Book Signing and Poetry Reading For A Right To Write

Please join me on Friday, October 19, 2018 at the Adelia M. Russell Library for a Poetry Reading and a book signing from 2:30 to 5:00.  I will read excerpts from my latest book called  A RIGHT TO WRITE and previous earlier works.  Thank you God Bless.

From 1st and 10 To Glory

From 1st and 10 to Glory

            When it comes to sports in America, it is a big ordeal.  Regardless of what team or what sport, Americans have a passion about all sports.  College football is one of the oldest collegiate sports played every year in America and over the years, college football has helped America by making a huge impact on improving race relations.  It is through college football that has put a spotlight on the efforts of a team rather than a player.  The progress made in college football has caused the breakdown of segregation in American’s colleges and universities.  With African Americans playing for predominately white schools this has helped to start the process of breaking down the walls of segregation.  This came as the plight of the African American student athlete became more dominate.

            Before 1961,  African Americans had not won the Heisman Trophy until Ernie Davis, a Syracuse University running back, won The Heisman Trophy in 1961.  The Heisman Trophy is the most sought after individual award in college football.  Davis, being the first African American to win this award, contributed to the sport and helped start a level playing field for African Americans.  It was Davis who blazed a trail for many others to follow.  While he played at Syracuse University, he met many challenges that were racial.  Davis’s team played in the 1960 Cotton Bowl Classic in Dallas, Texas.  It was Davis and his non-white teammates that were forced to sleep in a black hotel.  Due to the fact, of the Jim Crow laws in the state of Texas, blacks where not permitted to have accommodations in regular hotels.

After the Syracuse victory over the Longhorns, the African American football players were not allowed to attend the award show and the trophy presentations according to John Brown a teammate and roommate of Davis.  African American players were not allowed to remain for the banquet either although Davis was the Most Valuable Player of the game.  Davis had to leave with the other African American teammates and they were not allowed to enjoy the moment of victory because of the racial segregation.

With the life of Ernie Davis as a person, and not just an athlete, he gave to America hope in the form of a brave- hearted soul who worked hard to accomplish many things in his life.  He was an inspiration to not only African Americans, but anyone who wanted change.  Davis made such an impact on the gridiron that then President Kennedy arranged to meet with him after the presentation of the Heisman Trophy.  Davis and President Kennedy shook hands.  Sad to say, that this would be the life of a young gifted African American man as Ernie Davis, died at the age of 23 with acute monocytic leukemia.  Although, Davis passed so early in his life before his prime, he left a legacy of greatness that stretched far beyond football.

This gridiron legend that not only excelled on the football field but as a man who was a strong advocate for civil rights.  It was not all what he said but it was how Davis carried himself on and off the field.  It is through this man that helped paved the way for a better today and with Davis's life, we have a glimpse of hope for an even brighter tomorrow.  Ernie Davis left this world with something that is hope, thank you Ernie Davis.

A Right To Write

My latest book A Right To Write is now a available  for purchase. You can put my name in google Runas C. Powers, III Poet  with the title and you will be able to find it online.   You also may find it from my publisher at www.xlibris.com.  I will also have a book signing soon at a later date.  I thank all who follow my blog.  I really am  grateful for everyone's support over the years God Bless and thank you always.

The Impact Of An Alabama Quarterback

The Impact Of An Alabama Quarterback

             Many people love the game of college football.  College Football is a game of strategy, strength, toughness, as well as discipline.  Each year the participants become stronger, faster, and bigger making the game overall more competitive.  College football is one of the most highly watched and enjoyed sports in America today.  College football exhibits passion, excitement, and pageantry unlike any other college sporting event.  As time goes on, the game itself continues to change with new trends and the overall complexity of college football increases.  College football produces some awesome players who become legends for their schools’ and for the game itself.

