By James Clingman | SPECIAL TO SACOBSERVER.COM

(NNPA) - Hot off the presses (or is it the laser?) in March 2008, are two CD’s that YOU should have.

One is titled, “Bring Black Back,” and the other is titled, “Three Credits Shy.” We are always looking for positive, educational, enlightening, inspiring, and entertaining music and spoken word. Well, here they are. These two CD’s provide all of that and more.
If you have never done anything I have asked you to do in my 13 years of writing this column, please, I say again, “please” purchase these two CD’s.

The Bring Black Back CD was written and performed by the MAAT Youth Group at the SBA Academy in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. It was inspired by the Harlem Renaissance and the initial meeting in December 2006 of what is now called the Nationalist Black Leadership Coalition (NBLC), which convened under the mantra, “Bring Back Black.”
Brother Kweku Akan attended the meeting and immediately thereafter he, his staff, and the young people went to work on the CD concept.

Folks, we constantly talk about the negative things we hear and see in the music of some of today’s young artists. We rail against their lyrics and their exploitation of women. We are embarrassed by the way some of them dress and their seemingly endless propagation of the thug life and the bling-bling mindset.

The Bring Black Back CD and the MAAT Youth Group are completely positive, educational, and inspiring to both the young and the older crowds. The young people rap about our historical icons like Zora Neale Hurston, Marcus Garvey, and Langston Hughes, all set to some of the “tightest” beats you will ever hear.

One of my favorite is their innovative piece on Reparations. During their release event on February 29th, they performed each song and added their own choreographed routines, lead by a young brother, Adrian Curry, who just happens to have a 4.3 GPA and will be attending Morehouse next year. Another young sister, Chloe Johnson, in her first year at Florida A&M, who also played a major role in the recording, came back home to Ft. Wayne to participate in the release.

In addition to these outstanding students, there are several others from age 13 to 19, who dedicated their time and their creative talents to produce the Bring Black Back CD.

You need to have this CD. The proceeds will go to help the SBA Academy in its efforts to educate more young people about their history and their culture. The funds also help with travel expenses for the students to visit Africa and various Caribbean islands as they have done in the past.

These are the kinds of young people we say we want to have in our communities. Show them you appreciate their efforts. Support them. Buy their CD! Go to sba1satschool.com and make your purchase. Buy several and give them to friends and family.

The other CD, “Three Credits Shy,” is a sobering disclosure of a case that haunts me and should touch the consciences of all people. It’s the William Mayo story. Mayo has been incarcerated for 16 years for a crime he did not commit. Having received injustice after injustice from Georgia’s judicial system, he languishes in a cell waiting for US to do something about his situation. You know; the way we acted in the Marcus Dixon case, the Genarlow Wilson case, the Shaquanda Cotton, the Jena Six case. William is still waiting for justice to prevail, and we can help him in his quest.

Go to freemayo.com and purchase “Three Credits Shy,” which indicates how far Mayo was from receiving his degree from Morehouse College prior to being accused and convicted of a robbery in which he had no role.

William Jonathan Mayo was well on his way to being a commissioned officer in U.S. Army, well on his way to being one of the young role models we say we need more of in our communities; he was well on his way to being able to help other young men who aspired to the level he had struggled to reach through hard work and dedication; William Mayo was on his way to success, but his journey was interrupted by a gross injustice that still has not been rectified.

William’s destiny suffered a detour that has now taken 16 years to travel, but he is still determined to come put of that prison one day and get that degree he cherished so much. He is still determined to offer whatever time he has left to help someone else, especially young people.

He is still prayerful and still hopeful while he waits for his day in court or for the day someone in Georgia’s criminal justice system will finally have the compassion to look at his case and admit, as those who committed the crime have already done, that William didn’t rob anyone and he should be set free.

Meanwhile, as he waits for US to act, he needs our financial support. The CD, if purchased by just half of those who read this column, would provide a tremendous boost not only to William’s disposition and confidence but also to his defense fund. This man deserves our support; the least we can do is buy the CD, listen to his story, and then make up our minds to do something else to help this brother obtain his freedom.

Please. Get to a computer as soon as you can and purchase these two CD’s. You will be glad you did, and you will be helping two very worthwhile causes. They are just $10.00 each. Where else can you get so much for so little? Where else can you do so much with such a small effort? Please order these two CD’s now.

James Clingman is an NNPA columnist.