(August 15, 2008) Soldier Boy Grip Comic & Commentary Of The Week...

A Soldier Boy Grip Moment Of Clarity

(c) R2C2H2 Tha Artivist/ Ronald Herd II From The Arthur 'Soldier Boy Grip' Taylor Chronicles

"Throw away your fears and prejudices then, and enlighten us and treat us like men, and we will like you more than we do now hate you....Treat us like men, and there is no danger but we will all live in peace and happiness together. For we are not like you, hard hearted , unmerciful , and unforgiving. What a happy country this will be, if the whites will listen. What nation under heaven, will be able to do anything with us, unless God gives us up into its hands?...Treat us then like men, and we will be your friends. And there is not a doubt in my mind, but that the whole of the past will be sunk into oblivion, and we yet, under God, will become a united and happy people." ~From David Walker's Appeal

Aug 12, 2008 marked three years since the transition of my maternal Grandfather into Ancestorhood...But, his spirit lives...

As I reflect upon this man who was my true father figure I often wonder what would Soldier Boy Grip Taylor been thinking, doing or saying right now if he was my age at this pivotal moment in history...

Being born into the heart of Jim Crow Amerikkka, he was actually baptized into an ongoing Black Holocaust which to date has not still be given proper study and analysis...I don't mean Cable News Documentaries and/or halfhearted snake oiled apologies from the floor and halls of the U.S. Congress, but a true reconciliation and compensation based on the facts as well as the effects of Amerikkka's hatred and envy of its darkest citizens by way of the historical record...


The reason why my Grandfather and his generation was called the greatest generation was because they were the most brainwashed generation...They were under the spell of a terrible lie...A lie which was more pleasant to hear than the truth...A lie that we all still want to believe...The Lie:We fight wars to make the world safe for democracy...The Truth: We fight wars to make the rich richer...We Fight Wars To Keep Uppity Colored Folks In Their Place...

And the ironic thing about Amerikkka is that her "freedom fighting" is heavily depended on its most enslaved citizens: African Amerikkkans...

This year marked the 60th Anniversary of the Desegregation of the U.S. Military forces by U.S. president Harry S. Truman...However, his act wasn't fully realized until after The Korean War which still featured segregated units...Also many U.S. military bases and camps in particular in the southern U.S. states practiced the religion of Jim Crow racism well into the 1960s...

Although these honorable men of color and distinction were hailed as heroes and defenders of liberty abroad, their U.S. Homecoming was less than enthusiastic and receptive...Many times as in the case of the famous Evers Brothers (Medgar & Charles) these brave veterans were turned away from the voting polls at gun point and some were even lynched in full uniform...Medgar was even denied entrance into the University of Mississippi Law School even though he had earned the entitlement of the G.I. Bill to rightfully attend...These things were taking place less than 60 years and not 150 years ago...

I say this because we are supposedly moving towards a post-racial society...I remember hearing Barack Obama remarked that we are 90 % there...Which is funny because I agree...We are 90 % there not because we are progressing and striving towards something positive, but because we are forgetting and regressing towards something less celebratory and woefully negative....Unlike the resourceful and tenacious Jewish people who vowed to never forget, we as Black folks seemingly can't wait to get amnesia and fall into a Terri Schiavo-like comatose state...We have literally taken ourselves out of the game by not confronting our true history, adversaries and demons...

You cannot say stop living in the past when you don't know history and that you are indeed alive...You can't say history repeats itself when you don't know what the hell you are repeating...
The State & Face Of Black Amerikkka reflects the lies and falsehoods we have accepted as truths far too long...Too many generations have been seduced by the high falutin' Jezebel known as Lady Liberty with her unfulfilled promises & infidelity...She has laced our melting pot with rat poison and has fed and seduced us with her contaminated goods for 400 years...Now we find ourselves lost in the wilderness with a jones we can't seemingly cure and a hurt that time can't seem to heal...

We must now more than ever in our winter of discontent find the motivation, wisdom, vision and courage to control our lives by being accountable for our destiny...We must now painstakingly learn how to turn the wilderness into farmland to feed and sustain our people...We must now turn the poison into an antibiotic to cure and heal our people...

