Law and Motion

By S. Michelle Blackwell

This story is loosely based on actual events and public figures, focusing on famed Black attorney Isaac "Ike" Wright. He started practicing law after separating from the US Army, with the sole purpose of representing people of color whose civil rights and liberties are trampled on by society on a daily basis. After years of fighting a system t

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ground Floor Publishing
• Release date: Oct 15, 2021
• ISBN: 9781736400128

Book preview

List of Characters:

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ISSAC IKE WRIGHT, 20s through 40s, African American man

ANITA JACKSON, late teens through 30s, Mixed Heritage woman

THEODORE TED HILL, 40s, Jewish man

FRANK BAGLEY, 50s, Caucasian man

SHEILA WRIGHT, 30s through 40s, African American woman

ELVIN WRIGHT, 20s through 30s, African American man

DARREN JACKSON, 30s through 50s, Caucasian man

LISETTE GRAVES, 30s, Caucasian woman

JUANETTA JENKINS, 30s, African American woman

MICKEY WU, 40s, Asian American man

CARL MOSELY, 20s, African American man

JIM MOSELY, 30s, African American man

CHIEF BUCKLEY, 50s, Caucasian man

DEVIN RICHARDS, 20s, African American man

JUDGE AMANDA MILLS, 60s, Caucasian woman

JUDGE C.T. READ, 50s, African American woman

SENATOR JACK COOLEY, 60s, Caucasian man

US ATTORNEY TOM FORTE, 70s, Caucasian man

KEKE JOHNSON, 20s, African American woman

GISELE TALBERT, 20s, Mixed Heritage woman

CELESTE, 40s, African American woman

JOSEY, 20s, Open ethnicity woman

BAILIFF, 40s, open ethnicity man

HOSTESS, OPEN age/gender/race

REPORTER, OPEN age/gender/race

RACHEL, OPEN age/gender/race

WAITER, OPEN age/gender/race

JURORS, OPEN age/gender/race

NOTE: Although the initial production of Law And Motion was performed as an audio project (production, produced by BDP Entertainment Group and available on PodcastBeast.com), it can be performed live on stage, for screen or in an audio capacity. To inquire and/or obtain the rights to re-produce this project please visit GroupFloorPublishing.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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S. Michelle Blackwell is a California girl through and through. She was born and raised in a quaint seaside community at the southernmost tip of Cali. Her parents were both aerospace engineers, but she dreamed of becoming a physicist in the CIA. Yes, the Central Intelligence Agency. However, in the mid-1980s, when she was in grade school, her counselor told her that the C.I.A. did not hire Blacks, especially women. She felt that was unfair. Here was where her passion to fight for the rights and civil liberties of women, people of color and the lgbtq+ community began. She then turned her eyes towards being an attorney so she could right all the things she felt were wrong in the world.

However, after completing her college education she found her true calling was in the written word. Over years she learned how to create and produce her own projects. As of 2021, she owns multiple companies including the indie production, marketing and tech company, BDP Entertainment Group, under her umbrella company the BlackwellTh Company, Inc.

It was during an incredibly long legal battle with some of the nation’s largest banking institutions, in which those banks attempted to defraud and steal property from her, did she decided to return to one of her childhood dreams of being a lawyer and represent herself in her cases.

Her legal battle with the banks went on for over a decade— it should be noted that she eventually BEAT the banks, won her property and avoided the all-dreaded foreclosure trap— and while going through the motions of learning the court system, and how to not only defend but ultimately represent herself in a court of law, she also figured out how to write her own court briefs, motions and other legal documents.

Unbeknownst to her, all of those years of courtroom experiences, coupled with knowledge of legalese, would come in handy when creating the story you are about to read... LAW AND MOTION.

Introduction

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T

hrough the pages of this book, you will meet a man. An unapologetically Black man. You are about to walk a mile in his shoes. Quit a few miles. You are about live life vicariously through his lenses, from his point of view. Through the pages of this book, you are going to meet some remarkably interesting and possibly even familiar people. Influential people. People you may have even come to love over the year or perhaps you will while reading this book.

You will experience his life like a fly on the wall. Enough with all this dilly-dallying, let’s get on with the story. We’re going to go back to where go back to the meeting that would change their lives.

Please note: this book is written in a unique combination of ways, to include stage play, teleplay, screenplay and podcast formats. This play on words is designed so that it may be easily read and/or performed live, on stage, via a podcast broadcast, webseries or film such as it was initially, in 2021. To hear the 2021 project, please visit: LawAndMotionseries.com or on the digital platform PodcastBeast.com. Visit the book publisher for usage rights or for more on the book: GFPBookz.com

Scene 1

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I

n the furthest corner of the Fort Bragg military base, located in North Carolina, sits the lone Negro soldier’s barracks. Fireworks are bursting in air, brightening up the night sky. A half dozen Black Soldiers are milling around the barracks in various stages of undress, preparing for a night out on the town, celebrating.

Jazz music spews out of a small phonograph in the rear of the barracks. One young man, Isaac Ike Wright, in his mid-20s, a tall, dark, handsome, and well-built, sits up on the top of one of the many bunk beds in the barracks, reading a book. Ike is keeping to himself when another soldier, Carl Mosely, also in his 20s, a bit shorter and stockier Black man, comes over to Ike, smiling.

CARL: I know you ain’t gonna sit in that bed all night and read them law books instead of taking advantage of this one day of leave, Corporal Isaac Wright.

IKE: Then you don’t know me very well, Private Carl Mosely.

(Ike continues reading without making eye contact with Carl.)

CARL: That’s Private First Class Carl Mosely, Man. And you said the next time my cousin Jim was in town doing a comedy show you would come check him out.

IKE: (looking up from his book) Jim Mosely is in town?

CARL: Yes, suh! Right over in Raleigh. And you know wherever my cousin Jim is doing show the pretty ladies follow!

(Carl’s devious smile widen. Ike takes in a deep breath.)

CARL: Come’on, man... get you a little of that sweet, funky stuff tonight. Shit... at the least you can get that thing licked on. Sucked on. Nibbled on.

(Ike stares at Carl, skeptically. Carl moves to his bunk right next to Ike and continues dressing.)

CARL: (continue) Them women that be following my bother be nasty, man! Buy they asses a couple of drinks and you can have her legs in the air by the end of the night. (pause, chuckling) Man, we gonna have a few drinks, hear some great comedy, meet