By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on April 4, 2025 Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards An Editorial Opinion In the age of Trumpism, America is redefining its attitude toward police officers, prosecutors, and judges. At one time, these law enforcement professionals were held in high esteem. Today, they are not. I have always supported and defended police officers who perform their duties in a brave and professional manner. One of them is Caroline Edwards, a Capitol police officer. Officer Edwards was the first Capitol police officer who was injured by the incoming mob that breached the Capitol grounds in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021.  In my view, she is an American hero. At the beginning of the attack, a group of Arizona Proud Boys approached the Peace Circle barricade.  Edwards called for help on the radio, which was heard by other officers around the building and was a sign that the mob was overrunning the police.    Office Edwards attempted to delay the mob’s approach towards the Capitol while backup was arriving.  Proud Boys leader Joseph Biggs encouraged Ryan Samsel to approach the bike rack by which Edwards was posted.  Samsel then pushed the bike rack over, which hit Officer Edwards on the head.  This made Edwards fall, and while falling, her chin hit the handrail of the steps behind her, causing a concussion which made her lose consciousness.  She then hit the back of her head on one of the steps behind her, cracking it.  The concussion gave her a traumatic brain injury. The mob then began attacking the other officers, who were pushed back. Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards lies unconscious on the ground. Edwards awoke minutes later while she was being picked up by Samsel, and then she shook him off and began treating the injured on the scene, such as decontaminating those who were pepper-sprayed.  She then continued the defense, rushing to support the officers who had been pushed back and were holding a line in the Capitol's lower West Terrace.  She felt confused and dizzy while doing it.  She then engaged with the mob in hand-to-hand combat for hours. While fighting, she was teargassed and pepper-sprayed in her eyes.     The Capitol attack went on for four hours after Ryan Samsel's first assault. Edwards stopped many rioters from entering the building; at one point, she spotted a rioter heading towards an evacuation route for the Capitol's occupants, and handcuffed him, taking him to a prisoner processing section of the Capitol Police headquarters building. Edwards then blacked out inside the building and was taken by ambulance to a hospital in Silver Spring, Maryland, because the hospitals in Washington D.C. were full. The hospital gave her a CT scan and put her in a neck collar.   Edwards later described the violence at the Capitol this way:   “I couldn’t believe my eyes: There were officers on the ground. They were bleeding. They were throwing up. I saw friends with blood all over their faces. I was slipping in people’s blood. I was catching people as they fell. It was carnage. It was chaos. I can’t even describe what I saw. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that as a police officer, as a law enforcement officer, I would find myself in the middle of a battle.”   The Aftermath of the Mob Attack Caroline Edwards   Officer Edwards temporarily left the force due to her injuries.  For months after the attack, Edwards was bedridden, and had episodes of vertigo, migraines, and fainting likely caused by the traumatic brain injury.     In May 2021, Edwards returned to the Capitol Police force as a peer counselor for mental health.   Ryan Samsel was arrested in January 2021.  In October 2023, Samsel went on trial, charged with assault on police with and without a dangerous weapon (a felony), obstruction of an official proceeding (a felony), and an act of physical violence on the Capitol grounds or in buildings (a misdemeanor).  Samsel had pled not guilty, and Edwards testified against him and four other co-defendants during the trial.     The trial ended in December 2023, and on February 2, 2024, Samsel was convicted of all of the charges.  On January 20, 2025, President Donald Trump pardoned Samsel and around 1,600 other people charged with crimes connected to the January 6 attack without affording Officer Edwards or any other victims of the mob’s violent attacks the customary opportunity to object to the issuance of these pardons. Samsel was released from custody the following day.  No Republican member of Congress condemned Trump's pardons of the violent January 6 rioters who attacked Capitol police officers. Trump now calls the pardoned January 6 attackers “patriots” and has signaled his intent to compensate them for the “suffering” they experienced in the federal criminal justice system.   Meanwhile, Officer Caroline Edwards continues to suffer from migraines arising from her brain injury and she must take monthly medication for it.   What is more, the Trump White House has fired the front line prosecutors who brought Samsel and other violent members of the January 6 mob to justice. Trump's executive actions in this regard show me exactly which side of the "law and order" issue he is on.   