Dr. Sylvanus Adetokunboh Ayeni says Sub-Saharan Africa must recuse itself

 

Sylvanus Ayeni 

By Renarda A. Williams (aka Abari Sankofa)

In a new book, retired neurosurgeon and Nigeria native Sylvanus Adetokunboh Ayeni explains why it is vital for leaders in Sub-Saharan Africa to recuse their nations from poverty, corruption and poor governance,and instill into their societies a culture of independence, good governance and love of their fellow citizens. 

Rescue Thyself: Change in Sub Saharan Africa Must Come from Within (Hamilton Books, Lanham, MD, 2017) addresses the fact that the nations of Sub-Saharan Africa urgently need visionary leaders who truly care about the ordinary citizens and not just about themselves, their families and their cronies. Ayeni stresses that the leaders should strive toward providing better education, infrastructure and healthcare systems for the people, most of whom are languishing in poverty.  He goes on to state that leaders should implement their own form of government, best suited for their traditions and culture, instead of blindly copying outside forms of governments. 

African leaders must empower the citizens of their nations and not continue the culture of dependence on the rest of the world, Ayeni further points out in the book, adding that the widespread leadership failure in Sub-Saharan Africa has devastated the region and that the situation must be reversed.

In an interview with The Empowerment Initiative Online Newsletter Blog, Ayeni said the most devastating blow dealt to Africa went on "between the mid-15th century and 1867, when the last slave ship left central West Africa for Havana, Cuba."

"During this period, African chiefs sold the sons and daughters of their native land to the traders from across the Atlantic Ocean. Nothing can compare to what happened to the continent during this pre-colonial period," he said.  

The second devastating blow to the continent came with the Berlin Conference of 1884-85, when the European powers divided the continent without any input from the people, Ayeni said. Political independence was won by these countries, mostly in the 1960s, after difficult struggles led by prominent African leaders, including Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Tafawa Balewa and Obafemi Awolowo of Nigeria, Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya, Patrice Lumumba of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Leopold Senghor of Senegal and the "colossus" — Nelson Mandela of South Africa.

Unfortunately, according to Ayeni, colonialism was replaced by other problems including leaders' "inordinate zeal for power" and "a catastrophic lack of deep thought." 

"The root of the calamity in these nations is much deeper than corruption," he said. "There is total lack of concern for the welfare of the ordinary citizens, including the children and the elderly. It is something that most of our people do not want to address. It is time we address it. 

"Here's an example of how ... corruption has degraded the lives of Sub-Saharan Africans," Ayeni continued. "If you live in Little Rock, Arkansas ... you will be able to live in an area with access to the basic necessities of decent human existence, like clean water, electricity, sanitation, education and other resources. Most Sub-Saharan Africans don't have access to clean water. Many students go to school without basic materials for learning. There is [a] deep lack of love for the ordinary people by the leaders who only look out for themselves and their immediate families. The selfishness and corruption is so deep.  How can people be so selfish and demonstrate such deep lack love for fellow human beings? This is why I wrote this book."

Ayeni said he makes his strongest arguments in Chapter 5, "The Citizens As Potential Producers"; Chapter 2, "The Pitfalls of Misconceptions of the Purpose of Life";  Chapter 4, "The People: Vision Leadership Needed in the Face of Significant Divesity";  Chapter 7, "Education"; Chapter 9, "Governance and the Rule of Law"; and Chapter 10, "The Role of Donors and NGOs."

The best hope for the rescue of Sub-Saharan Africa lies with the children, mostly below the age of 10 years, Ayeni said. This is because they have not been polluted by corruption. “One of the saddest things about the failing nations of Sub-Saharan Africa is that the next generation of leaders, who are now in their 30s have only been exposed to corruption, selfishness, looting of the treasury by the leaders," he said. "That is what they have seen, experienced and learned throughout their lives. They have never experienced good governance,  never seen great schools, nor seen leaders whose top priority is taking care of society. They have only seen leaders who are totally invested in taking care of themselves."

