Visionary Vibes: A Blog by Aberjhani

Conversations with the World 113: Return to Harris Neck, Georgia

6/16/2023

While Nikole Hannah-Jones’ 1619 Project, undertaken in partnership with the New York Times and Hulu streaming service, was on its way to becoming a multi-media phenomenon, I was focused on completing texts and artwork for my Black and Blue Letters from the Red Zone initiative. It was not until I joined an impromptu watch party with millions of others and watched ABC’s (partnering with Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Studios) 3-hour network TV broadcast of the 1619 Project, on May 31, 2023, that I made a big discovery.

In our individual quests to explore different aspects of the legacy of African Americans, Hannah-Jones and I both encountered, and documented, the story of the remarkable Wilson Moran. The 1619 Project segment on Moran primarily dealt with the loss of his family’s, and that of other Black families in Harris Neck, Georgia, land to the U.S. Government during the early 1940s. This was very much in synch with the 1619 Project’s noted goals to prompt dialogues on “a new origin story of America’s founding,” and, on possible reparations for African Americans whose ancestors were slaves.

Author Aberjhani interviewing the late Mary Moran in 1999 to help spread the word about African Americans in Harris Neck, Georgia, losing their land to the U.S. Government. (photo by W.E.L.Sr, from Bright Skylark LP copyright by Aberjhani 1999/2023)

My essay, published in The American Poet Who Went Home Again, also discusses the displacement of the Harris Neck families. In addition, however, it recounts the story of a song passed down to Mary Moran, Wilson’s mother, and how that song led to a journey to the family’s ancestral village in Sierra Leone, Africa.

Conversations and Controversies

A number of controversies have erupted challenging the historical accuracy of specific statements in the original published version of Hannah-Jones’ Pulitzer Prize-winning essay. None of these debates, however, have muted the call for continued discussions of potential reparations for African Americans in one form or another.

Nor have they changed the fact that the case of Wilson’s family and other former African-American residents of Harris Neck are only one, among many, involving the destruction of once-prosperous Black communities under the guise of various justifications. That reality became painfully clear to me while writing about Black Wall Street and riots in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance.

‘We Lost a Way of Life’

It was a shock to see Wilson discussing Harris Neck as part of the ongoing Hulu docuseries because, as shared on a Facebook post, a lot of years had passed since we last communicated. I’ve been forced to reconsider whether my work documenting the story of Harris Neck and wider implications is complete. When doing so, this paragraph from The American Poet Who Went Again (p. 61) keep coming back to me:

“The story of the Moran family’s descent from the resourceful amplitude of 2,670 acres to 1.5 is a story that charges Wilson’s voice with more than a little bitter regret and sweet longing. 'It’s not just a matter of having lost the land and the wealth that came with it. It’s a matter of the fact that we lost a way of life that we should have been able to pass on to our children and to their children, but which we can’t because of what was taken from us. I think that if we did have that culture to pass on to not just our family but our people as a whole, we wouldn‘t see a lot of the negative things that we do in urban communities, things like severe drug abuse, extreme crimes, and extreme poverty.‛”

The Concept of Democracy

Was it only a coincidence that the 3-hour network television stream of The 1619 Project occurred on the first-year anniversary of Mary Moran’s passing at 100 years old? More than likely, it was not. Planning is a major part of any hopes for success when working in electronic and digital media.

Chances are as well that it was not merely coincidental that access to the content was made available to an expanded viewing audience only a few weeks before Americans celebrate Juneteenth and July 4th 2023. At the heart of the issues involved, after all, is everything that gives the concept of democracy real value: “…Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Aberjhani
Author of These Black and Blue Red Zone Days
and Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah
Artist at Postered Chromatic Poetics

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A Little Social Distance Holiday Fun with Former U.S. President Barack Obama

11/25/2020

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I considered myself exercising patience and restraint when I resisted paying additional shipping fees to receive my order of Barack Obama’s bestselling book, A Promised Land, just one day after it came out on November 17, 2020. Having opted for the longer arrival time of approximately 2 weeks at the much cheaper cost of “Free Shipping,” I did not expect to receive the book until either the end of November or early December. So imagine my surprise and #gratitude when it showed up November 19, just 2 days after the release date.

