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Category Archives: Martin Luther King
“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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The Massacre at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church: A Year Later — Lest We Forget!
Recently I read a piece in the AARP Bulletin, the June 2016 issue, on the Charleston Massacre: A Year Later, “The Long Road to Forgiveness.” As a student of history, I almost always think that we don’t remember what we … Continue reading
Posted in crime, ezwwaters, Martin Luther King, Uncategorized
Tagged AARP Bulletin, African Methodist Episcopal Churches, AME, Black Freedom, Brooklyn, Charleston Massacre, Denmark Vesey, Dylann Roof, Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Gabriel Prosser, Hasidim, James Michener, Jr., Nat Turner, Rev. Betty Deas Clark, Rev. Martin Luther King, The Black Church, The Final Solution, The Holocaust, The Source, Violence against the Black Church, violence in American history, World War II
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PROSECUTORS, POLICE-INVOLVED SHOOTINGS, THE CONSTITUTION, THE KKK, POSSES, AND THE RULE OF LAW
I’ve been thinking about when state prosecutors fail to do their jobs in police-involved killings of unarmed individuals, that is, fail to get indictments – though we all know, those of us who have studied the criminal criminal justice system, … Continue reading
Posted in crime, Justice Chronicles, Martin Luther King, Michael Brown, MIssouri, Murder, NYPD, police involved shooting, police-involved killing, Politics, Slavery, Uncategorized, Urban Impact
Tagged 1955 Mississippi, a prosecutor can get a ham sandwich indicted, Eric Garner, Ferguson Missouri, FUgitive Slave Act of 1793, Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, Great Society, Hayes-Tilden Compromise, KKK, law and order, Lyndon Johnson, Michael Brown, NYC, NYPD, posses, prosecutors, richard nixon, rule of law, runaway slaves, Slavery, Sol Wachtler, Staten Island, The Compromise of 1850, U.S. Constitution
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Two Classic Speeches on Voting
With Election Day right around the corner, now is a good time to read or re-read two pieces, Frederick Douglass’ “The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro,” given on July 5, 1852, and Malcolm X’s “The Ballot or the … Continue reading
Posted in Black patriotism, Education, John F. Kennedy, Justice Chronicles, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Patriotism, Politics, Revolution
Tagged Frederick Douglass, JFK, Jr., Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, The Ballot of the Bullet, The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro, Voting, voting rights
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Black Blood of Poetry
The King was dead You joined the adults Cried your eyes out Didn’t know exactly why Only that something catastrophic had happened Something that’d set your people back fifty years You couldn’t even go out to play Maybe not for … Continue reading
Even a Black Poet is Considered Armed and Extremely Dangerous
(For Henry Dumas) It was a time when a president, a presidential candidate, a Prince of Peace, a Black knight in shining armor, and Black Panthers, were gunned down. Assassinations with political ramifications. But who’d think that a poet would … Continue reading
