By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on May 29, 2022 Twenty one crosses stand in front of Robb Elementary School marking the life of each person murdered on May 24, 2022 An Editorial Opinion I have been sick over the senseless and preventable massacre of 19 elementary school students and two female teachers in Uvalde, Texas last Tuesday. After experiencing so many of these senseless massacres as a nation, I have come to realize that today's Republican politicians will never place the safety of our school children above the National Rifle Association's (NRA) political agenda of flooding America with military-grade assault weapons and ammunition. In the aftermath of so many school massacres, church shootings, theater shootings, night club massacres, the slaughter of concert-goers, and other mass murders by homegrown terrorists using assault weapons, I have tried to understand why our Republican politicians think any American 18 years of age and older has an absolute constitutional right to own and openly carry military-grade assault weapons like the one that was used to kill the 21 unsuspecting and defenseless victims in Uvalde. The reason boils down to one indisputable fact -- America was built on guns, gun powder, and other weapons of war! America's Long, Ugly, and Documented History of Violence From 1612 to 1906, guns, gun powder, and other weapons of war enabled white European settlers to: (a) massacre up to 60 million Native-Americans in 550 tribes across the country, (b) seize 1.5 billion acres of Indian Tribal lands by armed force and redistribute this valuable land, via the Homestead Act of 1862, to white settlers for free from 1862 to 1986, and (c) force Native-Americans to relocate from their Tribal lands, via the Trail of Tears, to desolate reservations in Oklahoma and elsewhere. Guns, gun powder, and other weapons of war were used by early colonists to declare and achieve independence from Great Britain during the celebrated American Revolution. The success of the Revolution demonstrated to colonists the importance of a "well regulated Militia" that was "necessary to the security of a free state" in the absence of an organized national army at the time, which we now have. The Second Amendment's "right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed" occurred within this specific context. Most Americans have never read the Second Amendment. If they had, they would know that the "right of the people to keep and bear Arms" is not an absolute one. Its express purpose was to create a "well regulated Militia [that was] necessary to the security of a free state," and not an unregulated gun haven for angry men who enjoy shooting defenseless young school children with assault rifles. We should note that the Second Amendment was passed by a Congress that was comprised of white men only and was ratified by white male voters in the 13 original states. Furthermore, only white men could vote at this time in our country's history. Guns, gun powder, and other weapons of war power were used to implement, enforce, perpetuate, and protect slaveholding interests in America for over 300 years. After private slave holding and commercial slavery ended with the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865 (while state and federal penal colony slavery continues to this day), whites law enforcement agents and vigilante groups strictly enforced Jim Crow laws with guns, gun powder, and other weapons of war for the next 100 years. This era of white gun violence against innocent men, women, and children of color gave birth to unrelenting and wide-ranging acts of domestic terrorism, including church burnings, church bombings, unimaginable beatings, assassinations, lynchings, burning people alive, boiling people alive, and the torture and mutilation of human beings in the name of "God and Country." Many Southern states have now banned the teaching of this long, documented, ugly, and unrelenting violence against Americans of color in their public schools. The actual history of ruthless violence against Indians and Americans of color has been replaced by one that romanticizes gun violence in our cultural and national histories. Guns, Gun Powder, and Weapons of War are in the National DNA of White America Today, guns, gun powder, and weapons of war equate to voting power in the political arena, which is clearly in the DNA of white men and Republicans politicians. Today, white Americans own more guns than there are people in America. And, these gun owners are buying military-grade assault weapons in record numbers. For a variety of reasons, including historical restrictions on gun ownership for Americans of color, the percentage of gun ownership by Americans of color is substantially lower than their collective percentage in the general population. After Black Panthers armed with .357 Magnums, 12-gauge shotguns, and .45- caliber pistols peacefully protested racial discrimination and police brutality at the California state capitol in Sacramento during Ronald Reagan's governorship in 1967, gun control swept the nation in a tidal wave. Led by Reagan and the NRA, California passed the Munford Act of 1967, which prohibited the open-carry of loaded firearms and banned loaded firearms at the state capitol. The Munford Act jumpstarted a surge of national gun law restrictions. Congress followed suit with the passage of the Gun Control Act of 1968, which prohibited certain people from owning guns, provided beefed up licensing and inspections of gun dealers, and restricted the importation of Saturday night specials (or pocket pistols). The reason for this prompt action was simple -- white Americans were afraid of armed blacks whom they thought were militant. The mere photos of armed Black Panthers terrified white America. As discussed in my August 5, 2019 article titled, " Once Upon A Time, Gun Control Swept Across America , " these new gun control laws, which were enacted with lightening speed, were designed to target and stifle black gun ownership. Black Panthers had advocated the right of citizens to carry guns of all types with little to no government interference. Ironically, Republicans and the NRA disagreed with this political view only when Black Panthers became the standard bearers for gun rights in America. After passing these restrictive gun laws, state and federal court systems across the U.S. rammed as many Americans of color through their rigged criminal justice systems as was possible. It is no coincidence that state and federal correctional facilities across America house overwhelmingly black and brown inmate populations in a country where whites make up 60% of the population. In recent years, every Republican candidate running for public offices, from local constable to President of the United States, has been featured in campaign ads holding and firing assault rifles. In May of 2022, radical right-wing Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene was featured blowing up a car with an assault weapon. Gun manufacturers are now marketing their assault rifles by using ads depicting young white toddlers holding them. These ads encourage their loving parents to train their children in the use of this deadly assault weapon. White Americans, at the urging of gunmakers and others, are buying military-grade assault weapons and military-grade bullets at an alarming rate. There is scant evidence that these weapons are being used for hunting big-game animals. Instead, white Americans appear to be arming themselves with assault weapons for what they believe will be an inevitable armed conflict with Americans of color after whites become a racial minority group in America between 2030 and 2040. Fueled by white America's obvious phobia of African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Jews, and Native-Americans and their well-documented history of violence towards these minority groups, there is massive resistance today from pro-gun rights