Epilogue At no time has anyone claimed that Officer Caroline Edwards abused her authority as a police officer when she defended the Capitol on January 6, 2021. She fought, bled, and sustained critical injuries for America and the rule of law that day. Donald Trump has never called Officer Edwards a "patriot." Sometimes in life, we must pick sides.  I am on the side of Officer Caroline Edwards and all of the brave, professional police officers who put their lives on the line to protect our public safety each and every day.  Without hesitation or reservation, I condemn any person who assaults, injures, or kills a police officer in the line and scope of his/her duty.  Those who aid, abet, or comfort the attackers, for whatever reason, are misguided in their thinking. Donald Trump was wrong for pardoning the rioters who attacked and injured Officer Edwards and the other police officers who defended the Capitol on January 6, 2021.   For me, standing up for police officers who are injured or killed in the performance of their duties is NOT a political issue.  It is strictly a “ law and order ” issue.  Anyone who cannot stand with me on this issue is a weak, spineless, coward.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on April 8, 2025 President Donald Trump unveils the "Trump Gold Card," which bears his name, likeness, and image. An Editorial Opinion   Last week, President Donald Trump unveiled his $5 million “Trump Gold Card.”  The card offers the foreign purchasers seeking to buy permanent residency in the U.S. with green card privileges and a pathway to citizenship.   The Trump Gold Card program is intended to replace the existing EB-5 green card program.  The sales proceeds from the Trump Gold Card program would go into the U.S. Treasury.   My longtime friend Doyal Reed has proposed a companion citizenship sales plan. Reed, who specializes in financing small businesses, offers another dimension to Trump’s commercialization of green card access and procurement of U.S. citizenship.  Reed’s proposal would require Congressional action to amend 18 U.S. Code §1427 to authorize the private sale of U.S. citizenship under the controlled and regulated circumstances set forth below :   The Trump Gold Card has established a $5 million market price for the sale of a U.S. citizenship to a capable and qualified foreign purchaser. Under the Reed Plan, any U.S. citizen would be entitled to sell his/her citizenship for $5 million to a capable and qualified foreign purchaser who is properly vetted and approved by the U.S. Departments of State and Homeland Security using the same vetting standards set for the Trump Gold Card. The sales price under the Reed Plan must always mirror the sales price for the Trump Gold Card. It would never undercut the price set for the Trump Gold Card. The $5 million, minus federal government vetting fees, withholdings for applicable taxes, and other administrative costs, would go the seller under the Reed Plan. The sales transaction must close within 30 days after the government approves the designated purchaser.  If the purchaser is not approved, the transaction is terminated. If the purchaser is approved, the seller must leave the U.S. within 30 days after the sale has closed. The seller may not return to the U.S. without first obtaining a temporary visa for visitation purposes that is issued by the State Department under applicable standards.   Like the Trump Gold Card program, the Reed Plan arises out of an apppreciation for free market capitalism.  Donald Trump has established that U.S. citizenship has substantial monetary value.  He has commercialized the process for obatining U.S. citizenship. The Reed Plan is an extension of Trump's free trade concept for obtaining U.S. citizenship.  There are plenty of qualified and capable foreign buyers for this valuable and tangible commodity.   The Reed Plan is a win-win program for Americans and their government.  The proposal, if authorized and implemented, would go a long way towards solving many of the nation’s festering socio-economic problems.  For example, it would take the edge off of the growing “ Negrophobia ” problem in America, as Reed anticipates that vast numbers of Black Americans will choose to sell their U.S. citizenship.     Affording American citizens the legal right to sell their citizenship to qualified, capable, and approved foreigners would go a long way toward fulfilling Trump’s visionary dream of “Making America Great Again.”  The Reed Plan would afford Trump the unique opportunity to manipulate the population demographics using a free trade platform -- at no cost to the government.   Reed's proposal may be timely.  Just last week, it was reported that far-right provocateur Laura Loomer had direct access to Donald Trump in the White House . Loomer, who advocates “pro–white nationalism” and describes Islam as a “cancer on humanity,” met with Donald Trump in the Oval Office.  After Loomer reportedly railed against National Security Council officials she believed were disloyal to Trump, the White House fired six NSC staff members the next day. Finally, Doyal Reed's proposal comes as President Trump is reportedly making plans for a $92 million military parade from the Pentagon to the White House to honor himself on his 79th birthday (on June 14, 2025). The parade follows the $200 million ad campaign Trump ordered Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to spend that thanked him for securing the border. What do you think about the Doyal Reed Plan? Should U.S. citizens be able to sell their citizenship in the free marketplace?