Ayeni, who is also president and founder of the nonprofit organization Pan Africa Children Advocacy Watch Inc., wants everybody of African descent to read his book "so we can put our house in order." Indeed, anybody who is concerned about the fate of Africa and who donates money for foreign aid through a church, association or organization, is encouraged to read this book.

"I am going to be very blunt," Ayeni said. "Nobody outside Africa [including African Diaporans living in the United States, Canada, Caribbean, South America, Europe, etc.] can save Africa. Only Africans can save Africans! Africans must put their house in order! There are 1 billion-plus Africans .... they have all the human and natural resources!"

Rescue Thyself: Change in Sub Saharan Africa Must Come from Within is available at amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, Bamm.com, (Books A million), Roman.com, (the publisher’s website) and Walmart.com.

(NOTE: I hope brothers and sisters in the Diaspora would not get offended by Ayeni's statements. He just wants the world to know that it is time for the ''Motherland" to help itself because it has everything it needs to help itself. We — Black America and the rest of the African Diaspora — should at least be on standby to provide support, because we are brothers and sisters in the struggle. — A.S.)

Wilmer J. Leon, III, Ph.D. examines race, war, ethics and the politics in new book

 

Wilmer J. Leon III

    

By Renarda A. Williams (aka Abari Sankofa)

Wilmer J. Leon, III, Ph.D. leaves no stone unturned in the powerful set of essays in his book, Politics: Another Perspective: Commentary and Analysis on Race, War, Ethics and the American Political Landscape in the Age of Obama (AuthorHouse, Bloomington, MN, 2016).

Leon goes in depth in describing the essence of what the president, and the country, tried to do, as for counteracting the ideology of separatism. Unfortunately, he points out, there were no strong countermeasures by liberals to eliminate a bi-liberal society in America. Leon's analyses shows that factions of the Tea Party, ultra-right-wing conservatives, and white supremacists who did everything to dismantle the openness that America hoped to lead toward in the latter 2000s.  

The Empowerment Initiative Online Newsletter Blog interviewed Leon about Black America's expectations of former President Obama, Dr. Martin Luther King's real legacy, and the need for American communities, especially Black communities, to start empowering themselves and speaking out for social justice,

Leon said the greatest disappointment in Obama came from those with the most unrealistic expectations. 

"There were a lot of people in this country that were looking for President Obama to be able to solve [all their problems]," he said. "Some of that was based upon things he said during his campaign. Other elements were things that people in the electorate placed upon him. 

"But a lot of it is due to the fact that he did not govern, nor did he seem to try to govern to his base. ... He never seemed to use the bully power of his pulpit to explain [matters] to his base, or pressure his opposition. I think that there are a number of elements [that explain] why there was, in the minds of many people, that sense of disappointment."

Leon said he believes that Obama embraced a progressive liberal platform to try to give the impression that those were his politics. 

"I think, as of this day, that he was a 'corporatist,' " Leon said. "The real beneficiaries of a lot of his policies have been corporations and banks. I think there were a lot of factors. I don't think that it was as simple as a lot of his supporters wanted it to be .... saying, 'You just don't understand what he was up against' " to critics.

He understands that Sen. Mitch McConnell, along with just about everybody else in the Republican Party, wanted Obama to fail, Leon said. But, he adds, he didn't really see Obama using or challenging what he was up against; instead, he tried to negotiate with his opponents. He never seemed to understand that he couldn't negotiate with people who wanted to see him fail and were doing everything in their power to undermine him at every turn.

"Some of the people who worked in the administration told me: 'I rarely saw him come out at press conferences and say: "Look ... this is what Mitch McConnell is doing and this is what I am doing." It was rarely I heard him come out and say: "John Boehner is saying this .... but here’s the real truth,' '" Leon said.

