Below is About The Author extract from Karl “Aray” Miller’s Reprint of Negro Slavery. Available from Amazon (.com, .co.uk etc) ISBN: 9798327587564
UK price £14 https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0D66K5X9P
USA price $15 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D66K5X9P
Karl “Aray” Miller was born in the Caribbean in 1953. He prefers not to say which island because he is trying to emphasize and celebrate the common culture and heritage of the peoples of the Caribbean.
At 10 years old he came to England with his brother to join his mother. He attended one year in primary school where he was (like many children from the Caribbean) placed in the class for the Educationally Sub-Normal. He recalls one maths class where when he was on question 25 one boy asked “Please teacher, how do you do number one”. At secondary school he was initially placed in the 3rd stream of 4. Through successive advancement in the first 2 year years he spent the majority of secondary school life in the top tier. He studied Maths, Physics and English Literature (Hamlet, Henry the IV part 2, Troilus and Cressida, Brave New World, 1984, W.B. Yeats, Caribbean short stories) at A-level, then Computer Systems at Essex University. He is proud that his 3rd year project was to design, solder and wire wrap, build and get working a computer using the first ever micro-processor chip (the Intel 4004). He read and attended classes on Caribbean Literature at university. He also did theatre lighting. He collected many books of Caribbean Fiction, at one time aiming to have copies of most books written in Jamaican patois.
He worked as a computer programmer, adopting the title of Software Engineer because much of his early years were spent writing software for electronic instrumentation. He is proud of writing the software in the development of the Questor Urine Screen system that achieved high performance levels in the Department of Heath ‘Blue Book’ evaluation. He believes the system could be developed for rapid screening for many diseases, such as COVID-19, using less than 10% of the reagents and plastics used by the standard antigen tests. He has used most forms of computer input devices, including punched cards, switches, punched paper tape, floppy disks, cassette tapes, magnetic tapes, CDs, hard disks, mouse, keyboard, touch screen and voice. His software experience / applications include teaching Microsoft Excel at evening classes, quality assurance, project planning, embedded systems, medical instrumentation, imaging, financial, personnel, and social care and internet applications.
Since coming to the UK he has lived in London (In August 2023 his daughter informed him he was part of the Windrush Generation, despite his protestations that he came to the UK on a BOAC aeroplane) . Having lost an argument with a granny in rural Jamaica many years ago (“Yu a Man, Yu can’t be sure how much pickney yu get”) he attests that he has five children and three grandchildren.
He was radicalised at University by the events such as the Miners Strike, the Portuguese colonies struggles for independence, Reggae music, being lectured by Bob Marley and the Wailers, mixing with (but not becoming a member of) radical left wing groups; articles such as “The Wild Side of Paradise” (by Michel Thomas, in Rolling Stone, July 19, 1973), films such as The Harder They Come, and books such as “The Children of Sisyphus” by H. Orlando Patterson. He was imprisoned (as part of the operation that imprisoned the Stockwell Six) soon after University, but later acquitted. He was politicised by reading books such as Lion Heart Gal by The Sistren Theatre Cooperative, Children of Sisyphus and Die the Long Day by H Orlando Patterson, The Africans by David lamb, The Groundings with my brothers by Walter Rodney, and books by Martin Luther King. He was Chair and a founding member of a group called “Friends of the Dream” that aimed to inform others of the works of Martin Luther King Junior, especially regarding achieving change through non violent means. They organised an event called Black Futures Forum 90 in 1990 where the public were able to express their hopes and ideas for the future of black people.
He spent many years in the peace movement, founding and managing The Arms Reduction Coalition which (he likes to think) played a significant role in the campaign by Oxfam, Amnesty International, IANSA et al resulting in the passing, ratification and coming into force of the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty. He was a committee member of his local United Nations Association (Merton Branch) and Action for UN Renewal (now uniting for Peace). Within the UK peace movement he was proud of:
- Suggesting the title of the 2010 Erskine Childers Memorial Lecture “Inequality and the MDGs” delivered by Professor Sir Richard Jolly.
- Speaking at the Stop the (Iraq) War meeting in a packed Friends House.
- Chairing a meeting on the UN Security Council at the house of Commons.
- Speaking at various peace groups meetings in the UK.
- Speaking at United Nations Association Conferences.
His passion is to increase his positive Future Footprint by helping in achieving an improvement in the lives and conditions of the African Peoples; wherever they are. As evidenced by the quotations below, he is a product of his time. Others share some of his ideas. His ideas; the little of the knowable he knows; are mostly what he has been taught by the media, books, music and life.
Despite being raised a Christian (Methodist and Presbyterian) and baptised in a Pentecostal church, due to “The Problem of Evil” he is now an Agnostic (The Existence of God is un-provable, The NONE Existence of God is un-provable) taking the Atheists Wager (Live a good life) over Pascal’s wager (I believe in God so I can go to heaven). After reading “The Elements of Moral Philosophy” by Rachels.
He now describes himself as a philosopher.
He has published:
- Two CDs of his ARC writings (“ARC Peace Quotes” and “ARC: The UN and Africa”),
- A CD of the ARC music “Nurturing Arc Instrumentals”
- Several Articles on the ARC website www.arcwebsite.org
- Several Videos
- Some poems
- A Play “Wilful Vindictive Malice”
- A wiki focusing on Art www.afroartwiki.com
Karl “Aray” Miller’s Reprint of Negro Slavery (KAMRONS) Release Documents
1. WhatsApp Message
2. Press Release
3. Extracts from the book
3.1 About the Author
3.2 Reading List
3.3 References
4. Flyer
5. For spoken extracts see An Oratory Aray