I used to think being born a Black man in America was my worst nightmare. For seven decades, dating back to the 1950s, I've experienced social changes that shaped our country's future and my identity. I've endured years of racial slurs and insults, discrimination, and police brutality. From pre and post-segregation, the political and social impact of Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and Huey Newton's Black Panther Party, I've lived in fear of being lynched, beaten, or shot to death by white supremacists or white police officers. Nothing, however—not even encounters with racism—prepared me for twenty years of drug addiction. Racism attacked from outside of me. Addiction and mental illness struck within me.

      I write about the demons inside of me. Being a writer is not my job or career--but my spiritual calling. I write to inspire and encourage you. I write to help people like myself who find that life holds no meaning. The books I write reflect my journey through life, how I have handled drug addiction, mental illness, maturity, fatherhood, becoming a Black Panther, and growing up in the dangerous streets of Philadelphia. It is through the grace of God I am alive and healthy today. I write for you, my reader, not for myself.