Letter to readers: Dear Black Boy

Good Day Reader!

As a writer and illustrator, it is MY belief that your pen is an extension of who you are, what comes out on the other side is you. For me creating is an act of self discovery.

Something spiritual occurs each time I return from the unmanifested world of my imagination and pour the treasure trove of words, colors, images, and characters that I discovered during this creative journey onto blank sheets of paper.

Organizing these precious treasures in a sequence that guides readers through the wondrous worlds that I have imagined is always the objective when I pick up my pen.

I understand the power that words and images possess. A whisper can change the world. An image can inform and empower today and tomorrow’s generation. This knowledge is the foundation of my practice. The placement of each brush stroke that I make is intentional. Each word meticulously fished from my stream of consciousness.  My intention with this book is to write the very whisper that changes the world. Although I do shout a lot in this book. But hey, sometimes you gotta yell to change the world. 

My intention with the illustrations infused into the pages of this book is to paint the very images that empower and inform not only this generation of Black Boys but the generations of Black Boys to come. 

I believe that information that creates affirmations is the heart of Black American Futurism. 

The words and images of this book intertwine the past and the future; Thereby creating a path for the manifestation of the present. I don’t even know if that makes sense. But that is something that I believe you will understand as you make your way through its pages.

This is the second version of this love letter of encouragement to Black Boys. This updated version of Dear Black Boy fascinates me because it allowed me an opportunity to edit and educate a past version of myself. 

To show the growth in the ability of my hands, to hear the control that I now have over my tongue, to actualize a core belief of mine. That belief being that it is through experience that faith becomes more firm.

The words written in the original letter were conceived in a valley of discouragement.

I write these words to you from a spiritual mountain peak. 

The original publication of Dear Black Boy was written at a time in which the ink flowed much slower from the tip of my fountain pen as tears stumbled from my eyes tumbling over one another as I stared at my iPhone, another Black Man had been murdered… By police officers.

This news had my spirit in tatters, stomach knotted like a pretzel, rage racing through my blood lines, heart screaming in agony, I was pissed, angry, vengeful, fearful, sad, spinning aimlessly in an emotional tornado.

A terrible taste lingered in my mouth for days after digesting the disgusting images I had consumed. 

Alton Sterling was dead. Deep in my DNA echoed an intense despair, an absence of hope shared with every Black Man and Black Boy through the roots of my family tree. 

That could be you. That could be us. That was me. 

One minute you're smiling, gold teeth shining, sharing your infectious Black Boy joy with the world, cracking jokes, selling your homemade cds in front of the neighborhood convenience store, then the police arrive. You’ve seen many traumatic incidents play out in this very sequence. Spiritual déjà vu. You know that no matter where you are in life financially, politically, or socially - being a Black Man, a Black Boy, makes you a suspect.

You wipe away the Black Boy joy staining your face and begin to wonder if the police are there for you. Even whenyou’re absolutely certain that you haven’t done anything to warrant that thought, the color of your skin trumps all logic for you and for the police officer.

On this day Alton Sterling, like many Black Men and Black Boys before him, was pre-determined to be guilty of whatever the issue was that brought the police to that convenience store. 

And things escalated quickly. As they do too often when police are involved. 

In the matter of minutes, Alton was tasered several times, tackled like a running back, thrown on the hood of a Sedan, and then pinned to the ground by two police officers - one kneeling on his chest the other on his thigh - with profanities spewing from the officers' mouths. Alton's arms flailed as he struggled to find hope, help, compassion -- which he did not. 

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Bang! Bang!

Bang!

Another sad song orchestrated by the police.

Another Black Man’s song ended.

Alton Sterling, 37 year old Black Man, murdered on July 5,2016 by the police. 

I am now 37.

The owner of the Baton Rouge convenience store in front of which Alton was murdered would later state that Alton WASN’T the one causing trouble. He was just there. 

I’ve stood in front of many convenience stores myself, attempting to sell my self published books, including the first edition of this book Dear Black Boy.

Alton was me. I was him.

Different in many ways, but we shared the same plight - the plight of being Black Men in America. The same plight that our uncles, cousins, fathers, brothers, pawpaws, and sons all share.

As a grown man, I could sense the fear brewing inside of my inner child. I felt his heartache, I heard the terror in his voice, as he questioned his Black Boy joy.

Which made me wonder: How many young Black Boys have seen this devastating video footage, read about it, or overheard their parents discussing it? How many of them were questioning their Black Boy joy? What do we tell them? What can I say to them? What do I tell myself as I am every Black Boy, and every Black Boy is me. 

Across social media and news stations, we saw the angst in each young Black Boys’ eyes, tears stained their dirt-colored skin as they joined the sea of blackness, marching in protest of police brutality.

Be they infants in strollers, toddlers on father’s shoulders, tweens holding their mother’s hands, or teens expressing themselves in unity, the heartache was there - the same heartache I felt thousands of miles away - the nextgeneration of Black Boys had consciously begun their quest for freedom. 

How do we give them the hope, help, love, and compassion that Alton Sterling searched for but couldn't grasp with his flailing arms as the police kneeled on his chest and thighs? How do we cultivate a Black Boy joy that can never be removed from their faces? How do heal the next generation of Black Boys and prepare them to thrive?

That is why this book, Dear Black Boy exists.

I like to say that it is a letter of encouragement to Black Boys across the globe, which it truly is, but deep down in my spirit, I know that it is a love letter to encourage my own inner child. 

Today, I feel much different about what a Black Boy needs to hear to be encouraged than I did years ago when the first edition of Dear Black Boy was released. 

Today, I believe that the only way to have a better future is to have a better imagination in the present. It is in our imaginations that we dream up our tomorrow selves and our tomorrow lives. With this book, I am dreaming out loud.

Today, I believe that what the Black Boy needs is a liberation of his imagination and true character development. This book is my attempt at both.

Today, I believe in the possibilities of the Black Boy's imagination, and how it enables them to contribute to our world and to the cornucopia of universes inside each of them more than ever before.

Today, I believe that every Black Boy should color outside the lines of expectations. 

My life's work is a testimony to only a fraction of what is possible for the Black Boy's imagination when seeds are planted and tended to with the mindset and love of a farmer. 

My life's work is a testimony to only a fraction of what is possible for the Black Boy to accomplish when the seeds in his imagination are watered by his family, community, teachers, and peers.

My life's work is a testimony to only a fraction of what is possible when the Black Boy learns to become the farmertending to his own imagination.

Dear Black Boy is a letter written to encourage, empower and enable Black Boys to explore ALL the possibilitiesof their imaginations. It is my hope that every Black Boy who reads this book lives a life that becomes a testimony to what is possible when A Black Boy's imagination is liberated. 

I believe that the world is more beautiful when the Black Boy dreams, and if you are reading this book, I believe that you believe the same. 

with love + imagination

-MR. TOMONOSHi!