By Yolanda T. Marshall
Mello Ayo wrote a biography about Brother Adisa S. Oji. Mr. Ayo is a multidisciplinary artist, writer, leadership consultant, and advocate. He is the author of many books including “After Dark: The Anatomy of a People’s Struggle,” ” Stories We Don’t Tell,” “Love Rhapsodies and Blues,” “Good Morning, Afrika!,” and “I AM Brother Oji,” which is a biographical chronicle about Adisa, a young Canadian man of African-Caribbean descent who faced numerous contentious issues. It is with great respect to learn more from Mello Ayo about his empowering book.

In I AM Brother Oji, there is a powerful voice of relentless triumph as readers take a journey into the past and how it relates to our present time. This is a book that I believe young people from the Caribbean and African diaspora should read. Please share more about the message and the inspiration behind the creation of this book.
“I AM BROTHER OJI acknowledges, recognizes, celebrates and honours the life of a young Canadian student activist of African-Caribbean descent. Adisa S. Oji was a lead member of the ROM 11, a group of young activists who in 1990 became the central protagonists in the demonstrations against the Royal Ontario Museum’s well-promoted exhibit Into the Heart of Africa. The objective of the demonstrators was the closure of the exhibit, which opened to the public in November of 1989. The protestors, rallying under an umbrella group called the “Coalition for the Truth about Africa,” described the exhibit as “trite, condescending, deceitful and misleading.” The protest was a critical turning point in the lives of the protestors. It also significantly impacted the lives of museum administrators and the trajectory of museum business management worldwide.

Brother Adisa Oji’s contribution to Canadian life and culture is largely unknown. He is someone the wider nation or the world has never heard of, nor is readily familiar with. This is all the more reason why a biography of Brother Adisa S. Oji needs to be documented, shared and told, especially at this critical time of growing racial conflict and strife.
Written in a poetic but profoundly powerful narrative, this biography depicts the transformative and powerful life of an intellectual, an activist, a Pan-Africanist and a community visionary. His life experiences are instructive, adding to our understanding of complex and provocative ideologies embedded yet largely hidden in Canadian history, creating opportunities for fresh and thoughtful insight into what it means to be a person of African ancestry living in a predominantly white European milieu. “I AM BROTHER OJI” not only catalyzes debate on the meaning of cultural identity, but it also encourages critical discourse on the historically debilitating trace effects of enslavement, colonization, and racism. By drawing attention to the value and meaning of citizenship and to the need to ensure that everyone equally enjoys human rights, “I AM BROTHER OJI” makes an extraordinary gift to the Canadian literary canon.
Today the world continues to call for greater understanding of diversity, inclusion and equity. Today, peace is arguably the world’s greatest need, and the search for justice is its most demanding challenge. This book will benefit anyone interested in this search. Particularly, it will enable a better understanding of race and racism in Canada. The narrative will be of particular interest to immigrants especially those of African and Caribbean descent who have chosen to make Canada their home. Academics, scholars and students interested in the impact of enslavement, colonialism and racism will also find this biography useful, as will community workers and activists who are interested in social justice and human rights. Political decision-makers and those who decide on social policy will also find this book instructive as a case study. This book will inspire a new generation and anyone who loves peace and envisions a better world in which the inherent worthiness in all of us is recognized and celebrated.”
To buy the author’s books, please visithttp://www.melloayo.com/
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