Tag Archives: Malcolm X

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 Family, Memory & Personal Essays, Religion | Tagged Alex Haley, Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, Decisive Decade, Five Percent Nation, Growing Up, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., murder, Nation of Islam, raising black boys, 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 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

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 Politics & Public Affairs, Race, History & American Society | Tagged 1619, Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, Civil War, Confederate memorials, Confederate Monuments, Confederate States of America, Confederate statues, General William Tecumseh Sherman, Hayes-Tilden Compromise, Jamestown, Malcolm X, patriotism, 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 Politics & Public Affairs | Tagged "If I Were President", 2016 Election, classical democracy, Decisive Decade, democracy, Donald Trump, electoral college, Federal Republic, John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., patriotism, political assassinations, Robert F. Kennedy, the 1960s, United States, United States politics, United States President, Voting | Leave a comment

From my award-winning epic poem, “Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass: Remembrance of Things Past and Present” – my tribute to the Greatest!

Posted on June 6, 2016 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

XXXX War was declared, On two fronts: At home and abroad. As American troops fought To make the world Safe for democracy, Or to end all wars, Or to stop communism From spreading Like a communicable disease, She was … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Writing Projects | Tagged Black Patriotism, Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Vietnam War | 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 Books & Writing Projects, Streets of Rage | Tagged '70s, being a teenager, Black Power Movement, Decisive Decade, Five Percent Nation, Growing Up, Malcolm X, Nation of Islam | 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 Education & Teaching, Justice Chronicles, Politics & Public Affairs | Tagged Black Patriotism, Frederick Douglass, John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., patriotism, The Ballot or 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 Justice Chronicles, Politics & Public Affairs, Race, History & American Society | Tagged American injustice, Black history, John F. Kennedy, 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 Advocacy, Research & Lived Expertise | Tagged 13th Amendment, Alex Haley, Alexis de Beaumont, All of Us or None, Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, 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 E. Martin, Great Society, Gustave de Tocqueville, Harvey Brown, 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, 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 Laws, 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, 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 Reentry & Community, Religion | Tagged 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, Relationships, Romans 6:3-4, Saul, Sisters in the Wilderness: The Challenge of Womanist God-talk, the Cross | 1 Comment

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