whites, the NRA, and Republican politicians to any form of gun control. The goal of arming white gunowners for a race war seems to override all other legitimate public safety concerns, including the protection of elementary children from slaughter by assault rifles. Republican politicians do not seem to care if white, brown, or black elementary school children are massacred with assault weapons in their classrooms, or whether church members are slaughtered during routine church services, or whether blacks shoppers are at neighborhood grocery store are shot down by homegrown terrorists in a hail of bullets from high-powered assault rifles. In the minds of Republican politicians, no amount of deaths of innocent men, women, and children will inspire them to "well regulate" Americans who have an unquenched thirst to acquire military-grade assault weapons. Who Are the Real Enemies in this National Mess? As Americans, we need to take a long, hard look at the top leadership of the National Republican Party, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (who looks as cold and ruthless as he is), House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (who has proven himself to be incapable of telling the truth on any subject), Republican Party puppet-master Donald Trump (who is a verified draft dodger from the Vietnam War era), Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (who is today's equivalent to former Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace, another wheelchair-bound demagogue), Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (who allowed Donald Trump to insult his wife by calling her "ugly" during the Republican Presidential debates in 2016, without defending his wife's honor), Marco Rubio (whose only response to the 2018 mass shooting of Parkland, Florida school children and teachers in his state was to get on his knees and perform political fellatio on President Trump for the next two years), and Sen. Lindsey Graham (who needs guns in political ads to make himself appear more manly). All of these Republican men are fully committed to protecting tiny fetuses in the wombs of pregnant women by any and all means necessary. Yet, none of them will lift a finger to protect young elementary school children and teachers in the classrooms of America. The only children who seem to matter to them are their own. We should never forget that these Republican men do not have to worry about the safety of their children and grandchildren because taxpayers pay to provide security for them. Furthermore, their children and grandchildren often attend well-guarded private schools on gated and electronically monitored campuses. Their children and grandchildren are never at a high risk of being massacred in a classroom by an active shooter using an AR-15 assault weapon. What is more, six far-right Republican conservatives justices on the U.S. Supreme Court can always be counted on to provide judicial cover for these phony, self-centered, and gutless Republican leaders. These justices also have taxpayer-paid protection for their children and grandchildren. For reasons they have never bothered to explain, the lives of their children and grandchildren seem to be more important than the lives of ours. Epilogue None of the Founding Fathers believed that the "right of the people to keep and bear Arms" gave Americans the right to own military-grade assault rifles and bullets, rapid-firing machine guns, artillery canons, grenade launchers, C-4 explosives, shoulder-fired missiles, tanks, tactical nuclear bombs, and/or other weapons that are capable of mass destruction in seconds because these weapons did not exist at the time. All of these weapons fit the modern-day definition of "Arms." The "Arms" our Founding Fathers had in mind were pistols, muskets, and gun powder, and even these "Arms" were to be "well regulated" for Militia purposes. In the event there are American men and women who need the thrill of holding and using military grade-assault weapons, they should enlist in the U.S. armed military forces where they will likely have the opportunity to use these weapons in conflict zones and special military operations around the world. They can also work as mercenaries for military contractors and fight for other national armies in places like Ukraine. The shortsightedness exhibited by today's Republican leadership on the issue of gun control is the same fundamental flaw that ruined George Wallace on the issue of racial segregation -- their shared demagoguery for a politically expedient moment in time will eventually evolve into a permanent badge of shame that their children and grandchildren will be forced to carry for a lifetime.

By Donald V. Watkins ©Copyrighted and Published on October 27, 2018 Eleven people died today in a bloody massacre at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. An Editorial Opinion Today, 11 people died in a hail of bullets at a Jewish synagogue in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. They were shot and killed at their place of worship. The gunman wounded 6 others, including 4 police officers, before surrendering to police. Last year, a violent group of neo-Nazi protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia took to the streets and chanted, “Jews will not replace us.” One of the Nazis murdered Heather Heyer, an innocent counter-protester. President Donald J. Trump quickly declared that there were “good” people among the neo-Nazis. As America descends into political tribalism where anything goes if the party of your choice is in power, demagogues who can stoke the flames of racism, sexism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, and bigotry against immigrants of color are rising in the leadership ranks of America’s elected and appointed officials. What use to be confined to the local white citizens councils and state sovereignty commissions in Southern states during the 1960s has now invaded the White House, the U.S. Congress, and the U.S. Supreme Court and is nesting in these cherished institutions. As a matter of course, entire categories of people have been dehumanized to justify the Trump administration’s mistreatment of them. They have been called “dogs”, “pigs”, “rapists”, “criminals”, “lazy”, “low IQ”, “mobs”, and “thugs,” and these are the words used by the President of the United States to describe them. The groups targeted by Trump include women, Muslims, Americans of color, Jews, gay Americans, Transgender Americans, news organizations, and non-white immigrants from poor “shithole” countries. Last week, one of President Trump’s disciples mailed and hand-delivered pipe bombs to the President's high-profile political and media targets, including President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Cory Booker, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, former CIA Director John Brennan, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, actor Robert DeNiro, billionaire philanthropist George Soros and CNN, among others. A total of 12 pipe bombs were located. Fortunately, none of the bombs detonated. The Jewish worshippers in Pittsburg were not so lucky. Orchestrating Police Violence for Political Gain The next display of politically inspired violence will likely occur at the Southern border in early November. Donald Trump has declared that a U.S.