Gospel Music: I'm Alright Now

This song came to mind after I felt the earth shake here in Maryland today. Either way, it's going to be alright. By the way, this is a church in Williamston, N.C., which is located in Eastern Carolina. Enjoy. Peace~

Marquette Frye and the Watts Riots of 1965

Over the past week, one cannot look at the news media without hearing something about the riots in London.  It's only a matter of time before the people will become frustrated after being mistreated for so long.  No, I don't live in London, but I believe the testimonies of the blacks who live there.  As a conscious African American [absent the bitterness], it sounds all too familiar.  It seems that there needs to be only three elements in place for a riot to ensue:  law enforcement, the disenfranchised of the population, and a crowd.  I'll repeat -- there are three elements -- It's law enforcement [gunpowder], disenfranchised  [fuse], and the crowd [fire].  There are, of course, preconditions that create these bombs that only await the fire.  On August 11, 1965 the elements were in place and fuse was lit!

In the 1965 Watts Riots, the disenfranchised man's name was Mr. Marquette Frye.  He was 21 years old, a little intoxicated, and completely unaware that his actions would ignite what would become the infamous Watts Riots.  Who was to blame for this terrible event?  You decide.  Nevertheless, this catastrophic event left 34 people dead, 1,032 injured, and 3,438 arrested.  The events that would follow Mr. Frye left him in a state of despair.  In fact, he changed his last name to Price, his stepfather's name, in order to escape the stigma of that violent day on August 11, 1965.  Marquette Frye died a little over 20 years later on Christmas Eve in 1986.  He was 42.  As Some reflect on the dark days of the 1965 riots, they believe that Marquette Frye died on the evening of August 11, 1965.  Peace in London ~ Read more...

Sources:  blackpast.org, Los Angeles Times, Vanderbilt.edu

Life Above All Trailer

Directed by Oliver Schmitz, this film is set in a rural South African township near Johannesburg.

Now Showing:

E Street Cinema

555 11th St NW

Washington, D.C. 20004

7UP or Coca Cola



I find this photo interesting.  I was wondering why there was 7UP on the "Colored" side and Coca Cola on the "White" side.  Did African Americans have a choice?  I mean, was there a vote whether African Americans favored 7UP during Jim Crow, or maybe Whites prefered Coca Cola?   Well, it's probably nothing, but it just makes me think.  In fact, the whole separte but (un) equal Jim Crow laws of that time occasionally causes me to go into deep thought.   Baffling? I mean, people were just washing clothes.  Peace~

Photo:  1965 Laundromat in Edenton NC

Source:  North Carolina State Archives and The North Carolina Historical Review/Vol LXXVI/Number 1

King and the Chicago Mob of 1966

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s march in Chicago was met with fierce opposition and violence.  Northern cities like Chicago had shown its true colors long before Dr. King arrived, but he would get to experience it first hand. 

On Friday, August 5, 1966, Martin Luther King Jr., Rev. Ralph Abernathy and others arrived in Chicago to protest housing discrimination in that city. Reverend Abernathy later reported that they received a worse reception than they had in the South. Their marches, especially the one through Marquette Park, were met by angry, screaming mobs of men and women who were throwing stones and bottles, while shouting curses and racial slurs. Read more…

We are we: The Garifuna of Guatemala