There’s no question A Promised Land is one of the most significant, if not THE most significant, memoirs of the modern era. Because of Mr. Obama’s direct involvement with public events which have shaped much of America’s and the world’s history in this first half of the 21st century, it could not have been otherwise.

A Parallel Literary Journey

In the photograph above, I have placed A Promised Land between 2 of my own most recent books: Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah and Greeting Flannery O’Connor at the Back Door of My Mind. The reason is not because I megalomaniacally imagine myself to be as famous or influential as the 44th president of the United States of America, but to commemorate a parallel literary journey through some extraordinary shared history. It is also my way of having a little social distance holiday fun with the great man himself.

Upon his election to the Oval Office 2008, I wrote the first (“There upon A Bough of Hope and Audacity”) of several poems about Barack H. Obama’s historic achievement. During my time as a national cultural arts columnist for AXS Entertainment, I wrote a number of articles documenting responses to Mr. Obama’s first term as president (with now #PresidentElect Joe Biden as his vice president). The proliferation of what we now frequently refer to as disinformation and misinformation prompted me to coin the term guerrilla decontextualization for the extreme nihilism directed against him and his family. Many Americans were not certain he would still be here to write and publish this book. The fact that he did endure to tell his remarkable story in A Promised Land is something totally worthy of celebration and gratitude.

Aberjhani
Harlem Renaissance Centennial 2020-2030

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A Special Bright Skylark Black History Month Tradition Continues

2/27/2020

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Display of books and literary journals featuring writings by Aberjhani with an art poster for Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah in the center. (photo from Bright Skylark Literary Productions Collections)

Receiving feedback about content published on a cultural arts website like Bright Skylark Literary Productions is always a good thing so I appreciate visitors who have expressed disappointment over the lack of posts usually presented every February in celebration of Black History Month (officially ordained by the U.S. Government as African-American History Month). Sometimes we find ourselves too engaged in living the unfolding history of the present moment to address the exemplary achievements of the past. At least that’s how it has been with me lately.

As indicated in the previous post I am currently scheduled to give a lecture at the Flannery O’Connor Childhood Home in May. Presenting a lecture on such an iconic author, even when preparing to publish a book in conjunction with the same, is not something which can be done (not by me anyway) haphazardly. It has required extensive focus and tapping a few reserves of stored energy. Which is why I’m grateful that while I was concentrating on O’Connor’s work, folks at the WW Law Community Center Branch Library in Savannah, Georgia, were featuring a display of my book Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah along with a poster for it in honor of Black History Month. An administrator asked if I would be willing to take a few photos at the library. I agreed.

A Literary Photo-Op

To accomplish our shared mission, I went to the library (where I have conducted research many times) and took with me about a dozen books which I had either written, co-written, edited, or contributed to, plus just as many literary magazines containing writings by me. I had never assembled my various publications for photographing so was kind of stunned by the variety and quantity, from the slender first paperback edition of I Made My Boy Out of Poetry and early volumes of the Savannah Literary Journal, to shiny hardback copies of Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance, ELEMENTAL The Power of Illuminated Love, and the Civil War Savannah Book Series. Included in the creative mix was a 1992 edition of the African American Review and a more recent poster rendition of the book cover for Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah.

This is the cover of a well-preserved copy of the 1992 edition of the African American Review featuring Harlem Renaissance artist William H. Johnson’s 1944 oil painting “Moon Over Harlem.” Inside in the review’s first poetry section is “Black Man Sitting on a Rock” by Aberjhani.

