Velvet Sky

By D. James White

What defines humanity? This work explores this question by focusing on society from a time span between two pandemics. When this story began to take life, the world knew nothing about the pandemic that would be revealed in 2019. Naturally this event demands its place in everything.

Comparisons between this pandemic, and the pandemic that ended in 1918 are being made daily. A portion of Velvet Sky tells the story of how these invisible menaces impacted society in the last century, and how the current impacts society in the Twenty First Century.

In this love story, readers will discover situations that will cause them to reflect on their past, present, and future. It is the eve of our main character, JR's birthday. JR's life seems to be ordinary, and as you read this story, you will soon discover that JR's life is far from mundane or ordinary.

His life is multifaceted and his early experiences have played a major part in his development to becoming a caring son, loving husband, and anticipating father. He considers himself to be scrutinizing until a major revelation forces him to understand and forgive.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Apr 14, 2021
• ISBN: 9781098363215

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Copyright © 2021 by D. James White

Velvet Sky

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopy,

recording, or any information storage and retrieval system now known

or invented, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer

who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written

for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper, or broadcast.

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-09836-320-8

eBook ISBN: 978-1-09836-321-5

Printed in the United States of America

This novel is a work of historic fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is strictly coincidental.

www.velvetsky.com

Table of Contents

For Betty Ann

Dedication

Prologue

Chapter 1

Happy Birthday JR

Chapter 2

The Masquerade

Chapter 3

The Quest

Chapter 4

Will’s Jubilee

Chapter 5

The Book

Chapter 6

Velvet Sky

Chapter 7

Movin Along

Chapter 8

City Life

Chapter 9

Star Life

Chapter 10

The Family Album

Chapter 11

Unfinished Business

Chapter 12

Raising JR

Chapter 13

The Circle of Eight

Chapter 14

The Exotic Flower

Chapter 15

Family Affairs

Epilogue

The New Normal

Acknowledgements

For Betty Ann

It was a sunny, Fall, Saturday, and mom was battling cancer. She was glued to the TV, while I was on the street; there was this wonderful energy that lifted our spirits. Presidential candidate Barack Obama and his Vice Presidential running mate, Joe Biden, came to Germantown! I had never seen tens of thousands of people pack the neighborhood like this before.

I pressed my way through the crowd into Vernon Park and met these two dignified American leaders. President Obama was in a motorcade SUV, and Vice President Biden was in one of the main tour buses. Much to my surprise, the bus door opened and out popped JB; he was electrifying, and excited to get in the crowd. He had no concern of security, and only wanted to touch the people. It was comical when secret service respectfully, took him under his arms, and lifted/escorted him back on the bus.

Mom and I laughed about that event, and that beautiful fall day, for months after. She has moved on, but those memories, and the excitement remains.

Dedication

I thank God for the inspiration to write about, just a portion of His creation. This work is dedicated to my parents who inspire me indirectly through their stories and lessons in life. When you finally see the light that humanity holds, so many facets such as; unity, separatism, love, hatred, and fundamental individualism, it becomes evident that all that we know in this world, is temporary. These brief few breaths that we as humans have been granted by our creator, should never be wasted on elements that bring generations of torment. I pray, when you experience this work for yourself, you will be able to identify it with some part of your being. Elizabeth Ann Nutter White and James Abner White, I dedicate this work to your memory, and I will love you always.

Prologue

Well here we are, near the end of February, and the aftermath and cleanup of blizzard 2016. I was beginning to think that Philly had escaped any major snowfalls this winter until this. Everyone was snowed in watching either the presidential races or tabloid TV, and wondering if anyone of color would be nominated for the Oscar awards this year; this demographic has been very slim since the inception of these awards in 1929.

This country has gone through quite a history of classifying folks of African descent; once upon a time prior to the ending of slavery, in the United States, the proper term was negro, then after 1865 the classification became colored, and remained as such for the next century. In the sixties, at the crossroads of equality awareness for colored citizens, the birth of the term black arrived with great musical artist pronouncing, I’m Black And I’m Proud. Then sometime in the 1980s, we transitioned to the term African American, and this seems to be the official classification that has remained to 2016.