We Must Resurrect LIFE From The Crypt Of Death!!!

Seek Knowledge Don't Defend Ignorance...

(R2C2H2 Tha Artivist is host and editor of Tha Artivist Presents…W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News & Radio http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe & http://www.weallbe.blogspot.com... He is also the author of James Reese Europe: Jazz Lieutenant http://www.jazzlieutenant.blogspot.com…He can be reached by e-mail r2c2h2@gmail.com)

For More On The Adventures Of Arthur 'Soldier Boy Grip' Taylor Please Visit http://www.soldierboygrip.blogspot.com/

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(7/29/2008) Soldier Boy Comic & Commentary Of The Week...

(c) R2C2H2 Tha Artivist/ Ronald Herd II From The Arthur 'Soldier Boy Grip' Taylor Chronicles

Bush: Former Army Cook's Crimes Warrant Execution

By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press

President Bush could have commuted the death sentence of Ronald A. Gray, a former Army cook convicted of multiple rapes and murders.

But Bush decided Monday that Gray's crimes were so repugnant that execution was the only just punishment.

Bush's decision marked the first time in 51 years that a president has affirmed a death sentence for a member of the U.S. military. It was the first time in 46 years that such a decision has even been weighed in the Oval Office.

Gray, 42, was convicted in connection with a spree of four murders and eight rapes in the Fayetteville, N.C., area between April 1986 and January 1987 while he was stationed at Fort Bragg. He has been on death row at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., since April 1988.

"While approving a sentence of death for a member of our armed services is a serious and difficult decision for a commander in chief, the president believes the facts of this case leave no doubt that the sentence is just and warranted," White House press secretary Dana Perino said.

"The president's thoughts and prayers are with the victims of these heinous crimes and their families and all others affected," she said.


This April 1988 picture shows Ronald A. Gray in handcuffs and chains, escorted by military police leaving a Fort Bragg, N.C. courtroom. President Bush on Monday, July 28, 2008 approved the execution of the Army private, the first time in over a half-century that a president has affirmed a death sentence for a member of the U.S. military. Gray was assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg.
(AP Photo/The Fayetteville Observer, Marcus Castro)

Bush's decision, however, is not likely the end of Gray's legal battle. Further litigation is expected and these types of death sentence appeals often take years to resolve. It also remains unclear where Gray would be executed. Military executions are handled by the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Members of the U.S. military have been executed throughout history, but just 10 have been executed by presidential approval since 1951, when the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the military's modern-day legal system, was enacted into law.

President Kennedy was the last president to stare down this life-or-death decision. On Feb. 12, 1962, Kennedy commuted the death sentence of Jimmie Henderson, a Navy seaman, to confinement for life.

President Eisenhower was the last president to approve a military execution. In 1957, he approved the execution of John Bennett, an Army private convicted of raping and attempting to kill an 11-year-old Austrian girl. He was hanged in 1961.

Gray was held responsible for the crimes he committed in both the civilian and military justice systems.

Silas DeRoma, who left active duty in 1999, was one of several military attorneys who represented Gray on appeal.

"It's disappointing news, as you can imagine," said DeRoma, who now works as a regulatory attorney in Honolulu for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He said the basis for some of Gray's appeals focused on the prisoner's mental competency and his representation at trial.

In civilian courts in North Carolina, Gray pleaded guilty to two murders and five rapes and was sentenced to three consecutive and five concurrent life terms. He then was tried by general court-martial at the Army's Fort Bragg. There he was convicted in April 1988 and unanimously sentenced to death.

The court-martial panel convicted Gray of:

_Raping and killing Army Pvt. Laura Lee Vickery-Clay of Fayetteville on Dec. 15, 1986. She was shot four times with a .22-caliber pistol that Gray confessed to stealing. She suffered blunt force trauma over much of her body.

_Raping and killing Kimberly Ann Ruggles, a civilian cab driver in Fayetteville. She was bound, gagged and stabbed repeatedly, and had bruises and lacerations on her face. Her body was found on the base.

