Let me introduce myself. My name is Aseda. Soothsayer Aseda. I’m just another guy out here trying to survive. My mother is one of the hardest working individuals I know and sadly my father isn’t exactly my role model. I grew up in middle class America, Nashville, Tennessee. **Fun Fact: Hermitage, TN is home of  Andrew “Old Hickory” Jackson. Jackson, our 7th president, was a known slave owner and a known lover of his Female slaves. His mansion, where he ruled over the acres of his land, still stands as a museum today.** I lived only 2 miles from the mansion itself. Now pay attention because here’s where the facts  really get fun, there is nothing more difficult than trying to comprehend as a child how your house sits on the very same land your ancestors tilled and worked. The exact same land your ancestors were sold and bled over. The same soil they sought so desperately to be free of.

Now some may be wondering why bringing something like that up matters. They may question it’s relevance in my origin story. After all, that happened so long ago. Well I’m here to say it’s the whole point of my story. The man, the Soothsayer, isn’t what matters. It’s the Sooth, the truth of things. People of color in America are tired of being ignored. There are so many voices, so many stories, that need to be heard.

My brother and I are here to share those stories. The stories of men and women trying to make it. The successes, the failures, the joys, the sorrows, the wins and the losses. We are a strong people; A diverse people, and we have so much to say. Well my brother and I do at least, and we just hope you’re willing to listen.

I don’t claim to be a professional in the political or academic fields. I don’t have a PhD and I’m no expert on science or history. However I AM the product of a system that was created to dismantle and the discourage the black race. I am a man who was told he’d fail, and didn’t. I’ve seen and experienced enough to know that something still isn’t right. It’s true we are far from the days of slavery but the same anger and prejudices still exist. I will use this space, this medium for discussion, as a means to talk about the things not everyone is willing to address. I just want to tell the the Sooth.

Speaking of the Sooth, El Hajj Malik el Shabazz once said, ” If you stick a knife in my back nine inches and pull it out six inches, there’s no progress. If you pull it out all the way there’s no progress. Progress is healing the wound that the blow made. And they haven’t even pulled the knife out much less heal the wound. They won’t even admit the knife is there.”

I think we’re about ready to address that knife.

-Soothsayer Aseda