Free Mind Free Speech

By Phillip Leno Wright Sr.

This book is a carefully documented combination of my free transcendental thoughts, including many of my life experiences recalled and written precisely as creative stories. Some of them have been researched for affirmation, and there are some photos. Some of the stories may also be a bit unusual but true and somewhat ineffable.

If anything written in this book, Free Mind Free Speech, seems to be offensive to anyone in any manner, I wish to apologize before you complete reading and cogitating about what you have read, and in the process, I hope that you find something in this book that is more than just words, but informative, enlightening, uplifting, or encouraging to your mind and your spirit. It is all taken from true experiences.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Dec 4, 2014
• ISBN: 9781496956422

Phillip Leno Wright Sr.

He was born into a family of church pastors, gospel singers, and musicians from Miami, Perrine, and Coconut Grove Florida. From the age of seven, he was added as the third member of his mother's gospel singing group with her playing the guitar. As the family grew to six, they were the host children's gospel singing group to introduce any of the well-known and popular gospel recording performers like Shirley Ceasar and the Staple Singers, which includes Mavis Staple. As the years went by, he began to play the guitar at age nine and joined his first professional Calypso Band called The Down Beats by age twelve. From there, at the age of sixteen, he joined another band, The Afro Beats. Then by age twenty-two, he moved to New York and replaced Jimmi Hendrix with Atlantic Records with King Curtis and the Kingpins featuring Cissy Houston and the Sweet Inspirations. After a few years with Atlantic Records, he moved to Battle Creek Michigan with Junior Walker and the all stars with Motown Records. Recording with all these groups and and participating in television commercials as in a Coca Cola Product, Arrow Shirts with Morris the Cat, and Nice-N-Easy Hair coloring with Ms. Debbie Allen famous Actress, and Choreographer while joining his Youngest sister as guitarist and Band Director, Ms. Betty Wright, who became a Grammy Award Winner with songs like "Tonight is the Night" and "No Pain, No Gain." He also played guitar on the very first recordings with Harry Wayne Casey, who became the well-known hit maker KC and the Sunshine Band and joined by his other sister, Jeannette Wright, on TK Record Productions. And from then, he recorded his gospel CD while finishing his higher education earning his Ph.D. degree in the arts with a concentration in creative writing from Rochville University. He has written as a freelance writer articles in numerous newspapers across the country and some in Europe. He graduated from the Miami Lighthouse for the Blind in order to continue to function normally.

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© 2014 Written by: Phillip Leno Wright Sr. Ph.D. All rights reserved.

Revised Edition

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 06/10/2015

ISBN: 978-1-4969-5643-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4969-5642-2 (e)

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Introduction

What Free Mind Free Speech is to Me

Chapter I

My Life Story as I Recall

The James E. Scott Housing Development in Liberty Square

The Day of My Deliverance

Call Him by His Name

A Learning Experience Recording with Some of the Greats

Just Thinking

Chapter II

Displaced Survivors and Deceased Entertainers, Performers and Musicians From the Overtown Music Culture of Nearly 60 Years

The List

The Overtown Night Clubs

The Overtown Theaters

A Word to Young Black Men and Women

Driving At the Age of Twelve

President John Hanson and Now President Barack Obama?

Little Mr. Ghant

Chapter III

Recognizing and Trying to Understand Clairvoyance

Surviving Prostate Cancer

My Opinions and Views

A Blind Man’s View on Civil and Human Rights And Equal Justice in America

The Miami Herald Silver Knight Award Competition 1963

Song Lyrics

I Remember When

Give a Smile

That’s what I Think Martin Wants Us to Do

Who Are We?

The Murder of Joseph Sweats, 1954

Some Celebrity Friend Meetings of the Past

Getting to Know and Spending a Little Time with Jimi Hendrix

The Uptown Theater in Philadelphia with the Jacksons

Apollo Theater - Bill Cosby Show, 1968

Thanks for a Great Life

Black Performers and the American Chitlin’ Circuit Night Clubs

My Opinions and Views

Love Energy Will Last Forever

A Word of Advice about the Past for a Better Future

Chapter VI

Operation Amigo 1960

Copyright Theft in the American Recording Companies

1967 UFO Sighting in Uppons Corner in Boston, Massachusetts

My Interaction with Bill Cosby

The Continued Civil and Human Rights Struggles

The Historical Miami Liberty Square Wall

The Bombing

My Personal Opinion of the N Word

The Nubian Queen I Called Mama

Imagine If No One Could See

Poems

Blind Inconvenience

Song Lyrics

Angel Face

Opinion

The Causes and Effects That Created the American Economic Crisis

Racism in Politics

The Rosewood Story Connection

Are You Getting Older?

