The Endearing Legacy of Tyrone Brooks

Bridging the Gap From Civil Rights to Black Lives Matter

In 1967, Rev. Hosea Williams, a trusted aide of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., introduced his 21-year-old protégé, Tyrone Brooks, to Dr. King, hoping to get King’s approval to hire the young man whom Williams was grooming for civil rights work. King told Williams that he did not do the hiring and firing at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The organization’s Vice President, Rev. Ralph David Abernathy, discharged those duties. read more

Rebecca King Just Woke Up Atlanta Mayor’s Race

Buckhead Activist Tosses Hat in the Ring

Eighteen days before qualifying starts in the 2021 race for Mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, Buckhead activist Rebecca King woke up the heretofore dull mayoral contest. King, the Chief Executive Officer of Cover Your Assets, an insurance documentation business, announced she is entering the campaign to become the next mayor of Atlanta. read more

MVP Baseball Showcase Back With Scouts and College Coaches

15th Annual Event Brings Out Black Baseball Moms In Support of Their Sons

On this mid-July weekend, a beautiful ocean blue sky with a couple of white puffy clouds, painted, perhaps by the almighty, a fleeting summer breeze cooled the sun’s rays that beamed down on Black teenage baseball players showcasing their talent in the 15th annual Mentoring Viable Prospects (MVP) tournament. read more

SCLC Fights To Free Death Row Inmate

While Evidence in Pervis Payne Case for Killing White Woman Disappears

Last week President Joe Biden hosted an impressive list of civil rights leaders at the White House. They came to discuss national efforts by Republican officials to restrict voting rights and criminal justice reform considering an alarming uptick in police killing of Black people since the 2008 election of Barack Obama. read more

Mayday, Mayday, The Golden Fleece Has Been Hacked

Can Kasim Reed Restore Order, Save the Airport, and Keep Buckhead Happy?

By far, Atlanta is the most prosperous city in Georgia and arguably in the top five municipal economies in the southeastern region. Her strength lies in the two cities within a town, Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and the Buckhead commercial and residential district. Tax revenues from Hartsfield-Jackson and Buckhead are the driving force behind Atlanta’s prosperity. read more

Book Excerpt: My C. T. Vivian Story

A Powerful Flame That Burned Brightly

I called him “Doc.” He called me “Brother Harvey.” In public, he introduced me as “Michael Harvey, my neighbor.” He wanted his friends and associates to know that he and I were neighbors. As if to say, you may know Michael Harvey, the professional, but I know him as a neighbor. His introductions always brought a smile to the corners of my lips. read more

White Bluefield St. Parents Offended By Story on HBCU World Series

Black Parents, They Say Should Shut Up

I’ve been writing about Black College baseball for the better part of a decade. As a former HBCU baseball player at Fort Valley State College and Tuskegee Institute in the early 1970s, I have a long history in the sport. I have watched the sport change over the years, and I have, on numerous occasions, documented those changes. read more

New Books Coming From Cascade Publishing House

Greg “Goody” Goodwin and Tim Goodrum Pen Books on Baseball and Life

Cascade Publishing House is excited to announce it has reached terms with two first-time authors, Greg “Goody” Goodwin and Tim Goodrum. Both books have a baseball thread and will be among Cascade’s summer releases.

Greg Goodwin, known as “Goody,” by his friends, is a native of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and a descendant of J. H. Goodwin, who survived the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. read more

Black Kids Dream Of Playing HBCU Baseball

While the Face of Black College Baseball Grows Whiter and Whiter

When I was a high schooler in Macon, Georgia, I dreamed of playing collegiate baseball at Georgia Tech in Atlanta during the early days of school desegregation. In 1969, the year I graduated from the majority white high school that I had integrated four years earlier, there were no Black American baseball players on the Georgia Tech baseball team. read more

Black Skin As a Perpetual Threat

Brooklyn Center another case of trigger happy policing

I’ve lived through three encounters with the police that could easily have ended in my death. Each time I see another Black man lose his life to a trigger-happy cop; it brings back that same dread I had on those three occasions.

In the mid-1970s, I was a young reporter covering the city hall beat for a Black-owned weekly tabloid. One day I went home for lunch with a couple of girls who worked in the newsroom. They were curious to know how I prepared a vegetarian hamburger. This was decades before the meat alternatives we have on the market today and a lot less appetizing. read more