Thoughts Day by Day

Since the POTUS, Mayor De Blasio and Rev. Sharpton failed to say this in any of their statements yesterday - please allow me to do so. Thank you to the NYPD for protecting the law-abiding citizens of NYC, and to all policeman everywhere.  Ninety-nine+ % of you are dedicated to our protection and our civil rights and I applaud you. Also, Thank you to the Grand Jury of the Garner case who spent 3 months examining evidence and listening to and evaluating testimony. It could not have bee n an easy job. You exercised your obligations as citizens and I thank you for that even if the POTUS, Mayor and Reverend failed to thank you. I did not sit on that Grand Jury and neither did the POTUS, Mayor or Reverend. The decision was yours to make and I respect that. The Grand Jury has spoken and we should accept the Grand Jury's decision. I do not dismiss the tragic deaths of Eric Garner, Michael Brown and Tamir Rice. But if the POTUS, Mayor and Reverend have forgotten let me remind the...

I am quite upset about the allegations being made against Bill Cosby.  I have always admired him and respected him.  Of course I will stick with the American theorem that a man is innocent until proven guilty. But the accusations made against him, and the number of accusations, is quite troubling.  Among most public figures there is a public and a private persona that sometimes are not in sync with each other. Cosby has always been serious about being an educator, an entertainer, a role model and a mentor to many. He has been critical of the hip-hop. gang and drug influenced street culture embraced by so many African-Americans.  As a self-made man he has always believed that education and hard work can improve ones status in life. He has criticized the embracing of African American Vernacular English (Ebonics) and has preached that it holds back African Americans from breaking through barriers to American success. Several African American colleagues of mi...

Probably less than 20% of my Facebook friends can relate to this – but I can recall exactly where I was on Friday, November 22nd 1963 @ 2 o’clock in the afternoon.  I was sitting in my seat in the 3rd row of my 6th period English class in high school.  Mr. Lattimore was my English teacher.  And if you are in your 50s or older – I have no doubt you also know where you were at that exact, same moment. I was a high school freshman back then. I can also recall exactly how the news unfolded – in little pieces of information announced over my school’s public address system by our school principal, Mr. Beale.  First our principal announced that President Kennedy had been shot. An image came immediately to my mind of a photo I once viewed of the President McKinley assassination. But nothing more was stated by our principal.  Minutes later he came back on the public address system and announced that President Kennedy was dead.  That was an even greater shock. ...