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Tag Archives: Sometimes Blue Knights Wear Black Hats
National Superhero Day
Today is National Superhero Day. Over the years I’ve written a series of poems about “heroes.” In my last collection, “The Black Blood of Poetry,” which I am shopping around, is this poem: In Search of a Black Hero Coming … Continue reading
The Prison Portal
Poets are on a quest to find a word that is worth a thousand pictures. I don’t know if there’s a poetry gene, but there’s connective tissue joining poets. Even before I know a writer is a poet – a … 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 Justice Chronicles, Politics & Public Affairs, Race, History & American Society, Streets of Rage
Tagged Angela Davis, Are prisons obsolete?, Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, 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, life sentences, Loic Wacquant, Mario Cuomo, Plessy v. Ferguson, Segregation, Slavery, Sometimes Blue Knights Wear Black Hats, Southland
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A Farewell to Black History Month, 2022
Black History Month is in the shortest month of the year. Caesar Augustus, thinking that the month in honor of his name was too short, took days from February, short changing what would become Black History Month. In fact, when … Continue reading
Prosecuting Murder Most Foul!
In 1976, a childhood friend, at age 16, was charged, tried and convicted of felony-murder as an unarmed nonkilling accomplice, where robbery was the underlying felony, in which an individual was killed by one of my friend’s codefendants, with a … Continue reading
“Sound of da Police”
In his 2000 album, his first solo album, “Return of the Boom Bap,” KRS-One has a classic rap about da police, entitled, “Sound of da Police.” The chorus begins: Woop-woop! That’s the sound of da police Woop-woop! that’s the sound … Continue reading
Black Lives Have Always Mattered
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
“Final” Touches on The Black Blood of Poetry
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
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“The Man Who Cried I Am!”: Celebrating Fifty Years of Life
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, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Poetry, raising black boys, Relationships, Sometimes Blue Knights Wear Black Hats, The Black Blood of Poetry, The Wretched of the Earth
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