New Haven Register (Sunday) (New Haven, CT)
Author explores themes of race and tolerance
‘Changing Tide,” a new short story collection, reflects on embracing and eschewing change
Lewis J. Beilman III begins many of his days by sitting down at 6 a.m. and writing short stories about the relationships, racial divisions and misunderstandings that now surround us.
After an hour or so of work, he heads off to his full-time job as a grant writer at Cornell Scott Hill Health Center.
His early morning work has paid off with the recent publication of “The Changing Tide” (Adelaide Books), a collection of 10 short stories and a novella.
“I’m a Hamden resident who writes short stories in my spare time,” Beilman told a group of friends and family at Hamden’s Books & Co. on a recent Saturday afternoon. “My stories are about characters who embrace or reject change. The issues include immigration and racial and ethnic divisions.”
Then Beilman began to read the first story in his book, “They Were There.” A man hears a robbery and murder happening near his home, grabs his .38 Special and after he goes outside he sees two young “dark-skinned” males standing near a body.
“Thugs,” he thinks to himself as he pulls out his gun and shouts: “On the ground.” But instead the two males run off. Steve Wessel, the man with the gun, sees that the victim has had his skull crushed with a rock.
When the police arrive, Wessel tell them: “I saw the perpetrators. They were two black men.” Shortly afterward a black detective drives up and asks Wessel some questions about what he saw. The detective listens to the account about the two supposed “perpetrators,” then asks: “What made you think they attacked the victim?”
“They were there,” Wessel replies, taken aback by the question. “The two African-American guys were right there over the body.”
Wessel also tells the detective: “I’m sorry I didn’t shoot those bastards when I had the chance.”
Wessel, who regularly reads right-wing blogs such as “Breitbart,” “The Drudge Report” and “Hot Air,” is interviewed about the crime for a politically conservative radio talk show. But before he goes on, the detective tells him the investigation has proved the two black youths were 16-yearold high school students who were in the area to buy candy at a gas station, saw two men arguing and then saw one of them strike the other with a rock. Another witness confirmed the youths’ account.
When Wessel goes on the talk show and reports the youths were released, the host angrily says: “I bet if those two murderers had been white, they would be in jail right now.”
After Beilman read a portion of that short story, a member of the audience asked what had inspired him to write it. Beilman said it was the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old unarmed black high school student who was killed
by George Zimmerman at a gated housing complex in Florida in 2012. Zimmerman was acquitted on second-degree murder and manslaughter charges.
In a follow-up email to me, Beilman said: “Despite the fact that George Zimmerman was found not guilty, I still consider the event a murder — one of the many murders of young black men where justice reveals it isn’t color blind, at least not in the United States.”
In another email message, Beilman said his stories often deal with contemporary social issues “and I am particularly concerned with the issue
of racial equality. Much of this concern is due to moral considerations, but a big part of the concern is personal. I am in a long-term interracial relationship and have a 15year-old black stepson.”
Beilman added, “I hope the world will be a fairer, safer place for him to grow up in.”
During Beilman’s talk at the bookstore, he also was asked about the role of the news media in his stories. Beilman noted we are living in a time where people are debating about “fake news.”
Beilman pointed out the protagonist in “They Were There” listens to rightwing radio. “It has a damaging effect on people’s lives. It has heightened fears of people who are
different than you, pushing you to dislike the outsider, to make decisions that are kind of reckless.”
Beilman was then asked about the cover of his book, which features a tattered American flag. He said this was his idea. “Because right now there’s turmoil in our country. The tattered flag represents that. We’re living under a period of siege.”
Beilman acknowledged, “We’ve been through worse times: the Civil War, world wars. But this seems to be the most divisive time I can remember.” (He is 45.)
He cited President Trump’s declaration of a national emergency in an effort to transfer federal funds to build a wall on our border with Mexico.
“We have a ‘national emergency’ when we have fewer immigrants coming in now than before. This is putting strains on the branches of our government.”
When asked what changes he wants to see to make America a better place, Beilman noted some of his stories illustrate people learning lessons about being more openminded toward different ethnic groups.
“The way you treat other people affects your community,” he said. “That’s why it’s nice to be in a small bookstore in a neighborhood like Whitneyville. You get to know your neighbors and learn about people who aren’t like you.”
In an email message to
me, Beilman said he enjoys his neighborhood of Hamden Plains because it’s “diverse economically, racially and ethnically. It’s a nice part of Hamden.”
During his talk, Beilman made a brief reference to his mother’s political views, which are quite unlike his. I asked him about this in an email and he replied: “My mom is a diehard Trump supporter. We’ve agreed not to discuss politics. It’s just not productive.”
He added, “I grew up in a Republican household. Still, the Republicans I remember my parents supporting when I was younger — people like (President) George H.W. Bush, (Conn. Gov. and Sen.) Lowell Weicker and (U.S. Rep.) Chris
Shays — were people who seemed reasonable, even if you disagreed with their politics. Today it’s very difficult to reason with many of the right-wing conservatives who have taken over the Republican party.”
But Beilman said because his father worked as an accountant for a company that built power plants and thus the family moved about 12 times before Beilman was 3 years old, he lived with many different kinds of people all over the world. “This gave me a different perspective on people. Hopefully, it made me a little more open to different cultures.”