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In the Shadow of a King

19/02/18 at 12.44pm   /   by Michael   /   0 Comment

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Photo by Ricardo Gomez Angel on Unsplash

Charles Steele, Jr. was 22 years old on the day that Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated on the third-floor balcony of a colored motel in Memphis, Tennessee. By that time, King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference had won two important victories.

First, congressional passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. This measure opened areas of public accommodations to the nation’s Negro citizens. Despite King’s work in this area, on his April 1968 visit to Memphis, he chose to patronize the Black-owned Lorraine Motel.

Secondly, the next year, King did something that President Lyndon Baines Johnson had told him a year earlier it would be impossible to do. He had maneuvered Congress into placing the 1965 Voting Rights Act on Johnson’s desk. This Bill codified federal oversight into state and local elections in the American South, among other things, requiring Justice Department approval to any changes made to election laws — primarily in the “deep south”- where the vote had been denied to Negroes since the death of Reconstruction.

Both legislative achievements grew out of civil disobedience, bloodshed and the loss of life. Such is the ethos of SCLC: struggles, deaths, and monumental achievements. Those who signed on to work for the civil rights goals of this organization understood and embraced this methodology. Although, time and the skillful use of this stratagem brought about many different tools, there are members and affiliates of SCLC who want to continue to wage the war against “poverty, war and militarism” via the affliction and death inherent in this tool.

By age 22, Steele had gained valuable civil rights experience. In 1954, he was eight years old when the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People successfully overturned Plessy versus Ferguson. This epic case outlawed the segregated caste system that economically and socially separated white citizens from Black citizens in America.

Charles Steele, Jr. is a big dreamer like his predecessor at SCLC. © 2016 Lady With a Camera

Today, he aptly notes that “Every significant civil rights advancement made in America, except the Brown versus Board of Education case, has been brought about through the work of SCLC.”

He is extremely proud of this fact.

In 1954, the US Supreme Court declared, “that public education should be desegregated with all deliberate speed.” Steele was ready for the desegregated school, but his parents, a mortician and an elementary school teacher, sent him off to school in the segregated Black school system in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. It was separate from the school attended by white kids from Tuscaloosa and unequal in terms of educational facilities and learning resources.

During this time, Steele had a dream. The University of Alabama campus abutted “The Bottom,” the segregated Black neighborhood where he lived. The Black kids were not allowed onto the campus, so during baseball season, they would sit on the outfield fence that separated the races and watch white college students play baseball. Steele dreamed of sitting inside the stadium to watch a baseball game. Over time, the University of Alabama relaxed its policy and allowed Blacks to attend their baseball games in designated segregated seating. Steele knew in his heart that there was something inherently unfair in being relegated to second class citizenship.

Then in 1963, he was hit with the SCLC bug. In his book, Easier to Obtain than to Maintain: The Globalization of Civil Rights (Cascade Publishing House, 2016, Atlanta, p. xxix), Steele tells the story this way:

“I remember the 1963 Civil Rights Movement in my hometown of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, as if it was yesterday. A young man at the time, I was active in the ‘Movement.’ My friends and family lived on every word of Dr. Martin Luther King. The Tuscaloosa community was especially fortunate to have Reverend T. Y. Rogers, a member of Dr. King’s staff living and pastoring in our town. Reverend Rogers held weekly rallies, usually on Monday nights at the First African Baptist Church where he pastored.”

Rogers had a big influence on the type of civil rights leader Steele would ultimately become. 1n 1963, the Tuscaloosa News captured the fiery rhetoric of Rogers. You can see similarities in the retorts of Steele today. During a Monday night Mass Meeting Rogers averred:

“We will continue to demand that justice is served. The United States Constitution and the rights of every American citizen must be protected. We will not stop, we will not back down. We will march, we will have sit-ins, and we will boycott every business in this town [Tuscaloosa] that refuses to respect the dignity and rights of all citizens regardless of color. We will not stop until Jim Crow laws and segregation are removed from this town and everywhere else in this country.”

Coming under the tutelage of Rogers, Steele learned King’s approach to civil rights agitation. Thus, it came as no surprise that as a young adult, Steele would lead the local Tuscaloosa SCLC Chapter and that he would eventually become State President of the Alabama Chapter of SCLC.

Charles Steele, Jr. at the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Photo from SCLC Collection

As a young civil rights activist, Steele once barricaded himself in the Tuscaloosa Board of Education office for about a week. He refused to come out until concessions were made on providing equal educational opportunities for Black children in his hometown. After days without food and water, Steele emerged famished and victorious.

The hometown rallied around their native son, electing him as one of the first Black members of the city council and later sending him to the State Senate in Montgomery. As a city councilman and state legislator, he learned how to build relationships, which enabled him to negotiate deals without the necessity of facing the police violence which characterized marches during the leadership of King.

While Steele engrossed himself in negotiating a deal to bring a Mercedes Benz manufacturing plant to a Tuscaloosa suburb, to bring high paying jobs for the Tuscaloosa Black community, the national civil rights movement stalled. With the 1992 election of President William Jefferson Clinton, Black people felt they had elected the first Black President. Clinton, a southerner from Arkansas knew the language of good race relations. Black leaders felt comfortable with him and let down their guard. Civil rights activism was at an all-time low. Towards the end of Clinton’s second term, Dr. Joseph Lowery retired as the President and CEO of SCLC.

For the first 41 years, SCLC was led by three men — King, Ralph David Abernathy, and Lowery -all of whom were included in the original seven conveners of the organization. Fred Shuttlesworth would later serve after the organization declined in the early years of the 21st century. The remaining conveners Ella Baker, C. K. Steele, and Bayard Rustin never served as President. King, Abernathy, and Lowery were steady at the helm of the premier civil rights organization in the 20th century. They had a firm grasp on the founding principles of SCLC.

Lowery retired in 1998. He was succeeded by Martin Luther King, III., son of a major organizer of SCLC.

King, III had not grown into the leader he is today, and the board of old civil rights stalwarts had a hard time following his leadership. Perhaps they expected him to be his father, which of course, no one could ever be. No Black leader in this country has ever had Dr. King’s training in religion, philosophy, and politics. No Black leader, not even President Barrack Obama, can avoid being in the shadow of King. The young King moved the National SCLC headquarters from the Masonic building on “Sweet” Auburn Avenue to Edgewood Avenue in the Martin Luther King, Jr. Historic District.

Suffice it to say, SCLC on the backdrop of the Clinton Presidency and coupled with an improvement in the condition of middle-class Blacks, entered a quiet period in its history. As did all civil rights organizations. They all began a search for relevancy in the new millennium.

When King, III resigned in 2004 to pursue other opportunities, the SCLC board turned to the steady hand of Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, whom Dr. King had called the most “courageous man he knew.” Shuttleworth, never a man able to tolerate foolishness well quickly grew tired of the palace intrigue on the board and went back home to Birmingham.

The board looked for someone outside of the founding inner circle. Charles Steele, Jr. was their leader. At the time he was growing in stature and power as a senator in the Alabama Legislature. The organization was broke. The rent on the building was due, the lights and telephones were cut-off and the staff was living on promises that one day soon, they would receive a paycheck.

Steele heard the call. It tugged at him. Since the early 1960s when he listened to Rev. T. Y. Rogers during Monday night Mass Meetings, SCLC had held a special place in his heart. On November 12, 2004, Steele left his seat in the Alabama Senate and drove over to Atlanta, Georgia. The first night in Atlanta, Steele called his wife Kathleen and told her he had checked into a five-star hotel and would send for her in a few days. Instead, he fell asleep in his car the first night he was in town. The next day he visited with Rev. Timothy Flemming at Mount Carmel Baptist Church.

He told Flemming about his dream: “As a result of the changing face of America, going forward, we must revolutionize the way we think about our approach to conflict reconciliation, economic development, and increasing our worldwide exposure.”

Flemming was so impressed with the new direction that Steele wanted to take SCLC, that he, in the Biblical sense, “sowed a seed of $25,000” into SCLC to keep it afloat.

Steele paid the rent, turned on the lights and telephones, then he got busy with plans to build a permanent home for SCLC.

SCLC International Headquarters Charles Steele, Jr. Building. Photo Credit Lady with a Camera

“Before I became President and CEO of SCLC, only one civil rights organization (NAACP) in this country had ever built a headquarters from the ground up. If we were going to make civil rights a permanent institution in America, we needed our own building, we needed a place where we can hold workshops on nonviolence,” Steele said.

Steele rolled up his sleeves and went to work. He lobbied corporate America to partner with SCLC to build a state-of-the-art headquarters on Auburn Avenue, two doors down the street from where Dr. King had had his office. The public utility kicked in $20 million for the construction of the building.

Under the leadership of Steele, SCLC marched when it was necessary as in the 2006 case of the “Jena Six” and at other times he brokered peace between a group of Black Jews and the Israeli government.

“I envision SCLC becoming an organization with a very strong global presence. To support this vision, I am focused on building a worldwide network that is interconnected with others in a very real and significant way,” Steele said of his vision for SCLC in the 21st century.

In 2009, the construction of the headquarters building was completed. When SCLC moved into the building, it was free and clear of any debt. The organization was able to make payroll and meet its expenses. Steele had done what he was brought on board to do, so he resigned to pursue a career in international consulting.

Soon after Steele departed, there was in-fighting on the board. Some members of the board indebted the headquarters building, and checks were written on the organization’s bank account without accountability. There were lawsuits and countersuits. Little civil rights work was being done.

