AJASS Men: Millennial Style

by NZINGHA
June is the month where we celebrate Father’s Day. It’s the day we honor men who embody the task of not only siring children but also serving as an example of responsible manhood by the character and integrity that they possess. They are ministers of change and honor.

There is a hierarchy in the making of Gentlemen and Kings. You may be born male, but time, life lessons, and wise, honorable elder men who are respectable advisors with impeccable character make males into Gentlemen and Kings. Some are Fathers, Uncles, Brothers, Future Fathers, and males who reach for that honor that only a few wear as a crown worthy of respect. They are Kings in their businesses, personal households, families, and communities.

I’ve been thinking about the qualities and characteristics that made up the Gentlemen of the African Jazz Arts Society and Studio, also known as “AJASS.” AJASS men were not just Artists but Community and Social Activists who created change through the Arts. The Civil Rights Era had more than one movement happening at the same time. AJASS Executive Produced Live Jazz performances by some of the greatest Jazz Musicians of the Century. Executive Produced The Naturally Shows, which introduced The Grandassa Models. They also founded The Black Arts Movement and coined the phrase “BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL” and turned “BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL” into not only a slogan but a movement.

The AJASS men, Elombe and Kwame Brathwaite, Robert “Bob” Gumbs, Chris, David Ward, and Frank Adu, were committed to their wives until their transition from life.
And their wives, children, nieces, nephews, extended family, and admirers continue their work. They were inspired by The Honorable Marcus Garvey and Carlos Cook’s ANPM and my Father Charles Issac Nwokkiojjii Peaker.

In 1952, a little street once named Kelly Street, located in New York, in the South Bronx, on what has now been renamed “AJASS WAY,” gave birth to AJASS. There were six young men, all teenagers, with the goal of creating great artwork. Little did they know their dreams would spark multiple movements and generations.

Their skills in graphic arts and design made them firsts in their fields, breaking into the advertising, film, theater, and animation creation world. All of this at their young age and being young black men in the 60’s during the civil rights segregation era was a first through their fluency and love for all forms of the arts and, in particular, Jazz, which springs from the Black experience as Hip Hop, at its most positive.

The Arts have long been a means of communicating what’s happening in various social sectors that convey culture and nationalism, and also mirroring what’s happening in everyday people’s mindsets.

Not all Movements are clanging cymbals announcing their arrival. Nor are some Movements arrogant or self-serving about changing the culture. Some move in silence at first, then roar as it builds steam. Moving stealthily to become movements of change. Patrons of these foundational Arts are stealth movers and shakers with a wellspring already pouring out with eyes that see and hearts that beat for what is new…the future!

They are the influential people who fearlessly set thought in motion. They are community activists and supporters of community healing and growth.

They support building health conscious communities, education in all aspects of learning, they support and create community development programs and businesses. Changing the social political landscape through the Arts with a grass roots movement in their hearts that tackle community concerns and replacing it with cultural pride and the recognition of diasporic historical value.

These men understand and adhere to the assignment of protecting their women and children from harm and abuse. They are men who value the concept of legacy building in communities and shaping their children into assets that will take their family mission statement into the future to benefit the community at home and in the diaspora.

These men value their women for their intellect, beauty and spirit. They understand the importance of their marriages core values that they and their wives build. And those core values shape the social collective.
So now I present to you the millennial generation of what AJASS looks like. Tell us what you think in your comments.

Mentioned but not shown:

Rizza Islam – (Producer, Community
Leader, Health Ambassador,
Entrepreneur, Writer and Author)

Simon Fredrick – (Executive Film
Producer, Director, Creative
Director, Photographer, Writer,
Narrator)

Steve McQueen – (Executive Film
Producer, Director, Creative Director)

John Boyega – (Actor, Community
Activist)

Daniel Kaluuya – (Actor)

Jessie Williams – (Actor,
Community Activist)

June is the month where we celebrate Fathers Day. It’s the day we honor men who embody the task of not only siring children but also serving as an example of responsible manhood by the character and integrity that they possess. They are ministers of change and honor.

• Bernice Elizabeth Green,
  Editorial Curator