_Raping, robbing and attempting to kill Army Pvt. Mary Ann Lang Nameth in her barracks at Fort Bragg on Jan. 3, 1987. She testified against Gray during the court-martial and identified him as her assailant. Gray raped her and stabbed her several times in the neck and side. Nameth suffered a laceration of the trachea and a collapsed or punctured lung.

Gray has appealed his case through the Army Court of Criminal Appeals (then known as the U.S. Army Court of Military Review) and the Court of Appeals for the Armed Services. In 2001, the Supreme Court declined to hear the case.

___

Associated Press writer Martha Waggoner in Raleigh, N.C., contributed to this report.

(R2C2H2 Tha Artivist is host and editor of Tha Artivist Presents…W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News & Radio http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe & http://www.weallbe.blogspot.com... He is also the author of James Reese Europe: Jazz Lieutenant http://www.jazzlieutenant.blogspot.com…He can be reached by e-mail r2c2h2@gmail.com)

For More On The Adventures Of Arthur 'Soldier Boy Grip' Taylor Please Visit http://www.soldierboygrip.blogspot.com/

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(7/20/2008) Soldier Boy Grip Comic & Commentary Of The Week...

(c) r2c2h2 tha artivist/Ronald Herd II from The Arthur 'Soldier Boy Grip' Taylor Chronicles

Be The Change You Seek…It Starts With People Power!!!

By R2C2H2 Tha Artivist

As Obama mania goes through its corporate media induced ebbs and flows, people of all stripes, concoctions and persuasions should take the time to look back to the 60s…Not in terms of over-romanticizing and over-mythologizing, but in terms of analyzing the actual gains that were made in progressive politics, grass roots organizing and issue based advocacy…

I think people have in many ways since the watershed and tragic year of 1968 undervalued the power of collective dissent and people power…In 1968 many idealistic, well meaning and in some cases naïve people thought ‘Messianic figures’ would be able to transform the bitter realities of their lives through rhetoric and protest demonstrations…That year saw two great potential ‘Candidates for Change’ cut down in a hail of sniper bullets compounded by a pathology of hate, ignorance and indifference…In 1968, U.S. cities were set ablaze, after years of built up frustrations, hypocrisy and disgust exploding like a home made molotov cocktail…Just like literary great Bro. James Baldwin prophesied ‘the fire next time’…

In the gross corporate media induced comatose state of our selective national memory and history, many believed then and still unfortunately continue to believe today that leaders make powerful people movements…But closer inspection of true history will show that people movements produce leaders and not the other way around…

MLK was reluctant in accepting his destiny, but it was the Black community of Montgomery that forced him into the limelight and the nation’s conscience…The people organized the first meeting at his church and the people helped form the Montgomery Improvement Association which spearheaded The Montgomery Bus Boycott and ignited the Modern Civil Rights Movement…So it was the people that gave the great MLK the platform and impetus to speak to the better angels of mankind…

In 1968, RFK, by then a seasoned politician marked and toughened by personal tragedy and frustrated by the sluggish bureaucratic process of beltway politics, was inspired by the utter poverty he saw while visiting the poor and dispossessed of the Mississippi Delta…He saw the plight of the migrant workers of California and visited the lost worlds of the ghettoes in cities throughout the U.S.…The people inspired him to make his run to his destiny in 1968…It was the plight of the forgotten working class poor, the sanitation workers of Memphis that forced MLK to delay his Poor People’s Campaign to prepare a trip to the site of his crucifixion, Memphis, TN in Spring 1968…In both cases it was the suffering of the least or have nots of society that inspired these men to take the personal and political risks that resulted in their ultimate sacrifices…

But History will tell also tell you that the have-nots or people at the bottom are usually at the vanguard of their own revolution and liberation and are not waiting for marching orders from the people at the top of the hill or “The Chosen One”…

Take the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party…Many of the key leaders and personalities were folks that came from what some or many would call destitute and impoverished backgrounds…These were the people a.k.a. “the forgotten ones” many pols always talk about not “leaving behind”, people at the bottom rung of the societal ladder in terms of race and class...And yet these same people had the political and spiritual courage to transform the Magnolia State into a flower with a less bitter and sweeter fragrance…