“Leadership on the board level was not that good,” said Dr. Bernard Lafayette. “I was not the chair of the board at that time, I was just a board member. We went through several presidents, which is problematical. When I became chairman of the board, I looked for a leader who could raise money, manage staff and had the ability to identify the critical issues that had to be addressed,” Lafayette continue.

SCLC again turned to a proven and trusted leader. In 2012, Steele was asked to come back to get the ship back on course.

“Dr. Steele was a natural choice. He is not a newcomer. He is clear on his values, which are consistent with the values of SCLC. He does not bite his tongue. He is a family man and the fact that he gives him sympathy towards people in prison and those living in poverty. Anything that he would say is in the best of the people,” Lafayette said.

Steele came back and cleared up the debt on the building, “so SCLC will always have a home,” he said at the time. The board rewarded him by naming the international headquarters, The Charles Steele, Jr. Building.

“I have to say that Dr. Steele is the number one reason that SCLC is still in business today. Look around you, SNCC is gone and CORE is gone, but because of Steele SCLC is still here,” Lafayette said.

Now a group of disgruntled civil rights warriors in search of the glory days of SCLC have started a petition to force Steele and Lafayette to resign. Marching and protesting are what these warriors did in the second half of the 20th century and marching is what they want to do in the first quarter of the 21st century. They applaud Steele for joining a voter’s suppression lawsuit in Georgia but decry him for not yelling racism loud enough in the streets.

As Steele lingers in the shadow of King, he has the added burden of giving SCLC relevancy into the next century, while the warriors of old clamor for his demise.

“It’s like Jesus and the fig tree,” Steele posited, “God gave us a gift in SCLC, but the people had stopped being fruitful. When I saw the shape that SCLC was in, I said to myself, God is about to curse SCLC if she doesn’t start bearing fruit again. These critics were here before I came to SCLC the first time. They were here when I came back, but they were not bearing fruit. Now they claim we are doing a poor job, hello somebody,” Steele said, as only he can say “hello somebody.”

“My job is bringing the street to the suite and the suite to the street,” he said.

Charles Steele, Jr. and Harold Michael Harvey at the dedication service for the SCLC International Headquarters Building. Photo from SCLC files

Steele believes he can negotiate monumental achievements without shedding blood and without the assassinations of the 1960s. It is an extension of the behind-the-scenes negotiations that King orchestrated in winning passage of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. It is the nitty-gritty work that champions civil rights. It is not as romanticized as marching down the street with several hundred thousand protesters waving placards and shouting slogans.

Several years ago, in his home Rev. C. T. Vivian, King’s Director of Affiliate Chapters, revealed the following to this writer.

“Following the passage of the Voting Rights Act, I told Martin (Dr. King) that he had brought about all the change that could be done in this generation. I left the organization to develop a social service program in Chicago and was not around the last two years of his life. Many of us had left before Martin started the “Poor People’s Campaign. We thought it was time to use other methods to solidify the benefits of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voters Rights Act of 1965,” Vivian said.

This seems to have been the consensus coming from King’s inner circle. It’s hard to imagine that at 90 years of age King would still be a proponent of street marches as the central means to bring about social change.

In any event, Steele remains steadfast on the case. He toils in the shadow of King. This is precisely why his labor of love is misunderstood.

“I’ve saved this organization twice,” Steele said, adding, “I’m not going anywhere.”

Harold Michael Harvey is an American novelist and essayist. He is a Contributor at The Hill, SCLC National Magazine, Southern Changes Magazine, Medium, and Black College Nines. He can be contacted at hmharvey@haroldmichaelharvey.com

Harold Michael Harvey,author of Paper Puzzle and Justice in the Round,is an award winning journalist and political pundit.He has a B.S. and a JD degree.More from H. Michael HarveyCan Judge Kavanaugh Survive Another FBI Investigation?H. Michael HarveySep 29, 201851More from H. Michael HarveyKamala Harris Is Who She Says She IsH. Michael HarveyFeb 339

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Atlanta Metro RBI’s Barnstorming Humanitarian Tour Across Puerto Rico: In the Spirit of Robinson, Clemente, and King

19/02/18 at 11.59am   /   by Michael   /   0 Comment
ATL METRO RBI gathers at the iconic statue of Roberto Clemente following completion of their humanitarian tour to Puerto Rico. © 2019 Harold Michael Harvey

What better way to learn how to serve others than to walk in the footsteps of those who have done it?

In January, a group of 13–15-year-old baseball players from Atlanta set out on a humanitarian mission to hurricane ravished Puerto Rico. They learned what it was like to barnstorm across Puerto Rico like Satchel Paige and other Negro League players who would travel to the Caribbean to play baseball during the offseason on the mainland. And they learned what it means to give back to others in the spirit of Jackie Robinson, Roberto Clemente and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The spirit of Clemente looms large over the Island.

He had a big heart for the less fortunate.

“I love people and I love the minority people, I love people that are not big shots, the common people, the people who have suffered. I love the workers, the poor people because they have a different approach to life than rich people who have everything and get bored…,” RobertoClemente once said.

This explains why Clemente spent his off-season away from professional baseball helping people in the Caribbean Islands who did not have as much as baseball had given him. Clemente was born in the Carolina community in Puerto Rico, an impoverished area outside of San Juan.

He dreamed of one day building a sports complex in Carolina to teach baseball skills to Puerto Rican youngsters. His dream was cut short on December 31, 1972, when the plane he was in dropped out the sky into the Atlantic Ocean during a rainstorm. The wreckage was never recovered.

Clemente was on a humanitarian mission. He was taking relief supplies to Nicaragua after an earthquake hit the country on December 23, 1972. His ill-fated flight was his third relief trip to Nicaragua. When most Americans were preparing for a New Year’s Eve celebration, Clemente was preparing for a relief mission.

Clemente could have sent the aid and not gone on the trip with the supplies, but he feared that the Somoza family who had ruled Nicaragua since being installed into power by the Americans in 1912 would take the supplies from the poor and give them to the rich. He was so popular in Latin America that the military junta did not dare mistreat the poor in Clemente’s presence.

Today, Major League Baseball operates 21 RBI Academy’s (Reviving Baseball in the Inner City) on the island that is 100 miles long and 35 miles wide. Flying into San Juan you can literally see baseball diamonds etched into the landscape all over the island like they had been formed at the beginning of time by God Almighty.

This January the ATLANTA METRO RBI program undertook a humanitarian mission in the spirit of Clemente and coupled it with a barnstorming trip for Black American teenagers to compete against Puerto Rican players.

How do you teach middle school age Black Americans, who were born in the strongest economy in the world, the human spirit as expressed by Clemente?

First, if you are John Hollins, a successful account executive for an Atlanta television station, you believe that teaching Black teenagers to have the humanitarian spirit of Roberto Clemente, the hope of Jackie Robinson and the promise of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is a worthwhile goal.

Next, you use baseball as the tool to get your message over to them and to bring cheer to Americans devastated by a natural disaster.

Hollins conceived the idea after he viewed news account of the havoc wrought by Hurricane Marie when she swept through Puerto Rico in 2017. Hollins, not one to simply toss paper towels in the aftermath of a destructive storm, partnered with Major League Baseball, The Atlanta Braves Baseball Club, and Mizuno to help the RBI program recover from the storm. The island was too unstable in 2017 and 2018 for him to make a trip, so Hollins went to work coordinating the future relief effort.

The Luis A. Canena Marquez stadium in Aguadilla serves as the playing facility for the RBI program and the FEMA relief effort on the island following Hurricane Marie.

To bring the point home to his players, Hollins planned the humanitarian trip to begin 18 days after the 47 year anniversary of Clemente’s plane crash, on the first day of the King Week Celebration, which this year included what would have been Dr. King’s 90th birthday, and 13 days before the 100th birthday of Jackie Robinson. It was a powerful weekend, loaded with symbolism.

A week before the January 18, 2019 date that his team arrived on the island, Mizuno shipped $42,000 worth of baseball equipment for the RBI programs in Aguadilla and Carolina, Puerto Rico to replace equipment that had been damaged by Marie.

When Hollins left the mainland with 16 teenagers, two coaches, a trainer and two journalists in tow, a quarter of the federal government was closed. The nation’s air traffic controllers and TSA agents were asked to work without pay. Many of these youngsters had never flown. There was some concern for the safety of the youngsters on the trip, which made this voyage reminiscent of Clemente’s New Year Eve run.

The plane pushed away from the gate, taxied down the runway and left Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. Several of the players let out a scream, which soon gave way to playful fun, laughter and then sleeps. Upon landing at Munoz Marin International Airport in San Juan, to underscore their relief, the entire team applauded the pilot for safely landing the plane.

The ATLANTA METRO RBI had landed in the midafternoon. The players were eager to meet their Puerto Rican counterparts and compete. First up on Saturday morning, a bus ride from San Juan to Aguadilla, where the kids were able to see some of the countryside and evidence of Hurricane Marie that still lingered on the island. There were beautiful box houses on cliffs overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, smaller houses, two years later still showing the impact of Marie and roadside stands that sold everything from bananas to cars to rum and much more.

Eddie Rodriguez, League Director of Puerto Rico Aguadilla RBI, and his team welcomed the Atlanta team as they got off the bus. Each Aguadilla player gave each Atlanta player a Puerto Rican flag, a handshake, and a hug as their appreciation for the baseball equipment brought from Atlanta and to show brotherhood to their peers from the mainland.