Some Wonders of the World

The Miami That I Remember Is No More

The Connection between Institutionalized Racism and Unequal Opportunities

Landing Right into a Civil War, 1968

My View of the History of the Tree

And the Black and African American Male

Man Folks Was My Daddy

The Teaming Of the Afro Beats and the Fabulettes

The Amazing West Berlin Wall

Blacks Are Human Beings, and Not Property

Immigrant Disorder Seems to Be Changing Miami

Opinion on American Politics

I Could Have Been Michael Brown During 1963

Using My Free Mind and Free Speech

Photos

My Paternal and Maternal Grandparents

How Sad It Was to Lose Both of My Maternal Grandparents

Are the Elderly and Children Invisible People?

You Cannot Solve a Problem by Creating another Problem

How is Our Social Security Retirement Evaluated?

The Blanche Calloway I Knew

Reflecting on My Friendship with Sam and Joyce Moore

Thanks to My Mentors, and to Those Who Inspired, Encouraged and Motivated Me to Expand My Intellect of Free Mind and Free Speech in a Book

My Pledge to Free Mind and Free Speech

About The Author

Please!! May I speak?

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By Dr. Phillip Leno Wright Sr., Ph.D.

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Dr. Phillip L. Wright Sr. and Mother Rosa Akins Braddy-Wright 2009

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Dr. Phillip L. Wright Sr. (Photo by Lawrence Morgan)

Introduction

This book is a carefully documented combination of my free transcendental thoughts, including many of my life experiences recalled and written precisely as creative stories. Some of them have been researched for affirmation, and there are some photos. Some of the stories may also be a bit unusual, but true and somewhat ineffable.

If anything written in Free Mind Free Speech seems to be offensive to anyone in any manner, I wish to apologize before you complete reading and cogitating about what you have read, and in the process, I hope that you find something in this book that is more than just words, but informative, enlightening, uplifting, or encouraging to your mind and your spirit. It is all taken from true experiences.

Research sites below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_freedom

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment01/

What Free Mind Free Speech is to Me

Free Mind Free Speech to me means that I can be free to be creative with my thoughts orally or literally of what is constructive, good, different, and meaningful to improve and help myself and others, and I don’t have to allow myself to be stifled by anyone when speaking my mind.

I can always speak up and ask questions, and listen when someone else is using their free mind and free speech, so I can understand and learn more about what is being said. I don’t have to immediately accept or believe what is being said by anyone. Spoken words may not always represent the truth when your ears are listening to them, just as the front cover of a book may not always depict what is on the inside. However, ironically at times it may also be precisely what is on the inside of the book, no matter what is on the front cover, as when someone speaks out of turn to another. It could be precisely what he or she wanted to say, or unintentionally coming out of their transcendental state of mind automatically. Transcendental state of mind is what we as people rarely use. It comes from a part of the brain where much of our information is stored. When we are concentrating and cogitating while speaking words to each other, we are not in that part of the brain. Freedom of laughter is also a choice of free mind and free speech. My attitude about this subject is derived from my experiences as a youngster and as I grew up into adulthood. I learned to listen first to everyone, especially the elders, after whom I spoke with the knowledge and truth of what I have learned in my lifetime, and asked questions for clarity. There are some persons who have chosen to use knowledge from practicing their transcendental meditative state of mind negatively, in order to control and redirect a person’s thoughts to cogitate on what he or she want that person to believe or think. I have learned to recognize if what is contained in a conversation does not sound positive, constructive, truthful or righteous, then it may not be something you or I wish to absorb into our transcendental state of mind and spirit. Free Mind Free Speech is everyone’s God given right on this earth to use their free mind and free speech.