Fannie Lou Hamer

Fannie Lou Hamer, the spiritual leader of the MFD, did not know she could vote until she was 44 years old…She was born and lived on a plantation as a sharecropper all of life up to that point…When she got the will to exercise her right to vote, she was ‘disowned’ and kicked off the plantation that same day…Most people would have given up and went back to the comforts of their enslavement, but Fannie Lou immortally decried “I am sick and tired of being sick and tired” and instead chose a path of self determination and liberation…

With a coalition of poor working class Blacks, sympathetic White Mississippians, college educated Black and White liberal activists, Fannie Lou along with her comrades was able to re-write U.S. political history…In 1964 the year of the infamous Freedom Summer project that saw the martyrdom of three civil rights workers in Mississippi, the MFDP boldly held up the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City by blocking the seating of the all-white Mississippi Delegation…

Many of the party’s elite including Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson a.k.a. “The Architect of The Great Society” were outraged at this act…However the MFDP insisted that they should be seated instead because they represented Mississippi’s true citizenry makeup…In the end the MFDP refused to compromise their integrity and principles for two token seats…However, they made their point to a national audience and was able to secure a major victory for the civil rights movement, their direct action securing the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965…

Although the MFDP was active for only 4 years time, their energy, optimism and hard work was able to change the face of Democratic Party politics in particular and U.S. politics in general…By the end of 1960s, Mississippi saw the election of its first Black mayor since Reconstruction, Charles Evers, the brother of the martyred civil rights leader Medgar Evers…Fast forward to the present, Mississippi has the highest number of elected Black officials than any state in the Union, a remarkable feat considering its bloody Jim Crow Apartheid past…

And mind these changes were not just implemented by fancy rhetoric and hollow promises of stump speeches, catchy campaign songs, subliminal truth loose commercial ads and NY Times editorials…These changes were literally manifested by the blood, sweat and tears of everyday people…People who shared the same fears and doubts about the unknown a.k.a. the future like we all have at some point…People who had flaws, but yet had the courage to master their fears and soldier on in favor of justice…People who cared enough to reach back to help their fellow humans while practicing the foresight and perseverance to plant seeds for future generations to reap the harvest…

All Power To The People Is The Key…Be That The Change That You Seek!!!

(R2C2H2 Tha Artivist is host and editor of Tha Artivist Presents…W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News & Radio http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe & http://www.weallbe.blogspot.com... He is also the author of James Reese Europe: Jazz Lieutenant…He can be reached by e-mail r2c2h2@gmail.com)

For More On The Adventures Of Arthur 'Soldier Boy Grip' Taylor Please Visit http://www.soldierboygrip.blogspot.com/

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(7/12/2008) Soldier Boy Grip Comic & Commentary Of The Week...

(c) R2C2H2 Tha Artivist/Ronald Herd II From The Arthur 'Soldier Boy Grip' Taylor Chronicles

The following was written by a great and gifted close family friend,Uncle Marvin Butler, in immediate response to the passing of the person who actually inspired this comic strip, my maternal grandfather the late great Arthur 'Soldier Boy Grip' Taylor Sr. (June 20, 1923 - August 12, 2005)...This is also dedicated to 'The Darker Band Of Brothers' of 'The Greatest Generation":

The Ballad Of Soldier Boy Grip
By Marvin Butler

Let me tell you the story of Soldier Boy “Grip”

What happens to him is really a Trip

Young Black Buck straight of Missipp

He was in the Second World War

Thinking of his sweetheart back home

And his sons and daughters not yet ever born

And if he had killed a 1,000 Germans when he pulled the trigger

Would the only name they call him would it still be Hey Nigger!

But, he had to endure the shame

And it didn’t matter if they knew his name

Because he was helping to pave the way

So that his children could have a better day

And the pain of Soldier Boy “Grip”

Having his Commanding Bars stripped

All because they said he broke some laws

But, as time went by come to find out all it was all a lie

Time has pressed on 40 years have come and gone

And it took until his children started to groan

About the misjustice their father had to face

Just because of his skin color and race

So they petitioned about their father’s condition

The United States Government admitted the wrong

And distinguished medals were finally sent to Soldier Boy Grip’s home.