Even more amazing was realizing copies of ESSENCE Magazine and numerous other publications––not to mention online articles, essays, and blog posts––were not included in the display. If ever I felt tempted to criticize myself for not having done more (thus far) as an author, there before me was considerable evidence of a substantial effort. So having put it all together, the librarians took a number of photos, some of them showing me with the books and some of the books by themselves. The lighting was not the best for picture-taking but it turned out to be a good way to continue a very special Bright Skylark Black History Month tradition.

Aberjhani
© Harlem Renaissance Centennial 2020

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How 2019 Turned into a Big Year for Literary Productions (part 2 of 2)

8/2/2019

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"Tears of the Children of the Sun" artwork by Aberjhani C2019.

Some of the publications at Issuu, like CONNECT Savannah, are simply digital editions of magazines for which I've written feature stories or poetry. Others employing my writings are new to me. What probably amazes me more than anything else is the scope of their ideological --from politics and social justice issues to spirituality and the creative arts--application of the works.

More often than not, their assessments of certain situations align with mine. Although we have not formally partnered to include my voice in various photo spreads, feature articles, or special sections, the sense of balanced perspectives sometimes creates the feeling we have.

Podcast Prospects 501. Exploring the treasured catalog of articles, fiction, memoir, nonfiction stories, essays, poetryt & art by Author-Poet Aberjhani for adaptation to podcasts & film.

It has been just as revealing to learn how much international territory the different publications cover as it has been to check out their aesthetic strategies. For example, both the Daily Times (April 2019) in Lagos, Nigeria, and African-American News & Issues (March 2019) have based themes of entire editorials on concepts expressed in a single quote which serves as the lead statement or primary point of discussion. One addresses political freedoms and responsibilities in a democratic society while the other focuses more specifically on the Black Lives Matter movement.

The AssiégéEs Citadel des Resistance (June 2015), based in France, employed my Guerrilla Decontextualization philosophy to enhance a penetrating (some might say crushing) ideological critique. Going in a completely different direction, popular writings from different books were also presented in publications like One Curvy Boutique (Feb 2018) in Florida, USA, with images celebrating healthy self-esteem in women:

Famous "Dare to love yourself as if you were a rainbow with gold at both ends" haiku from The River of Winged Dreams setting the stage for One Curvy Boutique.]

The September 11 edition of OPUS 2016 features a well-known maxim from ELEMENTAL, The Power of Illuminated Love, alongside the photographic artistry (referred to as "Burtography") of Brazil's (by way of New York) Burt Sun. Mr. Sun's incorporation of the text is particularly intriguing due to the fine art photographer's skillful juxtaposition of nude figure with apocalyptic environments. His work forces us to challenge definitions of obscenity and question the honesty of declaring the nude human form as indecent while granting license for the destruction of communities in the name of political, military, or monetary gain. In short, his images provoke the kind of reflections I generally hope my pen does.

This fine art photograph by Burt Sun, as indicated by the text on the left side, is titled Syrian Kitchen. The quote beneath the title, "This world’s anguish is no different from the love we insist on holding back," is from the poem "The Homeless, Psalm 85:10," published in ELEMENTAL, The Power of Illuminated Love.

These observations might strike some as stretching small events to make big statements. They are in fact much more than that. It means, and suggests, a great deal when an editor of Pakistan Today (June 2019) in Karachi, Pakistan, the fifth largest city in the world (est. population 14.91 million), employs an author's literary voice to launch a powerful examination of “The Politics of Megalomania.”

There are, however, certain kinds of enchantment which may rightfully be described as small because they likely mean more to me than anyone else. Such an instance occurred upon discovering the popular quotation, 'Hearts rebuilt from hope resurrect dreams killed by hate,' had been published in Revista Medalhão Persa (January 2019) as part of a somewhat lyrical celebration of the city of Tabriz. Fans of the poetry of Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi will forever recognize Tabriz as a place associated with Rumi's great spiritual companion: Shams. But according to the publication, Tabriz "for some scholars was also the site of no less than the Garden of Eden.”

