A Mother’s Day Story is a piece I wrote for Mother’s Day 2013. It was published at Allvoices. I was inspired to share this Mother’s Day story again after my wife took me out to dinner last night. We were celebrating the completion of a manuscript for a book we are planning to publish in July.
Horace Ward:Silent Giant Slayer
Horace Ward died last week. He died and was buried like he lived, without bringing attention to himself.
One hundred and twenty days before I was born Horace Ward received a notice from the University of Georgia Law School denying his application for admission into the law school. In 1950, Georgia’s flagship university had never admitted a black student to study in either its undergraduate or graduate programs.
Obama, Larry Wilmore and That Word
Breaking news, our President Barack H. Obama, is the personal “Nigger” of a comedian less entertaining than what’s his name who outed Bill Cosby. Yet the President seems not to be offended by Wilmore’s use of this century old racial slur. Wilmore used that word in reference to the President at the conclusion of his speech before the White House Correspondent’s Dinner.
Lonzy Edwards Talented and Faithful
Lonzy Edwards by any measure was talented and faithful. He came to the Macon community in the late 1970s after completing law school at Duke University. When he arrived he was anointed by the State Bar of Georgia to practice law and was ordained by God to practice his faith in the community of humankind.
Eaton, Saporta and Black Media
ATLANTA, GA, CASCADE PRESS (CP), Maynard Eaton is a good journalist. He is not a good journalist because he has been decorated with eight Emmy’s. Eaton is a good journalist simply because he has the proverbial nose for news. He can smell a good story and he is well equipped to tell that story, either in print, on television or on the radio.
Jackie Robinson Made Us Better
Jackie Robinson is again the subject of a Ken Burns documentary, so I went into the vault and pulled out this piece I wrote in 2013 when the movie “42” was released.
There are a number of ways I could lead into this story, just suffice it to say, I cried all the way through the movie “42.” I’m not sure why the tears were pervasive and streamed down my cheeks as the true story, with a few poetic liberties taken, of Jackie Robinson’s integration of Major League Baseball played out on the big screen.
Two Students Shot at Tuskegee
CASCADE PRESS (CP)Tuskegee Institute, Alabama:Two students were shot today at Tuskegee University, according to the Office of Communications, Public Relations and Marketing.
According to the university, two”students have sustained injuries and are being treated at area medical facilities.” Without identifying the campus location of the shooting, the university states the shooting took “place in a residence hall parking lot on the TU (Tuskegee University) campus.”
Harold Michael Harvey
Harold Michael Harvey is a writer and public speaker. He grew up in Macon, Georgia. In 1965, Harvey integrated one of the local Junior High Schools. Following high school he enrolled into Fort Valley State College where he majored in Political Science. He participated on the Debate Team and was an outfielder on the baseball team. Academically, Harvey was a member of the Dean’s List.
Shame on Bill and Ray
Shame, shame, shame on Bill and Ray is about all I can say about their pathetic attempts to blame Black people who bemoan inequality in the American Justice system.
Ironically, on the same day that former National Football League player, Ray Lewis, posted a diatribe on his Facebook page chastising Black Lives Matter for protesting the alarming death rate of Black people at the hands of police officers, a group of Black Lives Matter protesters in Philadelphia confronted former President Bill Clinton over his 1994 Crime Bill, while he was on the presidential campaign trail for his wife Hillary Clinton.
Justice in The Round Town Hall
Last year I hosted a two part series on race and justice in America. These town hall gatherings were held in Atlanta, Georgia on Sweet Auburn Avenue in the old Fourth Ward. Our venue was Sweet Auburn Seafood Lounge and Restaurant.
We tackled this big topic over a good meal and had a great exchange of ideas. I was inspired to call for this town hall discussion because of the tenor of presidential campaign rhetoric over the issue of race. I believe these discussions compliment my latest book of essays, Justice in the Round: Essays on the American Judicial System.