For More On The Adventures Of Arthur 'Soldier Boy Grip' Taylor Please Visit http://www.soldierboygrip.blogspot.com/

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(July 5, 2008) Soldier Boy Grip Comic & Commentary...

(c) R2C2H2 Tha Artivist/Ronald Herd II

Memo To Spike: Right War, Wrong Battle

Recently, accomplished filmmakers Spike Lee and Clint Eastwood got into a Hollywood tussle and dust up over the supposed accuracies or supposed inaccuracies of Eastwood's latest award winning WW 2 flicks, "Flags of Our Fathers" & "Letters From Iwo Jima"...

I am not going to regurgitate what was said word for word by these Film making Titans with egos too big to put in Special Collector DVDs...

You can find much commentary detailing the entire debate online...

However, I would have to give Clint Eastwood the benefit of the doubt on this one...Eastwood is a person who is known as a true supporter of the preservation of Black people's contributions to American culture and heritage (after all he did the films "Bird", a biopic about jazz hero Charlie Parker, and executive produced the wonderful "Straight No Chaser" documentary about jazz great Thelonious Monk)...Also Clint Eastwood, an enthusiastic and vocal supporter of live jazz, produces the highly acclaimed annual Monterey Jazz Festival which draws tens of thousands of devotees from around the world to appreciate America's Classical Music up close and personal...

Anybody who has been alive the last 30 years knows Spike's unique contributions to film history, Black culture and heritage as well...His movie "Mo Better Blues" is in my opinion one of the best jazz movies ever made and also counts among his finest works along with "Malcolm X" and "Do The Right Thing"...It would have been nice to see his version of the biopic "Bird"...

It is a known fact that Hollywood makes a hefty profit distorting history..."The Birth Of A Nation" anyone???

Especially when it comes to Westerns and War movies, movie genres that Clint Eastwood's true legacy and acclaim as an actor and director is built on...

So this shouldn't be a surprise...But I will give Clint the benefit of the doubt this time around for the following reasons...

Right War, But Wrong Battle & Movie...

Spike Lee is actually 10 years too late in his accusations...He should have attacked another great filmmaker, Steven Spielberg, for the same thing he accused Clint of doing: whitewashing history...

In his film "Saving Private Ryan", the first 30 minutes of the film portrayed the D-Day landing or the Normandy Invasion, a pivotal turning point for the Allied Forces in WW2... Spielberg left out any presence of Blacks in the historical event unless you count Vin Diesel (???)...This is a gross misrepresentation of history...For a film which was critically acclaimed for its "realism" it wasn't so realistic after all...

1.2 million African Americans served in the U.S. Armed Forces during World War 2...Many of those brave soldiers including my grandfather, Arthur "Soldier Boy Grip" Taylor, were on Normandy Beach getting shot at along with their White comrades...Another native son of Mississippi, future Civil Rights Movement Hero Medgar Evers, was also present braving hell home and abroad "to make the world safe for democracy"...

It's like the same thing when people or "experts" said how "realistic" Mel Gibson's "The Passion Of Christ" was as if they were there to witness the Crucifixion of Jesus...Although that movie was depicted in a place where you will find dark people of color, there were hardly any people in the movie that were darker than the color of the sand...Hmmm...

Where was Spike 10 years ago??? Where was the outrage??? Maybe because he didn't have his own WW2 movie coming out then as he does now...Hmmm...

So is this just a smart pr move by Spike Lee??? Regardless, this incident raises some great points that we should all consider and never forget...Also it makes one realize that it is important to tell your own stories, if one doesn't want to be just another marginal or invisible footnote in His-Story...

For More On The Adventures Of Arthur 'Soldier Boy Grip' Taylor Please Visit http://www.soldierboygrip.blogspot.com/

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(6/28/2008) Soldier Boy Grip Comic & Commentary Of The Week...

