One day while we were exchanging stories and observations about life as Black males in
Europe I informed him about the book I had written, The Gospel Truth: Note of an African American on the Run, published at the end of 2004.

 For all those who haven’t had a chance to get a copy, my book is an autobiography about my early life growing up in the aftermath of the Negro and Panther Movements of the 1960s in America,  and it notes the observations I made after moving to the Netherlands in search of a better life.

 Daniel then began to tell me of a book he read (in his youth) about a Black German during the 1920s Nazi Germany.  At first I thought he was joking, “a Black German” I couldn’t believe my ears, until I did a Google search and found his book, Growing up Black in Nazi Germany, Life of Hans Massaquoi. 

 What I learned about Hans Massaquoi’s story further deepens my resolve that, everyone regardless of circumstances, dreams of a normal life. 

 Massaquoi, the son of a German mother and Liberian father, grew up in Hamburg, Germany in the 1930s under the Nazi regime. He miraculously survived the war and extermination. After immigrating to the United States, he served in the U.S. Army and graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in journalism and communications.

 To read more about this dynamic man, click on the link below.  Knowledge is indeed power!!!

http://news.fiu.edu/diversity/spring2002/conversation_hans.html.