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A Game That Refuses to Forget
C. J. Stewart, former Chicago Cub Outfielder and founder of L.E.A.D.
“In the age of erasure, Safe at Home is a refusal.”
On a cloudy August morning at Georgia Tech’s Russ Chandler Stadium, the 11th Annual Safe at Home baseball game unfolded—not just as a sporting event, but as a living metaphor for what it means to hold space for Black youth in a nation increasingly hostile to their futures.
From Policy to Pancakes
Photo from the internet
In the age of algorithmic memory and curated nostalgia, the battle over American history is no longer confined to textbooks or monuments. It’s playing out in policy briefs, restaurant logos, and the very language of civic belonging. The Trump administration’s recent maneuvers—paired with the cultural firestorm surrounding Cracker Barrel’s rebranding—reveal a coordinated effort to sanitize the past, suppress dissent, and recast American identity in sepia tones.
A National Call to Action
Fifty-one years ago, in 1974, the city of Macon, Georgia, redrew its district lines—not to suppress, but to uplift. That redistricting made way for the election, a year later, of the “Macon Fantasy Five,” the first five Black members of the Macon City Council. They were Willie C. Hill, Vernon Colbert, Julius Vinson, Delores Brooks, and Rev. Eddie D. Smith, Sr. It was a moment of strategic clarity and democratic courage, a local triumph with national resonance.
A Tribute to Dr. Osiefield Anderson
Dr. Osiefield Anderson, photo Alice Devine, Tallahassee Democrat, 2021
I knew of Dr. Osiefield Anderson long before I ever met him. He was my mother’s best friend in college, and her admiration for him was unwavering. She spoke of his brilliance often—how he could make numbers sing, how his mind moved with precision and grace. I heard Anderson’s name in my household so much that I thought he was a member of the family. Mom constantly would say, “Anderson did this, and Anderson said that.”
Supporting Uncle Nearest Through the Storm
Photo from the internet.
In the world of spirits, few brands have carried the weight of history quite like Uncle Nearest. Born from the legacy of Nathan “Nearest” Green—the formerly enslaved man who taught Jack Daniel how to distill whiskey—the brand has become a beacon of Black excellence, cultural reclamation, and entrepreneurial vision. So when news broke of a $100 million lawsuit filed against Uncle Nearest by its primary lender, Farm Credit Mid-America, the headlines hit harder than most.
From “Day One” Resolution to Listening Tours with Putin—What Changed?
In the fraught theater of international relations, words are weapons, and presidential promises are often the first shots fired. Nowhere has this been more evident than in former President Donald Trump’s approach to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war—a conflict that has reshaped Europe’s borders, tested the mettle of NATO, and exposed the fragility of the global order. From bold declarations on the campaign trail to recent statements signaling a more reserved approach, Trump’s rhetoric has shifted in ways that invite scrutiny, skepticism, and, above all, questions about what lies beneath the surface.
An essay in Curtis Mayfield’s time
Curtis Mayfield didn’t write anthems—he wrote indictments, love letters, cautionary tales. He summoned brass and bass to sketch the contours of a democracy that refused to hear its drumline. This essay riffs off Mayfield’s enduring question—“We the People Who Are Darker Than Blue”—to argue that the republic is not merely in peril, but being quietly repossessed by those who mistake governance for grift. “Are we going to stand around this town,” as Mayfield intoned, “and let what others say come true, … pardon me, brother, as I tell the whole story.”
A Tale of Two Washingtons
In 1967, Norman Mailer stood outside the Pentagon, half-participant, half-provocateur, chronicling the anti-war protest that would become The Armies of the Night. He cast himself as both historian and character, capturing the surreal theater of dissent in a city where symbolism and state power collide.
The Long Shadow of Gomillion v. Lightfoot
In 1960, the Supreme Court ruled that a map could be unconstitutional if its sole purpose were to silence Black voters. Charles Gomillion, a professor at Tuskegee Institute, had watched as Alabama’s legislature redrew the city’s boundaries into a 28-sided figure—an act of cartographic violence designed to excise nearly all Black residents from the voting rolls surgically. Gomillion refused to accept this as mere politics. He saw it for what it was: a betrayal of democratic promise. In 1956, Gomillion, as President of the Tuskegee Civic League, filed a lawsuit to contest this electoral map. It took this case four years to wind its way to the Supreme Court.
Don Lemon’s HOT TOPICS, rooted in rhythm, resistance, and the archival pulse of Black civic legacy.
The syncopation of history is not accidental; it’s survival. When the dominant beat insists on forgetting, we counter with rhythm, with memory, and with testimony. Don Lemon’s latest HOT TOPICS episode pulses with urgency, but it’s the echo of past struggles that gives it its most profound resonance.