The Big House on the Prairie.

[Chillcavern]

Soap's cooking a slow burn here, love to see it.

Something tells me Baby Book here is not the biggest fan of his father
Gee I wonder why?

[Soapy]

STOP THE COUNT

landslide victory.

"That white man got a blank check,” Coach Thomas often told me of Phil Knight, the founder of Nike and Oregon’s top booster, "A white man with a blank check is a nigga’s dream.”

Just set the culture back 50 years with that statement

He might tell a joke but he won't tell a lie.

Soap's cooking a slow burn here, love to see it.

Something tells me Baby Book here is not the biggest fan of his father
Gee I wonder why?

Thanks, brudda. We haven't even gotten to the tea yet

[Soapy]

The Big House on the Prairie
Chapter Two :: The Mayor, Part Four

Growing up, my dad was just my dad. We played catch in the backyard, whether it was football or baseball, or played basketball in the driveway. He liked hosting parties but not the stuffy types you see in the movies or TV shows with the mayor rubbing elbows with the cities’ elite. No, he’d in a t-shirt and shorts getting the grill going with me by his side, offering my services as a helper but getting in the way most of the time. I didn’t want to be like my father, I was my father. When he would take me to work with him during the summer or during a school holiday, I’d beg my mom to let me wear one of my Sunday’s best so I could match him. If he had brisket for lunch that day, I’d order the same, even after six or seven years old.

My first inclination of who my father was, who he really was, came when I was around nine. His re-election campaign was virtually unopposed with the lone other candidate being Shawna Giles, a recent PVAMU graduate. She was talented, smart, well spoken but relatively unknown. This lack of opposition wasn’t by happenstance. From the moment my father took office in City Hall, he befriended and worked closely with other members of the city council. Even though he had veto power over their votes, he never used it, opting to instead work towards a compromise on any issue where they stood on opposite sides. By the time the 2016 election came around, no one in city council was going to dare risk their relationship with my father by running against him.

I knew my father was important but that Saturday morning, he was just another one of the screaming dads on the sideline of our football game. After the game, which we won, my grandfather would be hosting a barbecue at his house. He was still a judge and very well liked in the city and while my father was now the more front-facing of the two, my grandfather still kept tabs on the local populous by having frequent barbecues where he didn’t know half the attendees but treated them like they were his family.

For this particular barbecue, my father had been tasked with bringing the sides and with my mother resting at home following her first bout of cancer, we walked into a local BBQ joint that we often frequented, opting for the store bought variety. Shawna Giles was there, on the trail campaigning, speaking to patrons as they enjoyed or waited for their meals. At the time, I didn’t know who she was or why she was talking so loudly or why everyone was looking at us. At some point, as we waited for our food with my father not once looking over towards her, she made a comment about her opponent being too scared to debate her. She was right. My father had refused every offer of a public debate and with good reason. Despite her young age, Shawna’s background was impressive with a law degree and extensive history as a community organizer, starting her first fundraiser when she was just a sophomore at Prairie View. She was from Prairie View, educated at Prairie View and never left Prairie View. Her grasp of the local fabric and her education background would give her the clear edge over my father and he knew that.

"Never get into a fight you can’t win," he would often tell me and my siblings, "Ain’t nothing brave about that, just plain dumb.”

As our food was being prepared, my father finally turned around, having heard her comment about him being too scared to debate her.

"I’ll debate you right now,” he told her, leaning against the counter, "Any topic you want and you can go first.”

She was puzzled at first, surprised by his reaction, surprised that he even acknowledged her. She eventually, however, jumped on the opportunity and took my father to task on some issue that I don’t remember and I’m certain my father didn’t care for at the time either. She raved and ranted for a good while, long enough for our order to be completed. Some mac and cheese, some baked beans and collared greens.

When she was done and it was my father’s turn, he grabbed our food, handing me one of the trays, smile at her and told her, "Don’t you feel better now?” and walked out after shaking every hand in the place, hers included. That’s who my father was.

We fully expected the 2024 re-election to be very similar to my father’s 2016 and 2020 re-election with virtually no opposition as Shawna only got a handful of votes in 2016, an even bigger landslide victory than 2012. In the months leading up to November 2024, there was no clear candidates outside of Johnny Wilks, who had sat out 2016 and seemed to be rearing up for a run in 2020 prior to the pandemic. My father’s handling of the pandemic, leveraging his Austin connections to secure masks, testing kits and then early access to the vaccine at a far better rate than neighboring town, made him damn near unbeatable. Out of fear of being embarrassed, Wilks didn’t run in 2020 and my father was re-elected for a third time.

The biggest question surrounding our family that fall wasn’t the election but my pending college decision. I had delayed my announcement as I wanted clearer guidance on my mom’s prognosis. I was on my way to my second period class when the online copy of the article dropped, the Google alert on my phone sending me a notice as soon as the article was released, triggering on our shared name: "Sex, drugs and extortion: Booker Gurley Jr's mayoral tenure is riffed with corruption."
Next release: 7/7/2025

[Chillcavern]

Oh shit the spicy drop at the end there

But man, Booker Jr just effectively totally dismissing everything Shawna had to say by infantilizing her at the barbecue like that, absolutely brutal.

That’s some peak small town bully shit

[The JZA]

When she was done and it was my father’s turn, he grabbed our food, handing me one of the trays, smile at her and told her, "Don’t you feel better now?” and walked out after shaking every hand in the place, hers included. That’s who my father was.

And that my friends, is how you play Uno

[redsox907]

Booker said talk all you want white girl, ain't gon do no good

[YaBoyRobRoy]

Loving the back story so far bro, I’ll be following along from here on out!

[Soapy]

Oh shit the spicy drop at the end there

But man, Booker Jr just effectively totally dismissing everything Shawna had to say by infantilizing her at the barbecue like that, absolutely brutal.

That’s some peak small town bully shit

Booker Jr. is a menace

When she was done and it was my father’s turn, he grabbed our food, handing me one of the trays, smile at her and told her, "Don’t you feel better now?” and walked out after shaking every hand in the place, hers included. That’s who my father was.

And that my friends, is how you play Uno

checkers, not chess.

Booker said talk all you want white girl, ain't gon do no good

This is Prairie View, Texas bro, everyone is black

Loving the back story so far bro, I’ll be following along from here on out!

Thank you for following along, brother. Welcome to the site.

[Soapy]

onto the next page yall

[Soapy]

ok 1 more