Harlem Torch Magazine is a major fulfillment in my life. Harlem was my dream destination and chronicling the journey is most rewarding. It has little to do with geographical location, but mostly to do with the extraordinary people with brilliant ideas and remarkable stories, cloaked in a magnificent cultural heritage. Our cover story epitomizes all of that besides authenticating the value in establishing a family legacy. We completed our story on Elinor Tatum just before the loss of her father. And although his passing was  heartbreaking, he left a pattern and restored the standard of our birthright. That for me is the ultimate fulfillment, leaving an inheritance for our children.

During the funeral services, Elinor thanked her father for entrusting her with the legendary newspaper and for grooming her into the position. She then continued that statement with a thought provoking assertion, “unlike others who allow their children to drift into the world.” Drifting into the world can be serendipitous for some, but destructive for others. Establishing a sound family base, passing the torch, growing and perfecting, I believe, are the antidote for economic hardship. We can either pass down cycles of dysfunction or pass along wisdom, encouragement and opportunities.

When I was 23 years old, one of my co-workers sponsored me for an intensive training seminar in Dallas, Texas created and run by Dr. Phil McGraw of which she said would be a life-changing experience. And life-changing it was.

  These were the Dr. Phil days before television, undiluted and powerful. He led the seminars with his father – who had passed the torch so that Dr. Phil could perfect their profession - and another female psychologist. That one semester broke through fears, false concepts and social barriers that so expanded my mind I could not go back to business as usual in my life. Before then, I was a mess. I had all these puzzled pieces, missteps and a nagging nebulous feeling in my belly that there was more to life than what I was living. Those Dr. Phil moments, then called the “You-ie Seminar” or Pathways, catapulted me into a purpose finding journey that ultimately led me to self-discovery and family/cultural identity to pass along to my children.

Grasping understanding along the way helps make sense of our lives. The three potent influences I had growing up all seemed contradictory when I was young. My maternal grandmother loved and cared for children and taught Jesus all the time. My father, an academic, dealt in city government, education, finance and civil rights. Finally, my mother, who one of my friends accurately described as the ultimate debutante, had an unshakable integrity, graceful demeanor and almost pain-staking social consciousness. We had our issues, but the prevailing characteristics that integrated my character along the journey became faith, critical thinking, strong social consciousness and presentation. All of that became my inheritance, besides sacrifices they made so that their children could do better. We all have these unique components that make up who we are and empower us for our purposes in life. But we need the right tools, some guiding words or fundamental principles as a stimulus to make sense of it all.

I have had the opportunity to witness some of our American families who pass down wealth from generation to generation. My American subculture, however, which was affected by slavery: families split apart, identities stolen, concealed history –now has to catch up. We have to be deliberate in establishing the groundwork for our family legacies and conscious of the sacrifices and gifts of our ancestry. The American President is now our standard. Our subjects in the Harlem Torch are maintaining and setting standards. That’s what the torch symbolizes for us, enlightenment, passing on a legacy, and telling our stories the way our stories should be told.

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Clarence and Peggy Wesley (parents)    ON THE SHOULDERS OF HISTORY

THIS sophomore issue of Harlem Torch Magazine is very special. The cover story with Bishop T.D. Jakes represents a significant place in the magazine’s inception and every person featured represents great achievement against incredible odds. Perhaps one day someone will find concrete evidence that certain strands of our DNA carry this spirit of excellence. The evidence is clear to me through my own life and the stories that are told by all the exceptional people within these pages.  There is this tenacious gene in them all with distinct common traits of faith and courage that won’t let them quit.

It has been a dream of mine to tell the stories of people in Harlem as a lifestyle. But this time around, my dream was met by need. My job vanished like a vapor overnight and just when it looked like I was down for the count, two very important ideas awakened that overcoming gene. First, there was a message by T.D. Jakes that asked, “What’s in your house?” The sermonic spotlight was on a widow woman in the bible’s Old Testament who had two sons, in debt and was about to lose everything, when the prophet asked the question, “What’s in your house?” In that message, Bishop Jakes simply pointed out that whatever you need is already in you. It’s already in your house.

I remember our family receiving a letter from a neighbor when I was a very young girl. The mother of this family sent this particular letter to all the families in her community of friends and associates. She was a school teacher with eight remarkable children. Her husband’s company had shut down and they had to meet the need. Defeat was NOT an option. The letter explained the unfortunate loss and then read that the husband was now starting his own trash hauling service and she asked everyone she knew to switch their business to him. And dozens of families switched without hesitation. Community and solutions, Harlem is a community with solutions, too. That was the second idea.

All of us stand on the shoulders of history. My parents are pictured on the adjacent page. Now that I see them through an adult lens, I am awestruck. This year my mother was honored with a handful of other Kansans for staging the first sit-in EVER in this country. She was only 15 when their NAACP youth chapter sat at the counter of the Dockum drugstore in peaceful demonstration. It is now officially on national record. She went on to become the first Black banker in the state of Kansas.

My dad was also a pioneer. He was the youngest son of eight whose mother was widowed when he was a small child, but she refused help from any government agency. And she instilled powerful ethic and faith in her children. My dad became the first African American in the early 70’s appointed as an executive at the chamber of commerce, he has been in White House think tanks and went on to many other feats. Both of them faced extreme adversity and both of them overcame. Their history is fuel for me. Walter Edwards’ story is fuel for us. Barbara Montgomery, fuel. T.D. Jakes, turbo fuel.