A week or so ago I signed my publishing contract to begin work to publish my second novel entitled "The Courage Equation."  This literary manuscript is 142,000 pages of developed thoughtful characters who maneuver through difficult life circumstances brought about by racist forces.  The story is filled with action, suspense, humor, and I believe it is a qualitative improvement over my first novel - "Find the Flower that Blossoms."  My book is slated to be released in September or October 2014, so I should be excited right?  I mean, how many people dream of writing a book and getting it published compared to how many people actually end up doing it?  And, here I am, a man from humble beginnings, preparing to produce my second published work.  Well, I am very much excited, but I'm also anxious, stressed, worried, and frustrated.  Those emotions result from the reality that everything within this capitalist society is judged and valued not based on what it contributes to the society we live in, but based on other material considerations.  What I mean is in this society, it doesn't matter one bit about how good your work is as it relates to quality.  And that's true whether it's a book, record, painting, poem, etc.  What matters is how much money can be generated by your work.  In fact, the basis of your project is evaluated strictly based on its' income earning potential.  And, anyone with any mental capacity knows that quality and sells capacity are two completely different things.

This formula works fine if your only motivation for producing your art is to make money.  If that's you, then you are already a sell out who's only interest is providing your service as a product to the highest bidder.  For these people, art is nothing more than a commodity.  But, for those of us who see art as a tool to inspire and uplift people, as a vehicle to encourage people to bring out the best in themselves, especially as it relates to people's ability to come together to create a better society for everyone, this formula is extremely problematic.  We stress because we know that our focus on creating a story based around justice and not just violence for violence's sake may not resonate with publishers.  We stress because we know our work, lacking that instant commercial sex appeal, will be dismissed by most who initially review it.  We know that this dismissal will happen even though our work is far superior than many of the commercial stories that go on to maximum financial achievements.  It's not that we are envious of those blockbuster stories with limited to no social value.  If it was our objective to create stories that place financial reward over social substance, we are certainly capable of producing such a work.  Instead, we strive to write about truth.  To expose injustice and to create stories where people stand up and fight back, organizing successfully, and winning, against the power structure.  This is the story that is never told on cable television, Netflix, Blockbuster, or any of the commercial entertainment venues.  This is the story that isn't being told anywhere, except through the work we produce.  This is why we stress and worry because we know that if our story isn't published, this narrative is never told.  So, in spite of signing a contract, we know this industry is driven by profits which makes us suspicious and concerned that we will be manipulated and deceived at some point through this process.  Will our book be published on time and in the respectful manner we desire and need to get our work in front of people? Will  we get the book events we were promised?  Will people, who are programmed to have a 20 second attention span, give our work the time needed to understand it properly?  Will people who do read it understand it and help us spread the word because if this doesn't happen, it will make our future efforts to produce more socially conscious work much more difficult.  All of these questions, and many, many, others, are concerns for any author, but if you add on the desire to produce stories depicting Africa in a positive light, demonstrating the ability of African people to organize and fight back, showcasing Europeans following and respecting African leadership, and having women play assertive and thoughtful roles, we are now talking about a much more difficult story to generate support for.  This is true because my story contradicts practically all of the established literary models which makes it a maverick story that falls outside of the strict genre that the entertainment industry believes you are only interested in and capable of accepting.

As it stands today, all appearances are that our I have a decent publisher to will follow through with their commitment.  Time will tell.  My first one certainly didn't.  Either way, I'm going to push to get my story out there as much as I can.  It's an important story that I know will resonate with people once they are aware of it.  It's a story that will inspire and give people hope and encouragement to take action.  And, it will generate support for real life people who engage in the type of work my characters are carrying out.  That's why public support for independent artists is so important, especially those with a socially conscious message.  So, hopefully you folks will look for and support "The Courage Equation" when it comes out and any such literary work.  This is one way we can start to change the way people think in order to build that foundation for a better society.

