Chapter One

EAST CHICAGO, INDIANA ... 1954 ... Jeff, Carrie, and Jeremy settles in East Chicago, Indiana an industrial city. Jeff gets a job as a laborer for a brick refinery. Carrie believes God has shown Jeff the way to a safe state and neighborhood, where Jeremy can go to school and become somebody important. Years later, Jeremy is a teenager attending Wallace High School. Jeff can afford his family the basic needs, food, shelter, and minimum clothing. Jeremy and many of the neighborhood teens wear blue jeans, fleece, and gym shoes. Jeremy's history book, Conceived In Liberty, is among his favorite, especially Abraham Lincoln's quote "A new nation conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equally, November 19, 1863" Jeremy's observation of Jeff's experiences has proven Lincoln's address doesn't apply ... in 1954. All men are equal; however, all men do not receive equal justice or have equal rights. A big foot rest on the backs of men in Calumet. Jeremy knows there are limited opportunities for him with or without an education in Calumet, which is a small neighborhood, surrounded by freight train tracks in East Chicago, Indiana. Everyone knows their neighbors and others living within the train tracks. Jeremy wants to leave Calumet, but can't until he has a plan that will help support his parents. He left for school, late, this morning disappointed with his life possessions. Half a block from the school, Jeremy hears the final bell rings, warning all students to sit in their seats. He will use this time to open one or two student's locker that have a nice aroma of food. In the hallway, Jeremy sees Eddie sniffing the ...