Atl Metro RBI on the left and the Aguadilla RBI team on the right line up for a pregame ceremony. © 2019 Harold Michael Harvey

Carlos Mendez, the Mayor of Aguadilla and the city’s First Lady were on hand to welcome the Atlantans. Mayor Mendez, mindful that this year marks the 400th anniversary of the enslavement of African people in the Americas, greeted each member of the Atlanta delegation with the salutation, “Welcome home.”

It was an acknowledgment that the Caribbean Islands were the first stopping points where Africans were introduced to the enslaved life they would live and the services they would render in the colonies. If an African could not be broken of his desire to escape and find his or her way back to Africa, they remained on the island, rebellious and determined to be free.

Ghana, the first African nation-state to gain its independence from colonial rule in 1957 in a ceremony attended by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., has dubbed 2019 as “The Year of Return.” Mayor Mendez’s “welcome home” greeting brought this band of African Americans full circle. They had left the mainland to render aid to their brothers in the Caribbean Sea and were greeted as the “Prodigal Son” was greeted by his father when he returned. In Aguadilla, they roasted the fattest pig and paired it with beans and rice for a festive feast after the game. The game, almost an afterthought all weekend, was won by Aguadilla RBI 10–8.

Jackie Robinson’s enduring spirit

Jackie Robinson believed that his accomplishments were meaningless if other Black Americans did not have the same opportunities that he had been given by virtue of his contribution ushering in the modern era of major league baseball.

“I’m grateful for all the breaks and honors and opportunities I’ve had, but I always believe I won’t have it made until the humblest black kid in the most remote backwoods of America has it made,” Jackie Robinson once said.

Two weeks after the trip to Puerto Rico this writer was interviewed on a radio talk show that emanates out of Montgomery, Alabama, where much of 20th-century civil rights history was made. The discussion turned to Robinson’s 100th birthday. A female host on the program, who is too young to know about the hard-fought battles of Montgomery, down-played the legacy of Robinson by exclaiming, “He was treated like a dog and did not fight back.” She had to be reminded that her life would not be so grand today had Robinson not taken the bad treatment. In fact, her cavalier attitude about Robinson’s contribution to society would not exist as she would be too focused on surviving the same taunts and acts of degradation that Robinson experienced, alas, Ralph Northam.

Trips like the one taken to Puerto Rico by the Atlanta Metro RBI help to educate young people without a segregation past about the pioneers who labored at great difficulty to enable today’s Black kids to play computer games in the morning and dress for a game of baseball in the afternoon, all the while chasing a future in professional baseball.

Despite the horribly low numbers of Black Americans in major league baseball today — around eight percent of all players in the league — Blacks stood no chance of gaining a position on a major league roster prior to 1946, the year Jackie Robinson signed a contract to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

William Clarence Matthews played shortstop at Tuskegee Institute and Harvard College. He was inducted into the National College Baseball Hall of Fame in 2014.

Before Robinson, you would have to look back to 1905 for the last time major league baseball owners entertained the idea of allowing Blacks in the league. That year, the Boston Beaneaters sought to end the “Gentlemen Agreement” that kept Blacks out of the white major league. They wanted to sign William Clarence Matthews, who played shortstop four years each at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama and Harvard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The Beaneaters later became the Boston Braves before the franchise moved to Milwaukee (1953) and later to Atlanta (1965). The Braves were the first dynasty in professional baseball, having won six of the first eight National Association pennants. In 1906, the year after Matthews hung up his spikes and opted for law school, the Beaneaters changed their name to Braves.

Jarrod Simmons, Senior Coordinator, Community Affairs for the Atlanta Braves Baseball Club, assisted Atlanta Metro RBI in the coordination for the trip.

“The Braves want to help any way we can. It wasn’t a hard thing to think through, kids from Atlanta taking baseball equipment to Puerto Rico after the hurricane. How can you not get involved in a good project like this,” Simmons queried in the spirit of Roberto Clemente?

Robinson played two years in the majors with Clemente, the 1955 and 1956 seasons. At age 37 (the entire breadth of Clemente’s life) Robinson was deemed too old to contribute to the Dodgers’ success and was traded to the New York Giants.

In 1956, baseball owners had a reserve clause in all professional contracts which essentially bound a player to the ball club for the entirety of their career. The players were prohibited from seeking employment with other teams. Yet they could be traded on a whim like cows or horses or Negroes in earlier times when America was engaged in healthy Trans-Atlantic slave trade. It ran from the west coast of Africa to the Caribbean Islands to the colonies which ultimately became the United States. History often notes the impact Robinson made with his entrance into baseball, but seldom notes the fact that he refused to be traded to the Giants because a trade under the reserve clause made him feel like a slave, so he retired in the rebellious spirit of his brothers left in the islands of seas centuries ago.

Robinson hoped one-day all Blacks would be free of reserve clauses, restrictive Jim Crow laws, and separate unequal facilities.

After a spirited game won by Aguadilla 10–8 the two teams gathered in the clubhouse to fellowship. ©2019 Harold Michael Harvey

Clemente was born Roberto Enrique Clemente Walker but went by his mother’s name, Clemente. In 1954, seven years after the Brooklyn Dodgers signed Robinson to a major league contract, they signed Clemente as one of their first Latin American players. There may have been other Latin American players in the league, but Clemente was unmistakable, Black. He was a 20-year-old unprotected bonus baby ($400).

He was assigned to the Montreal Royals as Robinson had been. But he seldom received any playing time and was assigned to take batting practice with the pitchers. The Pittsburgh Pirates discovered his talented arm despite efforts by the Dodgers to hide him from other teams until they were ready to introduce a Latin player into their line-up. Five years after signing with the Pirates, Clemente led them to a World Series win over the New York Yankees (1960). His stalwart play would have won him the Series MVP but for the first game seven walk-off home run in World Series history by Pirates second baseman Bill Mazeroski. Then, 11 years later he led them back to the World Series and a win over the Frank Robinson led Baltimore Orioles and their trio of 20-game winners.

His professional baseball career ended abruptly in 1972 with his tragic death, two months after Jackie Robinson had given up the holy ghost, finally, teammates again.

“When our days become dreary with low hovering clouds of despair, and when our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, let us remember that there is a creative force in this universe, working to pull down the gigantic mountains of evil, a power that is able to make a way out of no way and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows. Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice,” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. preached.

In recent years, the emphasis of major league baseball has been focused on the development of Latin American talent. This was a dream of Clemente. In the off-season, he would host clinics for Puerto Rican boys and teach baseball. As the numbers of Latin American players have grown in the league, the number of Black Americans in the league has declined. To address this decline, Major League Baseball implemented a program to revive baseball in urban America which was adopted from an initiative begun in 1989 in South Central Los Angeles by John Young, a former major leaguer.

John Hollins began volunteering in the Atlanta RBI program in the early 2000s. He took his passion for baseball and social concerns to the baseball diamond where he teaches discipline on the field and relates it to discipline off the field, in the home, and in school.

Hollins was raised in a Black middle-class family in Atlanta, Georgia, the home of Dr. King and a city that chose to be “too busy to hate” during the battle for civil rights waged by King.

His parents are products of two of the nation’s stalwart historical Black Colleges and Universities. His mom, a graduate of Benedict College, which was founded in 1870 by Northern Baptist in Columbia, South Carolina for the education of its Black citizens. His dad in between service in the army had stopped at Tuskegee Institute, in Alabama where he played football and South Carolina State in Orangeburg, South Carolina, where he played baseball on their national championship team in the mid-1960s. His mom worked 30 years as a social worker for Planned Parenthood. His father, the enforcer in the family worked as a certified police officer for much of his employment years with Georgia State University, where Hollins would attend school and play baseball.

L-R Harold Michael Harvey and John Hollins enjoying Old San Juan and the fresh air blowing in from the Atlantic Ocean. ©2019 Harold Michael Harvey

Like many red-blooded American boys, Hollins dreamed of playing professional baseball. A crafty right-handed hurler, he experienced some success at Georgia State University. When he did not make the jump to the big leagues, he kept his hands in the game of baseball. First teaching the game to his son Wes Hollins, now a successful Atlanta attorney and a coach on the RBI team. Then in the first decade of this century, he got involved in the RBI program.

“When I saw the devastation in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Marie, I wanted to go immediately and help, but the infrastructure was not strong enough to bring kids,” Hollins said in the spirit of Clemente.

“Then I thought, Martin Luther King, Jr. Weekend Celebration should be a weekend of serving others. What better time to serve our US home island of Puerto Rico? Since baseball is a religion to some on the island, it was a perfect tie-in to what we are hoping to achieve with the ATL METRO RBI program,” he said.

“Our goal is to develop future leaders through positive mentoring, training and promoting excellence. What better way to do that than teaching them to live a purposeful life by serving others? Now the boys get to play the game they love and help those who love the game,” Hollins added.

Prior to the trip, 14-year-old left-handed pitcher Tionne Witherspoon said that as a result of planning for the humanitarian trip he thought it would be good to give back to his community when he gets back from Puerto Rico.

Tionne Witherspoon plans to help the homeless following his participation in the ATL Metro RBI humanitarian trip to Puerto Rico. ©2019 Harold Michael Harvey

“I would like to help the homeless in Dekalb County,” said Witherspoon, in the spirit of Clemente. After Witherspoon pitched a perfect seventh inning to close out the last game in Roberto Clemente Stadium, a game won by Carolina RBI 10–3, he sat in the dugout and thought about how he would approach his service after he returned to the states.

“I’m not sure how I am going to approach helping the homeless, but I have seen a lot of poor areas here and I am more committed to serving others when I get back home,” he averred in the spirit of King.

Clint Sammons at Mizuno made the effort possible by donating the baseball equipment.

