Category Archives: Lest We Forget

A Bibliography of Police Misconduct for Sometimes Blue Knights Wear Black Hats

Posted on June 18, 2020 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

As I have indicated elsewhere, when working on my collection of poetry about police misconduct, Sometimes Blue Knights Wear Black Hats, I drew on news reports and headlines. While doing a little Spring cleaning, I came across the original manuscript … Continue reading →

Posted in Amadou Diallo, being a teenager, Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, crime, Justice Chronicles, juveniles, Lest We Forget, Murder, NYPD, Poetry, police involved shooting, police-involved killing, Politics, race, raising black boys, Sometimes Blue Knights Wear Black Hats, Streets of Rage, Urban Impact | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Slaughter of the Innocents

Posted on June 18, 2020 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

In the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd, I have been rereading some of my poems in my collection about police misconduct, Sometimes Blue Knights Wear Black Hats. I am even more disturbed now than when in 1995 I … Continue reading →

Posted in being a teenager, crime, Growing Up, Justice Chronicles, juveniles, Lest We Forget, Murder, NYPD, police involved shooting, police-involved killing, race, raising black boys, Sometimes Blue Knights Wear Black Hats, Streets of Rage | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Black Blood of Poetry

Posted on June 12, 2020 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

I am working on my fourth collection of poetry, entitled “The Black Blood of Poetry.” I first came across that phrase in the works of an Eastern European poet, whom I can’t remember, but I remember the phrase because it … Continue reading →

Posted in Lest We Forget, police involved shooting, police-involved killing, race, Sometimes Blue Knights Wear Black Hats, Streets of Rage, Urban Impact | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Fires This Time

Posted on June 5, 2020 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

Last year, 2019, we marked 400 years since Africans were brought to Virginia and America’s “peculiar institution” took root. Since then, in the annals of American history, there has been systematic oppression and brutality against the descendants of Africans in … Continue reading →

Posted in being a teenager, Black patriotism, James Baldwin, Justice Chronicles, juveniles, Lest We Forget, Martin Luther King, police involved shooting, police-involved killing, Politics, race, raising black boys, Relationships, Revolution, Slavery, Streets of Rage | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Happy Black Independence Day!

Posted on June 19, 2019 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States, a day more important to descendants of Africans than the Fourth of July.  (Read Frederick Douglass’ classic speech, “What is the Fourth of July to … Continue reading →

Posted in Lest We Forget, Slavery | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Linda Fairstein’s reckoning, not her demonization

Posted on June 18, 2019 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

Len Levitt, in an Op-ed piece in amNew York, 6/18/19, “The campaign to demonize Linda Fairstein,” as it relates to her behavior to convict the Central Park Five, writes that we “seem to be going through a period of racial … Continue reading →

Posted in being a teenager, crime, juveniles, Lest We Forget | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

“NYPD detective indicted on perjury charges: DA”

Posted on April 25, 2019 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

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 →

Posted in ezwwaters, Justice Chronicles, Lest We Forget, Streets of Rage, Urban Impact | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

On this Day in American History, April 24, 2019 – White supremacist killer of James Byrd Jr. Executed

Posted on April 25, 2019 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

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 →

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On this day in American History, November 6, 1909 — Colored Alabamian Reports Murder of Black Wagon Driver in Alabama

Posted on November 6, 2018 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

In October 1909, a black wagon driver “who did not drive as far to the right as a white man thought he should” was shot dead in Montgomery, Alabama. According to an article in Colored Alabamian magazine, the white man avoided punishment … Continue reading →

Posted in crime, Justice Chronicles, Lest We Forget, Murder, Streets of Rage | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

On this day in American history, October 14, 1958 — District of Columbia Bar Association Votes to Accept Black Lawyers for First Time

Posted on October 14, 2018 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

Attorneys in the District of Columbia were not required to belong to a professional bar association in the 1950s, but the District maintained several voluntary bar associations that lawyers could choose to join. The Bar Association of the District of … Continue reading →

Posted in Lest We Forget, Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment