This book is a record of the life and times of Abu Shahid (born in New York in April 1931 John Charles Brooks). Raised in New York s mean streets he survived the Depression. Early encounters with the law got him transplanted to Pittsburgh, PA, when he was 14 years old, where being an only child he started his solo quest for survival. In which course he did a stint in the Armed Forces between Korea and Vietnam from 56 through 58 and coming home to the civil rights movement led by Martin Luther Ki