Familiar Touchstones of Cultural Awareness

The simple point of all this is not only to further highlight for podcast and film producers the advantages of adapting for their platforms materials from the Bright Skylark Literary Productions catalog. It is to confirm the demonstrated appeal of a catalog of contemporary works to populations across the globe.

Quote from Journey through the Power of the Rainbow: "The literary artist lends verbal depth to the visual. The visual artist provides visible articulation for the literary." Presented in Nigeria's New Telegraph.

While I welcome the prospects of adaptation different works to podcasts and/or film, one of my primary goals as a writer has always been to help foster dialogues which strengthen humanity's capacity for world-sustaining co-existence. Years of producing unique literary compositions which evolved into familiar touchstones of cultural awareness have created an exciting momentum from which many can benefit. That would be a good thing to keep going as we approach the final quarter of 2019 and prepare to accomplish a potentially much stronger surge forward in the year 2020.

If you missed part 1 of this post please check it out by clicking right here. Below is the promised image gallery of some of the publications at Issuu featuring my work.

Aberjhani
Harlem Renaissance Centennial

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Discovering 'The Many Ways of Looking at a Black Man' in 2017 (part 2 of 2)

1/21/2017

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"Discovering 'The Many Ways of Looking at a Black Man' in 2017" Postered Poetics by Aberjhani inspired by original image creations of Barron Claiborne.

Trends in demographic shifts, progressive grass roots movements aimed at correcting blatant social injustices, and social media have had transformative effects that strongly encourage revisiting and reflecting on images of Black men's realities in 2017. The prototypes identified in "The Many Ways of Looking at Black Man" are still important. They have, however, expanded considerably.

Signs of Our Changing 2017 Times

Both before and during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s through the 1940s gifted African-American actors and performers like Ira Aldridge and Paul Robeson at times left the States to find outlets for their talents where they could work without the hindrances of extreme racism. In 2017, that scenario has reversed as performers of African descent from countries outside the U.S. make their way to Hollywood, Broadway, and central strongholds of hip-hop to reap the financial rewards of professional gains made during Blacks' historic struggles for equality.

When giving interviews about his 2013 Academy-award-winning film, 12 Years a Slave, director Steve McQueen Afro-Britain noted he was able to adapt Solomon Northup’s book for the screen as successfully as he did because of the Transatlantic slave trade common to the history of Black people on different continents in the western hemisphere. That simple acknowledgment underscored an aspect of African American men’s' identity often overlooked: that African Americans are also members of the African Diaspora, or, if you will, African Diasporans. Despite the United Nations-endorsed 2011 International Year of People of African Descent, the profound implications and potential of the McQueen's observation is routinely overlooked.

In addition to McQueen, actors David Oyelowo, Idris Elba, DelRoy Lindo Del, and Chiwetel Ejiofor are only a handful of British actors of African descent whose artistry has been employed to dramatize interpretations of African-American men's lives. Such interpretations have ranged from Elba's portrayal of druglord Russell “Stringer” Bell to Oyelowo's acclaimed performance as Martin Luther King Jr. in the film Selma, directed by Ava DuVernay.

Echo Kellum's recurring role as Curtis Holt, a gay Black man married to a Latino on the hit television show ARROW, reflects an aspect of one population subgroup which many in the larger community still have extreme difficulty accepting. Yet, so far as popular television series go, Jesse L. Martin's role as Joe West in The Flash is no less a challenge to stereotypes and assumptions. As the Black adoptive father of a White son––Barry Allen (a.ka The Flash, a.k.a. actor Grant Gustin) who is involved in a romantic relationship with West's biological daughter Iris (Candice Patton )––his is a comic-book world where race is defined not so much by color as by those who have super powers and those who do not.