"Let me give you a clearer example: I think that the biggest mistake that the president made was at the early stage of the Affordable Health Care Act. He should have gone to Kentucky -- right in McConnell's backyard -- and held a press conference and held a town hall meeting. And explained to those people in Kentucky what McConnell and the other conservatives were trying to do. He should have said: 

" 'Look, I know he is not telling you .... . Here is what I am trying to tell you. I know you don't like me ... . I am still your president. I'll do everything within my power to make sure everybody in this country has health care and entitlements. You don't have to vote for me ... . I am still working for you because I am still your president! And if Mitch McConnell still wants to oppose the ACA, you all need to go see him and ask him what is he giving you or providing for you that is better than what I am offering.' 

"After Obama finished his speech, he should dropped the mic and walked off the stage. And then he should have gotten on Air Force One and headed to South Carolina and [done] the same thing to Lindsay Graham. He should have gone to Mississippi, Louisiana .... and done the same thing to Bobby Jindal. He should have gone on a Southern Tour entitled The Affordable Health Care Act Drop The Mic Tour. He should have gone into all of those states' backyards and said what Franklin Roosevelt said: 'They may want the White House, but they will have to come through me to get it! .... and I got the key in my back pocket.' "

One essay in the book -- "Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., It's Not the Dream; It's Our Nightmare" --  best drives home the point that it will take more than a Black man, or a woman such as Hillary Clinton, to turn America around.

Most people, Leon said, don’t read the first part of Dr. King's "I Have A Dream" speech; they only read from the middle. The first part of the speech was an indictment of America ... an indictment during which King told listeners, "I am not advocating violence, but if you all don't pay attention, this stuff is going to go off!"

"All of that analysis is ignored, or not articulated," Leon said. "Dr. King has been [seen] as a dreamer. Dreamers are safe because they are asleep! But Dr. King was straight-up woke! He [called] America out!"

Another incendiary speech King gave -- "Why I Opposed the War In Vietnam" -- was the one that got him assassinated, Leon opines, and nobody really wants to talk about that.

"What you’ve got to do is combine that speech, where Dr. King stated 'war is an 'Enemy of the Poor,' with President Dwight D. Eisenhower's 1960 Farewell Address To The Nation, [which] warned us against the Military Industrial Complex," he stated.

Leon said someone on Facebook asked him the question: Who would he rather have, Malcolm X, or Martin? 

"I wrote back, 'You must have the ying and the yang ... . You can't really pick one over the other one. One couldn't been as effective without the other," he said.

Leon said Americans, as well as Black communities, need to empower themselves and protest against such injustices as voting rights suppression and police brutality. 

"I think looking at [President] Donald Trump should be motivation to truly understand the need for grassroots organization. It is going to enable us to empower ourselves and develop the type of context that we are going to need to go forward," he stated.

"Our politics will have to mature. Unfortunately, I think there are too many people that are in the process, and they are not nearly as effective because they are so concerned about being race-neutral ... . These de-racialized politics are going to do our community a disservice."

Press Release For Immediate Release Gang intervention specialist Carolyn Hobbs and former Step Up Support Center executive director (the support center provided four Gang intervention and prevention programs in the early 90s) talks about solutions for rise of crime in Little Rock

Press Release
For Immediate Release

Gang intervention specialist Carolyn Hobbs and former Step Up Support Center executive director (the support center provided four Gang intervention and prevention programs in the early 90s) talks about solutions for rise of crime in Little Rock

Little Rock, AR (July 10, 2017) -- Hobbs addresses solutions about the rise of crime, gang violence, and the recent shootings at Ultra Lounge, where 28 people were wounded.

Hobbs highlighted the interventions and solutions that ended the gang crisis in Little Rock in the early 90s in her book Sipping Tea for the Spirit (Orange Universe Press, $15) in the chapter Empowerment of Little Rock Youth. Hobbs highlighted the interventions and solutions that worked for the city of Little Rock in the early 90s.
HBO documented their perception of the violence in 1994 on a special documentary  entitled Gang War: Bangin' in Little Rock, which was shown on cable television nationally.