-bound caravan of 7,000 migrants from Central America constitutes a “national emergency." He has dispatched 2,700 military troops and federal law enforcement officials to the border to confront marchers in the unarmed migrants. As a matter of settled U.S. law, any migrant is eligible to apply for political asylum at the border and there is nothing illegal about traveling to the border to make such an application. With no evidence to back up his claims, Trump has labeled these peaceful migrants as “terrorists” and “drug-dealers.” In reality, they are innocent men, women, and children who are escaping abject poverty and gang violence in their country. Rather than setting up extra stations to accept and process their applications for political asylum, Trump is preparing to inflict violence upon these migrants. He needs a photo op of police violence against these migrants for his political base much like Alabama Governor George C. Wallace needed one when he ordered state troopers to brutally attack unarmed and peaceful civil rights marchers in 1965 at the base of the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Police violence against unarmed “undesirables” is a tried and tested way to galvanize a political base that tolerates the dehumanization of human beings. Sooner or later, someone with courage and character will have to rise and lead America out of this abyss. It cannot be the president who brought us here.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on January 4, 2025 The Watkins family home at 2401 Morgan Avenue, Parsons, Kansas, from 1940 to 1949. (Photo courtesy of Google Earth, 2022) The modest home at 2401 Morgan Avenue in Parsons, Kansas is where my family lived from 1940 to 1949.  This one-story home was filled with the love and support my parents, Levi and Lillian Watkins, had for each other and their five children who were born in Parsons -- Marie, Pearl, Levi, Jr., Doristine, and me.  Parsons is a small town with a population of 9,600 residents, according to the 2020 Census. Our home on Morgan Avenue, which was recently demolished, was the first of six launchpads for our success in life.   Our home was located in a racially mixed neighborhood.  Our neighbors directly across the street were white, as well as the ones on the side street of our corner lot. My parents started our family with the birth of my sisters Marie and Pearl, who were two years apart. Marie (left) and Pearl (right) with Lillian and Levi Watkins in Parsons, Kansas. Then, came Levi, Jr., Doristine, and me in fairly quick succession. Our youngest brother James was born in Montgomery, Alabama.   We attended church every Sunday at New Hope Baptist Church in Parsons, which is where Marie was baptized by Rev. Gardner. The Douglass School for Colored Students   My parents arrived in Parsons in May 1940 after Rees H. Hughes, the local superintendent of schools, hired my dad as the new principal of Douglass Junior High and Elementary School for colored students .  Dad welcomed the opportunity to assembled a dedicated faculty of highly qualified teachers for the purpose of giving Douglass School students an exceptional educational experience. By 1945, every Douglass student dressed the part, looked the part, achieved at a high academic level, and commanded the respect of his/her community. The faculty and students depicted in the school photo below beam with pride and self-respect. Marie and Pearl attended the Douglass school until our family moved to Montgomery in the Summer of 1949. Levi, Jr., Doristine, and I were too young to attend Douglass. Levi and Lillian Watkins with their children Marie, Pearl, and Levi, Jr., in front of the Douglass School. Joseph T. Watkins Lived with Us in Parsons for Two Years My father’s youngest brother, Joseph T. Watkins, lived with us at 2401 Morgan Avenue while he attended Parsons Junior College (now known as Labette Community College ). Uncle J.T. graduated from the Junior College in 1943. Even though the public K-12 schools in Kansas were racially segregated, the colleges and universities were not. Because so few blacks attended college in Kansas after graduating from high school, it was cheaper for the state to allow college-bound "colored students" to attend the state's white colleges than it was to build and operate a "separate but equal" college for them. Dad's Early Civil Rights Activism   In addition to working as the principal of Douglass from 1940 to 1949, my father also served as executive director of the Parsons Community Service Fund.   This organization funded activities to organize the small black population in Parsons and advance equal educational opportunities. As you can see from the May 9, 1947, Parsons Sun newspaper article reprinted below, my father completed a " Directory of Negro Residents and Organizations of Parsons, Kanasas " to aid the NAACP in mobilizing its local civil rights activities.   Epilogue My dad's highly successful principalship at Douglass and his community activism in Parsons led to successful college presidencies at Owen Junior College in Memphis, Tennessee and Alabama State University in Montgomery, Alabama. In 1958, the Douglass School fell victim to court-ordered school desegregation in Labette County. The Douglass School closed and was demolished with all of its furnishings and memorabilia inside. The local, all-white school board saw no value in preserving Douglass, its furnishings, its history, or its heritage. While the school building is gone now, the spirit of the Douglass School lives on in the hearts of those who were positively impacted by its educational excellence. As for my siblings and me, 2401 Morgan Avenue and the Douglass School have a special and enduring place in our lives. This is where it all began for us.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on October 17, 2023 He was described as " one of the most promising young Negro educators in the Middlewest. " He was 30 years old; he was married to a beautiful young teacher; and, this loving couple had no children at the time. On May 28, 1940, the local superintendent of schools in Parsons, Kansas named Levi Watkins as the new principal of Douglass Junior High School for Colored Students . He replaced A.E. Clark, the "grand old man" of colored education in Parsons, who retired after 40 years as principal of Douglass. Levi Watkins was my father. Reprinted below is the front-page announcement in The Parsons (Kansas) Sun of my father's appointment as principal. This seminal event started our family’s long and fulfilling journey as leaders in the education profession and the civil rights movement, from my dad’s principalship at the Douglass school in Parsons to his presidencies at Owen Junior College (now LeMoyne-Owen College), Alabama State University , and Bishop College over the next 44 years. Along the way, our family met quite a few men and women who were truly great school principals and college and university presidents. All of them had tremendous vision, courage, impressive brainpower, and a rock solid commitment to providing high-quality educational opportunities for African-Americans in a suffocating, oppressive, racially segregated American society. Here is what The Parsons Sun said about this "promising young Negro educator": A.E. Clark was also " a leader in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ." "Separate, but equal" was the law of the land in America during the 1940s. Yet, Clark worked extremely hard to make sure the Douglass "colored school" got as much money as the local white board of education and superintendent would give it. In addition to working as the principal of Douglass from 1940 to 1949, Levi Watkins also served as executive director of the Parsons Community Service Fund. The organization funded activities to organize the small black population in Parsons and advance equal educational opportunities. As you can see from the May 9, 1947, Parsons Sun article reprinted below, my father completed a " Directory of Negro Residents and Organizations of Parsons " to aid the NAACP in mobilizing its local civil rights activities. Today's black college and university presidents often run away from any public association with established civil rights organizations. Many of these principals and presidents have sold out to MAGA political forces that are erasing black history, opposing civil rights enforcement programs, underfunding black colleges and universities, and suppressing voting rights for blacks. These Parsons Sun articles are important pieces of the Watkins family history in America. We pass this history down in our family, from generation to generation. Nobody will ever erase it.