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Snake
Walkers
By
J. Everertt Prewitt
Reviews Luke
10:19 NLT reads “I have given you authority over all the power
of the enemy and you can walk among snakes and scorpions and
crush them. Nothing will injure you.” Thus begins
Snake
Walkers, an engrossing mystery and coming of age story,
partially set in Cleveland, with well developed characters and
lots of surprises.
Anthony Andrews witnessed something as a child growing up in
Arkansas that so traumatized him that even as an adult he
suffers recurring flashbacks, nightmares, and headaches. Because
there has been no news coverage of this event Anthony decides
that he wants to become a reporter and majors in journalism in
college.
Jobs as newspaper reporters are scarce and it is even more
difficult for black reporters to find work in Arkansas. He is
elated when he is hired by one of the largest newspapers in the
state. He is even more thrilled when asked to investigate racial
atrocities that have occurred in the state. Anthony’s
investigation takes him from cities and towns in Arkansas all
the way to Cleveland, Ohio.
Snake
Walkers is as much about the strength of the black
family, courage and principles as it is about a newspaper
investigation. The author grabs the reader’s attention on the
first page and holds it until the last.
--Jacqueline
R. Avery, Antioch Speaks
In the summer of
1962, I was sitting in Riley's Poolroom on East 105th Street, in
Cleveland, Ohio, listening to the elders talk about their lives
growing up in the south. They discussed how black men and women
were brutalized during their time and how each one of them knew
at least one person--usually a family member--who had to leave
the south under the cover of night to escape the wrath of
someone they might have offended.
One elder that day, though, a Mr. Johnson, told a different
story. After everyone had finished, he said softly, "We
didn't all lose, and they didn't all win." Everyone nodded,
but no one said anything further. Mr. Johnson, a quiet and
dignified man, was probably in his sixties at the time. For some
reason, what he said that day stuck with me over the years and
occasionally I would hear similarly veiled references to
"they didn't all win," from my elders, including my
parents.
The 1960s were fast and turbulent years for me and my friends.
The freedom movement witnessed, among others, the emergence of
Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., John F. Kennedy, John H.
Glenn, Jr., and John W. Coltrane. I graduated from Glenville
High School during that period, went on to Ohio University and
then Lincoln University in Pennsylvania where about fourteen of
us were almost involved in a shoot out with Klansmen coming from
a rally in Rising Sun, Maryland.
I was drafted into the Army and graduated from Infantry Officer
Candidate School in 1967. I missed the Glenville riots in 1968
because I was in Viet Nam. But Viet Nam had its own racial
conflicts, and as a first lieutenant, I was made commander of a
supply company that had been involved in an uprising in 1969.
For the young black men who served in Viet Nam, especially those
I met from the south, it was the first time some had served on
equal terms with their white counterparts. Sometimes the
experience was good and sometimes it created friction. There was
usually one outcome from almost all of those encounters, though.
If the black kids thought that whites were in some way superior
to them before the war, they didn't think so afterwards.
After the army, I began to write about my experiences, but I
didn't follow through and put the idea of writing on hold. It
stayed on hold for almost thirty years until I decided to take a
creative writing course at Cleveland State University. I learned
a lot in that course and in subsequent writing workshops that
encouraged me to pick up the pen again.
There were so many stories to tell, but I most wanted to write
about the strong black families, and black men and women I had
known. Somewhere along the way, as I tried writing a number of
short stories and toyed with writing a book, I remembered Mr.
Johnson's words again, "We didn't all lose, and they didn't
all win," and I began to write in earnest.
In 2001, my cousin and I videotaped my aunt, uncle and my father
as they related their history growing up in Arkansas. Their
stories gave me even more impetus and a lot of the subject
matter for my book, thus the story Snake Walkers was
developed.
Snake
Walkersis fiction, but what happened to
the characters in this book did happen to someone, somewhere
(I've heard enough of the stories.) The beauty of fiction is
having the freedom to blend several stories into one.
This book deals with confrontation, but it also deals with
growth and transformation. We are all products of our
environment and based on the sum total of our experiences, we
approach situations differently. As those experiences change,
our approaches are subject to change. We look at circumstances
in a new light, and hopefully, we grow.
Snake
Walkers is about a young black man who was
traumatized as a kid, and is later faced with a series of
situations that at one point become life threatening. Although
he isn't prepared for them, with the help of those he meets
along the way, he adapts and becomes a different person in the
end.
This is a story that has been told a thousand different times in
a thousand different ways, but although I enjoyed reading a wide
variety of books when I was growing up, my heroes were always
people that looked like my mother and father. So from that
perspective, at least, my story is one I rarely read.
They say that you should write about stories you would want to
read. I did, and this is my story. I hope you enjoy reading it
as much as I enjoyed writing it.
--J.
Everertt Prewitt, http://www.eprewitt.com/
* * * *
*
About J Everett Prewitt
J. Everett Prewitt believes in the power of
unity. His first novel,
Snake
Walkers, is a testament to
strong black men, women, families and communities--like the ones
in his Glenville community of Cleveland, Ohio--where part of the
story is set. He believes "Your history, created by your
ancestors, is a road map for your family's future. If you know
your history, you also know your potential for greatness in
yourself and your children."
Prewitt graduated from Glenville High School, received a
Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration from Lincoln
University in Pennsylvania, and earned a Master of Science
degree in Urban Studies from Cleveland State University.
An entrepreneur, Prewitt has been president of Northland
Research Corporation since 1982. The firm provides real estate
appraisals and consulting services. He has received numerous
honors and recognitions for his professional contributions and
community service including: the Realtor of the Year award from
the Cleveland Area Board of Realtors; the Distinguished Alumni
award from Cleveland State University; the Distinguished Alumni
Citation from Lincoln University; and the Award for Civic
Service from the Citizen's League of Greater Cleveland.
Prewitt has served as president of both the Cleveland
Association of Real Estate Brokers and the Cleveland Area Board
of Realtors. He is chairman of the board for the East End
Neighborhood House and vice-chairman of the board for the
Greater Shaker Square Development Corporation. He is also a
Trustee Emeritus at David N. Meyers College.
Prewitt wrote
Snake
Walkers because he didn't see enough
books about strong black families like his own. He also didn't
read many books about families that fought back against racism
in the South and won. "I know it happened because I heard
the stories," Prewitt offered. He remembers the Glenville
community as an embodiment of "the village" where
everyone contributed to the well-being of others. Everyone had a
role. Children were nurtured and guided to adulthood and elders
were respected. Prewitt believes that for us to continue to grow
as a community, we have to embrace that village concept.
His literary inspiration comes from writers like Cheikh Anta
Diop, Malidoma Some and Maryse Conde. He also likes the
futuristic novels of Octavia Butler and Tananarive Due. He grew
up reading authors as varied as Richard Wright, James Baldwin,
Langston Hughes, Robert Ludlum, Jack London and Ian Fleming. He
cites Earnest Gaines and John Oliver Killens as "two of my
favorite writers."
Prewitt is also the author of a nonfiction work, Urban
Residential Real Estate Market Analysis. He is the father of two
and when not writing, enjoys tennis, backgammon, billiards,
working out and reading.
Book
price: $24.95. Northland Publishing Company / 2775 S. Moreland
Blvd. #202 / Cleveland, Ohio 44120 / 216.752.1357 / 216.752.4612
/ north-land@mindspring.com
/ www.eprewitt.com
post 20 April 2005 * * * * *
updated 16 August 2008 |
