Author Archives: Michael

A Death Sentence in America: Black Skin

It’s a hard world out there for Black people in America. Especially hard for Black men. When a Black man gets up in the morning, looks in the mirror as he grooms his face, teeth, and hair, he does not know if the executioner will carry out the unspoken death warrant on his life that day.

It is not easy to muster up the strength to walk out the door at the beginning of a new day, even before COVID-2019 arrived in the fall of 2019. The horrors inflicted on Black men in the full light of any given day on any given street in any given park in America sadden my soul. read more

GBI Arrest Camerman in Ahmaud Arbery’s Murder

Two weeks after a father and son duo was arrested for the murder of Ahmaud Arbery in Brunswick, Georgia, a third man, William “Roddie” Bryan, Jr., has been arrested and charged with felony murder and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment. The GBI lodged Bryan in the Glynn County Jail.

From the very start, Arbery’s family have pled with the authorities to charge Bryan in the death of the Black jogger. Several videos show that Abrery frequently exercised in this predominately white subdivision — where the trio Gregory McMichael, Travis McMichael, and Bryan live. read more

Tokars, the “Breaking Bad” Snitch Dies in Prison

Fred Tokars is dead. He has lived for the past 28 years in federal prison. He died in prison — the past decade, he lived under the protection of the federal witness protection program. In 1997, Tokars received a life sentence for murdering his wife, Sara Tokars.

In 1992 Tokars and I shared an executive suite of offices with other attorneys on Peachtree Street in downtown Atlanta, Georgia. A tall gaunt man, he often came to the office in faded blue jeans accompanied by a wrinkle tee shirt and a pair of brown penny loafers, which he wore without socks. His mother, a non-lawyer, was his only office employee. She dressed similarly to her son. I do not think I ever saw her with her hair professionally styled or wearing a dress. read more

Black Militia Post Up At House of Arbery’s Killer

In a bold move, Black Minutemen are openly carrying long-guns on the streets of America.

Has the Black community finally become fed up with the slaughter of unarmed young Black men and women in the United States of America?

If the action of a group of Black militia in Brunswick, Georgia, is any indication, the collective Black community may have reached the tipping point. No longer will murderers of Black people go unanswered without consequences. read more

Nothing Short of Lethal Injection Is Justice in Ahmaud Arbrey Matter

BRUNSWICK, GEORGIA

Ahmaud Arbrey, a peace-loving Black man, should be alive today, May 8, 2020, to celebrate his 25th birthday. But he will not reach a quarter-century of life because of two Georgia Crackers, Gregory McMichael and Travis McMichael.

This trashy white father and son duo decided Arbrey was a thief and deserved the death penalty three months before his birthday. The McMichael’s were the arresting officers, the judge, jurors, and executioners of Mr. Arbrey, all without legal authority of any kind, except some illusion of white privilege wrapped in racial hatred and lurking in the murky still waters of the “Marshes of Glynn.” read more

Kyle Larson, NASCAR, and That Ugly N-Word

Kyle Miyata Larson is an enigma. He is an American professional stock car racing driver, one of a few Asian American athletes in what is mostly a white man’s sport. His mother, Janet Miyata Larson, is an American of Japanese descent. Her parents were rounded up and imprisoned as if they were enemy combatants by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt at the beginning of World War II. His father, Michael Larson, is an American of European origins. He taught his son the stock car racing trade. read more

What’s Behind Brian Kemp’s Order Re-Opening Georgia

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp shook up the world, well at least the country, with his recent announcement that he was opening Georgia back up for business.

What is behind Kemp’s move. Georgia has not flattened the proverbial coronavirus curve.

Why open Georgia up now?

First, to answer this question, we have to take a look at the type of businesses Kemp fails to give the green light to open its doors to the public. Banks, schools, and major manufacturing industries are to remain closed. This group of businesses represents the larger employers of middle-class workers in the state, workers with some form of built-in safety net for hard times. read more