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Category Archives: ezwwaters
Chadwick Boseman: In Memoriam – Black Panther!
Two years ago, in preparing to deliver a high school graduation commencement address at the Fedcap School in Orange, New Jersey, I researched a number of commencement addresses by pop culture characters and personalities. During my research, I came across … Continue reading
Posted in being a teenager, Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, ezwwaters, Lest We Forget, raising black boys, Urban Impact
Tagged ##BlackSuperHeroesMatter, #WakandaForever, Black Lightning, Black Panther, BlackLivesMatter, Bruce Lee, Chadwick Boseman, Fedcap School, Howard University, Jackie Robinson, James Brown, Panthers, Superfly, Superheroes, Superman
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The Black Blood of Poetry
Over the weekend I got some good work done on my title poem, “The Black Blood of Poetry.” A little more than twenty years ago, a poet-friend, Rachel Wetzsteon, who committed suicide in December 2009, perhaps because she felt too … Continue reading
Posted in being a teenager, Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, crime, ezwwaters, Lest We Forget, Poetry, race, raising black boys, Relationships, Streets of Rage
Tagged "If We Must Die", Black Summer, BlackLivesMatter, Claude McKay, Emmett Till, Medgar Evers, Pantoum, Rachel Wetzsteon, Sonnet, suicide of Rachel Wetzsteon, The Black Blood of Poetry, The Black Feminine Mystique, Villanelle
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“The Man Who Cried I Am!”: Celebrating Fifty Years of Life
It seems like only yesterday when I wrote this piece as I approached a milestone birthday, but it’s been nearly ten years. As I approach another milestone birthday, I am looking to complete my fourth collection of poetry, entitled, The … Continue reading
Posted in being a teenager, Black patriotism, Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, crime, ezwwaters, Growing Up, juveniles, Patriotism, race, raising black boys, Relationships, Sometimes Blue Knights Wear Black Hats, Streets of Rage, Urban Impact
Tagged Allen Ginsberg, Granada, Howl!, Panama, The Black Blood of Poetry, The Pedagogy of the Oppressed, The Wretched of the Earth
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The “Cancel-culture” Conundrum
If I hear one more white person say “Cancel-culture…” “Cancel-culture” is the latest buzz term being used by Trumpeteers, including Ivanka Trump, and as with almost everything that comes out of the Oval Office in these times, it’s a false … Continue reading
Posted in Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, ezwwaters, Lest We Forget, Politics, race, Slavery
Tagged African Diaspora, Alexanderia Ocasio-Cortez, cancel-culture, Civil War, Confederacy, Goya, Ivanka Trump, little white lie, Ted Yoho, Trump University, white privilege, white supremacy
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“NYPD detective indicted on perjury charges: DA”
Joseph Franco, a suspended NYPD detective, was indicted for perjury, official misconduct and filing false documents in connection with narcotic cases he was involved in between 2017 and 2018. As a result of Franco’s perjury and related charges, three people … Continue reading
On this Day in American History, April 24, 2019 – White supremacist killer of James Byrd Jr. Executed
Some say it was “one of the most notorious hate crimes of modern times.” James Byrd Jr., a 48 year old Black male, was targeted and murdered by white racists in 1998 in Jasper, Texas. They tied him to their … Continue reading
On this day in history, June 3, 1943 –White Factory Workers in Detroit Strike to Protest Promotion of Black Workers
In the early 1940’s, many people migrated to Northern cities from rural areas in the Deep South in search of manufacturing jobs in the growing wartime economy. The four-county area of Detroit, Michigan, received a disproportionally large number of defense … Continue reading
This day in history — April 23, 1899 — Sam Hose Lynched in Newnan, Georgia
In January 1899, five Palmetto, Georgia, businesses were destroyed by two fires of unknown cause. Though there was no evidence to support the theory, white residents quickly concluded that the fires were set by black conspirators intent on destroying property … Continue reading
Posted in Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, ezwwaters, Justice Chronicles, Streets of Rage
Tagged castration, disemboweled, Equal Justice Initiative, firing squad, Lynching, masked whitecaps, OldTroutman Field, Palmetto Georgia, Sam Hold, Sam Hose, U.S. Attorney General John W. Gribbs, W.E.B. DuBois
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Words Matter: Another Look at the Question of Language, by Eddie Ellis, President, Center for NuLeadership on Urban Solutions
We need to be constantly reminded about this language: Words matter. They shape perceptions and understanding, both of past and present events and of future possibilities and, therefore, future events. Semantic and public acceptance of terms like “formerly incarcerated” or … Continue reading
Redlining, Reentry, and the Nonprofit Game
The past twenty years I have worked in the nonprofit sector which, if it wasn’t a business entity, would provide a classic illustration of a misnomer, because many entities and people profit in this sector, some much more than others. … Continue reading