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on May 24, 2025 An Editorial Opinion   On May 14, 2025, I received an email from a stranger in Kentucky who was prepared to send me a missing piece of history that is cherished by the Watkins family.  That person is Cara Ellis from Morehead, Kentucky.   Ms. Ellis’s email read:   “I recently came across a copy of a Booker T. Washington illustrated book called 'From the Cradle to the Grave' in a free book giveaway on Morehead State University’s campus. Inside the book was a program from the 1940-1941 school year at Douglass School, which upon reading your blog posts and biography, I have discovered that your father was the principal during this time frame.  I wanted to reach out to see if you had any additional information about this book and if so, would you be willing to provide?  Additionally, would you like me to mail you the program found inside the book? I wanted to ask since it likely has significant meaning to you, and I’d be more than happy to send it to you.” I immediately responded to Ms. Ellis and asked her to send me the program.  It arrived today -- on the weekend before my grandson's ( Levi Seth Watkins ) graduation from Princeton University on Tuesday.   Booker T. Washington was one of my Dad's heroes in the field of education. For 84 years, Washington's book housed a pristine copy of the program of the Douglass School’s Closing Exercises for the 1940-41 school year. This was my Dad’s first year as the principal of the Douglass School for Colored Students in Parsons, Kansas. This small all-black school was my Dad’s first and only principalship .  After his Douglass School years (1940-1949), Dad assumed the presidency at three historically Black colleges and universities for the remainder of his career in education. When I saw the Douglass School program, I became overwhelmed with a range of emotions. Parsons is where it all began for Marie, Pearl, Levi, Jr., Teannie, and me -- at our home on 2401 Morgan Avenue and at the Douglass School for Marie and Pearl. Levi and Lillian Watkins with their children Marie, Pearl, and Levi, Jr., in front of the Douglass School. The 1940-41 Douglass School Program Embodies Our Family Values   As I studied every line of the four-page program, I quickly realized that the Watkins family values that were instilled in my siblings and me by our parents were embodied throughout this program.  Every word of the program, which was written by my dad seven years before I was born, reflected their devotion and commitment to uplifting our race.   Even though Douglass School was a K-8 school for “Colored" students, Dad believed he could make Douglass a premier school in the Parsons school system, and he instilled this belief and a tremendous sense of pride in his students. The faculty, staff, and students took whatever meager resources the local school system gave them and turned the Douglass School into an educational powerhouse and source of community pride. Douglass School faculty and students, 1945. Every page of the program reflected the core principles we learned growing up: Take pride in who you are.  Respect yourself and have respect for others. Confidence comes from knowing who you are and where you came from.  Each student is capable of learning to his/her full potential if he/she is taught by competent, prepared, and dedicated teachers. Let your work speak for you .... and you’ll never have to say anything about yourself.   The program is laid out in a very professional manner. It reflects the style and class Dad exhibited when publishing The New Herald newspaper in Clarksville, Tennessee from 1935 to 1940.   The first page is titled, “Closing Exercise.”  This page lists the calendar of events for the week of May 23-30, 1941.   Right away, I noticed the invitation to visit the exhibits prepared by students in the school’s Arts, Home Economics, and Woodwork departments.  Growing up, Dad nurtured my fascination with making toys, building wooden push cars, and sculpturing figures out of wood, as well as designing wooden homes in Industrial Arts classes . Now, I understand why.   The second page is titled, “Annual Vesper Service.” It features seven religious songs and participation by four local pastors, including a sermonette by Rev. A. L. Gardner of New Hope Baptist Church (our family church in Parsons).  Historically, the Watkins family has always been deeply rooted in faith and has always been a major supporter of civil rights activism .  The songs for the program were selected by Edward C. Lewis, Jr., who would later become the longtime, famous band director and “Father of the Music Department” at Dad’s alma mater – Tennessee State University. The third page of the program is titled, “Senior Exercise.” During the nadir, Parsons did not build a high school for "Colored" students.  Instead, the school system designated the higher grades at Douglass as the high school for "Colored" students.  The handful of Black students who wanted to attend grades 9-12 were permitted to enroll in the nearly-all white Parsons High School. In 1942, the Douglass Junior High School division became the only fully accredited four-year separate junior high school (grades 7,8,9, and 10) in Kansas. The third page also features a wide array of musical selections, a Valedictorian Address by 8th grade student Wilma Jean McKnight titled, “ Shall We Rise by Merit or Protest? ”, and the presentation of the Senior Class. The fourth page featured a “Primary Operatta” titled, “Peter Rabbit,” and an Elementary Pageant titled, “The Emancipation Proclamation.”  The pageant depicted the “rise and development of the Negro race beginning with the jungle scenes of Africa and ending with a panorama of outstanding personalities in contemporary life.”  The page concluded with a listing of the graduates. The pageant mirrors the history of: (a) our great-great maternal grandmother 's childhood in West Africa, (b) her captivity and transatlantic voyage in the hellhole of a British slave ship, (c) her arrival in the U.S., (d) her enslavement and eventual emancipation in Mississippi, (e) the start of the Carmichael/Varnado/Watkins family in America, (f) our family's steadfast and heavy investment in education for every member of each generation since the end of the Civil War in 1865, and (g) the outstanding people our family members met along life's journey. In retrospect, this pageant was the prequel to our real life Watkins family story.   When I put the program down, I realized that my parents had prepared a formula for success and instilled it in the young students at the Douglass School long before I was born.  They also applied this formula to their own children. This formula has stood the test of time and remains in effect in the Watkins family today. Epilogue   Wilma Jean McKnight, the 8th grade student who gave the Valedictorian Address on May 28, 1941, continued her education at Parsons High School and held a number of important jobs and roles in Parsons during her lifetime.  Ms. McKnight died on January 28, 2024, at the age of 96. Wilma Jean McKnight, Parsons, Kansas Jesse J. Merida, who is depicted below in the photo of the teachers at Douglass in 1940-41, eventually became a principal in Wichita, Kansas.  He died on March 14, 1988.  Merida's oldest son, Jesse E. Merida, became a geologist and paleontologist employed with the United States Geological Survey and Smithsonian Institution.  Merida's grandson, Kevin Merida , served as the Executive Editor of the Los Angeles Times from 2021 to 2025.   At the invitation of local civil rights champion Sontana "Tana" Johnson, I will return to Parsons for the first time since our family left in 1949 to participate in this year's Juneteenth celebration. The event will honor my Dad's work at the Douglass School. I am looking forward to returning to the place where it all started for me.

