Category Archives: Politics

The Writing Life: Writing An Award-Winning Epic Poem

Posted on May 13, 2024 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

My epic poem, Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass: Remembrance of Things Past and Present, was a co-winner of the 1998 Edwin Mellen Poetry Prize for an epic poem on the theme, “the captivity, exploitation, and suffering of … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, ezwwaters, Lest We Forget, Politics, race, Slavery | Tagged 1998 Edwin Mellen Poetr Prize, Africa's Gifts to America, American Civil War, Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass; Slavery; Edwin Mellen Poetry Press, Hayes-Tilden Compromise, J.A. Rogers, James Weldon Johnson, Lift Every Voice and Sing, Rene Descartes, Sex & Race, Swing Low, Swing Low Sweet Chariot, The Iliad, The Odyssey, The Picture of Dorian Grray, W.E.B. DuBois | 1 Comment

The Assassination of Dr. King – My first “political memory”

Posted on April 4, 2024 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

My first political memory, at age 7, is the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I was too young to remember the assassinations of JFK and Malcolm X, and although RFK would be assassinated later in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, crime, ezwwaters, Growing Up, John F. Kennedy, Lest We Forget, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Murder, Poetry, Politics, race, raising black boys, Revolution, Sometimes Blue Knights Wear Black Hats, urban decay, Urban Impact | Tagged Andrew Goodman, Decisive Decade, James Chaney, JFK, Jim Crow, Malcolm X, Michael Schwerner, Mississippi Burning, MLK, RFK, The Black Blood of Poetry | 1 Comment

From the American Revolution to the Black Arts Cultural Revolution

Posted on February 21, 2024 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

After the American Revolution, most of the defining moments in American history involve or revolve around Black people. Black folk were even involved in the American Revolution, fighting on both sides – the British promised Africans and the descendants of … Continue reading →

Posted in Black patriotism, Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, ezwwaters, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Growing Up, John F. Kennedy, Lest We Forget, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Nation of Islam, Patriotism, Poetry, Politics, race, Revolution, Slavery, Streets of Rage, urban decay, Urban Impact | Tagged 1619, 1619 Project, American Revolution, Boston Massacre, Camelot, Crispus Attucks, JFK, Larry Neal, RFK, The Black Arts Era | Leave a comment

Happy Valentine’s Day to African American Literature!

Posted on February 14, 2024 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

Since it is Valentine’s Day, I dare to say that I have an ongoing love affair with African American literature. And, once again, I am teaching African American Literature in the 20th Century for another college. (I previously taught it … Continue reading →

Posted in Black patriotism, Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, ezwwaters, Lest We Forget, Politics, race, Slavery | Tagged African American Literature, Amherst method, Andra Day, Black National Anthem, Black Poetics, Booker T. Washington, Brotherman: The Odyssey of Black Men in America -- An Anthology, Eurocentric, Henry Louis Gates, Herb Boyd, James Weldon Johnson, Larry Neal, Lift Every Voice and Sing, Robert L Allen, Some Reflections on the Black Aesthetic, The Black Arts Movement, The Norton Anthology of African American Literature, Three Negro Classics, Toni Morrison, Unspeakable Things Unspoken: The African American Presence in American Literature, Valentine's Day, Valerie A Smith, WEB DuBois | 2 Comments

The Black Arts Movement

Posted on February 8, 2024 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

The theme for this Black History Month is African Americans and the Arts. For purposes of this blog, I’ll highlight the “Black Arts Era” (1960-1975). The Black Arts Era began at the very beginning of what Samuel F. Yette, influential … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, Education, ezwwaters, John F. Kennedy, Lest We Forget, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Murder, Nation of Islam, Politics, race | Tagged Black History Month, Decisive Decade, democracy, JFK, Larry Neal, Malcolm X, MLK, Muhammad Ali, RFK, Samuel Yette, The Black Arts Era | 2 Comments

Happy Birthday to Black History Month!

Posted on February 7, 2024 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

Black History Month is nearly 100 years old! Granted, it began as Black History Week, on February 7, 1926, and didn’t become Black History Month until February 10, 1976. My father, a Native Southern Son, was born in the same … Continue reading →

Posted in Black patriotism, Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, Education, ezwwaters, Fatherhood, Fathers, Growing Up, Lest We Forget, Patriotism, Politics, race, raising black boys, Revolution | Tagged Black History Month, Civil War, Frederick Douglass, Gerald Ford, Lost Cause, Miseducation of the Negro, MLK, Negro History Week, segregated U.S. Army, WEB DuBois, What is the Fourth of July to the Negro?, World War II | 2 Comments

Correcting The Miseducation of the Negro

Posted on February 3, 2024 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

Carter G. Woodson’s seminal book, The Miseducation of the Negro, published in 1926, is a book Black folk should periodically revisit, perhaps every three years, ideally every year. If you are Black and you have not read the book, then … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, Education, ezwwaters, Lest We Forget, Politics, race, raising black boys, Slavery | Tagged 1619 Project, Aristotelian Logic, Aunt Jemima, Black History Month, Brown v. Board of Education, Candace Owens, Carter G. Woodson, Clarence Thomas, Classical Rhetoric, Compulsory Education Act (1852), General Grammar, Jim Crow, Nicholas Capaldi, Plessy v. Ferguson, Russell Sage College, The Art of Deception: An Introduction to Critical Thinking, The Miseducation of the Negro, Tribium, U.S. Senator Tim Scott, Uncle Tom | 4 Comments

The Siren Song of Mass Murder

Posted on October 26, 2023 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

The latest mass murder in America, in Lewiston, Maine, sounds like a broken record, a siren song. In the tenth month of this year, America has experienced and witnessed more than 500 mass murders. Still, the Second Amendment is sacrosanct, … Continue reading →

Posted in ezwwaters, Murder, Parole, parole board, Politics | Tagged Article 78, Lewiston Maine, mass murder, mental health, sirens | 5 Comments

Remembering My Father as I Remember Maceo Snipes, Black Veteran, Shot to Death After Voting in Georgia Primary — July 18, 1946

Posted on July 19, 2023 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

As a teenager my father, a Native Southern Son (NC and VA), was drafted to serve in the segregated U.S. Army during World War II. Shortly after he was honorably discharged from the Army in 1946, he moved to Brooklyn, … Continue reading →

Posted in Black patriotism, Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, crime, ezwwaters, Family, Fatherhood, Fathers, Growing Up, Lest We Forget, Murder, Politics, race, raising black boys, Relationships | Tagged Maceo Snipes, Segregation, The Black Vote, World War II | Leave a comment

James Baldwin’s Journey Through Politics

Posted on May 6, 2023 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

Thirty years ago I wrote an essay, “The Election Time Blues.” It spoke about how political discourse in America was depressing; at least, it depressed me, and it continues to do so. When crime is on the platform, it becomes … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, crime, ezwwaters, James Baldwin, John F. Kennedy, Lest We Forget, Patriotism, Politics, race, Slavery | Tagged "Journey to Atlanta", Abraham Lincoln, Bill Clinton, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, Donald Trump, FDR, George Bush, Harriet Turman, Isabel Wilkerson, James Baldwin, JFK, Joe Biden, Nelson Rockefeller, richard nixon, Ronald Reagan, The Best and the Brightest, Willie Horton | 1 Comment

	Michael G Pass on Journey Through Crime, Justice…
	Michael Pass on Journey Through Crime, Justice…
	William Eric Waters,… on Journey Through Crime, Justice…
	Michael Pass on Journey Through Crime, Justice…
	markchap1045 on Journey Through Crime, Justice…