I didn't think I'd ever see Terry McMillan, Felicia "Snoop" Pearson (The Wire), and John Amos in a picture together, but here they are. McMillan, Pearson, and Amos, along with Ruby Dee, Mo'Nique, Al Sharpton and others, got together in NYC yesterday for the launch of the Stay Strong Foundation's "Healing Starts With Us," a campaign to call attention to emotional and mental health issues in the black community. The impetus was Terrie M. Williams' new book, Black Pain: It Only Looks Like We're Not Hurting, about the author's struggle with depression and the stigma surrounding mental health problems in the black community.

[WI]

You think you know John Amos, and then he totally throws us all for a loop. The Good Times/Roots/Coming to America/Men in Trees actor, who is originally from East Orange, NJ, has decided to cut a country album with members of Johnny Cash's family.

"Country Music is all about storytelling. That's what makes John perfect for this genre," said Gene Cash. "We worked with him closely and helped him discover his singing voice as well. John Amos is country music."

Cash picked up on Amos' talent over the summer during several trips the TV star made to Nashville. Songs on the album include the title track, written by 17-year-old Eric Cash of the Cash family, as well as other Johnny Cash originals including "Hopelessly," "Independence Day" and a tribute to the late county legend titled, "When Johnny Came to Town.

If he somehow manages to weave "temporary lay-offs/easy credit rip-offs" into one of his tracks, I might be forced to purchase the album.

John Amos should have no problem recruiting a group of young, black men to participate in a "terribly exciting" documentary project he's working on. He wants to shackle some Bloods and Crips inside the slave ship Amistad and sail the Middle Passage. And film it!

Actually, it may be a tougher sell than I originally thought.

"Amistad America is launching its vessel this month (June 21) to sail from Halifax, Nova Scotia to England in conjunction with Great Britain's 200-year commemoration of the abolition of slavery," Amos tells the columnists. "Once it reaches England, Captain Pinkney — the first African-American to solo circumnavigate the globe in a sailboat — will take command and sail the boat to slave ports on the West Coast of Africa, Barbados and various other ports.

"Can you imagine the impact it would have on, say, four young men from conflicting gangs, like two Bloods and two Crips, who have been involved in a negative lifestyle, to take them on the Amistad to let them realize the history they're involved with and the historical opportunity that's been given to them? Let them get exposed to what their ancestors went through so they can have a better appreciation and realize the obligation they have to try and live a good life and fulfill their potential as human beings. Amistad America is totally receptive to it, and I've already spoken to a couple of other organizations. It's a terribly exciting project."

I don't care how many crimes a guy has committed, I don't think I wish the Middle Passage on anyone. But if it gets of the ground, Amos can promote it as Scared Straight, 17th century-style.

[EUR]