By: Donald V. Watkins © Copyrighted and Published on December 22, 2019 Aramco oil production operations in Saudi Arabia. Aramco, Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil company, has five times more oil reserves than ExxonMobil Corp., Chevron Corp., Royal Dutch Shell, Total, and BP combined. This makes Aramco a market-maker and impact player in the global oil industry. Last week, Aramco became a publicly traded company on the Tadawul, Saudi Arabia's stock exchange. The Aramco IPO raised $25.6 billion for an oil giant valued at $1.7 trillion. The stock gained 10% in value on its first day of trading. To put the Aramco valuation in perspective, Apple is currently America's largest publicly traded company. It is valued at $1.2 trillion. Aramco earned $111 billion in 2018, nearly double Apple's profits. Additionally, Aramco's profits rise by $1.5 billion for every $1 rise in crude oil prices. Because Aramco is a member of OPEC, the international oil cartel that controls global oil prices, the company is able to manipulate oil prices by increasing or cutting daily oil production to raise or lower oil prices worldwide. Only the Wealthiest Americans Had Access to Aramco's IPO Aramco's shares were priced at 32 Saudi riyals or $8.53 U.S. dollars per share, which was affordable for middle-class Americans. Small Saudi investors were offered one bonus share for each ten shares they purchased and agreed to hold for six months. Aramco decided in November that it would not list its IPO shares on a major U.S. stock exchange. This decision made it very difficult for the average American investor to buy the shares. However, the wealthiest Americans had access to the Aramco stock if they had at least $5 billion in assets and at least five years of investing experience. One of the wealthy U.S. families that found a creative way to acquire the valuable Aramco stock is the family of President Donald J. Trump. The Trump family's stock was acquired through a Saudi company in which the family is a financial partner. While Washington was consumed last week with the Congressional impeachment hearings involving the President's "quid pro quo" deal with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last July, the Trump family and other "1 percenters" were busy enriching themselves by buying Aramco stock in the December 11, 2019 initial public offering. Trump's protectionism of the Saudi Royal Family -- from the 2018 murder of Washington Post reporter Jamal Khashoggi to the murder of U.S. Naval personnel last week in Pensacola by a radicalized Saudi trainee -- extends far beyond traditional governmental alliances. The Trump family and Saudi Royal Family are making money together in real estate and infrastructure development deals the Saudi Kingdom is financing around the world. As expected, a greedy and selfish Donald Trump did not insist that the Saudis allow average U.S. investors to participate in the Aramco IPO because his family had already been taken care of in the Aramco IPO. This is classic Donald Trump behavior -- promoting his self-interest above the national interest.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on June 15, 2025 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu sits in an Israeli courtroom in March 2025 during his criminal trial on public corruption charges . An Editorial Opinion   Considering America’s support for Israel’s campaign of genocide against innocent Palestinians in Gaza since 2022 and its new “first strike” war against Iran last week, it is time to examine America’s complicated relationship with the state of Israel and Jewish people at home and abroad.   Based upon my decades of experience in protecing the Constitutional and civil rights of Jewish Americans in courtrooms across the nation, it appears to me that non-Jewish white Americans have a view of Israel and Jewish people that seems like a political version of multiple personailty disorder. They love being the recipients of Jewish money, but generally dislike Jewish people. They also reject what they view as the persistent arrogance of Israel.  These views are more profound among non-Jewish white southerners.   Here are some unpleasant chapters of American history that shed much needed light on this sensitive subject: In America, non-Jewish whites have discriminated against Jewish people for centuries in every aspect of life (e.g., housing, educational opportunities, business and professional opportunities, country clubs, and public officeholding).  To this day, there has never been a Jewish American president. In the South, many non-Jewish whites often refer to Jewish people as “Kikes” in private conversations. This is a very offensive ethnic slur.  Many of them also refer to New York City as “Hymietown,” which is another offensive ethnic slur. In 1984, Rev. Jesse Jackson disgraced himself by using the "Hymietown" ethnic slur in a news interview. Many so-called “Christian Nationalists” and white supremacy groups in America hold Jewish people responsible for the arrest, trials, torture, and crucifixion of Jesus Christ. They use the Biblical account of the events leading to Jesus's death as a "justification" for their hatred of Jewish people . America did not enter World War II for the purpose of ending Adolf Hitler’s campaign of genocide of six million German and Polish Jews, Black Germans, Gypsies, and Gay Germans, even though U.S. intelligence agencies knew about the nature and extent of this genocide for several years. America entered the war only after Japan, Germany's war ally, bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. President Harry Truman publicly expressed his frustration with Jews (the “Zionists, in particular”) in Israel.  Truman said they wanted “ the whole of Palestine and everything handed to them on a silver plate, so they won’t have to do anything . ” Jewish supporters of the civil rights movement in America during the 1950s, 60s, and 70s were beaten and killed by white supremacists in the South, along with black civil rights activists. Jewish civil rights activists nationwide were targeted by the FBI’s COINTELPRO program, along with blacks, women, Native Americans, and Mexican-Americans who advocated for civil rights and social justice. As of 2013, 94% of U.S. Jews identified as “white” for census purposes. However, Jewish racial identity has changed many times in U.S. history.  In 19th century America, Jews were treated as a distinct race within a broad category of white people. In the year 1,543, Martin Luther, a seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation Movement, wrote an antisemitic book titled, “On the Jews and Their Lies.”  Unfortunately, this grossly offensive book is readily available on the shelves of most public and school libraries in America today. It is well-documented that one Jewish family -- the Rothschilds -- controlled the world’s money supply for more than two centuries, which President Andrew Jackson and many non-Jewish whites resented. Today, every Republican member of the U.S. Congress is controlled by the Jewish political action committee called “AIPAC.”  In 2024, conservative columnist Tucker Carlson revealed that AIPAC assigns a representative to each GOP member of Congress to spy on them and tell them how to vote.  No GOP member of Congress is free to buck this AIPAC “babysitting” system. It is also known that AIPAC has a chokehold on Democrats in Congress, as well. In Washington, political principles always take a backseat to Jewish political campaign contributions.   Israel’s vise grip on American politicians is undeniable.  From 1946 to 2024, the United States has provided Israel with over $318 billion in aid. This amount of federal aid includes both military and economic assistance, with military aid constituting the majority. No U.S. state of comparable size and population has ever been given this much federal aid and economic assistance during the same period of time.  So, what has America gotten in return for the more than $318 billion in foreign aid it has provided to Israel since 1946?  The establishment of small but well-armed version of what many in the international community view as a "white supremacy" government in the Middle East that is led by an arrogant war criminal , international thug, and local public corruption crook named Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu.