Our current Commander and Chief is causing me to think of contributions of my top ranked United States Presidents. My top five are Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Barak Obama. This is not necessarily my list of favorites, but each one of these leaders faced near impossible challenges. They led the country and world through these challenges, to the point of generations after their time, reaping the benefits of their wisdom and sound decisions. Let’s start with President Abraham Lincoln.

President Lincoln knew that his decision to declare the Emancipation Proclamation, would lead to certain civil war. He considered that our great nation was built on the backs of black slave labor; slavery in the colonies was established in the 1600s, long before the infant nation gained its independence from Britain. The dawn of the industrial revolution, in the 1800s, revealed the reality that this young nation no longer needed forced human labor to keep the union functioning. The strife came as a result of Southern and Midwestern plantation owners feeling threatened, because they were soon to lose the wealth gained from slave labor. Many bodies were needed to produce cotton, and other products that were grown on these vast plantations. Meanwhile the northern states were quickly adapting to wealth gained from the industrial revolution of the 1800s.

President Washington will always be remembered as the Father of The Nation. He was the British General that led the rebellion against the British King, which led to the birth of this great nation.

President Roosevelt will be revered for rescuing the nation and the world from economic depression; his fiscal policies caused the nation to get back to work after the pandemic of 1918, and the end of World War I. It was on President Roosevelt’s watch that World War II was ending.

President Kennedy will never be forgotten, because of his courage and prudence in standing strong against nuclear aggression from Russia. In the late 1950s the world came close to another great war. Also this great president’s courage ushered in the modern early 1960s argument of civil rights for all citizens, and he demanded the end to racial discrimination.

This is President Barack Hussein Obama’s last year in office, and I heard an interesting fact; he is the first president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt to have won more than one term by the popular vote and the Electoral College majority.

Like President Franklin Roosevelt, who turned around crashing US and world economies, President Obama stepped into the arena just before the US was about to lead the world to another economic disaster. He certainly has his hands full with this modern terror network that has evolved from ISIS to ISIL; yes the militant group that started out defining themselves as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, has now evolved to the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant to include now the countries of Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, and Jordan.

I have a feeling that since this is the Commander and Chief’s last year in office, the opposing party is going to challenge his duty to select a new Supreme Court justice, in the wake of the very recent passing of the Chief Justice, and there is talk of dismantling his work on the Affordable Care Act; this is the law that seeks to establish universal healthcare for all US citizens, and all for no apparent reason, other than the attempt to erase any accomplishment of this highly successful leader with pronounced African heritage. Hail to the chief, America has survived, and based on unemployment dropping, we seem to be in economic recovery.

I’m also beginning to notice that Black History commercials are missing this year, and the debate on Black Lives Matter continues to churn in the wake of more police killings, of primarily unarmed black men. The former Secretary of State seems to be the only presidential candidate to have the courage to speak on ideas and possible solutions to this cancer that is plaguing our nation. This seems to be a dark cycle that we thought was tackled in the 1960s, and now the same situations are coming to surface with some of the same results; there are riots and civil rebellion, and the revisit of militant organizations that were birthed so long ago, in response to the hate that victimized those who seemed to receive little to no justice.

There are too many hot topics these days. One is the resignation of the president of the Spokane chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, after news broke that she was a white woman who disguised herself as black. She seems to have genuinely identified with African American culture, based on her black affiliations and family make up. It seems to me that a resignation was uncalled for, because her record proves that she has upheld the mission of the NAACP, and her biggest opponents seem to be mostly silent on the issue of black on black homicide, this makes me wonder if her opponents really do understand that black lives matter.

All over the nation, another debate is taking place that involves the removal of the Southern Federal Battle Flag, also known as the confederate flag, and statues commemorating military leaders of the confederate army. Along with this debate is the protest of the National Pledge of Allegiance. All of this conversation involves the history of our nation from day one. It also involves what the flags stood for. We have experienced the creation of four distinct flags from the nation’s birth.

