Author: John Valentine

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I started my writing career in the 70s and 80s. Those were the decades after the racial turmoil of the 50s and 60s. Those preceding decades saw the fight for racial justice and civil rights reach a crescendo of protests with marches, sit-ins, sit-downs, boycotts, and other actions designed to reach the ear of an […]

Sit down America. We need to talk. It’s time for some inconvenient truths about our nation and how the propagation of systemic racism and white supremacy encourages what we recently witnessed at our national Capitol. As more disturbing footage of the 1/6 Capitol Insurrection comes to light, many of us are having to face up […]

A DARK MOMENT IN HISTORY May 25, 2020… a day that will live in infamy. Of course, we all remember where we were when we first saw the excruciatingly painful video of the white Minneapolis police officer’s knee on the neck of a handcuffed George Floyd. We all watched in horror and disbelief as the […]

“I have the nerve to walk my own way, however hard, in my search for reality, rather than climb upon the rattling wagon of wishful illusions”. Gloria Neale Hurston. I, too, am an invisible man. And it doesn’t feel good. In 1952, African American writer Ralph Ellison wrote the critically acclaimed book “Invisible Man”. The […]

A recent article I posted called on black women to continue the tradition of our great grandmothers. The tradition of advocating for the family and putting the welfare of the community over self is central to the success of our struggles. The personal and cultural values those Fore Mothers instilled in their daughters imbued them […]

If we are to ever return to the prominence of our ancient ancestors and regain our status in the world, our love of our own culture must play a vital role. This culture is the culture of matriarchy. A culture where women are an equal and complementary part. A culture where our mothers, sisters, aunts, […]

Once upon a time many many years ago, in a land far far away, our ancient ancestors built great civilizations. These ancient people lived in a far away place they called Amami, meaning the Mother Land. These magnificent civilizations stretched many miles, starting in Ethiopia, stretching through the region known as the Sudan, and flowing […]

THE LASTING EFFECTS OF SLAVERY Why a story about slavery in 2020, 155 years after the “peculiar” institution was outlawed? Why dredge up a shameful and hurtful past most of us would like to forget? Good question. Well, here’s the answer. Because we’re not over it. Not even close. Considering the spotlight that’s now being […]

FOPO SYNDROME (FEAR OF PRAISING OBAMA) It’s really sad that nearly four years after the end of America’s most historic presidency, we still seem to be afflicted with the chronic disease of FOPO (Fear of Praising Obama). How sad. Sad, because after the election of the nation’s first non-white president, and his historic two-term run, […]