By: Donald V. Watkins Copryrightedand Published on August 5, 2021 Former Confederate general/U.S. Sen. from Alabama, John T. Morgan (left) and former President Donald J. Trump (right). An Editorial Opinion In 1890, former Confederate general and six-term U.S. Senator from Alabama, John T. Morgan, wrote that democratic sovereignty in America was conferred upon "qualified voters" only. Morgan accused black citizens, who were guaranteed the right to vote under the Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, of "hatred and ill will toward their former owners." As such, Morgan proclaimed that (a) blacks did not qualify to vote and (b) they were destroying democracy by their mere participation in the electoral process. According to Morgan and a host of other white supremacists of his era, disenfranchising black voters was not merely justified, but it was an act of self-defence against "Negro domination." For the next 140 years, a tidal wave of racist white politicians in old South Confederate states (and elsewhere) waged an "intensive propaganda of white supremacy, Negrophobia and race chauvinism" to purge blacks from politics forever, thereby shattering emerging alliances between white and black workers, according to acclaimed historian C. Vann Woodward and noted journalist and author Adam Serwer. "This [campaign of disenfranchisement] was ruthless opportunism, but it also forged a community defined by the color line and destroyed one that might have transcended it," wrote Serwer in a New York Times article on June 27, 2021. Today, the Republican Party is the proud standard-bearer for the disenfranchisement of Americans of color. It is the new and reinvigorated "White Citizens Council." Alabama is a "Hotbed" of Negrophobia Alabama is and always has been the "hotbed" of Negrophobia. Whites in Alabama have exhibited acute Negrophobia on an unabated basis since this southern territory was formed into a state and admitted into the Union of United States. Whites in the state have also been faithful to General Morgan's racist views of "qualified voters." Alabama, which has a 26.8% black population, has compiled a long, ugly, and documented record of disenfranchising black voters and massive resistance to equal justice for its black citizens. Today, Alabama's nine-member Supreme Court is all-white, its five-member Court of Criminal Appeals is all-white, and its Court of Civil Appeals is all-white. These appellate courts have been all-white for more than two decades. They serve as the Republican Party's national symbol of what white voting power can achieve in the modern-era. Sadly, the U.S. Department of Justice has not sought to dismantle the all-white status of Alabama's appellate courts because the black vote in Alabama was not sought, wanted, or needed when Republicans occupied the White House and it was traditionally taken for granted by all Democratic presidents since 1960. The Biden administration has only given "lip-service" to the enforcement of voting rights in Alabama because the state has no strategic value to the National Democratic Party. Other deep South states with 20% or greater black and brown populations such as Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida, Tennessee, South Carolina, Texas, and Arkansas have also locked voters of color out of the political process with election laws that are designed to insulate Republican power from a diverse American majority of voters that Republicans fear no longer supports them. Racism Fuels the Republican Party's Disenfranchisement Agenda Republicans fuel their political agenda of disenfranchisement by demonizing people of color. For example, Fox News commentators regularly warn their audiences that Democrats want to "replace the current electorate" with "more obedient voters from the third world." The National Review's conservative columnists justify the disenfranchisement of blacks and other people of color on the grounds that "it would be far better if the franchise were not exercised by ignorant, civics-illiterate people." These are not political comments from General Morgan's 1890 white supremacy era; these are the voices of today's Republican Party. And, this messaging is resonating with the Party's core base of white voters. Donald Trump showed Republicans how much they could get away with, from shattering migrant families and banning Muslim travelers to valorising war crimes and denigrating African, Latino, and Caribbean immigrants as being from "shithole countries." As is often the case with most populist race-baiting politicians, Trump loyalists responded with zeal, even in the aftermath of his 2020 election loss. Waving Confederate flags and shouting "niggers" at black police officers as they attacked the Capitol during their January 6, 2021 violent insurrection to block the certification of Joe Biden as president, these zealots viewed themselves as Trump "patriots" who were saving America. Republican members of Congress from Alabama, Texas, and other old Confederate states aided and abetted the attackers and defended their insurrection after it ended. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who encouraged the mob that attacked the Capitol with his claims that the 2020 election had been "stolen," falsely claims that the new voting rights protection legislation Republicans are blocking in Congress today will "register millions of illegal aliens to vote" and describes them as "Jim Crow 2.0." The Republican Party has openly displayed its willingness to (a) denigrate black police officers, (b) abandon popular support for all Capitol police officers who defended the Capitol from a violent white mob on January 6th, and (c) demonize religious and ethnic minorities and migrants of color. Unfortunately, this is a throwback to the John T. Morgan racism of the 1800s and Alabama Governor George C. Wallace's racism of the 1950s and 1960s. Trump's 2017 to 2021 brand of racism has been an effective tool for crushing Democratic initiatives in Washington designed to promote black and brown access to voting and social justice for all Americans. Likewise, this brand of Republicanism cultivates a nationwide cult of white voters who see Americans of color as a threat to their way of life. All articles are shared on Facebook and Twitter. If you would like to follow Donald Watkins, please click on these links and hit the follow button: https://www.facebook.com/donald.v.watkins https://twitter.com/donaldvwatkins

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published January 13, 2022 An Editorial Opinion In 1974, I was a young associate in the civil rights law firm of Gray, Seay, and Langford. At the time, there were less than a dozen black lawyers working in Alabama. All of us litigated cases. The frontlines in the raging battle for equal justice for African-Americans in Alabama were located in local, state, and federal courtrooms. Young black lawyers like me did not have the luxury of apprenticing for years under the firm's senior trial lawyers -- Fred D. Gray, Solomon S. Seay, Jr., and Charles D. Langford. They were bogged downed handling massive class action cases. Fred was working feverishly to secure justice for 623 black plaintiffs in the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. Solomon was swamped with major school desegregation cases throughout Alabama. Charles was handling a lot of the firm's non-civil rights cases. I was sent straight to the frontlines to represent individual clients like Mr. Clarence Norris, the last surviving "Scottsboro Boy," Elizabeth Williams, a black woman who was sentenced to 218 years in prison for aiding her boyfriend in stealing three chickens, and Bernard Whitehurst, an unarmed and innocent black man who was fatally shot in the back by a racist white Montgomery police officer after he was mistakenly identified as a robbery suspect. I was taught to stand tall for my clients and unload all of my evidence in every case. I was also taught that my real adversary in my cases would be the trial judge since all of them were white and almost always hostile towards our clients and us. One of the worst judges in Alabama at the time was Matthis W. Piel, the chief judge of the Montgomery, Alabama municipal court. Judge Piel was a flaming racist. He presided over the city's misdemeanor court docket. The prosecutors in his court were white. Nearly all of the officers on the city police force in the early 1970s were white. Judge Piel's courtroom was a living hell for black lawyers and their clients. It was also a classic "debtor's court" -- one where black men and women were railroaded, imprisoned, fined, and held in jail until their fines were paid. Wealthy and upper middle-class white offenders could have their cases "fixed" by making a call to the mayor's office or Judge Piel's chambers. Middle-class and extremely poor white offenders would typically be scolded by Piel, but they would not be jailed. During my first trial in Judge Piel's court, I brought law books with U.S. Supreme Court case to support my legal arguments. When Piel saw the Supreme Court law books, he promptly told me, "that shit does not apply in my court." Piel never looked me in the eyes, or called me "Mr. Watkins," or "Counselor," or "Sir," or any name or title that would affirm my humanity. He just held his head down and barked out his remarks to me. It was in Judge Piel's courtroom that I had my first encounter with an arrogant, out-of-control, racist Montgomery police officer. His name was Officer Ronald A. Rambo. He was the chief witness in the case against my client. I crucified him on cross-examination. Once Rambo stepped down from the witness stand, he came up to me and put his finger in my face. Rambo said in a loud voice, "you must be new; you don't know who you are fucking with." I look over at Judge Piel, who did not say a word. Piel did not bang his gavel to restore order in his court, and he did not reprimand Officer Rambo. When I realized that I was on my own, I responded to Rambo in a loud voice by telling him to "kiss my ass." The black folks in the packed courtroom exploded into loud cheers and applause. Rambo backed off and said, "nigger, we're going to teach you a lesson." Piel said nothing. She Was Black, Elderly, Alone, Afraid, Crying, Praying, and Needed My Help One day, I was in Judge Piel's courtroom waiting for my client's case to be called. While sitting on the front row studying my case file and trial outline, I heard Judge Piel and the prosecutor loudly berating an elderly black woman in a maid's uniform. The woman did not have a lawyer representing her. She was alone, afraid, and unprotected in a very hostile courtroom. Piel and the prosecutor were bombarding