            When I think about the Alabama Crimson Tide Football teams, many legends come to mind.  Those who helped win games and championships and those who exhibited the character of student athletes which adds to the rich Alabama football tradition.  With that being the case, I think about Alabama football players who constructed change not only at Alabama but who helped change college football as a whole.  Walter Lewis was such a player.  He was the first starting black quarterback at the University of Alabama who played during the end of the Bear Bryant era.  (1980-1982).  Lewis was not only a starting quarterback but he was a star on and off the field.  On the field, Lewis was not only a great leader but a record setting quarterback for total offensive yards in a career.  Even though, he was an option style quarterback, he still had awesome passing skills which made opposing defenses not know how to defend against Lewis.  With Lewis’s versatility as a quarterback, he would become not only a legend but a black man who helped change the thinking of many people who thought a black man could not play the quarterback position at the University of Alabama or anywhere else.

Lewis, a native of Brewton, Alabama made headlines as a football player and student.  As he stood in the pocket of life, he faced the racial pressures of being a black starting quarterback.  Despite the tremendous pressure he faced, Lewis was very successful when it came to doing more than just winning games.  He played at Alabama during a time when not long before blacks were not allowed to even attend the University of Alabama.  Racial barriers were set up all around his tenure which he had to overcome, not only as an athlete but as a student and black man.  By not only taking the sword of racism, but also being asked to win as a starting Alabama quarterback made a man such as Lewis have huge shoes to fill. 

 When it comes to football, regardless of the level of competition there always has been a racial stigma toward blacks playing the quarterback position.  For many years, and some cases now, blacks have and still are black- balled out of playing quarterback.  It was believed that blacks were inferior when came to playing quarterback.  The fallacy was that the quarterback position, being such a high profiled part of a football team’s make up, blacks could not handle such an important job.  A quarterback in most cases is supposed to be the leader of your team and he also is the one who takes most of the blame when the team loses.  A quarterback must be a leader, a game manager, but most off all he must make the right decisions with the football.  A great quarterback is one who reads defenses and limits his mistakes so late in game his team has the best chance to win the game.  The thinking was in the past that black athletes could not be great quarterbacks because they were supposed to not have all of the intangibles needed to become successful at playing that position.

            At the University of Alabama, football is a serious ordeal.  It is a legacy and tradition of winning excellence.  With this being the case, Walter Lewis broke down racial barriers that stood so tall.  Not only making himself strive as a black man that helped civil rights progress, but also as a great football player.  He not only broke the color barrier as a starting Alabama quarterback, but he also was one of the all-time great quarterbacks at The University of Alabama.  Lewis, would go on to a professional career as a quarterback in the former U.S.F.L. football league and the Canadian Football League. 

Walter Lewis made his impact as not only a great starting Alabama quarterback but as a man who was in many ways a civil rights leader.  At the University of Alabama, Lewis accomplished much as a football player and student.  He did all of this under tremendous pressure playing to not only win on the field but paving a way for others like him to follow.  Lewis is a man who still inspires many to strive for their dreams no matter what those dreams are.

Enclosing:  A Poem Called:  To Honor You

Oh you, stood so tall

in the face of many.

And gave it all you had

until you were tired and empty.

A leader so determined to win

against so much pressure you faced,

stilled you steadied your pace.

You are a folk hero

who wore the numbers 1and zero.

You gave birth to a dream

and made it seem

                                                            like a possible thing,           

that could be.

Where there was ignorance,

you showed truth.

Where there was belief you show proof.

Sad to say,

many benefit

from you today.

But don’t know who you are

 still you are

a true star.

Thank you,

Mr. Walter Lewis,

just how many

did you influence?

Not just as an athlete

and a black man,

 who played quarterback.

But as a man,

who broke down

racial barriers,

for all of humanity.

The Fight For The right of Suffrage

The Fight For The Right Of Suffrage

            America is a great country with many liberties.  Although many rights and privileges were hard fought to attain, it is a well-known fact that the discrimination of women and African American men has been an ongoing struggle for progress in America.  The plight of freedom for both women and African American men in many ways is a similar process. 

Most people know of the harsh realities of slavery for the African American man and the cruel bondage associated with this.  The African American man was reduced to an existence on an animalistic level.  He had no rights of humanity or a chance for an education.  This evil system of slavery, seriously set the wheels in motion for the plight of the African American man, as he had an existence of forever non self -inflicted turmoil.

            On the other hand, women of all races were seriously treated wrong and as a matter of fact, in the past women could not vote or own property.  Women were seen as a property owned by their husbands or the man of the household.   As time progressed, when women started to become a part of the workforce their wages were lower than their male counterpart.  Women who were more qualified than men, still made less money.  These injustices showed the struggle for women’s rights were just as important as the struggle for racial equality for the African American man.