(c) By Ronald Herd II a.k.a. R2C2H2 Tha Artivist

Dems And Repubs Are The Same When It Comes To The Race Question...
Tha Artstorian Writes...

Welcome Ye All Faithful As Well As Ye All Fickled!!!

We are witnessing in the year of our Lord 2008 a miracle of sorts: An electable (BY WHITESTREAM STANDARDS) Black Presidential Candidate...Many of us in the colored nether regions are welcoming Barack Hussein Obama's bid as a breath of fresh cool minty air or as a Marshall Plan relief package 400 years in the making...However, some of us in Negroland (and rightfully so) are wary of why a person of color would want to represent such a racist and hypocritical country such as our United Snakes of Amerikkka...

Those who are not wiling to go along to get along due to their line of questioning have been in some cases considered and relegated to Uncle Toms, Aunt Tomasinas, Race Traitors, and Judases...In spite of such slander (undeserved in many cases) these "muckrakers for truth" have courageously (or foolishly perhaps) refused to give in to the Change Fever Epidemic sweeping the nation...They refuse to sip on the Obamade or Sizzurp which appears to have gotten the nation high and tipsy with revisionist history and false hopes...

My thing is this, why are people so pressed to think Obama should be different from any other White man that occupied and currently occupies arguably the most powerful office in the world???

Name me one President who has done something to morally correct the historical wrongs in this nation without being forced to by a segment of committed citizens...

"The White Man's President"

Frederick Douglass once said that Power Concedes Nothing Without A Demand...

It was Bro. Fred who demanded Lincoln to use newly free Black men in the Union Army...It was Bro. Fred who called Lincoln 'The White Man's President' at the President's funeral and reminded those in attendance that Lincoln was slow in coming around to ending slavery and its expansion into the frontier...

It was the Black Suffrage Sympathizer John Brown who bled the fields of Kansas and who willing sacrificed himself and his sons upon the Altar Of Armed Revolution For Black Liberation... By doing so John Brown became John The Baptist With A Gun...It was he initially not the other white man, Pres. Lincoln, who helped initiate the war between the states to bring her closer to a more perfectly dysfunctional union...It was Brown not Lincoln who must be given the credit for making the emancipation of the slaves possible...

Although Lincoln thought slavery was morally wrong, he did not feel that African Americans were the equals of White men...He even stated that he would have kept them slaves if it would have preserved the Union...

Woodrow Wilson, The Trojan Horse President

In 1912, Black folks voted in overwhelming numbers to put the Governor of New Jersey, former President of Princeton University and Favorite Son of the South Woodrow Wilson into the White House...

Even before faith based money got involved, many Blacks were already giving their votes away to the most undeserving bidders and masters of their demise I mean destiny...Well known Black leaders such as Dr. W.E.B. DuBois, William Monroe Trotter and Ida B. Wells Barnett were singing and stomping the praises of the academic and elitist Dixiecrat Wilson on Sunday mornings in Black Churches throughout the land...They even stated that Woodrow WIlson was the Presidential Messiah, the next coming of the Lincoln, the new Black President...

However, Woodrow being the fox and racist that he was, betrayed the Black vote and re segregated the federal government and city of Washington D.C. (which remained that way until the Truman & Eisenhower Presidencies)....He even endorsed the KKK movie, Birth Of A Nation...Supposedly at a special White House screening arranged by Thomas Dixon (his John Hopkins University classmate and author of The Clansman, the inspiration for the movie), Wilson showed his approval of the film by stating "It is like writing history with lightning; my only regret is that it is all so terribly true."...

In 1914, Pres. Wilson told the New York Times, "If the colored people made a mistake in voting for me, they ought to correct it."

When a delegation of blacks led by William Monroe Trotter came to the White House to correct their mistake in voting by protesting Wilson's Jim Crow tactics, Wilson told them that "segregation is not a humiliation but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen."

After debating the President face to face for 45 minutes about his stance and hypocrisy on race relations, Trotter was banned from the White House...

Be wary indeed of the folks who occupy the White House...

Make Me Do It!!!

