Speaking of and talking to John Lewis...
For fans of the flipside research, the process has been the same. I film people under hypnosis speaking to folks on the other side (or their higher selves, guides, teachers, etc) and put those transcripts into my books (or turn that into a documentary; "Flipside" on Amazon Prime or "Talking to Bill Paxton" on Gaia.)
When I started working with the amazing Jennifer Shaffer, I filmed our conversations, often in a noisy restaurant - but my goal was to record the conversation for print later. I knew the footage was for the most part unusable in a noisy restaurant (but that didn't stop me from using it in "Talking to Bill Paxton" or in "Talking to Junior Seau, Paul Allen and Dave Duerson"). In both cases, those films have footage from quieter locales.
Then, due to the pandemic, Jennifer and I were forced to have our meetings online. We both have this desire to "move the needle forward" in this research. We aren't doing it at anyone's request, if people want to purchase the books they can - "Backstage Pass to the Flipside Part One, Part two and book three." But they don't have to do that.
They can just tune into the podcast or watch the clips at MartiniZone.com.
The set up is this - I may have decided upon interviewing someone, as I did with Congressman John Lewis - and ask them to come forward. I did so a couple of weeks ago. Since Prince has been an escort to many people who come into our "classroom" - I thought "If Jennifer says he's shown up" then he's bringing someone into class with him. Often it's a musician, but not always.
In this case, a couple of weeks ago, after his death, I asked him to bring forward John if he was interested in speaking for our class. He was not at that point. I didn't say to Jennifer "We want to speak to John Lewis" - but when she said "Prince is here" - I said "Does he want to bring forward the person I suggested this morning, or is he not ready for that?"
Jennifer said "He's not ready for that, but he wants to speak about the pandemic." That interview is here:
Then this past week, I invited John Lewis again. Or rather, as noted, I was in my kitchen and I got the "impression" that he wanted to speak to our group. I got that impression because of a person's image that popped into my mind - someone I associate with fighting for equal rights, the activist from my home town Fred Hampton. I've written a script about him ("Wingspread") but that's on a back burner because the makers of "Black Panther" have announced they're making a film about him. Which makes total sense - and I hope they do his story justice. It's an amazing story about an individual who thought up free clinics for impoverished people, and created food banks for children who were hungry in Chicago. For his efforts, he was murdered by the Chicago Police (under direct orders from J. Edgar Hoover and Cointel FBI agents - as learned in a court case recently.)
But that made me realize that John Lewis was in the wings - about two hours prior to our meeting. So I took the time to look up some facts about him, his mother, father and wife - who had all preceded him, and this one detail jumped out at me. That he knew two of the three boys murdered in Mississippi - Michael, Andrew and James - freedom riders who he knew and rode with.
I want to say that question "jumped" into my mind as a "proof of concept." Because Jennifer didn't know these boys, I didn't say who they were, I just asked if he had been reunited with those friends. And his reply is what brought me to tears. I asked him to show Jennifer what happened to them - and he did.
Proof of concept.
Jennifer didn't know who these boys were. I referred to them by first names only. I asked Congressman Lewis to "show her what happened to these boys."
Andrew, James and Michael
That's how communication works. Sometimes with impressions, feelings or words - but in this case with visual images. I don't know what she saw that made her say "they were killed by the Ku Klux Klan." But she was accurate.
Dr. King holding up the Freedom Rider's pictures.
I did not say his whole name. I new that Jennifer would not know who Emmett was just by the use of his first name. Note that on the video she writes it onto her clipboard. "Emmett." Then he said he had reunited with Emmett.
Emmet's murder profoundly affected John Lewis. I thought he might have seen him since returning home.
Which gave me a massive chill and brought me to tears.
I apologize for the tears. But sometimes this information does that. It's overwhelming.
Which leads me to another point.
Someone on Quora.com took the time to write to me about two things that bothered him in this interview. One was that John Lewis would suggest who we vote for - based on the research that shows once we "go home" we can see that life is way more complicated and planned out than we can imagine, that those who prevent people from voting may be part of a larger plan to teach people lessons in unconditional love, etc.
"Why would John Lewis be concerned about the vote? From his perspective everything happens for a reason, doesn't it?"
My reply: "Thanks for the comment. Couple of things. He didn't say to vote for Joe. He said vote for Jack in the box. We assumed he meant vote against the current administration.
But if you read the books.. and Jennifer and I have been interviewing people on the flipside for five years. When he was elected people came forward to say how much the loathe him. People reported he was a necessary evil to inspire those to rise up against what he represents. Famous politicians who mock him. We've interviewed John McCain - he still loathes him but so does Lincoln.
Every politician we've talked to says he's a disaster. (Then I went into my personal interactions with him - having had a film premier at Mar al Lago (the only filmmaker to do so.) The star of my film Dina Merrill loathed him and had numerous creepy stories about him - which I've heard and witnessed first hand. I won't go into detail, because this is not about that fellow - but why John Lewis would care.)
But I’m the one who prodded John about voting. He was answering questions. I'm the one who prodded him about everything." (These reports are in the books "Backstage Pass to the Flipside" and for the most part I leave them in verbatim. They even claimed to be responsible for the photograph of the President walking up Air Force One with toilet paper on his shoe.)