Until I had grown up, I learned to speak my mind when there is something wrong and it is bothering me; I didn’t have to allow anyone to stifle me from speaking about it. At the same time, in school I learned to speak my mind when I didn’t understand my lesson, so I would ask the teacher to explain it further so I could understand it thoroughly. I also discovered that when you love someone, you might allow them to suppress your freedom of speech, as what happened to me unconsciously, growing up and into my early adulthood years. The suppression of my freedom of mind and speech had built a wall to block my free spirit. Even so, it has enlightened me, awakened and strengthened my faith in God, and it has taught me more about tolerance of others and to appreciate freedom of mind and speech, no matter what the circumstances may be. Just the other day when I attended a meeting, an eighty-nine year old lady sitting next to me tried to stop me from laughing out loud by shushing me. Seconds later a ninety-six year old lady showed up and sat down next to me on the other side, and to my knowledge she wasn’t aware of what just happened, and she said, Hello, sir are you happy? I said to her, Yes I am always happy in the Lord. She said in a loud tone of voice, You know people should laugh more and let it be heard so others might enjoy hearing the laughter and be happy too. She said she became happy when she heard me laughing. I accepted what she said as her expression of a freedom of laughter and that she wanted me to do the same too, as a form of Free Mind Free Speech.

Chapter I

My Life Story as I Recall

I was born as the third son of Milton Wright Sr. and Rosa Akins Wright, as Phillip Leno Wright. It was 1945 in a shanty house with a midwife in Overtown Miami on Fifth Court and Tenth Street near Downtown Miami. At our shanty house, we could see straight through from the front door to the back door. I remember the floors were made of wood. The sound I heard on the floor wearing my high-top white shoes, made little me feel like a big man, like my father. I was only four or five years young. You see, my father would always put brads on the bottom of his shoes, and it made a loud sound when he walked on any surface. I wanted the same sound from my shoes too. Also at the age of four, when we lived Overtown, I took advantage of my mother being busy, and I ran to catch my father who had gone to the store. I reached the street but the cars were stopped for the traffic light, so I held onto the back end of a car and I waited. I wasn’t sure that I should cross while the cars were stopped.

When the light changed for the cars to go, I thought I should go too. While holding onto the rear end of a car and ready to run across the street, the next car that took off, slung me directly into the path of the next speeding car. I couldn’t be seen since I was so tiny. It was a taxi, and it ran across me without smashing my tiny body. I could actually see the bottom of the car as it passed over me. Unfortunately, the taxi did slightly graze the right side of my head, but didn’t crush it. I was so terrified when I got up, I could only run straight home to my mother. I couldn’t even cry. A lady who lived nearby saw what happened, and came to our house to tell my mother. My mother immediately rushed me on the bus to Jackson Memorial Hospital with no serious visible injuries, except the tire tread marks on the right side of my head. Those marks remained there for nearly a year. I thank God today for saving my life.

During the short hospital examination, I had X-rays taken to find if I had any fractures to my skull. Even today in 2015, I still have a slightly sunken area on the right side of my head. Since I was so tiny and couldn’t be seen, no one bothered to stop. In those days, there was very little or no legal support for Black or African American people. There was not a soul held accountable for the incident and no investigation. That is how it was in Overtown during 1949, in the Black community. However, on a happier note, I can joyfully remember the Junkanoo calypso band in Overtown from the Bahamas, which consisted of Bahamian men. It has been a Bahamian tradition for many years, to currently in 2015. They played the drums, they blew the whistles, and played different rhythmic instruments. They also played some wind instruments such as the tuba. The beat and rhythm was extraordinary and moving. Even at my age of three or four years young, and without understanding what I felt, I just knew that rhythm had something to do with me and other people like my family. The Junkanoo band performed in parades, parties, weddings, and different events. I was full of music in my spirit. Little did I know that the music and rhythm was in some part of my DNA. I was beginning to love the sound of voices singing, and musical instruments and drums playing. I was right at home when my mother played the guitar while she sang. She eventually taught me to sing, and I learned to play the guitar by watching her. Music could be heard in the streets coming from most every house or apartments all over the city of Overtown Miami. It seemed to be the lifeline of the Black community. As a young child, my two older brothers Charles and Milton were already singing gospel music with our mother Rosa. She could really sing and play the guitar. Turning seven years young, she started me to sing with her and my two brothers. Three years later, mom had my sister Jeannette; I was the third. Jeannette, being the youngest at four years, I’m sure mom was probably already planning to train her to sing with our group too. Eventually, the family grew to six, and we all had a part to sing gospel music with mom. The last two siblings were Michael and Betty. By the time I turned eleven years old, mom had written a song called I’ll Keep Toiling On especially for me to sing. One night when mama was working at the hospital and we were all at home, Milton discovered an old spiritual song book just lying around the house. Milton and Charles got with the rest of us and we all arranged our voices to fit a song called Down by the Riverside from the book. A few days later, Mama took us all to this recording studio call Decca Records after we had rehearsed the two songs. She supervised all of us at the recording studio and session, including our youngest sister, Betty. She was not even three years young yet, but she could sing with a strong, loud and clear voice on key.