Unfortunately, youth violence has returned to the city. The majority of the crime has taken place in underserved neighborhoods. The youth in the underserved neighborhoods have expressed to Hobbs that they feel that it appears that people do not care about them.  

It appears that the youth have low aspirations because of their feelings of hopelessness  that makes them vulnerable to negative and violent activities.

"We need to look at what was successful in the early 90s," Hobbs said. "I worked directly with all those children that were involved in that, as well as the public officials at that time."

The problems in the 90s were devastating for the city of Little Rock. Hobbs was inspired to write detailed information about that period of violence in Little Rock.

According to Mrs. Annie Abrams, who has been an outstanding community leader throughout the years in Little Rock, stated Ms. Hobbs book Sipping Tea for the Spirit gives a detailed blueprint on how to deal with community issues.

The book can be found at Pyramid Art, Books and Custom Framing. It also can be ordered online at Amazon Books.
For more information about Carolyn Hobbs, request a review copy of her book, or arrange a newspaper, television, or radio interview with her, contact Mr. Renarda A. Williams at 501-765-1873 or renarda3@aol.com.

How Southern Food empowered the Civil Rights Movement

 

Frederick Douglass Opie

Movements for progressive change have always been sustained by the ideologies and strategies of the leaders and organizations pushing for said change.

When it comes to the Civil Rights Movement, one of the most powerful tools of its sustenance was, simply put, sustenance for the body.

In Southern Food and Civil Rights: Feeding the Revolution (American Palate, Charleston, SC, 2017), Frederick Douglass Opie shows how food was significant in nourishing the participants who marched, protested and strategized against injustice in the South. A professor of history and foodways at Babson College in Wellesley, MA, Opie has also authored Hog and Horminy: Soul Food From Africa to America (2008) and Zora Neale Hurston on Florida Food, Recipes, Remedies and Simple Pleasures (2015).

This extraordinary book details how restaurants such as Paschal's in Atlanta and Dookie Chase's in New Orleans offered a safe haven for the revolutionaries; how the Sandwich Brigade fed thousands of people attending the 1963 March on Washington; and how the Nation of Islam supported itself via the farming of crops and livestock, distribution of the food from these farms, and ownership of eateries in Washington, Chicago, Harlem, and Atlanta

The book is highlighted by numerous recipes modified from those that appeared in black and mainstream publications from the early 20th century up through the Civil Rights era:
Chicken Gumbo (Cleveland Call & Post, May 1950); Afro Cooking School Cheesecake (Afro American, November 19, 1932); Basic Fried Chicken (Baltimore Sun, Jan. 29, 1960); and Bean Pie (Chicago Defender).

During my interview with Opie, he used the Boston Marathon as one example of how food is a key component and ingredient in an event. The marathon would be nothing, he said without volunteers on the sidelines of the raceway handing out water or Gatorade to the runners. It was the same with the Civil Rights Movement — it would not have been sustainable had there been no one to provide food for participants during the marches and rallies.

Opie's upbringing influenced his authorship of the book; his mother was an activist, he said.

"I saw all her in all of the planning, strategy sessions .... and there was always food there. My mother would be on the phone coordinating with other activists," making sure these meetings were also potluck meals, he said.

People exhibit a sense of superiority when they think they have everything under control, Opie noted. That was the case with racist whites during the Civil Rights Movement. Because of their arrogance, they assumed Blacks would remain powerless and never outsmart them — in other words, they thought that "everything was on lockdown," he said.

Meanwhile, Blacks used their stores and restaurants as covers for movement activities. They would carry around pamphlets and fliers, surreptitiously dropping them others who were involved in the movement. The success of the 1955-1956 Montgomery Bus Boycott in Alabama was helped by bake sales, some of whose products were sold to whites who had no idea where the proceeds were going.