“After the devastation that Puerto Rico has endured, and knowing how beloved baseball is on the island, it was really a no-brainer for us. We are thrilled to be a small part of this great humanitarian mission and it fits perfectly into our corporate philosophy that we will contribute to society by making people around the world happy through the power of sports,” Sammons said in the spirit of Clemente, Robinson, and King.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. displaying the “stack and rack” hitting position taught to hitters today in a game of baseball with his daughter Yolanda. Photo from the Internet.

On February 16, 1962, Dr. King spoke in Puerto Rico ahead of the March on Washington that would be held in August the following year. While on the Island he dined with Clemente at Clemente’s restaurant EL Carretero in Carolina. Six years later, just ahead of the opening day of the 1968 baseball season, King was gunned down by an assassin. Clemente organized the Pirates’ Black American players to resist playing until after King’s funeral service. His resistance caused William Eckert, Commissioner of Baseball, to suspend the opening of the 1968 season until after King had been memorialized. This tribute to King was not led by any of the Black American players in the league, it was led by Caribbean born Clemente.

Following the game in Carolina, both teams retired to a large room in the stadium where they fellowshipped over broiled chicken, beans and rice. As the players broke bread together, there was a large section next to them which was roped off. In this section, Carolinians were engaged in a religious service where communion was served.

After the communion service, a drummer began to drum in the beat of drummers on the west coast of Africa. Congregants began to sway in the rhythm of the Bantu, the Igbo, and the Gabiamians; and they sang in African dialect a song, 400 years old, defying the authority of the enslaver over their lives. One would have thought that this service was taking place in the Gambia or the Old Gold Coast. The North American kids were spell-bound.

They were reconnected to their roots in ways unimaginable when they departed Atlanta on their humanitarian mission. Each time the mainland Americans gave of themselves, the Puerto Ricans gave back to them.

Back in Aguadilla, Eddie Rodriquez, Director of their RBI program said that what he hoped to achieve during the humanitarian visit by the kids from Atlanta was to reconnect the bond that Clemente had with Dr. King.

“Several years ago,” Rodriquez said, “Clemente’s youngest son was having a problem understanding who his father was. I told him the story of how his father had refused to play on the opening day when Dr. King was killed. I think learning this story gave him a greater appreciation for the type of man his father was,” Rodriquez said.

Despite a language barrier, this Carolina RBI catcher flashes the universal peace sign across the diamond to his fellow American ballplayers. © 2019 Harold Michael Harvey

“My hope is that these kids this weekend will make lifelong friends, that they will create a bond so strong that they will stand up for their friend like Roberto Clemente did when King was killed,” he said in the spirit of Clemente, Robinson, and King.

It is easy to imagine that a couple of these kids will meet-up in a major league ballpark on the mainland, maybe in the same clubhouse, maybe in opposite clubhouses; or some, as social activists, coordinating relief efforts for an unknown future storm lurking out in the Atlantic.

Harold Michael Harvey is an American novelist and essayist. He is a Contributor at The Hill, SCLC National Magazine, Southern Changes Magazine, Medium, and Black College Nines. He can be contacted at hmharvey@haroldmichaelharvey.com

Kentucky State’s Joe Crisp Tosses No-Hitter – Defeats Clark-Atlanta University 3–0

19/02/17 at 9.22am   /   by Michael   /   0 Comment

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Kentucky State in the winner’s circle after defeating Clark-Atlanta University 3–0 in a pitchers duel February 16, 2019. Photo ©2019 Harold Michael Harvey

They have been playing baseball since 1888 at Clark-Atlanta University. In fact, the first matchup between two Black college teams pitted Clark College against Atlanta University. The two schools consolidated 100 years later to become Clark-Atlanta University. Perhaps, few games have been as exciting as the Kentucky State University match against Clark-Atlanta University on February 16, 2019.

Joe Crisp, at five feet and nine inches on a 155-pound frame, tossed his first collegiate no-hitter, striking out nine and winning the game 3–0. The 20-year-old married computer science major was in control of the game from the first pitch until the last.

Joe Crisp was working his magic in Atlanta tonight. He tossed his first collegiate no-hitter in a 3–0 win over Clark-Atlanta University, February 16, 2019. Photo ©2019 Harold Michael Harvey

“I am very proud of my guys,” Head Baseball Coach Rob Henry said following his team’s victory. The Thoroughbreds are undefeated with four wins and one tie.

Crisp, matched in a pitcher’s duel with CAU’s John Nettles, said he was prepared to pitch as many innings as it took to secure the win for KSU. In last season’s Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) Tournament, Crisp pitched 18 innings in three days. In that tournament, KSU lost the championship game to Albany State University. They are expected to compete for the title again this year.

“He will pitch every day if I let him,” Coach Henry said.

“I had my fastball and slider working for me today,” Crisp said, adding, “I only threw two curves, but my slider had so much bite on it that it looked like a curveball.”

CAU’s John Nettles breaking off a curveball to a KSU batter. He struck out 11 batters in a 3–0 loss. Photo ©2019 Harold Michael Harvey

Across the diamond, for seven innings, John Nettles was equally superb for CAU. Nettles with an assortment of breaking pitches struck out 11 batters. A defensive error in the top of the eight (this was scheduled as a seven-inning game) on a grounder hit to third base opened the door for KSU to break the ice.

Nettles from Marrow, Georgia is a preseason selection as a Second Team All-SIAC pitcher. Also, he made second-team All HBCU pitcher in a poll conducted by Black College Nines.

After hitting a triple in the third, Jay Poullard is napped at the plate on a throw from short. Photo © Harold Michael Harvey

Jay Poullard, a senior from Louisville’s Ballard High, was the hitting star for KSU. He collected three hits off Nettles.

Next weekend, Clark-Atlanta University will renew the oldest HBCU baseball rivalry when they host Morehouse College. The two schools have been playing baseball since 1892.

Harold Michael Harvey is an American novelist and essayist. He is a Contributor at The Hill, SCLC National Magazine, Southern Changes Magazine, Medium, and Black College Nines. He can be contacted at hmharvey@haroldmichaelharvey.comS


Blackface Caricatures Bigger Than Ralph Northam

19/02/02 at 5.33pm   /   by Michael   /   2 Comments

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Virginia Governor Ralph Northam denies that he is in this photograph one day after he admitted that one of the two was him. This photograph is taken from the Eastern Virginia Medical School 1984 yearbook.

I was born at the midway point of the 20th century, around 10 in the morning in the middle of October. The day before my birth a white medical physician had driven out to the family farm. He placed my mom in the backseat of his car, lest any of the good white folk in town started a rumor that he was driving around rural Georgia with a Black woman seated next to him during the height of southern segregation. So, you will know, I was born under the curse of Plessy.

The doctor drove her to the hospital in the next county to deliver me. I was one of the first Black babies to be birthed in this hospital. Most babies in this community were born at home with the aid of a midwife. My father paid the doctor and hospital expenses up front waiting on the day that I would get impatient in the bliss of all “that there is before birth” and nudge mom that it was time for me to see the light of day.

My father did not have an automobile. He did not feel that he could safely and comfortably drive my mom and me to the hospital in the mule-drawn wagon that doubled as farm equipment and our public conveyance for trips into town. So, the doctor came out to the farm and transported my mom to the hospital. His choices were few. He either drove us to the hospital in his car for my entrance into the world or he would lose his fee, which was paid in money and not in chickens, hams or peach preserves. All of which were customary forms of payment in the country for medical services in the middle of the last century.

Learning about this story of my birth, I have often wondered about the social mores in existence in the days leading up to my first breath. It seemed incongruous that a medical doctor could have the heart to drive a young Black woman in labor to the hospital yet be mindful of what white people in the community would think if she was seen seated on the front bench seat of his car with him.

To complicate this dichotomy, I would grow up, become an attorney and sue this doctor on behalf of a young Black woman. The lawsuit resulted when the doctor elected to watch the Georgia Bulldogs complete their march down the football field towards victory on a Saturday afternoon in the 1980s rather than drive over to the hospital to see about his patient, a welfare mother of three children, who had presented in the emergency room in labor and with a fetus in distress. Had his patient been a white woman would the doctor have put down his high ball glass without delay and rushed to the hospital? We will never know. What we know is he testified that he did not on this occasion.

The Bulldogs won that game, but this baby was “stillborn,” under the blessings of Brown v. Topeka Board of Education.

Before BlackLivesMatter was a political slogan in the African American lexicon, as potent as “Black Power” was in an earlier time, I had fought to make BlackLivesMatter, not a slogan, but a call to justice and was able to hold the nurses and the hospital accountable for their negligence, this doctor, however, escaped all responsibility. Practically everyone in the courtroom, save experts that I flew in from California; an obstetrician from Los Angeles, and a forensic economist from San Francisco, had either been birthed by the doctor or their children were delivered by him. He was well known in the community, which made him verdict proof.

We later learned from the jury forewoman that we would have won against all the parties, but the majority white jury balked at giving millions of dollars in compensation to a “welfare mother” who lived in their community. The rule of law and the juror’s oath be damned, race trumped everything at that courthouse in rural Georgia. This equation is played out in courthouses, corporate boardrooms, schools, legislative bodies, and private clubs across America.

Why are blackface and Klan costumes important to white people?

As Gill Scott-Heron muses in The Ghetto Code: “Damn if I know.”

In a world built on the myth of white superiority, only white people can understand the need to wear costumes depicting stereotypes of Black people in blackface and displaying the violent caricatures of those who sought to keep Black lives in a perpetual state of fake inferiority.

