Like many of the real-life characters in its pages, including me, the author, Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah is a survivor. It has endured several powerful hurricanes, withstood the terror of too many computer crashes to count, eluded theft, and dodged falling ceilings. The real miracle is the book not only survived these successions of turmoil but managed to steadily evolve with the addition of my artwork to the nonfiction stories. To appreciate how truly exceptional that is, please note that when I first began writing the book I did not consider myself a visual artist of any kind at all: not an amateur digital craftsman, acrylic stylist, photographer, or portraitist. I was the author of Songs from the Black Skylark zPed Music Player and co-author of Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance beginning a new literary adventure. Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah started with the experience of an actual dream in 1989. It had to do with a group of friends banding toge

News about homegrown and foreign terrorism receives a lot of broadcast media airtime and focused attention online. It has become a pervasive theme in the developing story of our 21st century lives. Still, it is not something with which most us can ever afford to become so comfortable that we take it for granted in the same way that we take doing the laundry or drinking a cup of coffee for granted. Nor should we. I almost refused to allow myself to believe the reports about the shooting Wednesday (June 17, 2015) at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, SC. Six women and three men shot dead by one Dylann Storm Roof. I almost succeeded in believing the massacre had not occurred so close to where I grew up in Savannah, Georgia. Then I reminded myself that denial of evident truth is also something we cannot afford to indulge in today's socially and politically tumultuous climate. Please click the link to read the full essay : Shifting Points of View and

“No one seems to think it  significant that upon the policemen’s arrival Kajieme Powell possibly had  reason to fear for his life and reacted in a manner consistent with his  disability.” ––Article excerpt (Aberjhani) “Democracy is not a gift of power,  but a reservoir of knowledge.” –– from The Wisdom of W.E.B. Du Bois The month of August happens to be  one in which a number of notable events in African-American history, relatively  recent in historical terms, have occurred. There are the birthdays of such  celebrated individuals as author James Baldwin (Aug. 2), President Barack Obama  (Aug. 4), and philanthropist and performing artist Michael Jackson (Aug. 29). From this point forward, people  shall also certainly recall August 9, 2014, as the day when 18-year-old’s Michael Brown’s death served to ignite a series of violent night-time protests  eerily reminiscent of similar scenes from the 1960s. The chaos also functioned  as yet one more reminder of how readily th

Advocates for civil and human rights march in Washington D.C. (photography by Getty Images) “We must not approach the observance and enforcement of this law in a vengeful spirit. Its purpose is not to punish. Its purpose is not to divide, but to end divisions--divisions which have all lasted too long. Its purpose is national, not regional. Its purpose is to promote a more abiding commitment to freedom, a more constant pursuit of justice, and a deeper respect for human dignity.”–President Lyndon B. Johnson (Remarks upon Signing the Civil Rights Act of 1964) Because so many social and political turning points took place in the United States during the 1960s, the country in recent years has observed a number of important historical milestones and continues to do so in 2014. One such milestone is the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 . The act became a law July 2, 1964, making the official anniversary date July 2, 2014. Awareness of that date is particularly

“He captured the spotlight of history precisely at the right time, and responded with a blueprint for what America could become if it trusted its democratic legacy… He was murdered. But his dream still excites our social and political imaginations. It beckons us to work, to realize the dream that America can indeed be a truly pluralistic society and that planet Earth can be a place in the universe where peace, justice, and freedom are the dominant ethos.” ––James M. Washington, Introduction to A Testament of Hope , The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr . August 28, 2013, will mark the 50th anniversary of the great 1963 March on Washington D.C. for Civil Rights and for Martin Luther King Jr.’s delivery of his now iconic “I Have a Dream” speech before a national audience.  Plans had long been underway to commemorate the event on Saturday, August 24, with a symbolic reenactment of the original march. Recent events, however, such as George Zimmerman’s acq