Yaphet Kotto Screen Debut
On 8 September 1950, while living with his grandmother Leontyne Joseph in the Bronx, a small county north of Manhattan and Queens, and south of Westchester County, Sonny was apparently hit by a broom stick swung by his uncle in a stickball game. He lost consciousness for several hours but in the next few days there was a noticeable change in Sonny’s behavior. There were "symptoms of laughing and weeping, eloquence and silence."[“He began to sing Aramaic verses, a language of which he had no prior knowledge." Doctors believed his behavior to be hysteria. His grandparents brought ‘Sonny’ back home to the Bronx. Concerned, they took him to many "doctors" faith healers and psychics. One of the psychics in Harlem went to the extent of torturing him to cure him, but then also announced “First an actor, than a priest.” However Sonny kept calm throughout, which further worried his West Indian grandparents. His mother was in the Army and they decided to let things stay quiet until she came home.
On 16 June 1950, Sonny called household members and
reportedly laid hands on his sick cousin, healing him of a fever and
materialized chocolate candy kisses and gum drops for his family members His
father, Manga Bell became enraged hearing about this, thinking his son was bewitched. He took a stick and threatened to beat
him if Sonny did not reveal who he really was. To this Sonny announced calmly
and firmly "I am Augustine of Africa" on 16 August 1950, a reference
to Saint Augustine. The child proclaimed himself to be a reincarnation of
Augustine of Hippo—a saint who became famous in the 4th & 5th Century in
Africa. Augustine was the son of an African woman, Monica. In his
youth he was a bit wild, didn’t believe in God, was an actor, writer but his
mother, Monica prayed that he'd be converted, in the end he became a Doctor of
the Church and a great Saint. Saints aren't perfect no one is, and lots of them
had pretty 'interesting' lives and made a few dodgy decisions but the important
thing is that in the end most of them abandoned themselves to God and let him
lead their lives; the most important thing anybody can do.
By: Penelope Huxley
New Guardian Times
By: Penelope Huxley
New Guardian Times
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