Ralph Northam probably knows these dual archetypes of southern American folklore far too well. Black people shudder to ponder the number of their good white friends who harbor in their hearts so-called humor designed to denigrate blacks, to lessen their humanity and their place in the world we all inhabit.

It comes then as no surprise, that a medical doctor in Virginia or any other state in the union, would find a need to don the garb of a Klansman or a Negro caricature as part of how he wanted to be remembered by medical school classmates. It points up the cultural insecurities white people have living in society alongside Blacks, who were enslaved or discriminated against by white culture for the past 400 years.

What is problematical about Northam acting out his racist belief in his medical school yearbook, which he now avers is not him, is that Black people spent enormous political capital a little over a year ago to ensure that a Democrat became governor of Virginia. Let’s be clear, but for Black voters, Northam would not be the governor. He would have lost a close race and the Democrats would hold one less statehouse. Despite Bernie Sanders sounding an alarm about brother Northam, which was ignored by Black voters, Northam won while hiding the white supremacist ethos he harbored in his heart. A heart, perhaps, unlike the heart of any Democratic segregationist governor in Virginia’s past.

At the conclusion of the litigation mentioned above, I disclosed to the white attorney representing the doctor that I had been delivered by this doctor, and he quipped to me: “Even good doctors make mistakes.”

I was perturbed. My face blatantly showed how pissed-off I was at this court jester. After all the world was destined to hear my voice speak out against injustice and inequality in the American legal system. His thoughts did not give way to a life born with a purpose, but to the prospect that yet another threat to white supremacy could have been extinguished quietly without a whimper or outrage. This lawyer found it amusing that had the doctor failed to attend to my mother during her delivery of me, I would not have seen the light of day. One less arrogant uppity Negro to worry about keeping in his place.

Oh, how funny the thought of that probability must have seemed to him.

How irritating and troubling it cut into the marrow of my bones as I sat within inches of his next breath.

He tried to laugh-off his callous comment. In his white world view, he saw nothing wrong with his comment. His meaning was clear. Simply put, had the good doctor made a similar mistake in the middle of the 20th century, he would have saved himself a lot of future trouble. I was not amused and lit into my colleague at the bar like a bloodhound on a cornered jackrabbit. He was apologetic and could not understand my anger. I was somewhat forgiving, but I could not understand his insensitivity nor his humor.

This is the crux of the racial divide as we approach the roaring 2020s. White people did not get the memo back in 1955, Brown stood for more than making white supremacy obsolete under the law. It stands for the natural law principle that all people are endowed by their creator to be free spirits and are entitled to respect and all the freedoms enjoyed by all creatures, “great and small.”

The Quest of the 21st Century

The sooner white people stop being white the sooner the racial divide will dissolve into the nothingness from whence it came. This is the quest of the 21st century: White people must stop being white.

Achieving this quest will solve the problem of race which plagued the 20th century and caused that bard of American letters, W.E. B. DuBois, to posit: “The problem of the 20th century will be the problem of the color line, the relation of the lighter race of men to darker men in Asia, Africa and the islands of the seas.”

The actions of the world of the 20th century did not solve this problem. It was thought that education of the Negro coupled with laws and their enforcement would solve this equation. But they have not yielded the answer. DuBois’ postulation has been carried into this millennium. The answer, like all answers, is simple once the formula has been identified. Antics like those of the MAGA Kids from Kentucky and those of a bright doctor turned politician in the Commonwealth of Washington, Jefferson, and Lee can be summed up by subtracting whiteness from whiteness. As the prosperity preacher Rev. Ike taught us in the 1960s, “Nothing from nothing leaves nothing.”

Zero!

It goes without saying, Northam should sincerely apologize and resign. After a period of rehabilitation, Democrats should give him an opportunity to serve in public office again. That is if he stops the subterfuge about whether it is or is not him in the yearbook photo.

Resign, he must, but Northam is not the problem. The problem lurks in the murky still waters of a white American ethos that values whiteness over any other color.

I have news for my white friends. Losing your whiteness is not the end of the world. Losing your whiteness is liberating. It is a feeling out of this world. Give it a try and you will thank me for it later.

All that is needed to close the racial divide is for white people to stop being white. It can be done before this century is complete if whites but try. White superiority does not want you, but it needs you, my friend. White superiority cannot live without white people willing to give privilege to skin color. All you must do to let white superiority go is let it go. Your skin will still be white but will not have more value or less value than any skin color on the planet.

Meanwhile, we will wait for the next Northam to have the sheet pulled off them. It could be your next-door neighbor, your office mate or the CEO of your employer. It could be you. We just won’t know until the great reveal.

Harold Michael Harvey is an American novelist and essayist. He is a Contributor at The Hill, SCLC National Magazine, Southern Changes Magazine, Medium, and Black College Nines. He can be contacted at hmharvey@haroldmichaelharvey.com


Atlanta Travel Baseball Team Embark on Humanitarian Mission to Puerto Rico

19/01/16 at 8.13am   /   by Michael   /   0 Comment

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ATL METRO RBI gearing up for baseball and a humanitarian trip to Puerto Rico during Martin Luther King, Jr., Birthday Celebration January 18–21, 2019. ©2018 Photo credits Harold Michael Harvey

ATL METRO RBI is poised to give new meaning to the term travel ball, as much of youth league baseball today is played on travel baseball teams. At least the elite players are on teams that travel a few miles, and in some cases several thousand miles, to compete against other elite baseball players. Travel ball is all about baseball and acquiring elite baseball skills to advance to collegiate and professional play.

This year, during the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Holiday celebration (January 18–21), a time when the King family has urged the nation “to make it a day of service,” 16 young men ages 13–15 will travel to Puerto Rico on a humanitarian mission.

On their mission, ATL METRO RBI will participate in two professional style showcases and two nine-inning games, and with the help of Mizuno, a leading outdoor and sporting goods company, these young men will deliver aid in the form of baseball equipment to teams in Aguadilla and Carolina, Puerto Rico. The equipment will replace baseballs, bats, shoes, and gloves destroyed two years ago when Hurricane Maria ravished the island.

Tionne Witherspoon a 10th grader from Lithonia High School is looking forward to giving back to youth baseball players in Puerto Rico and competing against them during a humanitarian trip to the island January 18–21, 2019. © 2019 Photo credit: Harold Michael Harvey

“I know that Puerto Rico is hot,” 15-year-old Tionne Witherspoon said when asked about the impending trip to the Caribbean island devasted by Maria. Then the 5” 11”, 269 pounds left-handed pitcher added, “I’m looking forward to traveling to a different place and I get to give back to other kids that don’t have what we have over here.”

This humanitarian mission was conceived a year ago by John Hollins, chairman of ATL METRO RBI.

“I came up with this idea following the 2017 storms that hit in the Caribbean islands, but at that time their infrastructure was not strong enough to bring kids. So, looking ahead, I thought what better time to teach kids about rendering service to others than MLK weekend. Mizuno bought into the idea. We introduced the idea to our kids, and they wanted to help young people their age to recover from the storms,” Hollins said.

John Hollins on the left with some members of the ATL METRO RBI during a board meeting January 27, 2018. © 2018 Photo Credits Harold Michal Harvey

ATL METRO RBI has been around since 2001, apart from teaching baseball skills, their guiding principle has been: “To develop future leaders through positive mentoring, training and promoting excellence,” so it was not hard for Hollins to sell the kids on the idea of serving others.

“I can’t say enough about Mizuno baseball division Director Tim Rumer for providing thousands of dollars in baseball equipment for the RBI programs in Aguadilla and Carolina,” Hollins said.

A former collegiate pitcher at Georgia State University, Hollins explained, “The boys get to play the game they love and to help others who love the game. Hopefully, the boys will learn from this that being a significant person is more important than personal success,” he added.

Hollins may have hit a home run with at least one of his players. Young Mr. Witherspoon said he plans to organize efforts “to aid the homeless in metro Atlanta” when he returns from the humanitarian trip to Puerto Rico.

And in the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr., that’s what it’s all about.

Harold Michael Harvey is an American novelist and essayist. He is a Contributor at The Hill, SCLC National Magazine, Southern Changes Magazine, Medium, and Black College Nines. He can be contacted at hmharvey@haroldmichaelharvey.com

Getting Down in the Gutter with Trump

19/01/09 at 8.50am   /   by Michael   /   1 Comment
Photo by roya ann miller on Unsplash

No one in the US House of Representatives will confuse Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) as the gentlelady from Michigan. How is that possible after her first day on the job in which she called the nation’s chief executive a Mother, you know what?

Perhaps I should not be so mild mannered that I cannot say the word in public. Let’s have a go at it.

She called Trump a “Motherfucker.” I see no need to put an asterisk in between the f and the r. We are in an era when the terms of communication have changed. In the age of Trump, political discourse is no longer the niceties of the King’s English. Its blunt, in your face raw political jargon in the vernacular of confrontation.

It’s a word the President had no problem with several months ago when he hosted Kanye West in the oval office. West dropped an avalanche of “Motherfucker” bombs in a half-hour rant on how the “Motherfucker-in-Chief makes him feel like a Motherfucking superhero each time he dons his Motherfucking MAGA ball cap.

Tlaib brings a breath of fresh air to the swamp. As a member of the House of Representative, she was elected by a community of folks, Michigan’s 13th Congressional District, who knew exactly who they were sending to Washington.

It was only a matter of time before someone would throw the vile language of Trump back into his face. After all, over a year ago Trump averred that Black professional football players had been birth by a female dog in heat. Now Rep. Tlaib posits that the President has an Oedipus Rex Complex. When the gutter language smacked him square in the face, Trump opined that “it was very disgraceful.”

