Bridging the Families: 'What's Beautiful Never Dies'

By YoNasDa LoneWolf Hill -Guest Columnist- | Last updated: May 3, 2012 - 11:10:50 AM

Greetings Relatives,

I am still on a spiritual high from Saviours’ Day. For those that attended, the information you learned or people you connected with, it’s our duty to apply all that information into our routine in our communities. Immediately after Saviours’ Day I was invited to Boston, Mass. to meet with an organization called Press Pass TV to record on a compilation album called, “What’s Beautiful Never Dies.” It’s an album dedicated to parents that lost their children to acts of violence. The most inspiring component is meeting with the parents and having them tell the artist the story and the artist must project it in musical form. It’s a way for the victim to never be forgotten. Music lives forever.

So, when I was invited to be on this project, without hesitation I got on the plane. Every time I go to Boston, I feel a sense of home even though I wasn’t raised there. I remember as a high schooler telling my mother and the Honorable Min. Louis Farrakhan if I could attend college at Boston University or New York University. I eventually attended NYU; but it was always something about the culture, the diversity and the New England architecture I admired. When I got off the plane, I was welcomed by JoAnna Marinova, co-director of Press Pass TV, and she also met me in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, in January for the Hip Hop 4 Pine Ridge delegation. We visited a film and art school that gives inner city youth an outlet to express themselves through art and film. It’s called Raw Art Works (www.rawartworks.org).

The next day, I was invited to the only Black-owned radio station 106.1FM Touch. Their slogan is “The Fabric of the Black Community”, which fits them perfectly because in a four-way intersection in the city of Boston is called “Grove Hall” or The Mecca of Grove Hall, which is a Black and Muslim-owned community mall, a mosque, houses, apartments, business offices and the radio station. Minister Farrakhan has been saying that we must buy land and control our communities. Well, the Believers of Boston have done just that. It was a beautiful sight to see. The intersection of Grove Hall has a clock tower with pictures of the Hon. Elijah Muhammad, Minister Louis Farrakhan, as well as Native American, Latino and African leaders. It truly is the Mecca of Boston.

On Saturday, I was invited to speak at M.G.T. class. The sisters ranged from five years old and up. When I spoke to the sisters about getting involved with the Native American community in their region, many have already attended rallies, pow wows and gatherings, which became a sense of relief for me because they begun building relationships with our Indigenous brothers and sisters. They were very welcoming and warm and it was a great feeling of sisterhood. They took me on a tour to visit the home of Malcolm X, the home of Mother Khadijah and Min. Farrakhan; also the home where Min. Farrakhan grew up. To stand in front of these homes and to get a visual of all the stories I heard growing up from the family was amazing. There is so much history in Boston, and talent. That night I was invited by the Mosque to perform alongside some of the other Believers that performed poetry, rap and singing. And I must say the Nation of Islam got talent! They really have a sense of family and putting the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad into a flourishing community. I’d like to advise everyone, if you haven’t, to please visit Mosque No. 11 in Boston and the Study Group of Providence, Rhode Island. They are doing less talking and more building and that is what I admired the most.

Another situation that surprised me was the person behind all of the activities. Even though sister JoAnna hosted me, her husband spearheaded this movement. His name is DJ 3rd Eye. I spoke to him on the phone two years ago when I received an email from his wife for my song “Street Serenade” to go on their album. He has been keeping in contact with me via phone and recently when I asked him to come to Pine Ridge along with his wife with Press Pass TV, he told me he could not because he has been in prison since he was 18 years old. I was shocked! I didn’t ask him what was he there for. I was more intrigued that he was able to host so many community events, and have friends in all walks of life to support him on trying to make the community a better place. With the support of his wife and his friends, it doesn’t matter where you’re at, you can make a difference in the world. Also, knowing that he, too, lost his son to violence—that’s why “What’s Beautiful Never Dies” project is something he personally wants the world to hear.

His wife, Joanna, and I visited the prison he’s in, which is the same prison Malcolm X was imprisoned. The irony that leaders are birthed and groomed out of this prison is a story within itself. When I met with DJ 3rd Eye, I asked if he would write an article for The Final Call. His testimony is an inspiration to us all, because we find so many excuses to try to create change but here is a man in prison for a life sentence and has made more friends, created jobs, started organizations than many outside of the prison walls. We purposely imprison ourselves.

Here I was in Boston hearing the stories of family members of young people that were killed by mistaken identity, drive-bys, fist fights that turned into a gunfight and trying my best to put their stories into a song called, “Sunday Morning;” and when I get back home, I watched the news of another young man that was shot by the community watch security guard. His name, Trayvon Martin. We must educate one another on how to deal with our babies. We can’t stop parenting our teenagers. We can’t let go of our children, no matter how independent they may appear. I came from a community that truly believes in “it takes a village to raise a child.” We must develop that community again. Talk to your neighbors. Offer to help a single mother with her kids because the enemy doesn’t love us, nor do they love our children. As long as we unite to save our families, what’s beautiful will never die. Mitakoye Oyasin

The Final Call