of his faith... and triumphant victory...

And yet, he closes, sharing even more, his one regret...

James, I do believe that you will indeed dance with your father...as well as your Heavenly father one day!

Even so, each time I hear Luther Vandross's "Dance with My Father," my eyes swell up with tears. The lyrics jog my memory of my earthly treasure embezzled from me through ignorance. If only I could have had one dance with my father. My faith ensures me that I will dance with him in heaven..."

Reading this book has been like attending an old-fashioned revival. If you've been praying for a revival in your spirit, or if you've never known somebody who is indeed victorious in this world we live it... Get this book. 

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