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Category Archives: Martin Luther King
The Pledge of Allegiance, Little White Lies, and All that Jazz!
It has been more than 50 years since I was in elementary school in the New York City public school system, yet I remember, word for word, the “Pledge of Allegiance.” At this time, I thought nothing of it, but … Continue reading
Posted in Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, crime, Growing Up, John F. Kennedy, Justice Chronicles, Lest We Forget, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Patriotism, Politics, raising black boys, Revolution, Slavery, Streets of Rage, urban decay, Urban Impact
Tagged Atomic Bomb, Black Codes, Black Power, Camelot, Confederate States of America, Critical Race Theory, Culture Wars, Great Society, Hiroshima, internment of Japanese Americans, James Brown, JFK, LBJ, Little White Lies, MLK, Nagasaki, Pledge of Allegiance, RFK, richard nixon, Segregation, Slave Codes, Slavery, Thirteenth Amendment, war on crime, World War II
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The King is Dead — Long Live the King!
I can’t let this day pass without saying something about the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr! In the Decisive Decade (the 1960s), Black leader after Black leader was assassinated, but this is the assassination that made it into my … Continue reading
The “new” Jim Crow is as old as the Union
Ever have a “Eureka!” moment? During my legal research in the early 1980’s, I came across something that, beyond a reasonable doubt, confirmed what people had been talking about without much evidence, beyond the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, … Continue reading
Posted in Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, crime, ezwwaters, Lest We Forget, Martin Luther King, Politics, Slavery
Tagged Alexis de Tocqueville, Brown v Board of Education, Democracy in America, Emancipation Proclamation, Gustave De Beaumont, hyperincarceration, Mass Incarceration, Michelle Alexander, On the Penitentiary System in the United States and Its Application in France, Slave Codes, The New Jim Crow, Thirteenth Amendment
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A Bigger By Any Other Name
Bigger Thomas, although a fictional character, haunts the imagination of white folk. Richard Wright’s Native Son, where we meet Bigger Thomas, was published in 1940. Benjamin Mays, in eulogizing the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 28 years later after … Continue reading
Posted in Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, crime, ezwwaters, James Baldwin, Justice Chronicles, Lest We Forget, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Murder, race, raising black boys, Streets of Rage
Tagged Aaron the Moor, Bigger Thomas, Frantz Fanon, James Baldwin, Malcolm X, Native Son, Othello the Moor, Richard Wright, Shakespeare, The Black Wall Street, Titus Andronicus
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Me and Malcolm X’s Murderer
On this day in American history, Malcolm X was murdered. I was four years of age. Fourteen years later, I would meet Malcolm X’s killer. The first thought that crossed my mind: He, Thomas Hagan, is unremarkable. And then: What … Continue reading
Posted in Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, crime, Growing Up, Lest We Forget, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Murder, Nation of Islam, race, raising black boys, Religion
Tagged Alex Haley, Decisive Decade, Five Percent Nation, Malcolm X, MLK, Nation of Islam, Samuel Yette, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Thomas Hagan
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“Final” Touches on The Black Blood of Poetry
Early this morning I put the “final” touches on my title poem, “The Black Blood of Poetry.” I wasn’t going to post it, but it is timely, and I’d rather not wait until the collection is published to put this … Continue reading
Posted in Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, crime, James Baldwin, Lest We Forget, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Murder, Nation of Islam, Poetry, Politics, race, raising black boys, Revolution, Sometimes Blue Knights Wear Black Hats, Sonny's Blues, Streets of Rage
Tagged "I can't breathe!", #AllLivesMatter, BlackLivesMatter, Blood in My Eye, Emmett Till, Fred Hampton, George Floyd, James Baldwin , James Chaney, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., Medgar Evers, Ossie Davis, Soledad Brother, The Black Blood of Poetry
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ABRACADABRA! Or Notes on the War on Crime, Redux
In 1989 I wrote an award-winning essay, “ABRACADABRA! Or Notes on the War on Crime.” In it I mentioned those magic words crimefighting politicians would utter as the solution to the “crime problem”: “more police, more prisons, longer prison terms.” … Continue reading
Posted in crime, Justice Chronicles, Martin Luther King, police-involved killing, Politics, race, raising black boys, Streets of Rage
Tagged Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, Bill Clinton, crime, DerekChauvin, Donald Trump, Dr. King, George Bush, George Floyd, hyper incarceration, Loic Wacquant, Mass Incarceration, Rev. Martin Luther King, Ronald Reagan
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If I Were President
My first political lesson came, about fifty years ago, via television. As any other kid during that time, the Decisive Decade (the 1960s), while political assassinations, JFK, Malcolm X, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., RFK, and a host of … Continue reading
Posted in ezwwaters, John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Patriotism, Uncategorized
Tagged "If I Were President", 2016 Election, classical democracy, Decisive Decade, democracy, Donald J. Trump, electoral college, Federal Republic, JFK, John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, political assassinations, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, RFK, Robert F. Kennedy, the 1960s, United States, United States politics, United States President, Voting
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