A Different Point of View

These poems represent a viewpoint evolving in direct correlation to the racial changes taking place in America. A Different Point of View is a forty year collection of African American Liberation Poetry. The poems in this collection are interesting, well written and provocative, but what makes this a noteworthy collection is that the reader can follow the racial transformation that took place over a forty year period in the United States. The moderation in the later poems in this collection can be directly traced to the racial moderation that taking place in America. With all the racial dust being kicked up during the recent presidential election and now even after the election, it can easily seem that there has been no racial change it all, but this collection helps readers to step back a moment to realized that the racism coming out today is background noise to the results of an election involving a black president – something that was never an issue in say, 1952, 62, 72, or 82, 92 or 2002. A Different Point of View points out this clear shift in the battlefield. The cover and the drawings in this book are by Hampton R. Olfus Jr. Brother Hampton is a Washington, D.C. native. He was attracted to drawing at the age of 5, and he sold his first drawing by the time he was 13 years old. He studied art at Prince George's Community College in Largo, Md., and continued to study after college. His work has been exhibited far beyond the D.C. area. He now lives in North Charleston, S.C. and has developed an exhibition for the College of Charleston, Avery Research Center. Brother Hampton sees his career as an artist as “a journey of a life force expressing itself through the human experience.” Some of his work has elements of the impressionist works of Aaron Douglas and artists from the Harlem Renaissance period. I am extremely fortunate for his collaboration on this book and profoundly hopeful for our future partnership.