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(ThyBlackMan.com) Some deaths arrive with their circumstances already settled, and a community can mourn them cleanly. Others arrive with a hollow place at the center, where certainty ought to sit, and that hollow is where the trouble begins. The loss of an eighteen year old named Nolan Xavier Wells, of Ocean Springs, Mississippi, is the second kind. I will admit I have not been able to stop thinking about his […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) Everything about President Donald Trump’s Independence Day-eve speech at Mt. Rushmore was a much-unneeded reminder that the personification of crude, self-glorifying narcissism occupies the White House as we celebrate our 250th birthday. He chose the venue to suggest, not subtly, that he deserves to be etched on a mountainside along with — God help us – former Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Lincoln, rather than, say, incarcerated. Trump […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) A person reaches an age where he stops performing for the world and simply tells the truth. I am at that age now. So understand that I am not writing to you from some high place, like I have it all worked out. I spent the better part of my years measuring my worth against the wrong things, and I would rather you hear this from me than learn […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) As America marks its 250th birthday, millions of Americans are celebrating the greatest experiment in self-government the world has ever known. Yet for others, particularly within segments of the African American community, Independence Day remains a reminder of our nation’s original failures rather than its extraordinary progress. There is no denying our history. Slavery was evil. Jim Crow was unjust. Racism has left scars that are still felt today. […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) As a Black man in America, if I were placed on trial for a major crime such as first-degree murder and knowing I was totally innocent, it would be impossible for me to forget the long criminal justice history of this nation, particularly when it resulted in the incarceration and sometimes execution of Black men who did not commit the alleged crime. Therefore, my freedom and entire future would […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) Ever heard the phrase “Just turn a blind eye?” Well, what exactly does that mean and what is the effect of having turned it? To turn a blind eye simply means to overlook some infraction or injustice that to the onlooker may not be that significant. It implies to see only what you want to see. Unfortunately, this has been the mode of operation during the past several decades […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) The fireworks are over. The bands have finished their marching. The speeches have been concluded. What years earlier had been planned for the glorious celebration of the nation’s 250th anniversary is now history. For many it was a big dud. There were many Americans, we are talking millions of Americans, who when they first heard about the attempted assassination at Butler, Pennsylvania were left disappointed. These were patriotic, faith […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) Americans seeking inspiration during this anniversary of independence should turn away from the nation’s capital, where Donald Trump’s narcissistic celebration provides only national embarrassment (and perhaps a few laughs). They can look instead to the World Cup, where the performance of the U.S. Men’s National Team is renewing the patriotic pride and national solidarity of a free people — led by players whose diversity and citizenship stand against the […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) For adults of a certain age, one of the best memories of childhood was playing sports with friends in the neighborhood. Whether it was baseball, basketball, football, or soccer, it was an afterschool and weekend venture for so many kids growing up to play numbers of sports with their peers. For adult sports fans now, playing sports as a kid helped spark their eventual fandom of sports teams and […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) When I first began flipping houses, I did not have an elaborate marketing department, a massive mailing budget, or a complicated lead-generation system. Much of the business was built by getting in the car, driving through neighborhoods, and paying attention. This strategy is commonly known as “driving for dollars.” It involves looking for properties that may need repairs or appear to have been neglected. Common signs include overgrown landscaping, […]