this woman with questions that she clearly did not understand. In frustration, the woman bowed her head and started crying and praying. I couldn't take it anymore. I jumped from my seat and rushed to this woman's side. I forcefully interrupted the beat-down of this elderly woman and announced to Judge Piel that I was her lawyer. I apologized for not hearing her name called on the docket. In truth, I didn't even know the woman's name and we did not have time to get acquainted. I announced that we were ready for trial and asked the city to call its first witness. I didn't know anything about this woman's case. I put my arms around the woman and told her everything would be okay. The City called one police officer and two civilian witnesses. Out of rage and anger, I obliterated all three witnesses with a blistering, in-your-face, cross-examination of them. The witnesses were intimidated by my aggressive style of cross-examination and their testimony quickly fell apart, leaving Judge Piel with no option but to acquit this woman. She was shocked that we had won her case, but she was very happy. Blacks in the courtroom swarmed the woman and me to celebrate this rare victory and to give us accolades. I walked the woman out of Judge Piel's courtroom. Now, her tears of fear and despair had turned into tears of joy. She was a single mom with five children. She had no car, no money, and no hope of justice. This is why she bowed her head and prayed as Judge Piel and the prosecutor berated her with sarcastic words and questions. She thanked me over and over again, saying God had answered her prayers. The woman told me she had no way to pay me. I told her that a wise janitor at the University of Alabama's law school -- Mr. Ramus Rhodes -- had paid the full price for me to stand up for her in Judge Piel's courtroom and that she owed me nothing. We hugged. I dried the woman's tears with my handkerchief. After we said goodbye to each other, I rushed back into Judge Piel's courtroom for my next battle against the seemingly endless war against white racism. Reversal of Fortunes On October 9, 1979, I was elected to the Montgomery city council. I was the youngest council member in the history of the city. I was one of four black council members on the nine-member Montgomery city council. I was also the only lawyer on the council. Shortly after taking office, Judge Piel's term of office was nearing an end and he desperately wanted reappointment to another six-year term. Judge Piel called for an appointment to see me. I told him I would come see him at his chambers in the municipal court, which I did. When I entered Judge Piel's chambers, he was lying on a couch. Piel's body was too ravaged with cancer for him to sit up during our meeting. He asked for my vote for his reappointment. He desperately needed reappointment to his judgeship to maintain his municipal employee health insurance coverage during this difficult period in his life. The council was split 4 to 4 between Judge Piel and another candidate who was backed by Council President Willie Peake for this judgeship. Peake was an independent, fair-minded white businessman who always voted based upon the best interests of his district constituents and the city as a whole. For over an hour, I listened to Judge Piel pitch his case for reappointment. The entire time Judge Piel was talking, all I could see in my mind's eye were the images of the black defendants Piel railroaded in his courtroom. I saw their tears. I felt their pain. I heard their wailing spirits. I didn't say a word while Piel talked. When Judge Piel finished, he was crying and begging for my vote. I told him I would talk to my neighborhood leaders and district residents to see how they wanted me to vote on his reappointment. A few days later, the all-white local Bar association, Rotary Club, Chamber of Commerce, and several white business groups lobbied me to support Piel's reappointment. These groups had zero interest in how blacks were treated in Piel's courtroom. On the day of the council meeting, the votes were still split 4 to 4, with Peake and three blacks supporting Peake's candidate. The other four whites on the council backed Judge Piel. I asked to speak last before we took the vote. Judge Piel's family and supporters packed the left side of the small council chambers. Piel was present in a wheelchair. His son, Richard, who was a local attorney, was in the audience, as well. My black neighborhood leaders, political constituents, and other black citizens packed the right side of the council chambers. When it was time for me to speak, I told the story of the woman whose case is mentioned in this article. I also told the audience what Judge Piel said to me about U.S. Supreme Court cases not applying in his courtroom. Finally, I mentioned Judge Piel's failure to reign-in Officer Rambo after Rambo verbally assaulted me in Piel's presence. At the end of my speech, I looked at the blacks in the audience and told them, "God knows that you have suffered gross injustice in our municipal courts for over a hundred years; Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Ms. Rosa Parks, and untold thousands of blacks have been railroaded in this city's court system; God has heard your silent prayers for equal justice in our courts; and He is answering them tonight." With that, I cast the