Samuel Van Stone Downing, Who Is He?

Samuel Van Stone Downing, Who Is He?
by Zora Sanchez

Samuel Van Stone Downing (born June 23, 1962) is a celebrated neighborhood newspaper reporter- and nationally recognized novelist, and local radio personality and video/television producer, a promoter of awareness of Black Indians, and community activist, and an entrepreneur. He is one of a small group of Black American writers/producers who have enjoyed success in three amateur News/Radio/TV Independent media in the United States. Philadelphia SCOOP and Philadelphia Daily News has called him one of the most controversy writers and community activist in the Black American Communities history. An Icon several Philadelphia, Harrisburg, New Jersey, and Delaware County newspaper businessmen call him.

Downing’s most notable articles were that of Heroes of the Last Q (his weekly Black Superhero comic strip), Media Delaware County Family Courthouse (his special report about alleged Judge corruption and Violence Reduction in Philadelphia (his political analysis about high youth-crime rate dealing with murder). In his entrepreneur work, his notable business is a first Black American Indian to own an online newspaper called the Philadelphia Front Page News, as well as his role in the creation of an Philadelphia Internet Radio Station called WVSR-AM.

Life and career

Samuel Van Stone Downing was born, a Black Indian, in North Philadelphia. His family of his maternal side is full-blooded American Indians (Native Americans tribal Lenape and Black Foot grandparents) and his father is an African-American. After a house fire that almost took the life of his family, he was raised in West Philadelphia. He was raised a Seven Day Adventist as an infant. He was baptized as an independent Baptist when he was only a 5th school age grade student. At the age of 12 he studied as a student all of the major religions practiced in America such as: Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and Buddhism. His parents separated when he was twelve. Downing’s participation in neighborhood gang war, reading superhero comics, school, music and youth sports resulted in the nickname "Captain West”, which eventually turned into using his middle name "Van Stone". While still in his teens, Downing began rapping, writing lyrics, writing news, and designing black superhero comics, and eventually began collaborating with Kevin Loften to develop amateur art and talk radio station. The amateur art was called Superheroes U7 and AC Shadow. And the amateur talk radio was called the 222 Darby Dawn Show. He attended Sulzberger Middle School and University City High School in West Philadelphia. He also attended Cheyney University from1980 to 1981. During getting his public school education at the age of 12 years old, Downing became a devotee in the Christian Jehovah’s Witnesses. He was baptized as a Jehovah’s Witness after the religion asked him to drop out of college in 1981. He remained a Jehovah’s Witness, a very popular leader of the JW’s faith, for 24 years. Today he serves as a Minister of non-denomination belief.

Something Good From West Philadelphia

The Philadelphia Housing Authority decided to construct three high rise buildings at 46th and Market Street. One building was named West Park Holding Street units. And the other two buildings were named the 300 and 400 North Busti units. Van Stone Downing grew up in the Holding Street projects. Interestingly, the Busti St. units were named after a historical caring person named Paolo Busti. In the early 1700’s Busti became one of the first Italian general contractors to provide land for the underprivileged blacks and Italians freemen and their own children but particularly for orphaned boys who needed male guidance. Later in the early 60’s, long after Busti’s death, Stone and the underprivileged, both blacks and whites, grew up together in what most West Philly folks called the 46th St. projects territory. 46th St. ended up a graffiti-walled death trap, the turf for youth gangs, desperately in the need of working dads and housing police to protect the non violent kids from the extreme violent ones. The years were 1970 – 1979. During that time, the rumor was that Stone was a real part of something that would mean nothing good would come from West Philly. Stone was in a gang called the Lex Street Gang. He was drafted in at the early age of 8 years old.

From the 70’s to the 80’s Stone’s neighborhood project was completely controlled by the Lex Street gang. Defunct by late 1980, black youth homicide was rampant where illiteracy, sexual transmitted diseases, stabbing, and shootings, poverty, and ugly blight were out of control. The average kid did not finish 4th grade schooling. Stone had to deal with the hardships of many stereo typing the black youth there that nothing good would come of those West Philadelphia black youth from the projects. Although the gangs’ sale of drugs and their youth gun-violence was firmly established in those Holden Street projects, Stone was one youth among the many who was very determined to prove the stereo typing to be wrong. After leaving the gangs in 1980 he separated himself completely from youth violence as Sam Downing, a.k.a., Van Stone.

Career

Downing started as the solo MC/DJ of classic soul, R&B, hip-hop, rock, -Captain West, in 1977. He also was the writer of the duo Kevin Lofton & Sam Downing artist on the hand made comic strips U7 and AC Shadow. Captain West was known for performing radio-friendly rap at the neighborhood playgrounds in what was known as Playground Legend Battles till the fall of 1980. Downing gained acclaim for the first ever Independent Black Superhero Comic drawn on a T-shirt while he attended Cheyney University. Downing sold T-shirts while in college. He spent some time at the Cheyeny University radio station as a learned DJ and talk radio host. And he began to write community news about the ills of Philadelphia after he became a college dropout.

In 1988, Philadelphia Westside Weekly, published by Tyree Johnson formally a newsman at Eye Witness News Philadelphia signed him to as a Free lance news reporter covering profiles and events. Although he made several notable news stories writing for local newspapers like the University City Review, and national magazines like the Advantage, Downing’s writing career took off with his SCOOP USA newspaper article about his own life called “Something Good Out Of West Philly.” He pinned it himself, gave credit for the story to his female friend named Shera Minor, and was sought out as the writer anyway to pursue the career as a known journalist. His story about overcoming crime and youth gang violence in Philadelphia lead him to write about politics and its relationship to the high murder rate in Philadelphia, PA.

