Laura Ingraham’s put down of LeBron James on your network was so out of line and unnecessary and ridiculously insulting and dismissive. What does his grammar have to do with anything or his perceived “lack of education”? Why should he, in a country where he has the right to express himself, “Shut up and dribble”?

As a 79-year-old black man, it’s refreshing for me to see young black people like this great athlete speak out on what’s happening in the world — in this case, expressing his views on our president — who really “doesn’t give a f**k about the people” as he pointed out.    [Read more…]

Last Saturday a bunch of yahoos known as the “Bordertown Patriots” decided to have a “patriot picnic” at Chicano Park because they were under the illusion that the park excludes people who aren’t Chicano or Mexican.

What that says to me is they had never ventured into the park before with their families and just sat down to a regular picnic and enjoyed themselves -– like so many “normal” people of all ethnicities have done for years.

As for me, Chicano Park is one of my favorite places to take friends and family from out of town, folks who after their visit to the site, leave loving the park as much as I do.

I get so weary of narrow minded white supremacists like these people and their tired off-the-wall “reverse racism” take on the world.   [Read more…]

Every now and then in this world that seems to be spinning out of control, something comes along that literally energizes my soul and gives me hope.

Like just a few days ago when I clicked onto Wildcat Wednesday, the newsletter that University of Arizona Athletic Director David Heeke sends out to the school’s sports fans.

What he wrote about on January 17, “The Sumlin Era Starts Now,” really resonated with me because when I was an athlete at the UofA and a member of a group called Students for Equality trying to talk to fellow students and the community-at-large about eradicating Tucson’s Jim Crow Laws we were looked at as though we were a communicable disease.

A lot of the response to what we were seeking was the same as groups like Black Lives Matter receive today, all about how we, with our colorful signs highlighting our “Blacks and Whites Together” sentiments, were going about our mission in the wrong way, with not a word about what the right way might be.   [Read more…]

I dream a New Years Wish for my fellow black brothers and sisters, one steeped in my yearning for a country that truly is committed to the mythical land of “liberty and justice for all” we Americans pledge loudly and proudly in classrooms and public gatherings.

I just wish we actively pursued such ideals.

Now, I realize that we, like all other “individual” citizens of the country, can rise and shine and fulfill the loftiest of hopes and dreams.   [Read more…]

In the next few months we will have a new San Diego Chief of Police and I hope that whoever gets the job can do something, for me, no one has been able to do: create an environment wherein I don’t find myself squirming a bit every time a police officer rolls up behind me or next to me. I just can’t help it, though, with my life’s experiences.

Now, hey, don’t get me wrong, I’ve known some good police officers — parents at my schools, guys I grew up with, dudes I’ve toked and toasted with, played ball with — it’s just that the bad seeds among them can be downright scary at times.

Police-community relations have concerned me enough that I’ve tried, every now and then over the years, to make our police department more humane.   [Read more…]