Jennifer said "He had 3 children? I'm seeing three." I said "He had one that we know of." She said "I'm seeing more, like six. That's what he's showing me."
So here's where most people freeze - stop - get off the bus so to speak (reference intended).
"He had one child so she must be wrong or making this all up." That's what people do - and that's fine. They aren't meant to know this information, they should return the book, turn off the channel, move on. This research is not for them.
But hang on.
For those who have been paying attention or read the series of books: "Backstage Pass to the Flipside."
As I've learned over the past 5 years of doing this every week - Jennifer doesn't make up what she's seeing. She can misinterpret what she's seeing, or in trying to explain what she's sensing - but that's why I'm here.
Jennifer works with law enforcement agencies nationwide on missing person cases.
I could have said "No, he had one child, let's move on." But I know better. She asked him the question (in her mind, live on camera) "Why am I seeing these children?" And she said aloud "They're Martin Luther King's children. It's like he treated them as his own."
I had no idea if that was accurate. If one knew their story - how close they were, they might assume that - but neither Jennifer nor I knew his story in such detail.
And if this was a chapter in a book (and who knows, maybe it will be) I would have transcribed the session, then taken the time to look up each and every comment.
In this case, it took me two seconds to find this interview of Congressman Lewis at Coretta Scott King's memorial.
ED GORDON, PBS host: "Joining me now, democratic Congressman John Lewis of Georgia.
Congressman JOHN LEWIS (Democrat, Georgia): "Thank you very much for having me today."
GORDON: A remarkable homecoming that we saw yesterday. You were there. Give us a sense of the feeling in the church.
Congressman LEWIS: Well, it was unbelievable, extraordinary, a great sense of community, a family gathering. It was a reunion of the civil rights movement, with many entertainers, political leaders, four president, foreign dignitaries, a first lady of South Africa, several ambassadors, and it was a people's gathering. It was a people coming together to say goodbye to one of the most beautiful and charming and gifted women of our time. I was so moved. At times I cried, at other times I laughed. It was very hard and very difficult to say goodbye to Coretta Scott King.
GORDON: Congressman, you had a unique relationship with the two of them, Dr. King being a mentor, someone you looked up to. And of course, through the years you've become very close with Mrs. King. On a personal level, talk to me about what you will miss most.
Congressman LEWIS: More than anything else, I will miss her late telephone call, late night calls. She would call me late at night, and we would talk, and especially right after the assassination of Dr. King, because she was planning the Martin Luther King Center. She would call and we would talk and talk. And one night she called and talked so long and so late I fell asleep on the telephone, and I heard myself snoring. And she fell asleep. And I woke up and I said, Mrs. King, Mrs. King; she was not there. And we would laugh about it.
But she was so warm. She would always ask me, how is your mother? How is your father? How are your sisters and brothers? And every birthday, Ed, that I've had for the past 20 years she would send me a birthday card, a note or a signed book. And my birthday is coming up in about two weeks and I will not get a birthday card from her, and I will not have her to say, how are you doing, John?
I remember during the march from Selma to Montgomery, 40 years ago, when we were walking up Highway 80 between Selma and Montgomery, Mrs. King and Dr. King took the cap off of Dr. King's head and said, John, you've been hurt. And Dr. King put this cap on my head and Coretta nodded in agreement; she said, you need to wear that cap to protect your head.
....GORDON: Congressman, we've lost so many giants over the course of this year in particular but over the last few years. Do you believe that the movement is in good hands...?
Congressman LEWIS: Well, I--it is my sincere belief and feeling that the movement is in very good hands. There's a cadre of young people on the move. Some are elected officials, and others are in the entertainment world and the business. But I'm not worried."
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In the Wikipedia entry for Martin's son he mentions a trip he took to India with John Lewis... "In February 2009, King and his wife traveled to India, fifty years after his father and mother made the trip. During his stay in India, King led a delegation, which included John Lewis." Lewis also spoke at the death of Yolanda King some years later - showing up for their family in many ways.
So in terms of seeing Martin's children being children that he felt responsible for, that looks to be accurate. Martin and Coretta had 4, John had 1. There's likely another one in their story that he also took care of that we aren't aware of yet.
Jennifer is reporting.
The Congressman said he wept at seeing those speak at his funeral. Energetic, etheric tears - the feeling of being overcome with emotion. Seeing the unconditional love being poured out for him.
We are reporting.
As I report, I try to unpack, or ask questions to get to the heart of the matter, to the truth of the story. These clips are live on camera - later I can look up the details. We're capturing lightning in a bottle. But it doesn't change.
In this case, I think the interview stands on its own.
He is still passionate about getting people to vote, and offers a solution - to invite "UN kind of monitors" into each state to oversee the election process so that when the results are tallied, there will be independent confirmation. (He may have been referring to this article in the Intercept: https://theintercept.com/2018/11/05/u-s-elections-are-neither-free-nor-fair-states-need-to-open-their-doors-to-more-observers/)
I think it's a great idea and have passed it on to our congressman #TedLieu (without mentioning where it came from. Too hard to put into a tweet.)
For those who don't want to consider that our loved ones continue on, they won't consider this verification anyway. For those that have had the experience of connecting to loved ones no longer on the planet, this is a method for how to do so.
My two cents.
