Tag Archives: raising black boys

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 Justice Chronicles, Lest We Forget, Literature & Cultural Criticism, Streets of Rage | Tagged Aaron the Moor, Bigger Thomas, Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, Frantz Fanon, James Baldwin, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., murder, Native Son, Othello the Moor, raising black boys, 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 Family, Memory & Personal Essays, Lest We Forget, 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

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 Lest We Forget, 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 Lest We Forget, 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, Lest We Forget, 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

“The Man Who Cried I Am!”: Celebrating Fifty Years of Life

Posted on August 6, 2020 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

It seems like only yesterday when I wrote this piece as I approached a milestone birthday, but it’s been nearly ten years. As I approach another milestone birthday, I am looking to complete my fourth collection of poetry, entitled, The … Continue reading →

Posted in Family, Memory & Personal Essays, Streets of Rage | Tagged Allen Ginsberg, being a teenager, Black Patriotism, Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, Granada, Growing Up, Howl!, juveniles, Panama, patriotism, Poetry, raising black boys, Relationships, Sometimes Blue Knights Wear Black Hats, The Black Blood of Poetry, The Pedagogy of the Oppressed, The Wretched of the Earth | 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, Lest We Forget, 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 brutaliy 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, Lest We Forget, 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

ABRACADABRA! Or Notes on the War on Crime, Redux

Posted on June 11, 2020 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

In 1989 I wrote an award-winning essay, “ABRACADABRA! Or Notes on the War on Crime.” In it I mentioned those magic words crimefighting politicians would utter as the solution to the “crime problem”: “more police, more prisons, longer prison terms.” … Continue reading →

Posted in Criminal Justice & Punishment, Justice Chronicles, Politics & Public Affairs, Streets of Rage | Tagged Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, Bill Clinton, crime, DerekChauvin, Donald Trump, Dr. King, George Bush, George Floyd, hyper incarceration, Loic Wacquant, Martin Luther King Jr., Mass Incarceration, police involved shooting, raising black boys, Ronald Reagan | Leave a comment

The Fires This Time

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

Last year, 2019, we marked 400 years since Africans were brought to Virginia and America’s “peculiar institution” took root. Since then, in the annals of American history, there has been systematic oppression and brutality against the descendants of Africans in … Continue reading →

Posted in Justice Chronicles, Lest We Forget, Politics & Public Affairs, Race, History & American Society, Streets of Rage | Tagged "If We Must Die", 1619-2019, 1919 Race Riots, 1960s, America's Original Sin, Barbados, Beaumont, being a teenager, Black Patriotism, Burn baby burn!, Decisive Decade, Dr. King, Ellis Island, James Baldwin , juveniles, Martin Luther King Jr., North Carolina, Original Sin, Panama, Panama Canal, peculiar institution, police involved shooting, raising black boys, Relationships, Slavery, The Fires This Time, Virginia, World War I, World War II | Leave a comment

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