Tag Archives: Malcolm X

A Bigger By Any Other Name

Posted on February 22, 2022 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

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 | 1 Comment

Me and Malcolm X’s Murderer

Posted on February 21, 2022 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

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 | Leave a comment

“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 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 | 1 Comment

A Brief History of the Hayes-Tilden Compromise

Posted on August 4, 2020 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

In order to understand the pathology of memorializing treasonous Confederates, look to the Hayes-Tilden Compromise (1876-77), which in effect ended the Reconstruction years (1865-1877), when Black people made tremendous strides, politically, economically, and socially, a mere 12 years after 246 … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, Lest We Forget, Malcolm X, Patriotism, race, Slavery | Tagged 1619, American Civil War, Confederade memorials, Confederate Monuments, Confederate States of America, Confederate statues, General William Tecumseh Sherman, Hayes-Tilden Compromise, Jamestown, Malcolm X, Plymouth Rock, Reconstruction, Slavery | Leave a comment

If I Were President

Posted on November 19, 2016 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

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 | Leave a comment

Some thoughts on my novel, “Streets of Rage”

Posted on February 28, 2015 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

Growing up in the early ’70s, the Black Power Movement, informed by Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam, and its offshoot the Five Percent Nation, informed the thinking of the best minds of my generation — including mine, if … Continue reading →

Posted in being a teenager, crime, ezwwaters, Growing Up, Streets of Rage | Tagged '70s, Black Power Movement, Decisive Decade, Five Percent Nation, Malcolm X, Nation of Island | Leave a comment

Two Classic Speeches on Voting

Posted on October 31, 2014 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

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 | Leave a comment

Malcolm X’s “The Ballot or the Bullet” (April 3, 1964)

Posted on October 31, 2014 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

Mr. Moderator, Brother Lomax, brothers and sisters, friends and enemies: I just can’t believe everyone in here is a friend, and I don’t want to leave anybody out. The question tonight, as I understand it, is “The Negro Revolt, and … Continue reading →

Posted in John F. Kennedy, Justice Chronicles, Malcolm X | Tagged American injustice, Black history, Malcolm X | Leave a comment

A New Paradigm – Elevating the Voice of Formerly Incarcerated People

Posted on May 7, 2014 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

With the recent launch of JustLeadershipUSA, Glenn Martin, President and Founder of JustLeadershipUSA, is looking to elevate the voice of Americans impacted by crime and incarceration, especially people who have been imprisoned, by positioning them as “informed, empowered reform partners.” … Continue reading →

Posted in Justice Chronicles, Malcolm X, Parole, Reentry, Slavery, Uncategorized | Tagged Alex Haley, Alexis de Beaumont, All of Us or None, Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, Blessed and Highly Favored: Memoirs of a Multiple Felon, But They All Come Back: Facing the Challenges of Prisoner Reentry, But They All Come Back: Rethinking Prisoner Reentry, Center for NuLeadership on Urban Solutions, Citizens Against Recidivism, criminal justice system, disenfranchisement, Elaine Bartlett, Era of Reentry, Exodus Transitional Community, felon disenfranchisement, formerly incarcerated people, franchise, Frederick Douglass, George Pataki, Glenn Martin, Great Society, Gustave de Tocqueville, Harvey Brown, Inc., incarceration, Jennifer Gonnerman, Jeremy Travis, Julio Medina, JustLeadershipUSA, leadership development, Life on the Outside: The Prison Odyssey of Elaine Bartlett, Lyndon B. Johnson, Malcolm X, mandatory minimum sentencing, Mass Incarceration, mass incarrceration, Michelle Alexander, New York, On the Penitentiary System in the United States and Its Application in France, Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison, parole releasing policies, Piper Kerman, richard nixon, Rockefeller Drug Law, slavery and imprisonment in the United States, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, The Ballot or the Bullet, the glass ceiling, the green wall, The Life of an Ex-Con, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Theo Harris, Thirteenth Amendment, United States, United States Supreme Court, war on crime, What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July | Leave a comment

Just Say Yes to the Ministry of Life! (Corinthians 4:7-18)

Posted on April 20, 2014 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

When we read the letters of the Apostle Paul to the various Christian communities he wrote, we see the theme of death bringing them together like relatives to a funeral. At times it seems like Paul was obsessed with death … Continue reading →

Posted in Jesus, Malcolm X, Relationships, Religion, Uncategorized | Tagged 11, Acts 9:1-22, Corinthians 15:31, Corinthians 4:7-18, Corinthians 7:29, death and dying, Delores S. Williams, Malcolm X, ministry, Paul, Psalms 28:13, Romans6:3-4, Saul, Sisters in the Wilderness: The Challenge of Womanist God-talk, the Cross | 1 Comment

	Mark Chapman on James Baldwin’s Journey…
	Michael Pass on Racial Reckoning & Re…
	William Eric Waters,… on Racial Reckoning & Re…
	Mark Chapman on A Constantly Evolving Lifespan…
	Spyros Germenis on A Constantly Evolving Lifespan…