Black: BOOK ONE: The Bear on Our Backs
by J. A. Faulkerson

What if you discovered that the American Civil War never ended, it just started being waged on different fronts? Book One in the Black Novel Series, The Bear on Our Backs, seeks to explore this question by telling the story of Jason Black, an elite, black American sprinter who is vying to compete for gold in the 100-meter dash at the 2016 Rio Summer Olympic Games. But Jason’s preparation for these games is interrupted when he is forced to defend himself against Roscoe Baker, the white security guard that holds him at gunpoint during a late-night response to a neighborhood disturbance. Fearing for his life, Jason stabs Baker with his sling blade knife - which he always has at the ready - and when he is apprehended after several weeks on the run, he is the one charged with attempted murder, with Baker offering up a Standing My Ground defense.

Jason nervously awaits the announcement and subsequent start of a jury trial that, if lost, would make him the new face of black criminality. However, while lodged at the black-owned and operated Sojourner Vista Resort and Conference Center, Jason has an epiphany about what he and other black athletes, intellectuals, and entrepreneurs can do to reconstruct black labor today for the jobs of tomorrow. But standing in his way is Malcolm Stillwell, a 76-year-old, white businessman from Manhattan, New York, who wants to use interest in Jason’s court case to sow racial division and hate as he vies for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination. Unbeknownst to Jason, securing the United States presidency is nothing more than a start for Stillwell, as he and agents of the shadowy Confederate States of America escalate their infiltration of the Republican Party in their ongoing effort to use governmental powers to resurrect the Confederate South.

Mirroring current events, this first offering in the Black Novel Series is a fictional story that strives to position the Black Diaspora’s need for reparations within its ongoing displays of resiliency and excellence in the face of unrelenting opposition.