Sheldon Taylor's Souls of Black Notes

                             "Show me a man without a temper and I'll show you a man without his salt"                                                  ---John Thompson: Sports Illustrated (1987) Nearly nine months in with three months to go---2020 is working overtime as the grand reaper. The dearly departed have returned to the essence. Surviving loved ones and well-wishers wearily kneel at the altar of condolence. Bodies are taxed from carrying the weight of heavy hearts. Hoarse throats shout rest in power salutations to the heavens. I woke up this morning to find that the reaper has struck once again. Legendary Georgetown Hoya coach John Thompson passed away at age 78.  Thompson's career is like a human highlight film. Here's the trailer: A back-up NBA center on a championship team recognizes his limitations and retires after a few years in the league. Now a coach, he works his way up to the college ranks, aligns himself with a fraternal order of coaches to cre

                                           From protest to politics. Unsung civil rights leader Bayard Rustin's depiction of transitional Black mobilization is resurrected by the Reverend Al Sharpton in Maynard--- the Netflix documentary of Maynard Jackson, Atlanta's first African-American mayor.  Sharpton connected the dots leading to Jackson's seminal moment during Maynard's opening scenes : " In '65 when the Voting Rights Act passed and I think that in '68 when Dr. King was killed, it gave a new energy that we wanted political power and we exercised our right to vote."   Jackson 's 1972 political ascent came on the heels of Richard Gordon Hatcher , one of first two Black mayors elected to an American city five years earlier. Navigating Gary, Indiana through optimistic and turbulent times, supporters honor his legacy. Skeptics are hesitant to give praise. Hatcher's appointment represents an ancestral deja vu moment. Lodged between pa