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Friday, March 29, 2024

Midmorning With Aundrea - 06/23/20 (Part 2)

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Midmorning With Aundrea - 06/23/20 (Part 2)
Midmorning With Aundrea - 06/23/20 (Part 2)

We take a look at cowboys joining in the fight for equality.

Plus, our friend BJ Hyman shares what books she is reading

Cowboys aren't just the stuff of movies and old tv westerns.

Far from it.

Michelle miller tells us that - for cowboys and cow- girls of a certain storied tradition, their time is now: on a recent sunday in june, randy hook saddled up his horse to join hundreds of other marchers in compton, california.

Randy hook: 00:59:39 it's 's not a protest, it's a peace ride.

Hook is the leader of the compton cowboys& 01:00:09 we're not goin' out there to-- to cause havoc /// we goin' out there to showcase what it look like to come together and-- peacefully assemble, exercising our rights.

Keiara monique: 00:39:19 i'm the only woman a part of the compton cowboys.

Keiara monique also rode that day&alongside her mother and her 3- year-old daughter.

Keiara monique: 00:43:50 i think our impact would be showin' integrity.

Because these-- we have horses.

We're from compton.

Yet, compton is looked at in a negative way.

But we're trying to change that narrative and let people see that it's a positive way.

Walter thompson- hernandez: 00:16:12 when people think of compton, i think, you know, their image is of-- of early '90s gangster rap, you know, dr. dre, eazy-e-- nwa.

And there's also images of violence and death.

Walter thompson hernandez has written a book about the compton cowboys&a generation of young black people who learned to ride as children.

Their motto: "th streets raised us horses saved us."

Walter thompson- hernandez: it's not an exaggeration, ///each one will tell you in different ways that, if it wasn't for these horses, you know, they feel that they wouldn't be alive today.

Walter thompson- hernandez: 00:13:06 their ranch, to me, is-- is so much more than a horse ranch, you know it-- it's really sort of an oasis and a place where-- where people go to heal and to find meaning.

Many americans first learned of black cowb and cowgirls when they appeared in recent protest marches around the country.

Terri gentry: unfortunately, in the united states is that we're invisible in a lot of different places.

&this is our black cowboys walk of fame&& in fact, there is a long, proud history of black cowboys in america.

Terri gentry: when people come in, and-- and see our little house museum, and all of these wonderful pictures of actual cowboys, it blows you away.

Terri gentry is docent at the black american west museum in denver, colorado.

Terri gentry: 11:17:24 almost one in three cowboys was black.

Michelle: one in three?

Terri: yes.

Edward cheetham.

Nat love.

And bass reeves.

Terri gentry: bass reeves was a deputy marshal out of oklahoma./// he arrested over 3,000 people during his career as a deputy marshal.

From what we understand, the stories of the lone ranger were based on bass reeves' life.

After the civil war, says gentry, black cowboys played a key role in settling the west.

Michelle miller: why would the cowboy way appeal to so many of these formerly enslaved people?

Terri gentry: there's an incredible amount of freedom with managing cattle.

It's a very, very tough way to make a living.

But i-- would imagine there's a lot of gratification in being out on the open plains, underneath the stars.

Maurice wade learned to ride on his grandfather's farm&but& maurice: i used to watch-- cowboys on t.v..

And i never saw an african- american cowboy.

I thought i was the only black cowboy.

Then the bill pickett invitational rodeo started up, named for famous rodeo "bulldogger" bi pickett.

Michelle miller: and you were like, "whoa!

There are lot of us."

Maurice wade: yes.

I went, "whoa!

"what spaceshi these brothers come from?"

He still competes&and also champions young riders& ..like 12-year-old savannah roberts who won the bill pickett ladies' barrel racing championship in denver this year.

Michelle miller: is the adrenaline rush deep?

Savannah roberts: the adrenaline is more towards the beginning of the run 'cause i-- all of the stuff that i need to do is going through my mind.

Going, it's like nothing.

I don't feel anything when i'm running.

Her sister alleyah is her coach&and also competes.

Maurice wade: every black-- kid in america-- should have an opportunity to experience what we experience.

Back in compton&one of the cowboys main goals is to pass on the tradition that's been a gift to them.

Keiara monique: we all have a passion for horses, and we all want to help our community be able to give them the experience that we have gotten from horses.

Walter thompson- hernandez: what really brings them together is the idea that, if they don't-- teach the next generation, that they might be c-- compton's last black cowboys.

Just ahead, as the page turns.

Find sometimes all the talent goes in one big pot.

That appears to be the case with the group that local author bj hyman is talking about today.

Here's as the page turns.

B.

J.

Hyman: b.j.

Hyman here.

Today we're going to talk about all in the family and this is going to be part one.

This is about the king family.

The first one i'm going to talk about is stephen king.

What can i say?

He's stephen king.

If you google how many books he's actually written, they don't have a static number, they say at least 97.

I thought that was odd.

He is not just an exclusively horror writer.

He has written a lot of other genres, even though he's known mostly for his horror.

I mean, carrie, salem's lot, gerald's game, he's got so many horror stories out there.

He also wrote the green mile that while it has some magical qualities to it, some supernatural qualities, it is definitely more of a story of humanity.

One of my favorite movies is shawshank redemption, which came from one of his novella length, which is really a full length short book called rita hayworth and the shawshank redemption.

B.

J.

Hyman: and it is an amazing story that has no magical quality to it at all.

Joe hill is his son.

He started writing under hill, which is the first part of his middle name, so that he would not be in his father's shadow.

And so, that he could stand on his own and stand he has.

He's not just stephen king 2.0, he definitely comes to the page with a flavor that is all his own.

My favorite of his is actually the first one i read of his, heart shaped box.

This story is horror for those who really do truly love horror.

It is an incredibly scary story and so well written.

Stephen king is known for the movies that they've made from his books and tv shows.

Well, joe himself has also got a tv show right now, nosferatu.

He had horns made with daniel radcliffe of harry potter fame.

B.

J.

Hyman: and so, he himself is starting his own empire.

Owen king is stephen king's other son and owen doesn't seem to have quite the same skill, his collection of short stories was called we're all in this together.

It came out with mixed reviews, but his collaboration with his father called sleeping beauties, which is a very good book by the way, that one came out with a lot better reviews.

It makes you wonder since it was a collaboration how much was the dad and how much was owen.

And the last person we're going to talk about in this very good writing family is tabitha king.

B.

J.

Hyman: a lot of people don't realize that stephen king's wife is also a woman and an author.

She has books that date back to the 1980s.

She's put out, i think it was 20 books of her own, but so many of them are done with small presses that they're very hard to get your hands on.

So it's hard to find some of her work unless you read stephen king.

Stephen king quotes his wife's work in so of his novels that if you're a fan, have gotten a flavor of what tabitha king can write.

As always, you can find my books on amazon.com and you can email me at bjhyman2112@gmail .com.

Until next time, that and more on the next midmorning.

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