Although I have never revealed these feelings to anyone. Do you know what I have always wanted to be? I have always wanted to be like my Uncle’s who sat on my grandmother’s front porches and engaged in hours upon hours of talk that covered black relationships, black family matters, black economics, the proliferation of drugs within our community.
From a very young age, I thought that the wisdom of my Uncles (Leon, A.C., Mulazim Abdul Rashid, Rikki, Jerry, Steve, James, Fats, Danny, Kenneth, Jeff, Gary, Clarence, David, and Arthur) was only superseded by my grandfathers (A.G. Young and James Thomas Jones Sr.) who knew everything because they had lived longer. At least that is how my childhood mind understood the world. Nevertheless, I yearned for the day that I would have lived enough life to have something substantial to contribute to what amounted to as A Gathering of Old Men, a designation that is also the title of one of my favorite Ernest J. Gaines books.
Although I am hundreds of miles away from my family, that does not lessen the fact that my time to sit on some unknown porch and talk about everything and nothing at all with a group of black men who assemble in the spirit of brotherhood. It is a privileged position to be in and one that I am excited to share with others who would like to experience a virtual community of brothers who are seeking to make sense out of this world that we live in. Let’s be honest about the fact that black men far too frequently seek to traverse the rugged terrain of America by themselves, it is a Herculean effort. An unnecessary Herculean effort that could be lightened with the support of willing brothers.
So, it is in the spirit of brotherhood that I heartily invite my brothers to join us in the Zoom broadcast of the show Who Did It To You.
Every Tuesday at 6:00 EST & 5:00 CST
I would really like to encourage the brothers to join us and interact with us as we try to decipher and survive what it means to be black man in America.
Please use the link below to join us.
Dr. James Thomas Jones III
EVERY TUESDAY
6:00 Eastern — 5:00 Central