The real disgrace is the travesty that Trump has made of the US Presidency. By separating babies from their parents, creating a refugee crisis at the border,leaving Puerto Rico to pull themselves up out of the muck and miry clay by their own bootstraps, which were washed away in the hurricane, puts a blighted stain on American exceptionalism and in graphic terms reveals the lie told by the founders that America is a government for and by the people.

Yea, it is a government for and by the rich elite, who don’t mind shutting down the government when 800,000 families depend on their federal job to provide for their families.

When I was a student at Tuskegee Institute in the early 1970s, history professor W. J. Fluker after overhearing the repeated use of the word “motherfucker” by Institute students decided to explore a topic introduced by Dr. Frances Cress Welsing, a Washington psychiatrist. She had a theory about the word “Motherfucker.” For two weeks Professor Fluker posited the dichotomy: “The motherfucker and the real motherfucker?”

Fluker investigated why young, gifted and Black students used the term “motherfucker” so freely. We concluded those two weeks with a better understanding about who historically and from a mental health perspective was the real “motherfucker.” Thus having demystified the word motherfucker, I pushed it out of my vocabulary.

This is not to say in my youth, I did not hurl an anonymous “motherfucker” in reference to Richard Nixon, I probably did. But this pales in significances to what happened January 3 in the year 2018, because this is the first time in history that a congressperson has publicly called the President of the United States a “motherfucker.” Let this historical note sink into the history books.

Getting down in the gutter language of Trump, now “that’s a real mother for ya.”

Harold Michael Harvey is an American novelist and essayist. He is a Contributor at The Hill, SCLC National Magazine, Southern Changes Magazine, Medium, and Black College Nines. He can be contacted at hmharvey@haroldmichaelharvey.com

On The Arrogance of Power in the White House

19/01/04 at 8.51pm   /   by Michael   /   2 Comments
Photo by David Everett Strickler on Unsplash

American Presidents have never been wilting violets with tiny egos. Once Richard M. Nixon averred out loud, that criminal activity is not criminal activity if committed by the President of the United States.

Nixon believed it was lawful to order some of the President’s men to break into the Democratic National Committee Headquarters and steal their plans for defeating his reelection efforts. Also, any subsequent lies to cover up his involvement in the break-in was a legal exercise of the powers of the Office of the Presidency. After all the federal criminal code was designed to prosecute all other Americans except the President – the only person in the American system of justice whom the law did not apply – placing the President above the law, at least so Nixon thought, vowing to the bitter end that he was “not a crook.”

While watching the Nixon Presidency fall apart in the early 1970s, I believed at the time, that it was the height of arrogance, pride, and power in the White House, a level of which, I did not expect to see ever again in my lifetime.

How could Americans fall for this personality trait/disorder twice in 100 years? The answer must have something to do with being a “law and order” candidate. Those who strongly advocate keeping others in line are most likely to be the chief lawbreakers among us.

However, there is an arrogance of pride and power coming out of this White House that is unparalleled in the annals of the American Presidency.

In one day, December 10, 2018, the embattled 45th President of the US managed to call for shutting down the government and suggested to his base that should Congress hold him accountable for committing high crimes or misdemeanors, they should do as the colonist did in 1776 and revolt against the government.

The arrogance of the President to flat out state he will move to shut down the government four days before Christmas if he does not get funding for a wall that he campaigned on getting the Mexican government to fund is un-American.

Moreover, according to Nancy Pelosi, only six percent of funds earmarked for border security in the “Continuing Resolution” passed 12 months ago has been spent. This begs two questions:

If funds earmarked for border security in 2018 has not been spent, why is there a need for more funding for 2019?

Why should Congress appropriate more funding if last year’s appropriation has not been utilized?

Needless to say, if the government closes on December 21st it is likely to be closed throughout the remainder of this year. This will put federal workers in the position of missing work and the paycheck that comes along with their employment with the government. What a way to bring back Merry Christmas, Mr. President. Another promise made, another promise kept!

What leader does this? Who puts the well-being of the American people on the back burner to achieve small-minded political gains? And these are not rhetorical questions. Who?

While the legislative branch of government may dilly and dally over funding the government, the executive branch must never encourage, support or be the main clog in shutting the government down. It is hard to see how such activity does not fall under the heading of a “high crime,” the type of which could cause Articles of Impeachment to be drawn up by the House of Representatives against an arrogant President.

During a meeting in the Oval Office with Minority Leader Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-California) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York), Trump proudly said he would take up the mantle of shutting down the government if Congress did not appropriate $5.1 Billion to build a wall. This ultimatum comes a year after his administration failed to spend a tenth of the $1.3 Billion in last year’s appropriation.

Trump’s position is untenable. Clearly, he is playing to the lowest common denominator of his base without providing supporting documentation for the necessity of building a physical wall on the border between the US and Mexico. He cites drugs, disease, and terrorists, none of which based on objective data, plague our southern border with Mexico.

A few hours after Trump’s meeting with Pelosi and Schumer, Trump told a reporter that he was not worried about being impeached because if he were impeached “the people would revolt.”

Twice in American history, people in high places have called for a revolution.

First, in 1776, the colonist moved to separate themselves from the political control of the British Crown. In that day, instead of demanding the building of a wall or shutting the government down, Patrick Henry said, “Give me liberty or give me death.” The very constitution that set forth impeachment proceedings for the removal of federal officers who have committed high crimes and misdemeanors was forged out of this revolt.

Secondly, before the new nation was 100 years old, in 1860, southern slaveholders said, give me my slaves or to hell with the federal government and its constitution.

They revolted.

After three years of bloodshed, they lost the war to succeed from the US Constitution. So they assassinated a sitting US President and simultaneously plotted to kill every member of his cabinet on the same evening. Failing to rid themselves of Lincoln’s cabinet, they filed impeachment proceedings against his successor Andrew Johnson, coming within one vote in the Senate of removing him from office via the use of the constitutional powers contained in their founding document.

Today, 158 years after the revolt of the southern states, the nation’s 45th President uses the threat of revolt to chill congressional action to remove him from office for breaking the law. In criminal pleadings filed in federal court last week, it is alleged that “Individual -1,” whom many believe to be Donald Trump, broke the law, by encouraging the Russians to hack into Hillary Clinton’s computer and steal her campaign secrets, while orchestrating his private attorney to pay off two women, whom surprise, surprise, he had had extramarital affairs, with donations which were contributed to his campaign for the Presidency.

In the 1960s the mere mention of the word revolution was enough to open an FBI investigation. Yet on December 10, 2018, the US President arrogantly proclaims that he has no worries of impeachment powers of Congress because his base supporters “will revolt.” Trump says it with the clear knowledge that Second Amendment enthusiast would take up arms against Congress.

This utterance from Trump places the United States government in clear and present danger from a violent attack. And as one troll who was offended by an article I wrote on Medium last summer holding Trump accountable, threaten me, “We are not armed to attack the government, we are armed to attacked people like you.”

There is trouble ahead. Last month top Democratic officials were the subject of attempted mail bombs. These bombs were mailed to two former Democratic Presidents, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama, two former First Ladies, Hillary Clinton, and Michelle Obama and two Black US Senators, Cory Booker and Kamala Harris and Eric Holder, the former Attorney General for the nation’s first President of African descent. This was the largest and boldest attack attempted on American governance since the assault to wipe out Lincoln’s cabinet on the night he was slain. Last month’s dastardly mail bomb attempts happened without any condemnation coming from the White House. Without any White House plea to uphold the rule of law. The silence is not altogether surprising as the attempted targets were all people perceived by this President to be his enemies.

Had this attacked been successful, it would have wiped out the leading opposition voices to Trumptopia. It would have eliminated the Democrats ability to respond to the aftermath of the revolt 45 sees coming down the pike once he is finally held accountable under the constitution for any “high crimes and misdemeanors” that the Muller investigation uncovers.

One shutter to think what will be the response of the Generals should the pride and arrogance of the President order them to protect right-wing anarchists in the streets of America should they revolt in the event of his constitutional removal from office.

If the time comes for removal, will the President board the Presidential Helicopter, ala, Richard Nixon and fly off to Mar-a-Largo? Will he plea bargain a no prosecution deal for the opportunity to take that helicopter ride out of the American psyche? Or will he pit Americans against Americans for the mere sake of protecting his presidency, his pride and his ego?

As we approach Mueller time, these and other hard questions must be asked, answered and preparation made for those answers.

Oh, the arrogance, of the arrogance of pride and power in the White House.

Harold Michael Harvey is an American novelist and essayist. He is a Contributor at The Hill, SCLC National Magazine, Southern Changes Magazine, Medium, and Black College Nines. He can be contacted at hmharvey@haroldmichaelharvey.com

Should Major League Baseball Do More in Light of Cindy Hyde-Smith Donation?

18/11/26 at 5.50am   /   by Michael   /   0 Comment

Photo by Ben Hershey on Unsplash

I’m sure had I met Cyn Marsh before I was introduced to baseball, she would have been my first love.

But I didn’t. And although she is my ride or die today, she wasn’t my first love. I would not meet the future Mrs. Harvey until 22 years later.

My uncles Paul and John introduced me to the game of baseball one Sunday afternoon in the spring of 1956. The adults took the kids outside to work off a delicious after-church meal of fried free-range chicken, mashed potatoes, butter beans, corn bread, and fresh blackberry cobbler. We used an old broomstick for a bat and a red rubber ball. It was about the size of a baseball.

