My fourth grade teacher, Ms. Alford, saw my artistic talent and submitted me for a K-12 art scholarship at Wichita State University. It was "interesting" being the youngest person, at only 11 years of age, and the only Black male, amongst college students in an art class.

Yet, with the receipt of my first art scholarship in the fourth grade that's exactly how my entry into the world of drawing and painting began. Proudly and humbly, I've always been able to do this - at this level. In fact, my greatest wish is to TAKE THE TIME to discover my true potential.

Unfortunately, overt racism at Northern Illinois University prevented me from pursuing a career in art. I was twenty-one-(21) years old, and I vividly remember Northern Illinois University’s Dean of the Art Department, Robert Even, as he held my “Pure Smokey” painting in his hand, and broke eye contact with me as he said:

"I see your grades are very good, and you've got some good work here, but we've never had a Black person in our graduate program at NIU, and we're not going to start with you. At best, you can enter as a student-at-large and then, later, we can see if we can get you into the program."

I was prohibited from entering grad school, forced to change my major, and due to a lack money and time, I abandoned my pursuit of a career in commercial illustration or teaching art history.

I've been asked, "Why did you give up?" I consistently respond, "Name a famous Black artist; name one." The response, 99.99% of the time is a dumb, stupid, blank look on the person's face. Don't be in denial, systemic racism has always existed, and as researched by Derenoncourt, Chi Hyun Kim, Kuhn, and Schularick in their March 8, 2021 report, “The Racial Wealth Gap, 1860 - 2020,” the wealth gap between Blacks and Whites has never been abated, has only increased significantly; and if present trends in the data continue, the racial wealth gap is headed to a steady state with average White wealth at least five times greater than average Black wealth - even through 2260! Clearly, given the perpetually oppressive status of "Being Black," racism is not going away.

I've been working as a free-lance artist, illustrator, web designer, photographer, and videographer for nearly 40 years. I enjoy producing commercial advertising and public relations projects for both print and broadcast media, and designing logos, brochures, record album covers, comic book illustrations, murals, and oil and acrylic paintings. Eventually, one day, I'd still really like to host a one-man show of original paintings, photographs, and videography. I