By: Donald V. Watkins © Copyrighted and Published on March 11, 2020 An Editorial Opinion I enjoy politics. I believe African-American voters can be much more effective and successful in presidential politics if they become independent voters. I have been a declared political independent since 2001. I have never taken campaign cash, or accepted "get-out-the-vote" money from any candidate running for political office. I have supported Democrats, Republicans, and Independents who have run for various federal, state, and local offices. Since 2001, I have also raised or contributed more than $1 million in campaign donations to support these candidates. My support for a candidate cannot be bought; it must be earned. Right now, approximately 90% of black voters automatically flock to candidates running under the Democratic Party banner in national elections. This has been the case since John Kennedy ran for president in 1960. Democratic presidential candidates do not have to earn the black vote. As such, black voters are taken for granted by these candidates. What is worse, the candidates give campaign cash to local political, religious, and community leaders in the black community in order to secure their endorsements and the black vote. Unlike paid endorsements on TV for commercial products, the black political, religious, and community leaders who pocket this cash do not disclose the fact that they have been "bought and paid for." This is a form of political "whoring," and it does not serve the black community well. This is also the primary reason why African-American communities around the country rarely receive tangible political and/or economic benefits when their candidates of choice are elected. It is cheaper to pay off black political and community leaders than it is to invest in enhancing the quality of life in the black community. I do not seek to influence the outcome of party primary elections. This is not the role of a true political independent. I do, however, try to influence the outcome of presidential elections. Once the parties' nominees are selected for 2020, I will publish news articles from September 1st to the November general election that describe each party nominee's strengths and weaknesses. I also contribute campaign cash to the presidential candidate of my choice. My online media platforms (donaldwatkins.com, Facebook, Twitter) have a vast and diverse readership, and I enjoy using them to educate the public on national issues of significant public interest. I am looking forward to sharing my views with my readers on an unfiltered basis in the 2020 presidential race. Why African-American voters continue to blindly follow the political recommendations of political and community leaders who have been "bought and paid for" is simply beyond my comprehension. One day soon, I hope we will be able to judge candidates for ourselves and cast our votes as informed voters.

By Donald V. Watkins ©Copyrighted and Published on January 19, 2019 Emory Folmar was mayor of Montgomery, Alabama from 1977 to 1999. Folmar served as chairman of the Alabama Republican Party and the state chairman for President George H. W. Bush’s 1988 and 1992 re-election campaigns. He was a true leader and courageous man. An Editorial Opinion After winning a full and unconditional pardon from the State of Alabama for Scottsboro Boy Clarence Norris in November 1976, I was elected to one four-year term on the Montgomery, Alabama City Council. After taking office in October 1979, I frequently clashed with Emory Folmar, the city's ultra-conservative, gun-toting, “law and order” Republican mayor. We clashed repeatedly over political philosophy and what I believed was Folmar’s failure to provide adequate city services to Montgomery’s predominantly black neighborhoods. At one point, the tension between Folmar and me was so great that Folmar went on a conservative radio talk show in Montgomery and boldly told the listeners, “I need to take [Watkins] outside of City Hall and teach him some manners.” Obviously, this was a reference to a physical fight with me. During my last meeting as a councilman, Folmar gleefully and publicly announced that “[Watkins’ departure from the Council] was one of the greatest blessings since the Yankee troops went home in 1870 . ” In 1985, I became Dr. Richard Arrington, Jr.’s special legal counsel. Arrington, who was in his second term as Birmingham’s first black mayor, enjoyed utilizing my knowledge of municipal government law and seasoned litigation skills to further his public policy agenda. After all, Montgomery’s Mayor-Council Act was modeled after Birmingham’s 1955 Mayor-Council Act. After winning an unprecedented string of 73 court victories for Mayor Arrington and the City of Birmingham, Mayor Folmar hired me to represent the City of Montgomery in some of its most complex litigation. At the time, Folmar was chairman of the Alabama Republican Party, while Dr. Arrington was the state’s leading African-American Democrat. Folmar also served as the state chairman for President George H. W. Bush’s 1988 and 1992 re-election campaigns. In 2002, the Washington Post contacted Folmar to interview him about my efforts to buy the Minnesota Twins MLB team. This is what Folmar had to say about me: “ I have tremendous respect for him as a lawyer and businessman. He always told the truth, which is a great commodity in my book ." This was the ultimate compliment from a staunch political conservative who transformed himself from a fierce adversary in the political arena to a loyal and powerful political ally in life. Emory Folmar was Montgomery’s mayor from 1977 to 1999. He never took a salary while serving as mayor. I embraced Folmar's lesson of personal financial sacrifice when serving others in public office. Emory Folmar died on November 11, 2011. He was a “man’s man.” He was also my friend. I credit my personal relationship with Emory Folmar for helping me achieve the political independence I thoroughly enjoy today. A year after Folmar left office in 1999, President George H. W. Bush nominated Missouri Republican Senator John David Ashcroft for U.S. Attorney General. Ashcroft’s nomination was met with stiff opposition from national civil rights groups. I did not know Ashcroft personally, but I could tell that the same kind of character assassination I had seen in earlier Senate confirmation hearings was in play again. The Ashcroft nomination was on the ropes and seemed doomed. After thoroughly and independently researching Ashcroft’s overall record as a U.S. senator, a Missouri governor and a state attorney general, I determined that Ashcroft was NOT a racist, despite the fact that his views on affirmative action and judicial remedies for the desegregation of Missouri public schools during the 1970s did not match my views on these subjects. By today’s standards, Ashcroft would be considered a mainstream Republican conservative. With two days left to go before Ashcroft’s scheduled January 31, 2001 Senate confirmation vote, I knew I needed to act quickly to keep Ashcroft’s nomination from going down in