Today’s post comes from Kevin Bannister, author of The Long Way Home, a historical novel. Enjoy!
I was thinking about what freedom means the other day.
My historical novel, The Long Way Home (Fireship Press) concerns the search for freedom by ex-slaves and Black Brigade soldiers Thomas Peters and Murphy Steele. The two fight smallpox,Atlantic storms, debilitating illness, bounty hunters and a lengthy list of other challenges that would be incredible except that that they are also true and historic. But what they mostly face, what really sets them back, time after time, is the usual indifference and, often, outright hostility to their attempts to be landowners and free men by government officials and politicians.
The concept of freedom for Thomas and Murphy was quite simple and obvious. They wanted to be treated as citizens who could own property, raise their families peacefully and have the chance to earn a living wage. As people striving for freedom through history have often discovered, the right to own property is the absolute foundation to not only being able to support a family but, also, to participating in a democracy and being equal citizens. Unfortunately, the powerful elites in history have also known this and, therefore, have almost always fought against giving slaves, the poor and the abused the right to own land because they knew that this would eventually represent a threat to their control over the lives of the masses. And so, we have the adventure and conflict of The Long Way Home as the two friends struggle during the War of Independence and after for freedom.
Their battles for freedom were obvious, even to them. Ours are subtle but they’re equally challenging. But because the challenges to the fundamental freedoms achieved for all of us by men and women like Thomas and Murphy in the past are now subtle, often hidden and used by those in power to control us doesn’t mean that the challenges aren’t there. It means that we have to be more vigilant than ever to guard against the erosion of our rights.
We have the opportunity to own property, vote, express opinions and protest. Over time we have worked, as a society, to eliminate prejudice and bias against groups of people based on race, religion, gender. More work needs to be done, obviously, but more people have more rights in our society than they did even 50 years ago let alone 230 years ago when Thomas Peters and Murphy Steele were fighting the entrenched powers to be even allowed to work for a living wage or own a small plot of land.
Our struggles are about maintaining our privacy against the hungry data-gathering machines that want to categorize us and thereby limit our freedom to choose. Our fight is also against ad hominem attacks against us from both the left wing and right wing when we speak out against government bungling and corruption. It concerns structural failings in the justice system that both limit the ability of assaulted women to pursue charges and, at the sametime, pre-judge and expose falsely accused men without a trial. There are other challenges to individual freedom in our society—hypocritical prudery, increased work time obligations and low wages, censorship of books and movies, the gutting and trivialization of mass media. There are others I am sure you know.
But the biggest single threat to freedom for all people is, strangely, the same now as it was for Thomas and Murphy—namely the widening and immense gap between the wealthy power elite and the rest of us. This inequality keeps many poor families in a kind of generational disadvantage as our educational and health systems are not able to break the chain of poverty and any attempt to elevate the disadvantaged out of their situation is vigorously opposed by the ruling folks. This is how the class structure is maintained in our society, by limiting the freedom of the poor to advance themselves—much the same way as it was when the two ex-slaves fought against corrupt and inept British governors and bureaucratic officials. Of course, there are examples of exceptional individuals elevating themselves out of the lower class they were born into but for most of us, particularly for the very poor, there is very little chance of upward mobility. Those children coming from wealthy families enjoy better education, better health care, better leisure opportunities,better family connections. In the old saying, they are born on third base and think they hit home runs while the rest of us are learning to bunt.
I am advocating the same thing that Thomas Peters wanted for his people so long ago—the freedom for all people to have the same opportunity to succeed. An equal playing field for all–the purest form of capitalism–will bring the most talented to the top,not those with the best family connections or those who inherited the most money. When this is accomplished the long human struggle for freedom for all, which can only be made real when all are given the same freedom to achieve, will finally be over.
About The Long Way Home
Pages: 348 Pages
Publisher: Fireship Press (September 15, 2016)
Set in the turbulent times of the War of Independence, The Long Way Home follows the lives of Thomas Peters and Murphy Steele who are friends, former slaves, fellows-in-arms and leaders of the Black Brigade. Their real-life story is an epic adventure tale as they battle bounty hunters, racism, poverty and epidemic in their adopted country after the war.
‘The Long Way Home’ has resonated with readers around the world as an unforgettable account of courage, hope and determination triumphing over despair and injustice. Thomas Peters, thoughtful and charismatic, and Murphy Steele, strong and impulsive, lead their followers on an inspirational search for a place where they can be free.
Reviews:
“The author has written about such a sensitive topic and in a very beautiful way. The reader will become immersed in a reality that may seem too distant, but written in a language that conjures very vivid images, a tale that will speak to the hearts of readers with eloquence. Bannister has successfully combined historical facts with glowing imagination to deliver a masterpiece that will be well received by lovers of historical fiction. His language succinctly portrays the world of a slave and the injustices prevalent in that world.”–Romuald Dzemo, author of Courage To Embrace Yourself and You Can’t Be A Failure
“Kevin Bannister’s Long Way Home is a novel that grabs your attention from the start and keeps you riveted to the last word. . It is written around an era where the life of an Indigenous North American, and a person of African roots, were deemed by Caucasians to be easily expendable and not a thing to trouble a conscience. It highlights in great detail the fact that when greed and self interest came to the forefront during the American Revolution that Caucasian brothers had no compulsion about inflicting unspeakable barbarities upon each other. An unforgettable read!”–Dr. Daniel N. Paul, C.M., O.N.S., LLD, DLIT, Mi’kmaw eldering, author of We Were Not The Savages, Order of Canada recipient, journalist and lecturer, www.danielpaul.com
Purchase Links
Amazon | Books-A-Million | Barnes & Noble
About Kevin Bannister
Kevin Bannister is a rancher and writer living in the beautiful foothills of central Alberta. He would like Thomas Peters and Murphy Steele to be celebrated as the heroes that they were in their lifetimes and to be inspirations to young people everywhere to persevere in the face of bigotry, poverty, government indifference or any other adversity. Check out Kevin’s website for more info HERE.