            As for the voting conspiracy theory, African American men were believed to be a part of the constitutional amendments passed by Congress on February 26, 1869 and was ratified on February 3, 1870.  This read as, “Section 1 the Right of Citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.  Section 2.  The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”   (Citation ).  With this amendment passed, it gave African American men the right to vote.  Although this is well documented, there is a believed conspiracy that African American men would take the short end of the stick on this then newly passed law.  It may have seemed that African American men had achieved a great accomplishment.  Rightfully so they did, but at the same time there was a devious reason why they were allowed such a liberty.  With African American men gaining their right to vote, this process deviously hurt African American men due to the procedures of voting.  Devices were set in place such as poll tax and literacy tests, which not only hurt but discouraged African American men from voting.  Rights won by African American men were a purposely hidden dagger formed to keep them in bondage knowing that they were not going to be able to vote anyway.  This voting procedure was a clever weapon used to discourage African American men from voting.  For example, how could a man who was once a slave and was hindered from ever learning to read or write be able to pass a test of literacy?  Or at the same time, with slavery ending in 1865, how was a former slave to have the money to pay poll taxes?   After slavery was abolished and African American men had won freedom and later their right to suffrage, it is sad to say but in many ways it seemed as if it was in vain.   Due to the fact that those fortunate African American men could have slipped through the cracks of being able to exercise their right of suffrage, they were easily influenced on whom to vote for due to bribes and not having a chance of a proper education.  By stating these issues of trickery, it was these methods that kept African American men down.

  On the other hand, women of all races were not allowed to have their right to suffrage until 1919.  With the hard fought efforts of Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, and Elizabeth Candy Stanton, they were some of the women who spearheaded the fight for women’s rights to suffrage.  A direct product of their work was Amendment XIX which was passed by Congress on June 4, 1919 and ratified on August 18, 1920.  This amendment stated,  “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”  (Citation)  If women received their right to vote first, they could have made more of an impact politically.  Women other than African American women, were not slaves so they had some type of education already set in place so they could form their own political opinions.  Before passing Amendment XIX, women were held silent from their political choices.  This continued to enable well- established political figureheads not to be challenged.  In most cases, men were the head of their households and women were not able to vote.  This kept many men with the misinformed idea that if women were allowed to vote in 1870, they would be influenced by their husbands on whom to vote for.  With this faulty argument, this would keep women from not only voting but from not having equal rights and opportunities.

  The right to suffrage for African American men and women can be seen as a voting conspiracy.  This allowed racial equality to be seen and at the same time, it was a smoke screen diversion that came with a devious plot to superficially appease African American men.  Women other than African American women, were seen as more of a threat than African American men when the issue of voting was discussed.  With this being known, political figures of those times knew that women other than those out of slavery could pose a serious threat due to the fact that they had some education and were last at winning their right to suffrage. 

Out Of Passion

Out Of Passion

A child conceived,

out of a night of passion.

With not a solid foundation lasting,

a man so young

destined to die young.

Only by God,

to live and strive

and to become so strong.

To bring forth a new generation,

who would thrive for education.

With hearts full of determination,

this would set a new age,

that would take stage.

And also would rewrite a page

of history,

this would bring about my ancestry.

So my life would not be a mystery.

So from a night of passion,

that made a shaky foundation

 from this pain,

 later became

a great start.

With an awesome upbringing,

                                                     that produced such a wonderful offspring

You Carried Me

For You Momma

Love you Coley

You Carried Me

You Carried me

before I was born.

You carried me

when my heart was torn.

You carried me

before I even knew me.

You carried me

before I wanted to be free.

You carried me

when I was to blind to see

the enemy.

You carried me

throughout the storms of life.

You carried me

hand and hand,

helping me to become a man.

You carried me

even when I was not right.

Still you gave me insight,

you carried me.

From self-caused doom,

to counting my success

way to soon.

You carried me,

from the glimmer in my father’s eye,

to your womb

my conception,

 with birth I begin to cry.

Even until the day I die,

You Carried Me.