I watched the decision being announced today with co-workers at the union hall that I work out of.  There was a lot of emotion present.  I watched a gentleman on television express that "America is best when she serves the interests of equality."  My personal standpoint on same sex marriage is that having experienced oppression my entire life I am automatically opposed to any effort to oppress and restrict any people.  So, consequently, I was genuinely excited that people who love one another can marry if they choose to do so.  But, listening to the gentleman's statement about America and equality, I was forced to think about the ongoing struggle over the LGBTQ question in the African community.  Of course, like all communities, there are plenty of LGBTQ people who are African, yet, there is a very well entrenched distrust of this community within the African community.  This distrust extends through every African institution, not just in the U.S., but all over the African world.  As a result of this phenomenon, many Africans propose that this issue results from our cultural and spiritual opposition to the "gay lifestyle."  I don't think I agree.  I think as a heterosexual male, there is so much I don't know, and that I know most people with that position don't know.  Still, I don't believe that the force of opposition within the African community is being driven primarily by lack of knowledge.  African culture is humanistic.  No one can dispute this because were that not true, we would have waged international war against Europe, the U.S. and all the white industrialized countries years ago and no one who studies history could blame us.  No, we are not barbarians.  We are humanistic people.  We value humanity, in spite of the behavior we exhibit from time to time as a result of the capitalist system's pressure on us.  Remember, it was our movement that civilized the world in Africa, Europe, and the Americas.  We stood up against brutal terror with only the desire for respect and peace.  So, why the intense opposition to the LGBTQ community?  I believe there are two things fueling the opposition.  First, there is a concerted effort to turn Africans against the LGBTQ community that is being led and financed by the white evangelical right.  There are international organizations like Samaritan's Power, which is led by the serpent Franklin Graham - the son of the snake Billy Graham.  This organization, on the strength of a $300 million annual budget, works on the ground throughout Africa, the U.S., etc, through our churches, preaching venom against the gay community.  The work of these "people" has produced a violence against gays by Africans that has never been unleashed against European colonialists and their benefactors.

The other factor is the insincere effort of many gay activists to attempt to benefit from the sacrifices of our civil rights movement without acknowledging the continued oppression against African people while many of them actually benefit from our oppression.  In fact, no conscious LGBTQ activist can deny that there is no oasis of white gay consciousness against institutional racism.  In fact, African gay activists are the first to point up this contradiction.  This reality generates feelings of disrespect and appropriation among African people, and I say that without qualifying it as heterosexual African people, because many African gays express agreement with this position.  This issue will be a sore point, and an obstacle in improving the consciousness of African people, until the LGBTQ community acknowledges the differences between the legal discrimination, and even anti-gay hate crimes, and 500+ years of institutionalized exploitation, terror, and discrimination.  I think what Africans are looking for is acknowledgement that this America that the gay spokesperson describes as being so great when it recognizes equality, is still unwilling to recognize that it was built and is maintained on inequality.  That it exists in wealth only because of the continued exploitation of the African continent and African people, among others.  I would argue that this contradiction is deep seated with African people and once the LGBTQ community addresses that in a principled way, I believe much of the distrust and animosity from Africans will decrease.  

As for the white evangelicals and their influence, African people have to develop a political maturity that permits us to stop being used like political footballs by white evangelicals, the capitalist political parties, the church organizations, and any and everyone who wants to step on us.  We have to demonstrate our true opposition to white supremacy by refusing to blindly accept their dictates about anything - including the LGBTQ question - and creating our own analysis on this question that is based on the humanistic and collective values of our African culture.  This is entirely necessary because no matter what any of us say, every message that is dominant in the world today is sanctioned by white supremacy.  They control all of the messaging mechanisms.  This can be proven by asking what message that dominates in the "mainstream" institutions like schools, churches, work places, social institutions, etc., is not compliant with white supremacy?  What message anywhere on the planet doesn't fit that paradigm?  You know the answer is nothing and nowhere.  So if we acknowledge that universal truth, how the hell can we argue that our current anti-LGBTQ arguments, which are exactly the same as what the racist white evangelical movement has been promoting for years (no matter who within our community is promoting those arguments) is our argument?  When have we ever agreed with the white evangelical community and saw that position benefit our people?  NEVER!  So, let's stop being pawns in the game and develop our own position.  We need a non-aligned movement on this question.  We may not side with the message of the organized LGBTQ movement, but we certainly can't agree with the white evangelical movement.  We develop our own position based on our culture.  I'll give you an example of what I'm talking about.  Its common to hear people say in our community that the "gay agenda" is destroying our community.  I've got news for anyone who parrots that line (which we know came from the white evangelical movement - we can prove that).  It's the international capitalist/imperialist network and it's institutions e.g. the prison industrial complex, the military complex, all police agencies, the mis-education system, the so-called public health system, the backward churches, and all appendages of this corrupt society, that are destroying our people.  The minute we realize that, and stop being led by our enemies, and the minute the LGBTQ community takes responsibility for it's ill responsible and exploitative position on our suffering, then we can begin to heal around this question and hopefully make real progress as people fighting to make this world a better place.  

For decades now, Sundiata, the real troop, has prison as his destiny,
While bank CEOs, and other capitalist thugs, steal and enjoy complete prosperity,
Show love and respect, for a real soldier who pays the price,
And, make a contribution to Sundiata Acoli's struggle, as a way to contribute to the fight.