I was sitting here with two art students
College kids
Who I help with their projects
Yes some schools in New York
Are still in session
In the summer
So I made them watch this special
While they worked on a 3 dimensional design
Assignment…………
And I worked on a drawing I am doing on torture
And the black medusa
I know ill explain later
Anyway
The CNN special was
Being black in American
By Soledad O’Brien
This Irish-Afro-Cuban woman
Has been one of my personal heroes
Even before Katrina
I knew she had it
After Katrina she and Anderson cooper
Became my heroes.........I trust them
Like we used to trust Cronkite
I once sat with Soledad O’Brien
About three years ago
At a dinner for the Green some thing charity
At Spike gallery
Where James used to work
She is more beautiful and intelligent in person
No we didn’t talk much
I have learned
When I am around some one
Like her to just listen
Until I can get fixed on their moods……….
But
I did tell her how much I admired her
And her smile made it all worth it
In any case
Her bio is included at the bottom of this email
And her show was wonderful
It gave me not only hope
But pride
We have some really smart black folks out there
And these young brothers and sisters
That are coming up behind us
Are educated, informed and willing to change things
The education didn’t dilute them
It empowered them
This restored me
Right after this special was on of Dr King
And I realized while watching both of the specials
How smart my father actually was
My father
My brother haunts me now
And in trying to figure out
Who these men were
It has caused me to look deeper
Inside myself to both find them
And me
So
I am coming to know role models
Better in death
Then I ever did in life
I can feel them
Gloriously
Most days’
And if I close my eyes
I can be them
Or parts of them
My father I understand his genius
Why he read the paper so much
And how he was able to predict
To figure out where things were going
In this country
God what would he had been like
Had he grown up in the computer culture
With so much information
At his finger tips
My father I don’t think
That he even really got my brother
In many ways
How Ronnie was doing exactly
What he wanted him to do
Served the community
I think like me he was looking at younger generation
That he didn’t quite understand
I can feel this
But Steve Sampson figured out long ago
That by having the contact
That he did
With so many people
He was able to sort through
There information to find their needs
He then would make an informed decision
And then take action
I am different from my father
In that I am a gossip
I want to know every one business
And then proceed
This is much more like my mother
Who did her own thing
Behind the scenes
My father’s ……………… predictions
Including when he said
After hearing Dr King speak
Out against the war
Were almost prophecies
He said how
They would kill king’
Because he crossed the line between
The world of black folks and white folks
His effort to unify all poor people
And speak out against global oppression
Was death sentence
King could see beyond just black people
Long ago
My father always knew this
Anyway listening to this television show
I realize how much of what I do
That I learned at his knees
He watched
He listened
He could bring people together
His genius was not in
Organization
It was in the vision
His ability was in bringing people
Together
And making them believe in
Things
And then to find the people that he needed
To get done what needed to get done
I am learning continually from his example
The longer I live
And the more I understand my father
And what he was actually about
How he worked
How he thought
I was sitting here wondering
What his intentions were for his kids
Beyond the education,
But I now believe
That my father
Was perfecting his perfect committee
Making a self contained unit
Of family and friends
To further his visions
It didn’t happen
Or did it
He used to say
There is mans plans
And there are god’s plans
In any case check out cnn special
It was powerful
Soledad O’Brien
Love ya
Love ya
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