Tag Archives: BlackLivesMatter

A Red Record

Posted on May 27, 2024 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

In my last blog I indicated that in the next one I would write something about crime and punishment. For more than half my life, I have written extensively on the subject, in letters to editors, editorials, essays, and anthologies. … Continue reading →

Posted in Criminal Justice & Punishment, Politics & Public Affairs | Tagged #BlueLivesMatter, A History of Racial Injustice, BlackLivesMatter, Corrections 360, Dred Scott Decision, Equal Justice Initiative, National Poetry Series, NYPD, police involved shooting, raising black boys, Sometimes Blue Knights Wear Black Hats, United States Supreme Court | Leave a comment

Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass: Remembrance of Things Past and Present

Posted on February 2, 2023 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

This Black History Month, read by award-winning book. It’s available on Amazon.

Posted in Education & Teaching | Tagged #BlackHistoryMonth, Black history, Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, BlackLivesMatter | 2 Comments

Black Lives Have Always Mattered

Posted on February 8, 2021 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

More than 20 years ago, long before #BlackLivesMatter, I noticed a disturbing trend: almost everyday in the news there was a case of police brutality, mostly against Black people, with a few white people sprinkled in because, even though this … Continue reading →

Posted in Race, History & American Society | Tagged BlackLivesMatter, Confederacy, Emmett Till, Lynching, Sometimes Blue Knights Wear Black Hats | Leave a comment

Chadwick Boseman: In Memoriam – Black Panther!

Posted on August 31, 2020 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

Two years ago, in preparing to deliver a high school graduation commencement address at the Fedcap School in Orange, New Jersey, I researched a number of commencement addresses by pop culture characters and personalities. During my research, I came across … Continue reading →

Posted in Race, History & American Society | Tagged #BlackSuperHeroesMatter, #WakandaForever, being a teenager, Black Lightning, Black Panther, Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, BlackLivesMatter, Bruce Lee, Chadwick Boseman, Fedcap School, Howard University, Jackie Robinson, James Brown, Panthers, raising black boys, Superfly, Superheroes, Superman | 2 Comments

“Final” Touches on The Black Blood of Poetry

Posted on August 19, 2020 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

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 Politics & Public Affairs, Streets of Rage | Tagged "I can't breathe!", #AllLivesMatter, Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, BlackLivesMatter, Blood in My Eye, Emmett Till, Fred Hampton, George Floyd, James Baldwin, James Chaney, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., Medgar Evers, murder, Nation of Islam, Ossie Davis, Poetry, raising black boys, Soledad Brother, Sometimes Blue Knights Wear Black Hats, Sonny's Blues, The Black Blood of Poetry | 1 Comment

The Black Blood of Poetry

Posted on August 17, 2020 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

Over the weekend I got some good work done on my title poem, “The Black Blood of Poetry.” A little more than twenty years ago, a poet-friend, Rachel Wetzsteon, who committed suicide in December 2009, perhaps because she felt too … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Writing Projects, Streets of Rage | Tagged "If We Must Die", being a teenager, Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, Black Summer, BlackLivesMatter, Claude McKay, Emmett Till, Medgar Evers, Pantoum, Poetry, Rachel Wetzsteon, raising black boys, Relationships, Sonnet, suicide of Rachel Wetzsteon, The Black Blood of Poetry, The Black Feminine Mystique, Villanelle | Leave a comment

On this day in American History – July 5, 1852 — Frederick Douglass gives his famous speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”

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

One hundred and sixty-eight years ago today Frederick Douglass gave his famous speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” Douglass was born into slavery in 1818, the product of a white male raping a Black woman. White … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics & Public Affairs | Tagged "paradox of the positive", #FrederickDouglassLifeMatters, Black Patriotism, Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, BlackLivesMatter, Christiaen van Couwenberg, D. Waymer, Frederick Douglass, patriotism, R.L. Heath, Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society, Slavery, The Rape of the Negro Girl, What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? | Leave a comment

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 Books & Writing Projects, Justice Chronicles, Politics & Public Affairs, Streets of Rage | Tagged "A Bit of Justice", "Black undercover cop is shot; a case of possible 'friendly fire'", "City Hall rally rebukes Workfare, "Don't let it happen again", "Los Angeles Officer Is Held in Drug Theft in Unusual Graft Case", "Neighbors call shooting unjust", "No Way Out", "Police brutality protesters rally against 'Stolen Lives'", "Police kill suspect in domestic dispute", "Real reform can stop police brutality", "Settlement of $3 Million in Fatal Choking by Officer", "The War at Home", Amadou Diallo, being a teenager, Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, BlackLivesMatter, Charles Brooks, Daniel Wise, Daryle Lamont Jenkins, Ed Morales, Gore Vidal, Herb Boyd, John Milgrim, juveniles, Margaret Sena-Stahl, Michael Randall, murder, New York Amsterdam News, NYPD, Peter Richmond, Poetry, police brutality, police involved shooting, raising black boys, Sometimes Blue Knights Wear Black Hats, Suspect shot by cop still in ICU | 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 Criminal Justice & Punishment, Justice Chronicles, Streets of Rage | Tagged being a teenager, BlackLivesMatter, cops and robbers, Growing Up, juveniles, murder, NYPD, Poetry, police involved shooting, police killing, raising black boys, Sometimes Blue Knights Wear Black Hats, The Slaughter of the Innocents, toy guns | Leave a comment

The South Won the War of Northern Aggression?

Posted on June 13, 2020 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

Imagine a visitor from another planet, say Mars, is touring the Southern states and is in modern day Virginia. The Martian makes its way to Jamestown, which he finds both interesting, and puzzling. It has familiarized itself with 200 years … Continue reading →

Posted in Race, History & American Society, Streets of Rage | Tagged 1619, BlackLivesMatter, Civil War, CNN, Confederacy, Confederate Monuments, Confederate States of America, Confederate Way, CSA, General Douglas MacArthur, Robert E. Lee, Slavery, War of Northern Aggression, World War I, World War II | Leave a comment

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