My first two swings were swings and misses. Someone, I think my uncle Paul, took my last swing because two decades before major league baseball instituted the Designated Hitter rule, our family pick-up games had a Substitute Batter rule. This rule allowed an adult to serve as the substitute batter anytime one of the smaller kids had two strikes on him or her. He hit the ball and I ran to first base. At 4 years old, I was hooked and in love with the game of baseball, my first love.

This love affair ended for a period after my senior year of college. I was, to say the least, disappointed I was not signed by any of the major league baseball franchises. I was, in the teenage parlance of the day, “stood up” by my true love.

I stayed away from the game for 20 years, only returning when my son came along and wanted to learn the game of baseball. Today, as a member of the National College Baseball Hall of Fame Legends and Pioneers Committee (this committee vets Black College baseball players from 1887–1975 for induction into the College Baseball Hall of Fame) most of my interest in the sport of baseball today is limited to Black College Baseball, which in name, is becoming a bit of a misnomer as more and more white and Latino players are filling out the rosters of Black College baseball teams.

Before the war between the states, baseball — or a reasonable facsimile of it — was played by Africans living in America. They continue to play and enjoy this game, but their numbers among the 30 major league franchises are few, perhaps about eight percent of all major league baseball players. That’s a far cry from the number of African Americans playing in the first 20 years after Jackie Robinson signed to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers Baseball Club, breaking the “old gentlemen’s agreement” among professional baseball owners not to employ Black baseball players.

As Black Americans have again been pushed out of major league baseball in the 21st century, teams have made no secret of their desire to cater their teams to white suburban and Latino fans. A case in point, the Atlanta Braves Baseball Franchise recently moved their stadium out of downtown Atlanta to the more affluent Cobb County suburb. The franchise said at the time, they wanted “to be closer to their fan base.”

To be fair, since 2000, MLB has created several urban baseball academies on the mainland to increase the number of African Americans playing on the major league level. This summer, the Atlanta Braves held the first 44 Baseball Classic (named in honor of Hank Aaron), where they invited 44 Black high school baseball players to participate in a professional style workout.

While athletes in the National Football League and the National Basketball Association have been outspoken on the issue of police brutality and inequality in the criminal justice system, very few major league baseball players have broached the subject. One explanation for this fact is that there are very few Black Americans playing professional baseball. Any brave soul would stick out like a sore thumb and likely would be ostracized out of the league like Colin Kaepernick, who has been essentially blackballed from the NFL. Given the paltry numbers of Blacks in the league, a similar player might not be missed, and in a few years, hardly any fan would remember that he ever played the game.

Cindy Hyde-smith FEC Form 6. Section B shows the $5,000 campaign donation made by Office of The Commissioner of Major League Baseball PAC.

With the absence of a clear African American presence in major league baseball, it comes as little surprise then that the Office of The Commissioner of the league’s Major League Baseball’s Political Action Committee donated $5,000 this November to Cindy Hyde-Smith, a candidate with concerning rhetoric about lynchings, who is running for a US Senate seat in Mississippi.

According to Federal Election Commission Form 6, Hyde-Smith disclosed that the Commissioner’s PAC made its contribution on November 23, 2018. That means the four-figure donation came a week after knowledge of Hyde-Smith’s now widely-discussed public hanging remarks were made known.

It was in reference to a Tupelo, Mississippi, fundraiser who also was willing to aid her campaign when Hyde-Smith cheerfully said earlier this month: “If he invited me to a public hanging, I’ll be on the front row.”

According to the NAACP, no state had more lynchings between 1882–1968 than Mississippi.

Hyde-Smith is an unapologetic southern confederate heritage buff. As a state senator, the Republican introduced legislation to rename a state highway after Jefferson Davis, the man who served during the Civil War as President of the Confederacy. She is currently serving out the unexpired term of Thad Cochran in the US Senate. Cochran resigned in the spring due to health concerns.

Hyde-Smith is locked in a heated run-off with Mike Espy. The Democrat is vying to become the first Black Senator from Mississippi since Hiram Revels (1870–1871). Revels’ appointment to the US Senate enabled the state of Mississippi to be readmitted to the United States following its succession from the USA and the defeat of the Confederate States of America. His appointment made history as no African living in America had ever held a seat in the US Senate or the House of Representatives prior to February 25, 1870.

If elected, Espy will make history of sorts. He will be the first descendant of enslavement heritage to be elected US Senator from Mississippi. Under laws that existed in the US Constitution in 1870, Revels, like all senators, was appointed to his post by the state legislature.

Espy’s election, like Revels’ appointment, could usher in a new era of race relations in Mississippi, removing the stain of her hurtful past during the eras of enslavement, post-reconstruction, Jim Crow and segregation. It’s worth noting that Espy is no stranger to history. The Yazoo City, Mississippi, native is the first African American to be the Secretary of Agriculture. It’s a post he held in the 1990s during the Bill Clinton administration. Before that, he served four terms as a member of Congress from Mississippi’s 2nd Congressional District.

Why then would Major League Baseball get involved in this campaign, financially endorsing a candidate who seems to run antithetical to the societal progress it has attempted to champion for more than 70 years? This donation appears to support a time of professional baseball pre-Jackie Robinson instead of offering to help foster a more perfect racial union in post-Barack Obama America.

It’s anybody’s guess why baseball would give this support. After all, Hyde-Smith serves on the following committees: Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies; Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies; Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies; Legislative Branch; and State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs. Granted, I’m not the brightest crayon in the box, but albeit, I’m hard-pressed to discern what any of these committees have to do with the business of major league baseball.

The Commissioner’s Office could have very easily stayed on the sidelines of this raging political war for the soul of Mississippi.

American citizens of African descent were immediately offended by Hyde-Smith’s callous reference to public hangings given Mississippi’s sordid history of hanging Black people in public during that particularly murderous aforementioned 86-year period. The public hangings, for white people, were public entertainment where families would gather with picnic baskets full of food and drinks to watch the mutilated body of some poor Black soul swing from a tree way passed the time of death.

From Reconstruction and the emergence of the Ku Klux Klan, there were 581 documented public hangings in Mississippi. More than in any other state in the nation. God only knows how many private hangings took place during this period.

There is nothing amusing to Black Americans about attending a public hanging or being reminded that no matter how much times have changed, there is not a single African American family who has not had a family member hung because white men once had the power to lynch any Black man or woman whom they perceived as a threat to the system of white supremacy and white superiority.

What will Major League Baseball do next to ensure that our society grows into something more than it has ever been rather than regressing back to the dark ages of public hangings to prove the point that it is the southern heritage way, or it is the hangman’s noose way?

“Hi, Debra. Completely understand your concern. Sen. Hyde-Smith’s recent comments clearly do not reflect the values of our company and associates. As a result, we are withdrawing our support and requesting a refund of all campaign donations,” tweeted Walmart in response to a tweet from Debra Messing (@splng_giants), who tweeted that Walmart had made their donation after Hyde-Smith’s cavalier “public hanging” remark.

Also, Union Pacific, Leidos and Boston Scientific have asked the Hyde-Smith campaign to refund a combined $12,500 contributed to support her neo-conservative views in the US Senate.

A total of $126,550 was reported on Hyde-Smith’s 48-Hour Notice of Contributions/Loans Received on her FEC Form 6 filing made on Nov. 24. A tidy sum to run a modest get-out-the-vote campaign for the run-off set to occur two days from this reporting.

It was not surprising to find notable financiers on this report like Regions Financial Corporation PAC, Koch Industries, Inc PAC, Ernst & Young PAC, and Daniel, Douglas, Maria, and Pamela Devos, but to find the Office of The Commissioner of Major League Baseball PAC amongst these paragons of conservatism is stultifying.

With the run-off election two days away, as of this writing, it does not make any difference to demand a refund of baseball’s contribution to the Hyde-Smith ethos, which MLB did on Sunday, a few days after making the controversial donation.

Now that the contribution has been made, it is not enough for MLB to simply ask for the money back. There must be repercussions for the lobbyist who attended a Hyde-Smith campaign function and convinced the PAC that despite her insensitive remarks, the Commissioner’s office should help her win this senatorial seat.

Moreover, MLB should step-up efforts to develop more African American talent in the front office, in the managerial and coaching positions as well as the players on the field. Not to mention in the ranks of the lobbyist firm that lobby Congress on behalf of MLB.

Now is the time, MLB must make it clear that it rejects the politics of the unrepentant South, that despite the low number of African Americans on major league rosters, it supports a diverse society where equality is the order of the day and not front row seats to a public hanging akin to the days when white Southern men showcased terror before their womenfolk to prove they could, at will, usurp power from people of color.

Harold Michael Harvey is an American novelist and essayist. He is a Contributor at The Hill, SCLC National Magazine, Southern Changes Magazine, Medium, and Black College Nines. He can be contacted at hmharvey@haroldmichaelharvey.com


HBCU Baseball Showcase Quickly Becoming Premier Event

18/11/05 at 9.10am   /   by Michael   /   0 Comment

More than 100 Black high school baseball players assembled to listen to Taj Bradley a top 2018 draft pick explain some of the little things he learned in rookie baseball camp this summer. Photo credit: © 2018 Harold Michael Harvey

Under patches of gray in an otherwise blue sky, on a baseball diamond in urgent need to recover from a rain storm which swept through north Georgia the day before, assembled more than 100 Black high school baseball players. Some of them traveled a few blocks to the baseball field at Westlake High School in Atlanta, Georgia. Many of them traveled several hundred miles.

