I was born in 1944, only 81 years after slavery, when segregation was the law of the land, and, Black baby boys had a life expectancy of only 55 years. At a very early age, I was introduced to former slaves by my great grandfather and they encouraged me, but they could never have imagined the amazing experiences awaiting me.
This is one of the first (if not the first) published memoirs by an African American Muslim convert. Having been a Muslim since 1970 when we, the Nation of Islam's Fruit of Islam, trumpeted the name Muhammad all over America for the first time, I am an American Muslim pioneer.
This is a love story about my prodigiious family (5 girls, 4 boys and 2 deceased wives from cancer) and how we survived in South Central L.A., amidst the worst gang war in American history.
Although I was born and raised Christian, well versed in the Bible, a fine "Negro" boy, I rebelled at Howard University and in Vietnam during the 1960's when I had given up on believing in, and was certainly not praying to God. This memoir tells why and how I overcame my agnostic ("N*gg*") stage of spiritual development and ultimately became a Muslim, praying 5 times a day.
Each chapter is introduced with a poem decorated with scrap booking style graphics, and dozens of photographs enhance the commentary. There is, also, a music CD with 5 of the poems performed by me with a funky jazz, hip hop sound track.
As aesthetically pleasing as this book is to the eye, its most unique aspect is the writing . I began writing professionally at age 15 as a cub sports reporter for The Kansas City Call newspaper, and I have written and published 4 other books, one of which, CRIPS, became a cult classic and the Warner Bros. movie, "SOUTH CENTRAL", which I, also, co-wrote.
I, Too, Can Create Light, is, also, about teaching English for 30 years in L.A.'s inner city, being a Muslim for 41 years and making the Muslim Hajj to Mecca in 1997 with my wife Anjail, It is an often humorous, sometimes historic, one of a kind memoir.
