Have you ever wondered if certain things are pre-ordained?

Or maybe, as Einstein and Stephen Hawking theorized, time is a fourth dimension that can overlap or bend back on itself in some way.

But let me pump my brakes. My goal isn't to give you an astrophysics headache.

It's to deliver a bonus chapter of the Church Boy Who Encountered Troubled Waters.

I must say though, it will make you wonder about such things.

Spoiler alert!  If you’ve been asleep in class and have not read Parts 1 through 5, you'll want to do so before going on to our wonderful bonus chapter.  The links to them are below.     

If you have read Parts 1 through 5, then hop on!  You're good to go. A bonus chapter to the Johnny Stephens story awaits you below.

The Church Boy Who Encountered Troubled Waters - BONUS

Introducing Johnny

In this bonus chapter, Johnny talks about his vision for his life when he was 15. 

Here's Johnny in his own words. 

Enjoy.

The Pentecostal Church

My political sensibilities have evolved over time. Like everything else in my life, they started in the church.

While black people tend to vote for Democrats, and black churches helped galvanize the civil rights movement, the black church can be very conservative when it comes to social issues. 

My Pentecostal church was very conservative on those issues as well. 

When my mother was home schooling us, she used an ultra-conservative, Christian curriculum that was very connected to the white evangelical movement. 

It emphasized creationism, unquestioning patriotism, and Manifest Destiny. 

Manifest Destiny was the idea that white Americans were divinely ordained by God to settle the continent of North America.

The ideology inspired a variety of measures designed to remove or destroy native populations.

These beliefs were infused throughout the curriculum. 

The Public Library

But as a home-schooled kid, I also got to go to the public library.

And at the library, I got to pick out my own books. 

I would always find myself gravitating to books about Black civil rights heroes. 

Something about their stories made me feel proud. I’ve aways felt pride and admiration for people who fought for justice and equality. 

These heroes were living their purpose. They were living lives that were meaningful and impactful. 

I was attracted to that, and reading those stories set the standard for what I thought was a meaningful life. 

My Christian School Advisor

Meanwhile, I remember having a Christian school advisor who told me I shouldn’t look up to Dr. Martin Luther King because he was a communist.  

She told me I should pick real Black heroes to admire like Booker T. Washington.  

Yeah… she really said that.

If You Were In Trouble, You Did Something Wrong

My upbringing in a conservative, black family put a lot of emphasis on personal responsibility and having impeccable character. 

It really affected the way I thought about crime and punishment. 

I just assumed if you did something wrong, you got in trouble. 

And if you were in trouble, you must have done something wrong.  

I was 12 years old when I saw Rodney King getting beaten on television. 

I knew it was awful and unjust, but I didn’t have any personal experience with the police. 

Nor did I understand how often police brutality happened. 

Nor did I understand how unjust our criminal justice system was. 

So, I thought, okay… this is an obvious case of doing wrong and getting in trouble.

So, I won't do anything wrong... and I’ll stay out of trouble.

I Once Was Blind, But Now I See

Then I get to college, and I started to see that it wasn’t that straightforward. 

Even at an elite Ivy league school, I noticed how the black students were treated differently by the local police. 

We were stopped for no reason, and questioned as to why we were in a particular place.  

One time I was stopped by the police while getting in my own car. I was asked to prove it was my car.  

I started to understand that racism was not just in the history books. It was in the here and now. 

The reality is that Black people are treated differently and suspiciously in many ways. 

For example, I began to notice that some white people didn’t trust me. They treated me like I was dangerous. 

Now, take a good look at me. Do I look dangerous? 

That’s when I realized you just couldn’t behave your way out of racism.  

It was bigger and more systemic than that. 

My Vision for Life at Age 15

When I was 15 years old and a junior in High School, a teacher and my guidance counselor told me about an essay competition sponsored by McDonalds. 

McDonalds was doing an outreach to the Black community in the form of a Black History Month essay competition.

It was called Black History Makers of Tomorrow.  

My teacher said Johnny, I want you to enter this competition. 

So, at age 15, I wrote an essay that ended up winning the competition. In it, I said the following...

I intend to make Black history by becoming a famous recording artist and using that fame and success to uplift my community. 

As a famous musician, I’m going to fight for justice and equality.  

I want to live an impactful life like the civil rights heroes and activists I read about as a kid. 

Living My Vision

I’ve been living that aspiration ever since. Every day I think about how to use my platform and influence to uplift my community. 

Because of that, people are always telling me to shut up and sing.

When they say that I wonder, how can you shut up and sing? But… whatever.  

Marvin Gaye beautifully wove anti-war and pro justice messages into his music. His album, What’s Going On, is one of my favorites, and it's also one of the greatest albums in history.  

So, I don’t let detractors deter me. I know I’m fortunate to be where I am and have the influence I have. I'm not going to waste it just to avoid some mean tweets.

Learning from Our Ancestors

I try to stay informed about current events, but I also know the importance of our history. 

When I was at Penn, I was an English major with a concentration in African American literature and culture. 

I read the works of great Black writers, thinkers, activists and historians. 

People like Toni Morrison, James Baldwin and W.E.B. DuBois.

They were like mentors, and I still have their wisdom in my head as I think about what’s going on in the world today.

The Writing of Glory

It's one reason I was so deeply affected by the killings of unarmed black people like Trayvon Martin and Micheal Brown.  

They were vivid confirmation of what black and brown people had been saying for decades. 

We've long said that the police are able to abuse or kill us with impunity. 

Because of these horrible killings, Black people took to the streets along with allies from all races and creeds. 

They demanded justice and insisted that our lives had value... that we mattered. 

The more I saw... the more determined I was to do something. 

You could say I was radicalized during that time. 

So, I got together with Common and wrote a song called Glory. 

We were directly responding to a beautiful film about Dr. King by Ava Duvernay.  A film called Selma.

But we were also responding to the protests in Ferguson that were going on at the same time. 

The activists in the streets inspired us as we worked on the song… 

And we, in turn, wrote a song that inspired them. 

They ended up marching to our music.  

They marched to Glory.

Note: Glory won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for Best Original Song, as well as a Grammy for Best Song Written for Visual Media. 

You can see it performed at the Democratic National Convention by clicking on the video below.

John Legend and Common Perform 'Glory'

Are You a Sharer?

It ain't no fun if the homies can't have none.

~ Snoop Dog

If you are and would like to share Johnny’s story with a friend, be sure to share them in order via the link below.  

All five parts, plus the bonus, are in one place.

Finally, thank you for reading The Church Boy Who Encountered Troubled Waters. 

It's just one chapter in the greatest story never told... our story.

And... your story.

If you know more about it, it will help you live your best life.

If you have comments, expressions or feedback... feel free to hit me up at b.johnson@ethnicexpressions.com

Until next time,

Brian