One family took a red-eye out of Riverside, California 2,164 miles away so their son could display his talents to HBCU coaches. Another family drove 8 hours and one minute from St. Louis, Missouri to give their son an opportunity to woo HBCU baseball coaches.

“This is a wonderful event,” said Marvin Freeman, who played college baseball at Jackson State University and went on to become a premier relief pitcher in major league baseball.

Freeman frequently gives back to the game of baseball and his community by attending events associated with advancing and developing Black baseball players.

Former major leaguer Marvin Freeman (L) and San Diego Padres crosschecker Chip Lawrence (R)take time out from mentoring aspiring Black high school baseball players at the PRO Showcase to pose for a photograph. Photo credit: ©2018 Harold Michael Harvey

“I don’t get anything out of coming out here helping these kids. I do it because there is so much, they have to learn in order to make the jump to the big leagues,” Freeman pointed out.

Duane Sanders from Southern California said he came because he wants to see his son Daniel play baseball for an HBCU, so he can become “more involved in what is going on in the Black community.”

Daniel Sanders (L) and Duane Sanders (R) have been flying around the country in search of an HBCU baseball program that is a match for Daniel’s skill set. Photo Credits:©2018 Harold Michael Harvey

Sanders’ father played football at Miles College in the late 1930s and early 40s. He was inducted into the Miles College Hall of Fame in 1991. Last week Sanders took his son to visit Miles College in Birmingham and to visit Alabama State University in Montgomery. While at Miles, Daniel’s admission application was accepted. However, the Sanders were not able to work out before the baseball coaching staff, as the team was away from campus playing a fall game.

Raymond Straughter, Il, a construction company owner from St. Louis said that his mother wanted him to attend Tuskegee University because of the historical reputation of the school Booker T. Washington introduced to the world. Instead he went to work in his grandfather’s construction business.

Raymond Straughter, III (L) and Raymond Straughter, II (R) drove eight hours from St. Louis, Missouri to attend the 2018 HBCU Baseball showcase, so Straughter, III could showcase his baseball skills to HBCU baseball coaches. Photo credits:©2018 Harold Michael Harvey

He drove his family overnight to Atlanta, hoping that the baseball coaching staff would be in attendance and offer his son Raymond Straughter, III a baseball scholarship. Unfortunately, Tuskegee was one of the few HBCU programs not represented at the showcase.

“I came because I wanted to showcase my talent to these coaches,” Raymond Straughter, III said. “I don’t care which school offers me a scholarship. I just want a chance to play college baseball. I hope that if the coaches here can’t use me in their program, they will tell some other coach about me,” Straughter said.

Gordon Smith, a well-spoken Eagle Scout from Macon, Georgia drove the 100 miles with his dad, a public health professor at Mercer University. Three years ago, Smith’s Eagle Scout project was to identify and recognize Black baseball players from Macon, Georgia who had played in the Old Negro Leagues. He researched the history of three players and had bronze plaques made of them which were placed on display in Macon’s Luther Williams Park, the second oldest minor league baseball park ever constructed.

Gordon Smith, an Eagle Scout and avid fan of Old Negro League Baseball displayed his skills to the top HBCU baseball programs in the country during the 2018 HBCU Showcase. Photo Credit:©2018 Harold Michael Harvey

Smith said he came to the showcase to interest an HBCU in his baseball talent. “If not for baseball,” he said, “my preference would be Howard University, (Howard no longer plays baseball) but with baseball it is any HBCU where I can play baseball.”

“I like how different coaches giving their instructions telling us their perspective of baseball,” he said of his experience at the showcase.

Smith plans are to email all the coaches and “thank them for being here and go back to school and prepare for baseball in the spring.”

Dee Covey drove over from South Carolina with his mother. The stocky Tony Gwynn look alike plays outfield. He has a strong arm and a bit of pop in his bat. Covey is a veteran of baseball showcases. His family makes sure that he gets his skills viewed by the best college coaches and professional scouts in the business.

Dee Covey showing the batting form at the HBCU Showcase that he hopes will land him a Division 1 baseball scholarship. Photo credits©2018 Harold Michael Harvey

“I had fun today and learned some new things,” Covey said.

In addition to the student-athletes who are flocking to the HBCU Showcase, several cottage industries associated with youth baseball were visibly in attendance. For instance, Thomas Eaton who runs the Prolific Collegiate Post- Grad Baseball Academy “for baseball players looking to play college or pro baseball but don’t have any offers.”

“We take kids who fall through the cracks for one reason or another and teach them the game of baseball. We get them enrolled in college courses at Central Piedmont Community College. We play a 40–45 game schedule and after a year with us they are ready to play baseball on the Division 1 level,” Eaton said.

Thomas Eaton (R) and his head baseball coach at Prolific Baseball Academy taking stock of the talent during the HBCU Showcase. They expected to sign several student-athletes who are not quite ready for Division 1 baseball. Photo credit ©2018 Harold Michael Harvey

“Look at that kid over there,” Eaton said pointing to a young man about 5” 10” 215 pounds of fat. “He will probably not be offered a scholarship because of his body. We can take him in our program, shape up his body, teach him how the game is played and in one year, he will look more attractive to a Division 1 coach,” Eaton said.

Michael Thomas drove up from Florida to showcase his son to the HBCU coaches. He runs Family Creed, an organization that teaches baseball skills to 6–10-year old.

Thomas a former tennis player at South Carolina State University said, “For $60.00 I can outfit a kid from head to toe and teach him the basic baseball skills that will make him competitive with the top kids playing baseball by the time they reach 10 years of age. Beyond 10 years, and I can’t teach them, but we get them prepared to be competitive in the sport of baseball for the rest of their lives.”

An impressive list of HBCU baseball coaches turned out to asset the baseball talent at the HBCU Baseball Showcase.Photo credit:©2018 Harold Michael Harvey

There was a wide array of HBCU coaches on hand to view the talent on display. James Randall from the highly competitive program at Claflin College seems to always show up where good baseball talent is on display. His team will play an independent schedule next year as Claflin left the SIAC this year and has joined the CIAA which does not include baseball as one of its sports.

James Hattenstein head coach at Bishop State Community College is looking to sign more Black baseball players for his HBCU program. Photo credits ©2018 Harold Michael Harvey

Also, James Hattenstein from Bishop State Community College in Mobile, Alabama had his watchful eye trained on the talent on the field.

“It’s a shame that we are an HBCU school and we only have a few Black players on our team. I’m hoping to find some Black players who I can bring in to help our program out,” Hattenstein said.

The HBCU Baseball Showcase is sponsored by a foundation created by Chip Lawrence, Providing Resources and Opportunities (PRO). It is headed up by Chip Lawrence, the Cross-Checker for the San Diego Padres.
  

“After the success we had last year with the showcase in Atlanta, we decided to come back this year,” Lawrence said.

The two day event drew 210 enthusiastic baseball players. 

Harold Michael Harvey is an American novelist and essayist. He is a Contributor at The Hill, SCLC National Magazine, Southern Changes Magazine, Medium and Black College Nines. He can be contacted at hmharvey@haroldmichaelharvey.com

They Came for the Jews, Suddenly no one’s left

18/10/29 at 12.21pm   /   by Michael   /   2 Comments
Men Walking on a concrete road by Blake Campbell on Unsplash 

Finally, the Nazis, the Klan, the white brotherhood came for the Jews, just as they did in Hitler’s nationalist Germany; and suddenly there is no one else left to come to the aid of the defenseless, the vulnerable, the Blacks, the Christians, the Muslims, the immigrants, the poor.

First they came for unarmed Black teenagers walking home on the streets of Florida and Missouri and in the drive-thru in Jacksonville. Then they came for a defenseless young lady in Texas, a group of elementary school children in Sandy Hooks, a group of African Methodists in Charleston and a father selling cigarettes on a street corner in Harlem. The beat goes on and on and on.

They came for the Muslims, the immigrants, tearing children from their families, and they came for the gay, the bi, the trans and the queers. They have come for every group except their own, the white bigoted males spewing vile hatred for the great diversity of the earth with every breath.

When they came for the Black teenagers all fingers were pointed at the Black teenagers. They should have not smoked pot, played loud music or articulately expressed their rights under the U S Constitution.

When they came for the young children, well you know the drill, it was the teachers fault for leaving their guns at home that day. And that big dude selling filter king Kools on a New York street corner, come on man, you ought to have been able to overcome the lack of enterputerial opportunities in the Black community without having to resort to selling lawful cigarettes in an unlawful manner.

When they came for the Muslims, you could hear a collective sigh of relief: “Thank you Jesus, I follow thee.”

But then the African Methodists did follow thee; and were massacred in prayer meeting because they should have had better discernment than to invite the devil incarnate into their worship service.

Immigrants themselves, they came for the immigrants in some cases ripping babies out of their mothers’ arms; but they were brown immigrants, they should have known better than to head to the U S border with a wall building Gringo in charge.

They came for the non straight sexually orientated and straight men and women turned their backs and pretended that it was the curse of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Now the Nazis and the Klan have come for the Jews again. Who is left to defend all the defenseless people who have been wounded by their hatred for non-white, non heterosexual people.

Who will stand up for the Jews this time?

Unless, all the aggrieved groups band together in a tribe against hatred and bigotry, we are doomed to the rule of hate mongers, bigots and pale face supremacists cowardly wielding high powered, clip feed assault rifles.

Harold Michael Harvey is an American novelist and essayist. He is a Contributor at The Hill, SCLC National Magazine, Southern Changes Magazine, Medium and Black College Nines. He can be contacted at hmharvey@haroldmichaelharvey.co


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