Tucked into the theme of food during the movement was the the sense of self-sufficiency that helped sustain the supply of food that sustained the movement. Opie pointed out that the Nation of Islam, for instance, believed in "never begging the white man for something," as Malcolm X would say. Some Black people forget that the Nation of Islam was similar to the Marcus Garvey movement, Opie added.

"The thing about Marcus Garvey that people cannot forget was, he was a cultural revolutionary. Booker T. Washington was his role model. He said Washington said, 'Don't ask the white man for nothing; build your own. ... When you are economically independent, you can do things like that." The Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA), which oversaw the bus boycott, was perhaps influenced by the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), Garvey's organization. "If you do your research, there may have been a UNIA chapter in Montgomery. Garvey went universal," he said.

Opie acknowledged that integration proved a double-edged sword. Blacks from all walks of life,  suffering the same oppression as a group, had no choice but to work together during the days of Jim Crow. But "when you had integration, [Blacks] left the community, he said. "You no longer had role models left in the community ... and this was an important factor," Opie added. "Today, I think we in the African American community forgot the lessons of the Civil Rights Movement."

Opie said his next book, that's still in the works, will be titled The Student Makeover. In it, he plans to discuss how college-bound young people should be able to answer the questions,
'What is your God-given talent? What can you do better than anybody else?'

"If you can't ask that question first, you don't know where you are going."

Little Rock Chapter of Links Inc. celebrates its 60th birthday with black-tie gala

 

(Editor's note: Throughout my 12 years living in Little Rock, where I relocated from Monroe, La., I have been very impressed with the the Little Rock Chapter of The Links, Inc. — especially their devotion to helping others. Ladies, I want to congratulate you and wish you success with all your future endeavors!)


By Renarda A. Williams (aka Abari Sankofa)
On Nov. 9, 1946, Sarah Scott and Margaret Hawkins, two young Philadelphia, PA, matrons, "summoned their friends together and called upon them to link their friendship resources to form a chain of strength in order to improve the quality of life and provide the hope of the disadvantaged African American citizens.”

The heeding of that request was the beginning of  The Links, Inc., America's oldest and largest volunteer service organization of women "committed to enriching, sustaining and ensuring the culture and economic survival of African Americans and other persons of African ancestry.”

The organization was  incorporated in 1951. It now encompasses approximately 14,000 women in 283 chapters located in 41 states, the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, whose primary purpose is to promote and engage in educational, civic and intercultural activities that carry out its mission.

On January 13, 1956 — a decade after the founding of the Links Inc. — its Little Rock Chapter was chartered by 26 women. The current membership consists of 37 active and eight alumna members dedicated to serving the community. Gloria Love is the Little Rock Chapter President.

  

Gloria Love

 
On Nov. 11, the chapter will celebrate its 60th Diamond Anniversary with a black-tie gala, 7 p.m. at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock. Doors open at 6 p.m. The evening will include dinner, live entertainment by the Temptations Review featuring Dennis Edwards, and dancing. For tickets, $200 each, call (501) 350-3124 or email anniversary@littlerocklinksinc.org. (The event is a replacement for what otherwise would have been the chapter's 2016 Jazz Brunch, traditionally held the first Saturday in December.)

Members of The Links give back to their communities through generous contributions of their time, energy and finances to organizations whose goals parallel their own, such as The United Negro College Fund and the Susan G. Koran Foundation. Just since 2006, the Little Rock Chapter has given more than $100,000 in scholarships and charitable donations.

Programs of The Links  are designed to improve the quality of life for individuals that are traditionally underserved through its five program facets: The Arts, International Trends and services, Services to Youth, Health, and National Trends and Services. Local chapter programs are designed to impact elementary, middle and senior high students as well as senior citizens in the Pulaski county area. But not all chapter work is concentrated in local efforts. The chapter collaborated with Arkansas’ one other Links chapter — located in Pine Bluff — and several chapters in Tennessee to build the Valentine School in South Africa. These chapters continue to provide ongoing support for the school. The Little Rock chapter also implemented Linkages to Life, a program that includes organ, bone marrow and tissue transplant education and organ-donation initiatives.