flames due to character assassination. I asked Jonathan Rose, my Washington lawyer at the Jones Day law firm, to contact Katharine Graham, the publisher of the Washington Post , to see whether the Post would allow me to run a half-page “Confirm John Ashcroft” open letter in the front section of the newspaper on the morning of the vote. Graham agreed. I penned my open letter on my Alamerica Bank stationary and paid $43,000 to publish it on January 31st. Senator Jeff Sessions, my law school classmate, was pleasantly surprised to see my letter in the Washington Post that morning and called me to ask if he could read it into the Congressional Record prior to the vote. I said, “yes”. My “Confirm John Ashcroft” open letter lifted Ashcroft’s nomination out of the zone of political danger. Ashcroft was confirmed as the 79th Attorney General of the United States by a vote of 58 to 42. He served with distinction in this position from 2001 to 2005. After the vote, Ashcroft tried for days to reach me by phone to say, “thank you”. We never connected because of my busy international travel schedule, but he left several voice messages of thanks. I would not meet Ashcroft until nine years later when I was attempting to buy the St. Louis Rams football team. Again, Ashcroft thanked me repeatedly for standing up for him in what he described as his “darkest hour” in public life. What Emory Folmar and I learned from each other was this: If we truly believe in the promise of America, we must stand up for its ideals and principles when they matter the most. Integrity, accountability, transparency, decency and fairness are the hallmarks of good government, not race, gender, party affiliation, religious beliefs, or one’s socio-economic status in life. If and when we stand up for America’s core principles, we are truly serving our nation. America is the greatest country on the planet. I know this from first-hand experience because I work in more than 40 international markets across four continents. We all have an affirmative obligation as Americans to stand up for what’s right, even when it is uncomfortable and unpopular to do so. Emory Folmar showed us how this is done.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on June 11, 2025 Life started for me 76 years ago at Mercy Hospital and 2401 Morgan Avenue in Parsons, Kansas .  I am the 5th child of Levi and Lillian Watkins.  My four older siblings -- Marie, Pearl, Levi, Jr., and Doristine -- were also born in Parsons.  My brother James was born after our family moved to Montgomery, Alabama in 1949.   My father was the principal of the Douglass School for Colored Students in Parsons , a job he started in May 1940.  Douglass was his first and only principalship.   Throughout our lives, my siblings and I have known the critical role that Parsons and the Douglass School played in our family’s development and growth . Parsons was a launchpad for my parents, my siblings, and me.  Fast-Forward to 2025   On New Year’s Day 2025, Ms. Sontana Johnson, the CEO/Founder of SEK Juneteenth Foundation in Parsons, emailed me the following message:   “Mr. Watkins, I would like to ask you if you could come to Parsons in June for our Juneteenth celebration?  I would love and be so honored if you could be the speaker.  I would like for you to tell the story of your Father.  I want people of Parsons to know the power that was in this community.  I have been fighting for change for years and I would truly hope you can accept this invitation.”   Ms. Johnson’s invitation was God-sent.  It was a calling to come back home to Parsons, a city of 9,362 residents today.  When we lived in Parsons (1940 to 1949), my Dad prepared a directory of Parson's 1,284 Negro residents. It was used as a resource tool for the Parsons Community Service Fund and an organizational guide for the local chapter of the NAACP. After consulting with my siblings, I promptly accepted Ms. Johnson's invitation on behalf of myself and the Watkins family. Why Parsons is Important to Us   Parsons means many things to many people.  To the Watkins family, it is the place where my father and mother birthed their first five children.  It is the place where my parents bought their first home (in a nice, middle-class, integrated neighborhood). Parsons is also the place where they honed their skills as parents and educators to develop young minds, build their character, and mold their will to break through the most entrenched racial barriers.     Starting with the students at the Douglass School in the fall of 1940 and continuing with their own young children, my parents developed, implemented, and perfected the art of motivating young children to set and achieve exceptionally high goals in life. They cultivated, nurtured, and harnessed the brain-power that Douglass students and their own children would use to lift their rockets off the launchpad and thrust them into life's highest orbits. They also prepared these young minds to consistently outperform society’s expectations of them.    Parsons has been at the heart of every achievement my parents and their progeny have accomplished since 1940. The outstanding scholastic achievement of Douglass students propelled my Dad into the first of three college and university presidencies.  Additionally, Parsons positioned the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th generations of Watkins family members to attend and graduate from more than 70 colleges and universities around the world.  A Chance to Say, "Thank You!"   Next week, I will return to Parsons for the first time since the Watkins family left for Dad’s first job at Alabama State University in 1949.  I am returning to the city on behalf of a grateful Watkins family to say "thank you" to Parsons at the city's annual Juneteeth celebration. Because of the love and support we received during our nine years in Parsons, Douglass School students and Watkins family members were able to lift themselves beyond the gravitational pull of the racism we consistently encountered throughout life.  Because of Parsons, we were able to overcome seemingly insurmountable racial barriers to a diverse, equitable, and inclusive American society. Because of Parsons, we learned and mastered the art of navigating life's most difficult seas.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on June 8, 2025 Elon Musk and President Donald J. Trump look miserable amid the breakup of their one-year bromance. An Editorial Opinion   President Donald Trump finally said out loud what I reported on March 20, 2024 : Elon Musk is a “big-time drug addict.”  Trump made this statement in an interview published Saturday by the Washington Post .   Earlier in the week, Trump proclaimed that Musk had “lost his mind.”  Privately, Trump is telling his MAGA insiders that Musk is “crazy.”   Trump also acknowledged in his Post interview that Musk got into a physical altercation with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. The Tesla CEO and former top DOGE offical rammed Bessent in the ribs “like a rugby player” following a White House meeting with Trump.  