James Baldwin's Brotherly Love
While sitting in the audience for a screening of the documentary on James Baldwin titled The Price of a Ticket during the James Baldwin Centennial Convening at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, I was forced to make a connection between Baldwin's words and a review of my recent concert in Mexico City. In the film, Baldwin says at a poignant moment: "It is not a romantic matter. It is the unalterable truth. All men are brothers. That's the bottom line." For a man who had been on the receiving end of such hatred, such discrimination and prejudice, that is quite a courageous statement to make. A few months ago I was invited to give a concert as part of the 27th Festival Internacional de Piano en Blanco y Negro . This was my first big concert since COVID, so I had quite some anxiety over whether or not I'd be able to pull it off. Fortunately it went very well; I received a standing ovation and was called back for an encore. The next day