Sometimes it seems that the events of our lives happen randomly and haphazardly, as if our fate is tossed to the wind. But there came a point where Michael D. McCarty looked back on his life and could see that a seamless line holding together what might seem, on first glance, like a series of disjointed ventures.

Michael grew up on Chicago’s west side determined to be a physicist or an astronaut. His mother had instilled in him the belief that anything was possible. However, at Chicago’s St. Ignatius High School there were only two Black teachers, very few students of color and some very open hostility by white students towards the black students. There were also some white students who were amicable and Michael struck up friendships with several white teammates on his track team.

In 1966, Michael read The Autobiography of Malcolm X. This discovery of Black History was a turning point. Michael, along with two black classmates, began making presentations at predominately white Catholic schools on race relations in America. In 1969, Michael and other black students submitted an agenda to the school including the need for more minority recruitment, Black studies classes and interaction with the surrounding Black community. Their list of demands were ignored and even reprimanded so the students staged a walkout in February of that year. In addition to members of the Black Student Organization, several white students walked out in support of the agenda.

Michael and one other student were expelled the following day – just three months before graduation. Michael’s mother who also taught him the importance of standing up for his beliefs did not, at first, appreciate his interpretation of her life lessons.

From there Michael got involved with the Black Panther Party in Chicago, instilling black pride and filling basic needs in the community such as food pantries and tutoring programs. In what seemed to some a radical departure, Michael then joined the U.S. Army. Later, he became involved with drugs until he was introduced to alternative medicine. Michael learned acupuncture and helped others detox from drugs using this ancient healing art from China. During this time, Michael struggled with his spirituality letting go his Catholic faith to become a confirmed atheist or, at least, an agnostic until a cross-cultural experience sent him to India where he learned the teachings of an Indian guru.

All of these events led to Michael’s life work as a Storyteller Griot telling African, African American tales and stories from his varied life experiences. “Every life experience can become part of our healing and, more than that, part of our inspiration when we tell it as a story. Story has the power to connect events, people and cultures.”

Michael D. McCarty : agriot@earthlink.net