The first flag of the United States of America was designed and commissioned by Congress and made by Betsy Ross, in Philadelphia in 1779. The original flag included 13 horizontal stripes, red and white side by side, with a navy blue square containing a circle of 13 white five point stars. The stars and stripes represented the 13 British colonies that rebelled against England, and later became the first states in the union. At the birth of our country, all colonies possessed black slaves. As valiant as our Declaration of Independence was, with its enduring phrase, We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are; Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. did not include humans that were black slaves. When the first flag was commissioned, based on this declaration, all thirteen original states held slaves; in fact the first slaves were brought to the new settlement in the early 1600s.

The next variation of the flag was The First National Flag of the confederate states of America. It was made in 1861, shortly after the civil war began; this flag flew until 1865. The flag design was three bold horizontal stripes, two red and one white. The flag retained the navy blue square with 13 white stars. The two red stripes represented the North and South; the red emphasized the struggle and hardness. The white stripe represented purity. The 13 stars commemorated the 13 states of the union. Overall, this flag represented the divide in the great nation, all over this one moral question; is it just to maintain slavery in a country built on the suffering of black people?

During the same period of the previous flag, a variation of the new flag of the confederacy appeared. One common design representing the Southern United States, it was not adopted at that time, but eventually became the symbol of the nation’s commemoration of battle. This flag would later be known as the rebel flag, Dixie flag, and Southern Cross. This flag design is a diagonal navy blue cross containing white stars, on a red background. All these flags represented division, civil war, and the battle over the morality of slavery. In time, new flags that represented the United States, were adopted and they would evolve to the American Flag that flies today to recognize the original 13 British Colonies and 50 states in the union.

To date the rebel flag is a divisive symbol that most Americans feel should not be celebrated, but placed in museums to recognize a most troubling period in American history. There remains a remnant of Southern states that will not abandon this flag; they have said that it symbolizes southern pride.

Our current flag has also sparked new debate of the Pledge of Allegiance by athletes; these athletes are taking a knee when the pledge is recited and the national anthem is sung. The athletes protesting are bringing attention to current day struggles of minorities, who seldom get fair justice. There are two reasons why only the first verse of the national anthem is sung; the first is obvious, the poem was too long to sing for an anthem, and the second is due to the events that took place in 1812.

Let’s consider Francis Scott Key’s full poem, Defense of Fort McHenry penned in 1814:

"Oh, say can you see by the dawn’s early light. What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming? Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight, over the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming? And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. Oh, say does that star-spangled-banner yet wave o’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep, where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes, what is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep, as it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses? Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam, in glory reflected now shines in the stream. Tis the Star - Spangled Banner! Oh long may it wave o’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore, that the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion, a home and a country should leave us no more! The blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution. No refuge could save the hireling and slave from the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave; and the Star - Spangled Banner in triumph doth wave, o’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Oh! Thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand between their loved home and the war’s desolation! Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n rescued land, praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation. Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, and this be our motto: In God is our trust. And the Star - Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave, o’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!"

Key was inspired to write this poem after watching King George III’s armada bombing Fort McHenry Maryland in the war of 1812. Francis Scott Key was a nobleman of his time; he was a lawyer and a slave owner. Most noblemen of the time owned slaves and believed that God gave them the right to own other humans. The third verse of his poem reflects his hatred and bitterness towards slaves who aspired just as he did, for liberty and freedom. King George promised slaves that if they fought for England, he would grant them their freedom. Key mocks these freedom seekers in life and death by writing, And where is that band who so vauntingly swore, that the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion, a home and a country should leave us no more! The blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution. No refuge could save the hireling and slave from the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave.

Every culture and nationality represented in the United States other than indigenous people, are descendants of immigrants; the first citizens of the American hemisphere are indigenous people who