The Last Angel To Fall: The origin of prejudice and racism
The Year 2020 has brought new levels of awareness regarding the systemic racial injustice that has plagued the United States since its inception. But what is the true origin of such bigotry and hateful intolerance still prevalent in our supposed-civilization?
Throughout human history, prejudice has been the overarching characteristic regarding the way ethnic, cultural, religious and physical differences are judged among people. Intolerance is ignorance, but that ignorance is entrenched at a deep emotional level that does not recognize logical argument.
Racism is one of the key themes in this novel. The mysterious Asheba Rain who joins Jubal Stone and Thaddeus Coleman on their hunt for the fallen angel was born in Hell. There is a colony of indigenous humans and other beings living in Hell: People considered the lowest of animals who have been harassed, slaughtered and used for slave labor by their tormentors. Asheba has longed for justice for her people, but in the war between "good and evil" neither side has really cared for anything other than its own self-interest.
Excerpt from The Last Angel To Fall:
Asheba moved in for a closer look. Everyone there
was definitely dead. This could ruin everything,
the chance for a new beginning. She had hoped
the coming war would usher in a new age of
reason. An age of justice, without superstition and
prejudice. But nothing had changed. The two
sides cared little for the lesser beings they used as
pawns in their titanic struggle.
Jubal Stone is Caucasian. Thaddeus Coleman is Black. Asheba Rain is somewhere in-between. Asheba's first instinct is to seek any resource, grasp any opportunity to help her people obtain basic rights, even if she has to betray both men to realize her goal. She has faced prejudice against her species her entire life living in Hell, and now she is subjected to prejudice against her origin during her temporary stay on Earth, but at first she is willing to do anything to avoid being sent back.
Excerpt from The Last Angel To Fall:
Having been born and raised in a land where her
people had few rights and could be beaten or even
murdered without any recourse, where they were
about the lowest of the animals, this land was
almost too-good-to-be-true. She knew it had
many faults, but they paled in comparison to her
homeland. They'd only allow her to emigrate if she
would be their spy on Earth. She hated the
thought, but almost any price would be worth
paying.
Thad Coleman doesn't trust her for the simple fact that she was born in Hell. While that might seem reasonable and defensible on the surface, it is still a prejudice against ethnic origin based solely on ancient texts. Asheba tries to explain that she only does what she has to in order to help her people. Her plea falls on deaf ears, however, because Thad had a religious upbringing that is intolerant of Hell and anything connected with it.
Asheba knows that those in Heaven and Hell consider the lesser beings mere cannon fodder to be used and disposed of in their eternal war. The side of so-called “Good” doesn't care about them any more than the so-called “Evil.” She makes a compelling argument that neither side can be trusted with the destiny of those living in Hell or on Earth. Jubal is open-minded about her point of view, but Thad's religious indoctrination does not afford him the ability to be objective.
Asheba is concealing a big secret, however, that she knows will not be tolerated by either Jubal Stone or Thad Coleman. Due to their ingrained prejudice, neither man will be able to judge her fairly if they learn the truth about an ancient prejudice so virulent it once destroyed the entire world. Hers is a secret that strikes at the very origin of prejudice, ethnic cleansing and genocide.
To read the novel which Kirkus Reviews calls “A powerhouse first volume in a supernatural-thriller series,” just click here: https://www.amazon.com/Last-Angel-Fall-Jubal-Stone-ebook/dp/B07TYZXLV2
About
Brian
G. Walsh is the author of The Last Angel To Fall, volume one
of the Jubal Stone Series of urban fantasy novels.
Walsh is
also the author of No Place For Mercy: An Eclectic Anthology,
a collection of short stories readers have compared to the writing of
Stephen King, Edgar Allan Poe, Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, Rod
Serling and others.
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