A couple of things have been rattling around in my mind since the Zimmerman verdict in Florida.

The first is how this is still a white country, and that white privilege still rules over all other concerns except for cash. This is never more apparent given the verdicts of the Zimmerman and OJ Simpson trials; one a triumph of money over perceived justice, the second the killing of a Black teen with apparent impunity.

The second issue brings me right back to the speculative universe of the Darkside Trilogy. To Blacks, the prospect of leaving this country to live in an all-black community, away from all white detractions, able to excel at whatever our hearts desire without the day-to-day deprivations of a white society is something to be considered seriously.

However, most whites simply don’t get it. Take the latest review of Discovery: Volume One of the Dark side Trilogy on Amazon.com by reader John Anthony Deksnis:  

Couldn't Get Past The Premise which struck me as more like a Saturday Night Live skit.
*Spoiler Alert* and *Mean-Spirited Review Alert,* too.

I wish I had been a fly on the wall when the author pitched this book to his agent. Or when the agent pitched it to a publisher. Although, now that I think about it, "Discovery" might have been self-published. In any case...  Oh, please. Blacks who are so discontented with life on earth that they opt to go live on the dark side of the moon? I'm sorry. That just strikes me as funny. A politically incorrect spoof or something. That said, I will give the author an "A" for effort. The four and five star reviewers are certainly correct in stating this book was well-done in many respects. But I, for one -- maybe the only one -- just couldn't take it seriously.
Although perhaps I should consider adding a star or two, because I found it to be a hilarious tale with a howler of a punch line. Anyway, I find myself wishing that was what the author intended. Because if it was, he pulled it off brilliantly. But as a serious work? Nah, I don't think so. Not for my money. Which -- laughs aside -- I wish I had back.

This is the cultural context from which whites regard Blacks, and exists more often than most Blacks are willing or able to believe.

This is the essence of the Darkside Universe, where Blacks obtain the ability to live their lives with impunity, without an possibility of white intervention, taint or influence whatsoever. Furthermore, the people who populate the Darkside Universe are the kind of Blacks I grew up with in the neighborhood of the University of Chicago. My doctors and surgeons were Black. My Savings and Loan officer was Black. My teachers were a balanced mix of all races, enough so, and remarkably so that the television show Room 222 was based on Kenwood High School, my high school during my tenure there.

Unfortunately, a verdict like George Zimmerman’s, and the senseless death of Trayvon Martin, is a stark reminder of just how little this country thinks of Blacks, and that there’s little to no value placed on the lives in our community.

Would I emigrate to the moon to live with just us? In a heartbeat...

BTW: As far as I know, Deksnis never got his money back...I came out ahead on this one.