 

"Our chapter members are extremely proud of the 60-year record of community service in the Little Rock metropolitan area,” Love wrote in  "Message from the President — History and Purpose of the Little Rock Chapter,” part of a chapter booklet. "In our 60th year, as we move forward, locked in a chain of friendship and service, we pledge to redouble our efforts and honor our beloved organizers and charter members by doing all in our power to preserve the mission, integrity and legacy of the Little Rock Chapter of the Links, Inc.” 

What does Love believe to be the greatest accomplishment of the Little Rock Chapter of The Links, Inc.? She cited the progress that the chapter has made versus when she became a member nearly 30 years ago.  She is especially proud their work to help children in such areas as education and health (the latter including implementation of an obesity program, teaching healthful eating habits, and giving away bicycles). "We work hard to raise money for our children,” she said.

Back in 1956 — and today — "Our goal is to make a difference for ourselves and our world."

 

Dr. Juanita Bynum

Dr. Juanita Bynum’s sermon was indeed “Unbreakable”
By Renarda A. Williams (aka Abari Sankofa)

An audience of some 300 people receipted a spiritual uplift by Dr. Juanita Bynum, internationally acclaimed preacher of the gospel and platinum recording artist, during her recent visit to Little Rock.
Bynum was the main speaker at the first “Unbreakable" Women’s Conference, held Aug. 19-20 at Second Baptist Church, 1709 John Barrow Road. The conference was designed to empower, encourage, and enrich women from all walks of life. Brenda Hatton Ficklin, a member of St. Mark Baptist Church in Little Rock, presented the event, which also featured guest speaker Dr. Sharon Nesbit of Dominion World Outreach in Marion; national recording artist Lecresia Campbell; and the St. Mark praise team.

“I was quite surprised when the invitation came, and the Lord accepted it,” Bynum told the audience during the opening session of conference. "I was overwhelmed because I knew then that God would have me to share not only what He has been speaking, what He has been downloading and revealing; but it had to be the right place, it had to be the time, and it had to be the right people — or the message, which was a divine message, would have been lost in translation,” Bynum said.
She spoke to the audience about their personal struggles, referencing the story of Job in the Old Testament.

“Some of us don’t have a tendency to compare the opposite force with what God is doing,” she said. "We are always ever ready to give the Devil all of his glory, and all of his praise for all of what he does. What he does is never, ever to you or about you.

"I remember when I was going through my transition, some, maybe, six years ago, I was sitting on the couch weeping. And the spirit of the Lord came [literally] in my living room and [asked me], ‘Why are you weeping? … This is not personal, this is business!’ … What the enemy is really after is what you have not yet produced. [Satan] hit you because ... he’s afraid of what you are about to do ... and afraid [of what you might become].

“God called a meeting about you,” Bynum added. “There's no need for God to hold a meeting about you unless you are stronger than you think you are.” Be encouraged, she told listeners. “God is taking you somewhere."

Lynda Blackmon Lowery: Veteran of the 1965 Selma Voting Rights March, By Renarda A. Williams (aka Abari Sankofa)

 




Author Lynda Blackmon Lowery

        

NOTE: I submitted the following article — a commemoration of the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery March in Alabama —  to run in the March/April 2015 issue of Faith and Soul News Magazine of Fayetteville/Atlanta, GA. Its publisher is a client of my Little Rock, AR, media business, The Umoja Network. 

As said magazine issue went unpublished due to unforeseen circumstances, I offer the story here. It is always my pleasure to present historic pieces such as this to the readership of The Empowerment Initiative Online Newsletter Blog. 

Hotep People! 

