I AM HUMAN TOO – An Open Letter To My Family, Friends, & Supporters – A Celebration of Black Excellence One Year Ago Today

A Celebration of Black Excellence couple pose for photo on red carpet with their copies of Completely Naked and Tears of A Hummingbird 6/25/2021. Photo taken by Ned Sanders III

Exactly 52 weeks ago today (June 25, 2021), my fourth book “Completely Naked” and Author Nee Nee Marie’s first book “Tears of A Hummingbird” was released to the world by way of an extraordinary event we titled, “A Celebration of Black Excellence.” An event we held at Cleveland Marriott East Hotel. Our event consisted of a VIP reception, Live performances; singers, dramatic readers, spoken word, award presentations, live Q&As with a Moderator, a book signing segment and an after event celebration with refreshments and a live DJ.

A Celebration of Black Excellence guests lined up to get their copies of Completely Naked and Tears of A Hummingbird Signed by Authors Jameel Davis and Nee Nee Marie. Photo taken by Ned Sanders III.

Exactly 52 weeks ago today, during this extraordinary event, I surprised over a hundred specially invited guests with a surprised, magnificent engagement proposal upon conclusion of our program in which my fiancé at the time accepted. It was so beautiful, in fact very powerful.

While I should be celebrating a year of being happily engaged 52 weeks later and sending out a million save the dates for an out of this world wedding ceremony, I am not! We didn’t make it a year! I know this news saddens many of you as much as it saddens me and I deeply apologize to my family, many friends and supporters around the world who may believe I have failed them, who were rooting for us and patiently waiting for their personal invitation to the wedding. I have not failed you all for I vow to tie a healthy knot and invite you all to my dream wedding. Family, friends, and supporters, in life, everything does not always go as expected or as planned. Sometimes we have to take 10 steps back to see the bigger picture, where we went wrong, in order to get to where we are going. Sometimes we have to crumble up paper after paper, erase chapter after chapter or take the machine apart over and over until we finally get it right. With each mistake or failed attempt to get it right, we get closer to reaching our mark.

A rare unedited photo of myself in a Los Angeles International Airport Restroom on the early morning of Wednesday June 15, 2022. This picture was taken after fountains of tears raced down my cheeks on my morning commute to LAX.

These last 6 months have been very challenging for me but I have been doing my very best to show up for myself, my family, my friends, my clients, my colleagues and for everyone who believes in me and supports my mission. Day in and Day out I have been showing up. My fourth book, Completely Naked speaks to my pain and highlights my cries from a toddler to an adult man. Completely Naked is for any person who is not only willing to learn and understand the thoughts, feelings and emotions of a Black man, but for those who are willing and capable of nurturing and nursing the thoughts, feelings and emotions of a Black man in order to get the outcome they want with a Black man. Writing Completely Naked helped me discover a new me by unveiling new parts of myself I didn’t know existed both good and bad. The new discoveries were traumatic and therapeutic at the same time because I learned to become one with myself, my uncomfortable truth, wear my heart on my sleeves and work to heal my behaviors that caused other people harm as a result of the trauma I was forced to endure. While assisting many men and women to do the same.

Family friends, Supporters, I vow to continue being the amazing man, father, relative, friend, leader and public figure I have grown to become today by exemplifying transparency, kindness, inspiration, empowerment, joy, creativity and education.

Being one with a woman, establishing a healthy family of my own is a generational curse I find the most difficult breaking. But when I do, that is when I will feel the most complete. Right now I am incomplete, but am happy — because I found happiness within myself.

While I cannot celebrate an engagement anniversary or send out a million save the date invitations to my wedding at the moment, I will celebrate the success of A Celebration of Black Excellence by sharing photos and clips from our amazing event on my social media sites (Facebook and Instagram). My wish is that you support and continue to support Nee Nee and me in our adventures and both of these amazing projects, Tears of A Hummingbird and Completely Naked which are available at Book Retailers worldwide. Let’s continue celebrating Black Excellence and working to break the cycle of Generational Curses.