He began to write, draw and produce his Heroes of the Last Q comic strip in the Westside Weekly which ran for nearly 3 years until it was abruptly canceled by publisher Johnson. Heroes of the Last Q are about Blacks in space and on Earth. Black Indians are both the heroes and villains in the social-sci-fi story. He began a successful writing and radio career developing the HTLQ comic strip into a paperback book and working as a radio show producer. The two vocations established Downing’s community reputation as rising star whose appeal across age, race, and gender. Downing is one of few writers to receive praise from the Philadelphia Police Department for writing about positive messages uplifting police. He also receives praise about his stories dealing with Black Indians.

Downing appeared as himself in Philadelphia and Delaware County citizens outcry about Media Delaware County Courthouse alleged corruption and classism and separatism delivering the speech that women, black men, and children are forced to experience living as slaves in the court of Media Delaware County Courthouse. He also was the first news investigator to break the story about the Jehovah’s Witnesses secretly being a non-government organization NGO joined to the United Nations for 10 years from 1991 to 2001. And he broke the scandal about the Jehovah’s Witnesses and credible accusations about child sexual abuse and silent victims therein the belief.

Downing also founded the non profit organization Van Stone Productions Foundation, formally the VSP Youth Program for at-risk children and their families dealing with educational and economical hardships in their neighborhoods. His first entrepreneur mission to create a local newspaper for the community called the Philadelphia Front Page News (www.frontpagenews.us) and his established neighborhood radio station called West Philadelphia Van Stone Radio Station WVSR (www.wvsr1360.com) was a success beginning in the late 90’s. He also established West Philadelphia Front Page News Television Network WFPN-TV which provides news reports and Talk TV using video and Internet streaming.

Personal life

Van Stone Downing married Marcia Brown in 1996. They had a daughter, Cheyenne Samara (born 1997) and a son, Samson Dakota (born 2001), but filed for divorced in 2003 and again in 2007. He is a state certified Foster Parent since 2006. He founded VSP Foundation Inc., nonprofit 501c3 and owns Philadelphia Front Page News, online newspaper and West Philadelphia Van Stone Radio WVSR-AM.

Van Stone Downing resides in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. According to media sources, Downing is an enthusiast of the tennis, football, music, the study of History, education improvement and foster care.

In January 2008, Van Stone Downing requested a protection from abuse restraining order for Marcia Brown, his estranged wife, who Stone Downing alleged had been stalking him and his foster child. Brown allegedly demanded the ownership of marital property be signed over to him or else she would file "a lawsuit against him to be out back in prison. When the property was not signed over, Brown allegedly stalked and harassed the Stone Downing and successfully had him put in jail in Philadelphia County Family Court. Brown is still seeking the signing over of the martial property.

Downing was slowed down in 2002 and 2004. According to Downing allegedly Judges Corruption through the Media Delaware County Courthouse, overseeing hearings in both East Lansdowne and Media granted his estranged spouse request to evict him from his home. Downing alleged that District Board of Judges Honorable Barry C. Dozor, Honorable Maureen F. Fitzpatrick and Honorable Michael F.X. Coll wrongfully used legal action to put him in Delaware County Prison and took his parental rights away from seeing his two children from the estranged marriage. And allegedly Judge Fitzpatrick called him the N word followed by sending him back to jail for another 6 weekends after Judge Dozor had already sent him to jail for at least 18 days.

Despite his gang war years, he managed to finish public school and attend Cheyney University. Stone improved his reading and writing skills. He became a professional reader of civic history and youth books to children. He leads as a community activist and liaison from his own non-profit organization, the Van Stone Productions Foundation. And he voluntarily assist local citizens with problems that they can’t seem to get city essential services to perform by writing about these issues as an investigative reporter in city newspapers.

Further, Stone published his first book for comic book lovers, “Heroes of the Last Q,” a novel about fictional super-heroes who jump into action ‘Spider-man’ style as the Last Q’s on the brink of war. Stone has woven in his mix of positive life altering changes from violence his being a single Foster Parent, a rarity, assigned through the Bethanna Christian Services to Children and Their Families, Media Delaware County.

Stone began his life of terror as a Lex St. young boy after the 3rd school grade. “Leaving the fighting, stowing away knives in your locker, sometimes going after someone with a handgun, wasn’t easy,” according to Stone. He fought hard to succeed to change widely known assumption that young Black Americans, especially blacks living in the projects, are bad and lazy. Stone is an alumni of the Philadelphia Business Academy, graduating from University City High School in 1980, realized that putting down the guns and picking up the books was really not enough for a hard youth of the streets to make all hard work last. In college Stone learned quick that the underprivileged successes don’t stop the privileged from judging and not accepting others that are culturally different.

Ties to Christian Jehovah’s Witnesses

Van Stone Downing studied the Christian Jehovah’s Witnesses since he was twelve years of age. He has counted his devotion to the belief for at least 33 some odd years. He was a JW’s leader having the title of Ministerial Servant Minister, Auxiliary Pioneer Minister, and Regular Pioneer Minister. Downing disclosed as a newspaper reporter that the religion was an occult that told it’s own members it was evil to be involved in voting and the association with the United Nations. All the while for 10 years the JW’s religion was secretly joined as a NGO organization within the United Nations. Downing also disclosed that the Jehovah’s Witnesses scandal of child sexual abuse cover up was long a legal issue before the accusations of child sex abuse within the Catholic Church. Downing left the religion but was announced disciplined as Jehovah’s Witnesses call Disfellowshipped they’re doing so without informing him about it.

Today, he is the official spokesperson for the elite public safety unit in Philadelphia Pennsylvania called the Philadelphia Police Clergy. Samuel Van Stone Downing is an Independent Special Investigator assigned to expose Judged Brutality and violations of the law by justices practicing in the state of Pennsylvania and abroad.