Yeah, it's been that type of month...lol...knowing I promised that there would not be a string of Youtube videos, but I found myself bombarded with a lot on my slate. No complaints, but I didn't expect some things to happen, for example the video of the Red Tails Tribute, featuring Staff Sgt. Homer Hogues. After a great showing and presentation of the artwork, the making of the video was not the least bit enjoyable, mainly due to the fact that 1) the equipment was dated and 2) I didn't have a clue what I was doing. The audio was shotty to say the least, but I worked on it extensively, and with the help of new video editing software, I was able to come up with some type of video(YAAY!) This helped tremendously because I had promised some people to have a video produced, and didn't want to let them down, nor myself.
So I'm still putting the finishing touches for Youtube, but in the meantime, I've been able to sell my work, and interest has grown tremendously. This picture below, which is a very popular piece entitled Safe and Sound, had won over many of my supporters, along with a few others. This one will go into print production in the coming weeks, God willing, and I want to really get started on my Grey Matters exhibit, especially after reading cases of Kenneth McDaniel in White Plains, NY, in addition to the Trayvon Martin issue. I won't even begin to go into details about that one, but I just don't feel too good at all about that case.
Before closing I would like to say I often wonder about this particular picture, because people really sense the security of the young child from laying on the lap of the elder guardian, and I started to going back to when I initially did the first piece in '08, right around the time of the presidential election. I felt a strong sense of uncertainty in the fact that an African American was becoming president of the United States, which appeared on the surface to me that something just wasn't right. Right after that we experienced Oscar Grant, and how the Justice system pretty much validated his murder by indicting the shooter of only involuntary manslaughter, as if I'm to believe that a man accidentally reached for his gun, accidentally put his finger in the trigger and accidentally shot an unarmed, handcuffed young man, who was laying flat on his stomach. Now Zimmerman faces second degree murder, as to say that because he didn't premeditate murder in the car, he can't be held guilty for premeditating murder at all, although he shot an unarmed man...
The Trayvon Martin case, immigration issues, the rise of racism in parts of America coupled with this hush hush mentality when race is mentioned just doesn't settle in with me. Too much avoidance. I hope that this picture will cause our African American elders to understand the repercussions of having a black man become President of the United States, yet racial animosity is spreading...Did we sacrifice the future of our children for instant gratification now?
May God help us....Peace.
