Maurice D. Valentine: BootsnAll Photojournalist

Maurice D. Valentine
BootsnAll Photojournalist

Maurice “Moman” Valentine has been all over, and encountered many things both good and bad by being a Black American.

He sold his only car.

With the money, he took one trip.

Ending up with one helluva good time and an addiction, that just couldn’t be fixed!

And that was traveling.

Maurice D. Valentine is a rather unusual backpacker. A Black American from the borough of New York that gave us Hip Hop, the Yankees, and a series of Death Wish B-movies, “Mo” has continually sojourned around the world looking for something. That something being “Adventure.” Adventure in travel. Adventure in meeting others. Adventure in life.

A self-described “shy, geeky kid at one time,” this rather gregarious individual took a 3-month trip in 1996 that changed his life: He sold his car and went to Australia. And now, he wants to see it all. He’s been from the mean streets of Belfast, Northern Ireland, to the bright sun-drenched beaches of the Mediterranean, to the vast emptiness of Iceland. His favorite place though, is Oz.

“At one time,” the former US paratrooper says, “I was just as ignorant as the rest of America. My first trip taught me that there actually was a world outside my own in the USA. And that a lot of people knew about my homeland but me, none of theirs. And that I was quite different from any other American they’ve met – if only for the fact that I was a Black American, from The Bronx. Trust me, when you walk into a local pub in a small little village in the Highlands of Scotland asking for a pint, it opens a lot of doors. And always left me for making many friends. Some of them lifelong. ”

The trained illustrator also learned another lesson: That being an American comes with its own baggage. “American influence I realize, is all over the world. Our movies are everywhere, our music is everywhere. Our culture is everywhere. It can bring out the best and worst in people’s opinions I imagine. But being a Black American is quite a different angle. Black American culture, is a unique part of the exported American culture. These foreigners see us Black people in TV, music, in sports. Yet there aren’t any Black Americans on their blocks, in their towns, in their cities. Or even in their own countries. Yet when they see me walking down the street, it’s a cause for fascination, confusion, or just plain mystery. And it’s quite a cause for comedy, believe it or not.”

Hence him writing for BootsnAll. As he would say in street slang – “Word Up!”

Feel free to email him at Blackphantom610@excite.com.

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