Years later the great Black labor union and civil rights leader A. Phillip Randolph went to the White House as a dinner guest of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt's to voice his grievances about the state of Black folks in America...Randolph was told by Pres. Franklin Roosevelt that what he said was absolutely true...But FDR also said that if he wanted 'change' that Randolph and his colleagues will have to 'force' or make the President do so through actions and not just words...

Well in 1941, A. Philip Randolph along with Bayard Rustin and A.J. Muste organized and planned the first proposed March on Washington to protest job discrimination in the military industries...In order to stop the march from happening, Roosevelt's hand was 'forced' to sign into law Executive Order 8802 a.k.a. The Fair Employment Act...

Once again FDR did so not because it was the morally right thing to do, but because it was the politically expedient thing to do...

So let this serve as a lesson to all of us that true change doesn't happen from the top down but rather the bottom up!!!

Be the change you want to see in the world and make it happen!!!

For More On The Adventures Of Arthur 'Soldier Boy Grip' Taylor Please Visit http://www.soldierboygrip.blogspot.com/

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Happy Life Affirmation Day Soldier Boy Grip...Tha Artivist Salutes...

Dedicated To The Ancestor Arthur Taylor Sr. a.k.a. Soldier Boy Grip

(June 20, 1923-August 12, 2005)

Soldier Boy It Was A Blessing To Know You For 25 Of Your 82 Glorious Years...I just wanted to let you know that you left a living legacy in the hearts and memories of everyone that you knew and loved...Your legacy will continue to grow as long as there are good, decent and caring people around...You helped me to see the positive in every situation and the good in all people...You made me realize that true forgiveness and gratitude does a worthy life makes and not just a one time act...You also taught me that to be truly humble is to be a great and an enthusiastic servant to humanity...

Soldier Boy Grip you were a Master Griot spinning tales expertly balanced with hyperbole and facts about your youth and young adulthood...Providing me and others with true wisdom for the ages...A truly humble and kind man who never met a stranger...A man whose integrity pertaining to providing for his family could never be questioned...

If you were here right now you would probably be tripping about the fact that a Black man is about to become President of the United States, the same United States that told you that your first name was "Nigger", middle name "Boy" and last name "John"...That told you and your people, while you were in full uniform fighting to liberate the world from tyranny, that you all had to settle for learning how to live with the chains of inequality in your own home country...

And yet you soldiered on...

When the Doctor @ the Kennedy V.A. Hospital in Memphis told you that you were lying about the seriousness of your injuries sustained from fighting the hell twins known as Hitler and Jim Crow, you angrily and righteously replied that they took the best years of your youth away from you!!!

But you also knew that patience is a virtue with limitless rewards...And so you patiently waited for 10 years after the 2nd Great War to collect your severance pay for being 100% disabled in body yet not in spirit...

And still you soldiered on...

Your generation's sacrifices made our present and future possible Soldier Boy Grip!!!

A man who lived with flaws and imperfections, but yet was truly perfect in his intentions for caring for others...

It was a pleasure to get to truly know you the last 5 years of your amazing life...You were more than a grandfather, you were my father and best friend...Your accessibility gave me the confidence to strive and at times awkwardly manifest the most ridiculous of my schemes and dreams...Your non-judgmental nature provided me the space to be myself in a world where someone is always trying to control and manipulate the will of others...

Thank you for letting me bask in the sunlight of your brilliance and generosity...

Thank you for not letting bitterness rob you of your kind and gentle spirit...

Thanks for always being there!!!

W.E. A.L.L. B.E. salutin' you on your Life Affirmation Day Soldier Boy Grip!!!

For More On The Adventures Of Arthur 'Soldier Boy Grip' Taylor Please Visit http://www.soldierboygrip.blogspot.com/

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A Hero For All Times

I wrote this essay about my grandfather in 2001 for an online contest...I re-edited this essay for a little more clarity, but I hope the true spirit and intent in which I wrote this paper about my honorable and beautiful grandfather a.k.a. Soldier Boy Grip comes through none the less...

WHO IS YOUR TRUE HERO???

