"To me, the drum has been the communicator since the beginning of time. I'm sure it was the first message ever sent. When I think of the beat centuries ago, it was the only thing that kept us together," said Lloyd Price, legendary rhythm and blues pioneer and performer. He spoke these words in the academy award winning documentary, "When We Were Kings." The film was set in 1974 in Zaire, Africa, and the stage was the heavyweight championship of the world between George Foreman and Muhammad Ali.

Casper Banjo, shot to death by Oakland police last week, is shown at AAMLO last year at the reception for the book “Black Artists in Oakland.” Duane Deterville, in the checkered hat, is seated beside Casper. Ted Pontiflet is behind Duane and Casper, and another artist is in the rear. Photo: Wanda Sabir

I immediately thought about the film "Reign Over Me" (2006) with actors Don Cheadle and Adam Sandler, where Sandler's character is traumatized with grief over the loss of his entire family in a 9/11 plane crash, so he designs new kitchens for his dead family who will never return until one day he snaps - takes his gun into the center of New York traffic, waving it as he dares the police to shoot him and put him out of his misery. But the police are surprisingly sympathetic.

Omar Miller

His most recent film is about four soldiers from the army's Negro 92nd Division, who find themselves separated from their unit and behind enemy lines. Risking their lives for a country in which they are treated with less respect than the enemy they are fighting, they discover humanity in the small Tuscan village of St. Anna di Stazzema.