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Tyrone R. Aiken MSPM
The main themes explored in my biography will resonate with those interested in the perspectives of marginalized identities as well as cultural criticism. Standing at around 50,000 words, my book c...view moreThe main themes explored in my biography will resonate with those interested in the perspectives of marginalized identities as well as cultural criticism. Standing at around 50,000 words, my book caters to readers of Thomas Lockley and Geoffrey Girard’s African Samurai and Gerald Horne’s Facing the Rising Sun. With a strong historical background, The First African American Samurai tells the story of how Dr. John J. Womble, Sr., a young Black man who left the racially segregated United States of America, found his identity as a Samurai in Japan.
“Loyalty, honor, and sacrifice are the three most important values in every Samurai,” Womble taught students who attended his dj in Washington, D.C. His wasn’t just another martial arts school. It was a place where students learned about the mindset, emotional intelligence, and spiritual fortitude that it takes to be a Samurai. Womble had modeled his dj after the School of Samurai he attended as a young man in Japan, where he had been stationed with the US Army. In Japan, he found freedom, purpose, and character. Through relentless hard work, strict discipline, and deep meditation, Womble went from being just another man in uniform to being the first African American Samurai. But will he be able to reconcile his newfound identity with his past in a de facto segregated United States of America?
Tyrone R. Aiken is a fifth-degree black belt in Kenpo Bujutsu. In line with the footsteps of his sensei, Dr. Womble, he taught karate, yoga and self-defense to federal coworkers, Karate at the Boys and Girls Club in Martinsburg, WV, and Kenpo Karate at the Northeast Community Center in Chesapeake Beach, Maryland. He is a Brookings Institution LEGIS Fellow, and authored articles published in the Project Management Institute (PM Network), Washington Post, Washington Times, and Federal Times. He received the federal government’s second highest honor, a silver medal for diversity, and the GWU impact award for excellence and exceptional leadership. He is the president of the Japanese Kenpo Bujutsu Ryu USA ( JKBR-USA) a 501 (c) (3) non-profit corporation.view less