Jury of Witnesses

Jury of Witnesses, an original novella of speculative fiction, is based on two premises. First, the United States Supreme Court decision in Brown et al. v. Board of Education of Topeka et. al. (May 31, 1955) leads to the Great Compromise of 1955, which establishes a line of division based on race called the Blackwell-Wilson Line. Secondly, two supernatural forces seek to affect the future of the U.S. One supernatural force is comprised of murdered blacks whose slayings are racially motivated. The imprints form a collective consciousness, called the Memory, which appear in human forms to individuals whom the Memory want to use to avenge the murders. The other force is a god, called Emana, who funds the actions of the Memory annoying and reluctantly decides to help the Memory gain revenge by creating Imani Clark, the protagonist of the novella.