I Had To See And Feel And

And That's All We Are Jefferson, All Of Us On This Earth, A Piece Of Drifting Wood. Until We - Each Of Us, Individually- Decide To Become Something Else. I Am Still That Piece Of Drifting Wood, And Those Out There Are No Better. But You Can Be Better.

I Have Learned As Much About Writing About My People By Listening To Blues And Jazz And Spirituals As I Have From Reading Novels. The Understatements In The Tenor Saxophone Of Lester Young, The Crystal, Haunting, Forever Searching Sounds Of John Coltrane, And The Softness And Violence Of Count Basie's Big Band - All Have Fired My Imagination As Much As Anything In Literature.

I Write With As Much Objectivity As I Can.

You Learn From Music, From Watching Great Athletes At Work - How Disciplined They Are, How They Move. You Learn These Things By Watching A Shortstop At Work, How He Concentrates On One Thing At A Time. You Learn From Classic Music, From The Blues And Jazz, From Bluegrass. From All This, You Learn How To Sustain A Great Line Without Bringing In Unnecessary Words.

Don't Tell Me To Believe. Don't Tell Me To Believe In The Same God Or Laws That Men Believe In Who Commit These Murders. Don't Tell Me To Believe That God Can Bless This Country And That Men Are Judged By Their Peers. Who Among His Peers Judged Him? Was I There? Was The Minister There? Was Harry Williams There? Was Farrell Jarreau? Was My Aunt? Was Vivian? No, His Peers Did Not Judge Him, And I Will Not Believe.