The physical fight was “too much” for Trump.   Musk, a South African native and apartheid beneficiary, is credited with influencing Trump’s warped views on: (a) the intelligence of Black Air Force pilots who graduated from HBCUs, (b) resurrecting the banned practice of convict leasing , and (c) the false claim of genocide against white South Africans .   The bromance between Musk and Trump fell apart after Musk started publicly trashing Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.” The bill is projected to add $4 trillion to the federal government’s already unsustainable $37 trillion national debt.  Musk says the “Big Beautiful Bill” will bankrupt America and he is working to kill it. Whether he is doped up or sober, Musk is right in his assessment that Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" threatens America's solvency as a nation. Musk is also keeenly aware that Trump bankrupted six major corporations prior to assuming the presidency.   Trump has threatened Musk with “very serious consequences” if he contributes money to Democrats in Congress who oppose the “Big Beautiful Bill.”   Based on various news reports and FEC filings, Elon Musk contributed $288 million to help Donald Trump and other Republican candidates in the 2024 elections. At least $218 million of this money went to Trump's presidential campaign. Musk was the largest individual political donor in the 2024 election cycle.   In a phone interview with the NBC journalist Kristen Welker on Saturday, Trump said he had no plans to speak with Musk because the tech billionaire was “disrespectful” to the Office of the President.  When asked whether he had any desire to repair his relationship with Musk, Trump said, “No.”   With his exit from Donald Trump’s inner circle, Elon Musk joins the ranks of MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Attorneys Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis, Kenneth Chesebro, and Michael Cohen, Allen Weisselberg, Rick Gates, Elliott Broidy, George Nader, and a host of others whose blind loyalty to Trump ruined them financially, damaged their personal, professional, and business reputations, and earned them a permanent place in the dustbin of history.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on June 5, 2025 MAGA Cult Leader Donald J. Trump An Editorial Opinion President Donald J. Trump's grip on his MAGA cult followers is a complex interplay of several factors, including: Charisma and Manipulation : Trump possesses a captivating charisma and is a master manipulator.  He is skilled at identifying and exploiting his MAGA cult followers’ vulnerabilities.  Trump knows how to influence them subtly, often without them even realizing it. Filling Emotional Voids:   Trump’s MAGA cult followers are overwhelmingly White. They who are often alienated from communities of color, and they seek a sense of belonging and acceptance to other White communities across America.  Trump offers comforts them by openly repudiating “wokeness" and gratuitously browbeating racial minorities. Trump also exploits his cult followers' proclivity to disregard the true, documented, and ugly history of America’s inhumane treatment of women, racial minorities, Native Americans, and immigrants of color. Love Bombing:  Trump and his MAGA cult followers shower new converts with love and acceptance, creating an intensely emotionally fulfilling atmosphere. Trump and his cult reinforce their dislike for self-respecting, independent women and communities of color, at home and abroad, by purposely and repeatedly attacking and disrespecting them.  With rare exceptions, Trump picks and showcases women for key government positions who have been surgically altered (via facelifts, breast augmentation, and Botox injections) to fit his definition of Aryan beauty and who are marginal achievers. Exploiting vulnerabilities:  Trump targets individuals for his MAGA cult who are "hungry for a connection."  He adeptly identifies their weaknesses and insecurities. He then manipulates those vulnerabilities to solidify his control over them. Control Through Intoxicating Political Orgies and Baseless Propaganda:  Trump uses a combination of intoxicating political orgies and baseless propaganda to break down inhibitions and make his MAGA cult followers more susceptible to his influence.  Truth is often the first casualty in Trump’s apparatus for political control. By all accounts, Trump's reputation for truth and veracity is extremely poor worldwide. Isolation and Control:  Trump keeps his cult followers isolated from the real world by flooding them with nonstop MAGA propaganda on X, Truth Social, and other right-wing social media platforms.  This isolation, combined with a flood of grossly exaggerated hyperbole and outright lies, further erodes the resistance and critical thinking skills of devoted MAGA cult members. Fear and Retaliation:   As his authoritarian influence grows, Trumps resorts to fear and the weaponization of federal agencies to maintain control and keep his MAGA cult followers in line.  This enforcement technique creates an environment where MAGA followers feel they can't leave, even if they have doubts.  Those who muster up the courage to leave Trump's MAGA cult, like former “First Buddy” Elon Musk, are viciously attacked. Rewards for Violent Cult Behavior: Trump rewarded violent cult behavior by pardoning all of the January 6th rioters who were convicted of federal crimes, including the ones who were convicted of assaulting Capitol police officers and destroying government property. Trump called the rioters "patriots." He even dined with one of their leaders at Mar-a-Lago after this rioter was pardoned. Trump also awarded $5 million to the estate of Ashli Babbitt, one of the rioters who was killed by a police officer inside the Capitol during the rioting. No MAGA cult member haas publicly condemned or repudiated these pardons. Shared Delusion and Apocalyptic Worldview:   Trump preaches a delusional apocalyptic worldview centered around an invasion of America by undocumented migrants of color.  He has convinced his MAGA cult followers that migrant crime will ignite some kind of apocalyptic war inside the U.S. and that they will emerge to lead the world afterwards. This shared delusion further binds MAGA cult followers to Trump and his nonsensical plans.    In essence, Trump has crafted a potent mix of charisma, love, acceptance, manipulation, control, fear to gain and maintain power over his MAGA cult followers, and rewards for violent behavior in furtherance of the cause.  MAGA cult followers are so enmeshed in Trump's twisted worldview that their existence and very survival becomes intrinsically tied to him.    In the past, cult leaders like Jim Jones and David Koresh had similar control over their followers.  Because they view Trump as some kind of “Savior,” it is impossible to reach the majority of his MAGA cult followers with factual presentations, logic, and rational arguments. As was the case with Jim Jones’ followers, most of Trump’s MAGA cult followers have drunk his poisonous Kool-Aid.