At the studio, when we started to sing, I don’t remember just who, but one of us made the remark, Betty is singing too loud over the rest of us. Mama knew that Betty could sing in tune with us too, so she told us Pick her up and put her in the chair near the microphone, stand behind her and let her sing too. I did, and Betty’s voice came through loud and clear in tune into the microphone as we recorded. It was our very first time recording in a studio together as the Echoes of Joy Gospel singing group. Mama was 32 years, Milton was 13, I was 11, Jeannette was 8, and Betty was 2 and a half. Charles, at the age of fourteen, played the guitar quite well on both of the songs. We even got the chance to watch the studio man thread a circular piece of vinyl that produced the sounds we had just finished making with our voices and the guitar. However, nothing ever came of the recording, but we continued to perform gospel programs in Miami and other cities in Florida. We had become child celebrities in the gospel field of music.

Thinking of many things that occurred back in those days, I can remember, when I was nine years young, I had already developed a feel for playing the guitar, because I would sneak my mother’s guitar to practice when she was gone to work at the hospital. I had practiced so much, I taught myself how to strum with a tremendous hand rhythm stroke; playing chord progressions. I really didn’t want anyone in the family to know that I had learned to play the guitar until I felt I could really play a complete song, and play it well enough for someone else to say they enjoyed it.

After we moved to Liberty City in the James E. Scott Housing Development, one day my mother asked me to come with her to her sister’s job on the bus to Overtown. Her only sister was Marie Hutto Wellman; we called her Aunt Gent. She was one of the only two African American females who became Miami police officers in Dade County during 1954. My mother and I traveled by bus to her job so she could take us on her lunch break to take care of some personal business. My Aunt Gent had to leave her job before we got there and had no way to contact us, since there were no cell phones invented yet. We left her job walking, and we passed a store front building that displayed a guitar hanging inside. The sight of the guitar attracted my attention. We stopped and asked the occupants if they had a telephone, but they didn’t. Although they didn’t have one, I really just wanted to know about the guitar they had hanging. They told us they had a band and they needed a guitarist. I couldn’t wait to tell them about my big brother Charles and how he could play. I gave them our address and they came by the next day to hear Charles play. The audition didn’t seem to be going so good, so I asked Charles to let me try to play what I thought they wanted to hear. I did, and they replied, That’s it!! We’re coming to get you tomorrow. I was eager to play what I thought they wanted to hear, but I hadn’t ever played in front of an audience yet. Their reaction to me playing the guitar actually frightened me, but I still agreed to go with them. The next day we traveled to Miami Beach and performed calypso music for a wiener roast party at the Casa Blanca Hotel out by the ocean. Afterwards, the band leader Daniel Seymour gave me sixty-seven dollars and fifty cents and I gave it back to him. I thought he had given me too much money. He took it back and counted it again and said it was right, then he said Oh no, I forgot you have fifteen dollars more that each of us got as a tip for playing requests tunes. The total amount I was paid that night was eighty-two dollars and fifty cents for two and a half hours of singing and playing my guitar at my age of twelve years. My response was, I know what I will be doing from now on. Now on has become fifty-nine years later.

The James E. Scott Housing Development in Liberty Square

The Liberty Square Housing Project in Miami is not unlike any of the other housing projects around the country. Located in the Miami neighborhood of Liberty City, it was given the nick-name Pork and Beans during the 1970’s, due to the escalating crime and poverty created by social and economic inequities.

There was a lack of support for education and unemployment, and not enough job skills training for the residents of Liberty Square. The residents were largely Black Americans, of whom many were born in the South, and Bahamian Americans. It all started back in the 1930’s, when a housing director named Floyd W. Davis purchased some land in what might have been called The Sticks, because that area in Miami