***

Can you imagine, being only 14, marching out of Selma, Ala, for Montgomery on Sunday, March 7, 1965, being brutally attacked by law enforcement officers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, and surviving the ordeal? This is what happened to Lynda Blackmon Lowery of Selma, who turned 15 several weeks after the day known as "Bloody Sunday" and was the youngest person to complete the subsequent, historic Voting Rights March of 1965. 

Lowery is the author of a fascinating book titled Turning 15  On The Road To Freedom: My Story of the 1965 Voting Rights March, as told by Elspeth Leacok and Susan Buckley and illustrated by PJ Loughran (Dial Books for Young Readers, Jan. 8, 2015, $19,99). This powerful story about Lowery's life is sure to bring chills, and pride, to the young readers toward whom the book is geared. 

Lowery works as a case manager at a mental health center, and still lives in Selma, Ala.

During an interview with Faith & Soul, Lowery said it was an awesome feeling to have helped make history ... but that this wasn't her goal at that time. 

"I was just thinking about making change. And the reason I can say 'change' so readily is because my grandmother used to say, 'Anything worth having is worth changing as needed.'  We were making change and I think that change was history," Lowery noted.

She actually learned about nonviolence at age 13, Lowery said, adding that her grandmother was her biggest inspiration. 

"I had a strong, determined and religious grandmother. [She] brought up my siblings, and [me] to be strong and determined. 

"To add on to that, I ... heard Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speak when I was 13 years old. He talked about the right to vote, and how it would change things for grown people. He said you can get anyone to do anything with steady loving confrontation. To me, the steady loving confrontation was, I guess, what God did in the Bible. He loved us and He won souls over.

"I don't believe in violence, and never believed in violence. I believe in steady loving confrontation."

Lowery said she wants today's young people to know that they, too, can make a difference without fists or guns.

"If you want to make change, you will have to make people believe in you! It does not take fighting all the time," she elaborated. Fighting actually gives you nothing! You need to have a steady heart. Some [young people] may say that you are giving up or being a punk, or whatever they want to call it. You are using your mind ... You do not have to use your fist to encourage people."

Lowery said she was encouraged to write the book by her two friends, Elspeth Leacock and Susan Buckley both authors of children's history books. They decided that her story was interesting. 

The story was actually written 10 years ago. "In October 2012, we got an agent," Lowery said. "And the agent, by April 2013, got a publisher who was interested ... Penguin Random House." The book was released Jan, 8, 2015.

"I did not know the impact that it would make. I think there is a message in [it] for young people. And it was that they are the future history makers. And [that] if you see something, you can change it — just by wanting to work toward it — and doing it better! History is a journey of change to me. Nobody changes something that is good for you. Everybody would want to change something that is bad for everyone. Pick your battles and see what change is going to make." 

Lowery said the experience of Bloody Sunday left her terrified, but more determined than ever to fight for equality.

When the tear gas was released by law enforcement officers that day, she was down on her knees, as she had been drilled to do beforehand. Like her fellow marchers, she was unable to breathe or see. It was confusing and scary, she recalled; they never encountered tear gas before. 

"I was hit by on the forehead by a sheriff's deputy," Lowery said. "After he hit me, he pushed me and [it was then that] I rolled over and started to run. He came right behind me — hitting me. And I ran into a cloud of tear gas.

"That was a scary, scary thing! It was scary enough to make me [want to] fight back, but not fight back in a physical sense." Instead, Lowery was determined to fight back from a mental sense, letting them know that they'd created the very thing they would later be afraid of: an educated Black female. "I figured white folks were scared of educated Blacks, period! And I was going to be an educated Black person, and they [would] have to deal with me."

At the time, Lowery adds, "I wanted to show the governor that I [was] no threat to him at 14 years old. That's why I wanted to march to Selma."

Lowery said she appreciates it when people call her brave for what she faced. "But I call it being determined, and determination. To be brave, and to be courageous, means that you have to be determined! You have to overcome fear," she said.

"There were others like me who were brave. I was not brave, I was just determined to do something."