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Category Archives: Slavery
James Baldwin’s Journey Through Politics
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
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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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Racial Reckoning & Reparations
As a society, we (Americans) have talked about a “racial reckoning,” and reparations for the descendants of Africans who built this country. Neither a racial reckoning nor reparations have happened. A racial reckoning has not happened because most white folk … Continue reading
Posted in Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, ezwwaters, Lest We Forget, race, Slavery
Tagged Bryan Stevenson, Critical Race Theory, Equal Justice Initiative, Esperanto, Manifest Destiny, racial Esperanto, racial reckoning, reparations, Slavery, W.E.B. DuBois, White Man's Burden
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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 Statue for the Unknown Slave Woman?
Today, in honor of Women’s History Month, I’m going to do something slightly different: honor an unknown woman — in fact, unknown women — by sharing a poem from my third collection of poetry, The Black Feminine Mystique. It is … Continue reading
Posted in ezwwaters, race, Slavery
Tagged Liberty Island, The Black Feminine Mystique, Women's History Month
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Ida B. Wells: The Black Woman Crusader Against White Knights
Ida B. Wells was born into slavery on July 16, 1862. She was “freed” by presidential proclamation and executive order (the Emancipation Proclamation) issued by President Abraham Lincoln on September 22, 1862, during the American Civil War. Ida B. Wells … Continue reading
We Be Watchin’ You God!
Their Eyes Were Watching God! That is one of the greatest and most meaningful titles to come out of the Harlem Renaissance. And Zora Neale Hurston was one of the coolest women during that era, holding her own with all … Continue reading
“My Lord, What a Morning”
On the penultimate day of Black History Month, I participated in a Black History Month Celebration at my church, St. Michael-St. Malachy. I was asked to recite a poem. A number of youth were present at the celebration, and even … Continue reading
The Three Pillars of American Society: Slavery, Segregation, and Hyperincarceration
America stands on three pillars: slavery, segregation, and hyperincarceration (incorrectly referred to as “mass incarceration”). These “pillars” implicate and impact mostly Black people, but also all people living in America or dreaming about coming to America. In fact, the U.S. … Continue reading
Posted in Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, crime, ezwwaters, Justice Chronicles, Lest We Forget, Life Sentences, Politics, race, Slavery, Sometimes Blue Knights Wear Black Hats, Streets of Rage
Tagged Angela Davis, Are prisons obsolete?, Brown v. Board of Education, Charles E. Silberman, Confederacy, Criminal Violence Criminal Justice, Declaration of Independence, George Jackson, George Wallace, hyperincarceration, Jessica Mitford, Kind & Usual Punishment: The Prison Business, Loic Waquant, Mario Cuomo, Plessy v. Ferguson, Segregation, Slavery, Southland
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A Brief History of How “Black History” is Seen
What is called “Black History” in the United States of America is American history. In categorizing and cataloging “Black History” as such, and relegating it not only to one month of the year, February, but also the shortest month of … Continue reading
Posted in Black patriotism, Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, Education, Lest We Forget, Patriotism, race, Revolution, Slavery
Tagged American Civil War, American Revolutionary War, Black history, Confederacy, Confederate icnoography, hyperincarceration, immigration, racial reckoning, Segregation, Slavery, treason, W.E.B.DuBois
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