My true hero is my grandfather, Arthur Taylor, Sr.... About two years ago my grandfather received several medals, not including the Purple Heart which he should have also gotten, that he earned while serving in the U.S. Army during World War II...It was presented to him by the young U.S. congressman (and current U.S. Senate hopeful), the generous and kind Harold Ford, Jr....This crowning achievement was the result of my mother's hardwork and dilligence in obtaining the documents necessary in securing these military honors. That day was surely one of the happiest in my grandfather's long, steady and storied life.

My grandfather was actually drafted into the army when he was around nineteen or twenty years of age...Being a Black farmboy from Mississippi he did not know too much about the world beyond the dusty country roads and large cotton plantations he and his family of brothers were used to working...The only other ways he would venture out beyond the rural world he knew was by viewing the moving pictures show or listening to the radio.

At first when his draft notice came my grand father, like many other unsuspecting and unassuming youths forced to take on a larger role and responsibility in the adult world surrounding them, was scared and worried to be taken from a place of some comfort and familiarity and put in an environment completely alien and due to the factors of war hostile and indifferent to a foreigner...However, his fears of worry and anxiety transformed into a sense of purpose and duty when he started to feel that it was his responsibility to respond to action when his country called.

Ironically, even though my grand father and millions of other young people were fighting to eradicate the systems of oppression brought on by Hitler's nazism and Mussollini's fascism there were still practiced and legalized forms(Jim Crow) of racism supported by whites in the South as well as in the Northern parts of the U.S. Despite this home atrocity my grandfather and his colleagues reasoned that if they helped win the battle of hatred and oppression overseas that the spirit of kindness, goodwill, and patriotism of their acts could transcend the barriers and obstacles of human predjudice and racism in their homeland. This is a great quality that I admire in my grandfather, the ability to to take the worst of a situation and make it work to the best of his advantage. Even though racism was very blunt and prevalent during his time in the U.S. Army he did not let the society at large's ignorance and handicaps hinder him from doing what he thought was the right thing which was to serve his country honorably with all the energy his small body yet big heart could muster and spare.
I often love talking to my grandfather about those times in his youth when he was making the world safe for democracy. He would often tell me about the good times in between the battles that he had all the while meeting and interacting with some of the most intriguing and unique people to ever graced the planet. He would often tell me of the first time he heard Lester Young , Duke Ellington, Billie Holliday among other jazz icons play at weekend dances. His face would literally beam with amusement and nostalgia when he would reenact the first time he met Louis Armstrong in the v.a. hospital or when he personally ask the Brown Bomber himself, Mr. Joe Louis, tips on how to become a better boxer...My grandfather was also a very gifted baseball infielder...He used to spend much of his free time playing baseball and even had an encounter or two with baseball great Jackie Robinson who also served during the war...A white major league pitcher by the name of Ewell Blackwell told my grandfather he was good enough to be a professional ball player...He was even going to sign with Mr. Robinson's Negro Leaugue baseball team, The Kansas City Monarchs...Unfortunately, my grandfather received serious head and back injuries during the war and was unable to fulfill this dream.
The reasons why my grandfather earned those medals were the facts that he participated in the battles that were the significant changing points in the war...He stormed the beaches of Normandy ( D Day)as well as fought it out at The Battle of the Bulge...He was even promoted to the rank of sergeant for his exploits and bravery on the field of battle...Although he lost his rank due to reasons still unclear as well as racially motivated, he still pledged allegiance to the U.S. and fought a good fight under its flag.

In conclusion I would like to say above all else my grandfather is a very compassionate man...It takes a compassionate person to be willing to risk their life to make a difference and help their fellow human being...It takes a compassionate person to see beyond the failings and faults of others and see the common humanity and good in everyone...It takes a compassionate person to pursue a goal with all his/her heart and to see it through regardless of the outcome...Most importantly it takes a compassionate person to forgive their debtors and enemies in order to come together for an universal yet unfulfilled call for freedom, liberty, and justice for all. Even though my grandfather was born into sharecropper's poverty he was still richly saturated with love to spread around...If to whom much is given much is expected then my grandfather already won all bets by being willing to be loved and give love back in return.