Month: October 2021

Month: October 2021

“Black Moses,” Belated Honors… And, the Bold Civil War Assault at the ‘River Jordan’

“I was the conductor of the Underground Railroad for eight years, and I can say what most conductors can’t say; I never ran my train off the track and I never lost a passenger.”  Harriet Tubman (a.k.a., “Black Moses”) After my Baptist minister dad had died, when I was five, my maternal grandmother, a tent-preaching Pentecostal evangelist,

UNFORGIVINGLY BLACK: Recollections of “The Greatest,” Muhammad Ali

“Rivers, lakes, ponds, streams, oceans all have different names, but they all contain water. So do religions have different names, and they all contain truth, expressed in different ways forms and times. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a Muslim, a Christian, or a Jew. When you believe in God, you should believe that all people

Precursors to Revolution: Political Chaos, Corruption… and, Cockroaches, too?

“When the government violates the people’s rights then insurrection is, for the people and for every section of the people, the most sacred of their rights and the most indispensable of their duties.”  – Circa 1790: Marquis de Lafayette, a French military officer who fought in the American Revolutionary War and key figure in the

IN MEMORIAM: Aretha Franklin… “Queen of Soul,” 1942 – 2018

The “‘First Lady’ of Soul” (March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) “Classy Lady” – Inauguration Day  2009 “Every time she sang, we were all graced with a glimpse of the divine… Through her compositions and unmatched musicianship, Aretha helped define the American experience. In her voice, we could feel our history, all of it

2018 MID-TERM ELECTIONS: Politics of Fear, Dwindling Moral Authority and Brown-Skin Phobia

“Because power corrupts, society’s demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases.” (John Adams, 2nd President of the United States) Rip Van Winkle sculpted by R. Masloski National Moral Character? Lordy, Lordy!  One would have had to have been born “Rip Van Winkle II,” the fictional dude who fell