The Obama Legacy Effect

In his farewell addess, President Barack Obama quoted the late great novelist Harper Lee in which her character Atticus Finch states the following in To Kill a Mockingbird: “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view…until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”

Finch's words may contain the wisdom necessary to help members of an increasingly diverse democracy better support one another as Americans rather than continually battle each other as cultural and political separatists. The president also wisely pointed out the need for African Americans to recognize the value of adopting the following practice:

"...Tying our own struggles for justice to the challenges that a lot of people in this country face – the refugee, the immigrant, the rural poor, the transgender American, and also the middle-aged white man who from the outside may seem like he’s got all the advantages, but who’s seen his world upended by economic, cultural, and technological change...." (Barack Obama)

Mr. Obama's commentaries on race and the American identity over the past nearly 10 years have not brought about an end to racial divisiveness or violence in the country. But they have played a major role in helping to decrease the magnitude of assumptions and racial bias that seemingly prompt the dismissal of Black folks' lives. His two-term presidency has allowed Americans and citizens of the global community to experience a black man as a "leader of the free world." That singular comprehensive achievement surpasses any categorical way of looking at African-American men that would have been considered possible in 1997.

If, however, someone did feel inspired to duplicate "The Many Ways of Looking at a Black Man" with fresh 2017 faces, it would be easy enough to do with another seven individuals such as: Chance the Rapper, Colson Whitehead, T.D. Jakes, Semaj Clark, Jay Z, Michael B. Jordan, and Tyler Perry. Their celebrity or non-celebrity status would not really comprise the core issue. The main point would be a definitive demonstration that as catastrophic as violence and oppression have been in our lives, they have not and will not erase the most beautiful and essential truths represented by our stories and realities.

Author

Author-Poet Aberjhani is currently completing a book of nonfiction narratives about race relations, histories of erasure, the cultural arts, and practices of slavery in his hometown of Savannah, Georgia, USA.

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Conversations with the World 113: Return to Harris Neck, Georgia

Conversations and Controversies

‘We Lost a Way of Life’

The Concept of Democracy

Aberjhani
Author of These Black and Blue Red Zone Days
and Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah
Artist at Postered Chromatic Poetics

Enjoy More Full Free Access for Reading Conversations with the World

Contact Author-Poet-Artist Aberjhani at Bright Skylark Literary Productions

A Little Social Distance Holiday Fun with Former U.S. President Barack Obama

A Parallel Literary Journey

A Special Bright Skylark Black History Month Tradition Continues

A Literary Photo-Op

Contact the Author

How 2019 Turned into a Big Year for Literary Productions (part 2 of 2)

Familiar Touchstones of Cultural Awareness

Contact the Autor

Discovering 'The Many Ways of Looking at a Black Man' in 2017 (part 2 of 2)

Signs of Our Changing 2017 Times

The Obama Legacy Effect

Author

Aberjhani

Archives

Categories

Conversations with the World 113: Return to Harris Neck, Georgia

Conversations and Controversies

‘We Lost a Way of Life’

The Concept of Democracy

AberjhaniAuthor of These Black and Blue Red Zone Daysand Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah ​Artist at Postered Chromatic Poetics

Enjoy More Full Free Access for Reading Conversations with the World

Contact Author-Poet-Artist Aberjhani at Bright Skylark Literary Productions

A Little Social Distance Holiday Fun with Former U.S. President Barack Obama

A Parallel Literary Journey

A Special Bright Skylark Black History Month Tradition Continues

A Literary Photo-Op

Contact the Author

How 2019 Turned into a Big Year for Literary Productions (part 2 of 2)

Familiar Touchstones of Cultural Awareness

Contact the Autor

Discovering 'The Many Ways of Looking at a Black Man' in 2017 (part 2 of 2)

Signs of Our Changing 2017 Times

The Obama Legacy Effect

Author

Aberjhani

Archives

Categories

Aberjhani
Author of These Black and Blue Red Zone Days
and Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah
Artist at Postered Chromatic Poetics