Murda/Urban Gangstas - 10/23/2007 - Update - The Road Splits In The Courtroom
LissaS:
OOOO I love it can't wait to hear more. I really looking forward to this...
Elven_Song:
Wow... I can't wait until this next chapter comes out! This is all coming together so well! ^^ This has been an awesome ride, it's sad to think it may be coming to an end soon.
vita4all:
Hi Readers,
This evening I have two intense chapters for you. They're a little different as I've spun real historical facts into the last one. There's a heavy focus on Raheem in particular, and how and why he developed the viewpoint and lifestyle he did. Humans are social beings born with a clean slate and do not develop they way they do in a vacuum. Two people are often in the same family, but events affect them differently and they turn out to be complete opposites. So it is here. This is because extreme conditions often cause folks to choose extreme solutions for survival (when they have a choice), and this is what I hope show my readers.
Many of you will already know this, having been through it in your families and/or communities. For others, I hope it sheds some understanding and appreciation of the history, struggles, and problems with surviving within many African-American communities, which is really an American story and human story, that many, many groups around the world have also experienced. Although Murda is a story of good vs. evil in a minority gangster setting, it is also a celebration of diversity within one community where everyone has very different values and lifestyles, and step by step, learning what it takes to win in life with the cards dealt to them.
Also, if you're a regular reader and have never left a comment or haven't left one in a long time, please take a moment and let me know how you like the story so far. To those who have, hugs and thanks.
::smilieiforgetwhi::Find my new chapters on Post 1, Page 1 of this thread:::smilieiforgetwhi::
Murda Is Like Stepping On Roaches, and
Raheem's Thoughts About Solutions To Survival, Over Coffee And Chocolate
Take care,
Vita
Ali Xavier:
I'm blown away. You really took a risk, but I'm glad. Your last two chapters did something you rarely see - they humanized the bad guys so people can see how they came to be the way they are.
I hope the black history doesn't freak out or turn off your readers, because even though people talk about celebrating diversity, it's usually their group they're talking about. Most don't really want to hear about the black experience except the sanitized version you get in school, and what we've been through and how it has affected us, as you said, from one generation to another. Makes some brothers cold as ice, like Raheem, or super-Christians like his son Junior, or just lost in the 'hood like most of your other characters. I've known a lot of people like that.
The pictures were incredible. The Strange Fruit one blew me away, followed by Raheem with his coffee at the end where you can see how his life and ancestor's lives made him evil. I looked up the Strange Fruit song on Napster, and another singer named Jeff Buckley did a really good blues version of it too. I also loved the pics of the eyes seeing terror and death too, and Raheem throwing Junior (that must have been hard setting that one up!), and the hitman as a kid who stutters, and Kareem on street.
Junior wasn't all that cool to me before, but I can see what he's trying to do and why he's sneaky. I loved the photos that showed how he betrayed his father by taking some of his brothers and sisters to church so they won't grow up bad. Can't wait to see what's going to happen next.
vita4all:
Thanks Ali for your comment. The last chapter on Raheem's explanation of becoming evil was my least popular one. It was an attempt to show how anger and bitterness over one's family background and ancestry has a devastating affect on some people; that the evil that men do often flows into generations to come, and the victim's heart becomes cold and he becomes the aggressor. Although most human beings are forgiving, a small few are not. This is what happened to Raheem, who has no allegiances to anyone but himself and his kids, and is a law unto himself.
The topic material of slavery, discrimination and war may have been too hard for both blacks and whites to deal with, even though it was a normal part of American life for several hundred years up until the Civil Rights Movement in the late 1960s. Chapter 61 may have also been too long or redundant in some places. I wrote it in memory of Martin Luther King, who was assassinated on 4/4/68, and I've added that above the title.
I do contemporary stories about real people with real problems, who don't have fairy tale lives, and often don't have happy endings either. As a social worker for many years, I know of the struggles the poor and even the middle classes endure. My next chapter is about Kareem, a teenager who struggles with illness and wonders if he has HIV. This was written with the several friends in mind who've passed away from this disease and the teens and adults (and their babies) who I've worked with. In memory of them... especially my late friend Reggie. He was a good, good friend.
Find my new blockbuster chapters today -
Night Sweats - It Ain't My Fault If You're Infected
::smilieiforgetwhi:: At the end of Post 1, page one, never the end of this thread.
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