last and deciding vote to get rid of one of the most vicious racists I had encountered in my legal career. Piel's family members wailed loudly as the judge was wheeled out of the council chambers. Once Judge Piel and his supporters were gone, I thanked the blacks who remained in the council chambers for persevering in the vineyards of racial hatred and never giving up on their quest for equal justice. I reminded them that the Montgomery Bus Boycott in the 1950s, the Birmingham church bombing in 1963 that killed four little girls in Sunday School, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Selma-to-Montgomery march on "Bloody Sunday," and the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 made this moment possible. The hands that picked cotton, cleaned gutters and sewers, mopped floors and cleaned toilets as maids and janitors, loaded garbage trucks, cut grass, dug ditches, labored in the 120 degree heat on roofing jobs, busted rocks into gravel, cleaned used bricks with meat-cleavers, walked miles to and from work in menial jobs, and languished in Montgomery's notorious debtor's courts, would pick the city of Montgomery's municipal court judges from this day, forward. Epilogue Judge Matthis W. Piel died on January 12, 1980, but his racist spirit lives on in many of today's local, state and federal judges in Alabama. As long as these judicial bigots live and work among us, my work as a "freedom fighter" must go on. "Freedom fighting" is a noble profession. I have always been willing to pay whatever price is necessary to protect the dignity of the "least of these" and to elevate their humanity in every venue. My longstanding commitment to equal justice has made me an extremely controversial figure in Alabama's ultra-conservative white community. In many white circles, I am hated on sight. Today, I am locked in a fierce battle to dismantle Alabama's all-white, 19-judge appellate court system. Joseph W. Perkins, Jr., Alabama Power Company's perennial political "dirty tricks" operator and its paid neutralizer of black political and civil rights leaders, is the chief defender of this modern-day form of judicial apartheid in the Alabama Supreme Court case of Donald V. Watkins, et. al, v. Matrix, LLC, and Joseph W. Perkins, Jr., Case No. 1200892. Alabama's appellate court system was all-white when I started practicing law in 1973, and it is all-white today. This all-white appellate court system is Alabama's shining example to the nation of what white "bloc voting" can accomplish when it is properly motivated to redeem "white supremacy." I am determined to dismantle Alabama's all-white appellate court system in 2022, even if I have to do it alone. IMAGE: Former Montgomery Municipal Judge Matthis W. Piel

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on April 5, 2025 Marital rape was legal in Alabama until 1993. Two months after I graduated from the University of Alabama’s law school, I gave a speech at the Southeastern Association of Colored Women’s Clubs, Inc .  In my July 31, 1973, speech, I paid a tribute to my mother, my three sisters, and my female cousins, all of whom were trailblazers and all of whom had blocked for me on the playing field of life since childhood.   Because of my lifelong exposure to these powerful women, I revered strong, smart women who were trailblazing in America’s male-dominated society.   My law practice for the next 46 years would be dedicated to leveling the playing field for women and Blacks in Alabama and elsewhere.  Throughout my career, I would use law as a tool to uplift the downtrodden members of society.   She was the Victim of Marital Rape   It was the Spring of 1976 when I got a call from my first marital rape victim.  I am withholding her name for privacy reasons.   The woman called me from the Sand Mountain area in northeast Alabama and asked for an appointment to see me about a divorce. Days later, she drove to my Montgomery office on the day of her appointment.   She was an attractive, middle-aged woman who was tired of being raped and physically abused by her husband. He was a high-ranking officer in the Alabama State Troopers.    She was my first white divorce client.  She was very professional and courteous, but deeply wounded as a woman.    Even though I had only been practicing law since 1973, I already had a statewide reputation for standing up for women’s rights.  My legal work in the women’s rights movement started immediately after I passed my Alabama Bar exams in September 1973.   Divorce cases was one of my specialty areas for the first ten years out of my law practice.  I only represented women in these cases.   In my divorce cases, I tended to crucify men who did not financially support their children, as well as those who physically abused or raped their wives.  I showed no mercy for marital rapists.  The more abuse my divorce clients suffered, the harder I worked to crush their abusers.   I perfected creative ways for jailing physical abusers on criminal charges and contempt citations.  To me, this was the only behavioral modification technique that worked quickly and effectively.   In Alabama, marital rape would not become illegal until 1993 when the state legislature repealed the marital rape exemption that prevented husbands from being charged with rape for sexual acts committed against their wives.   Meeting My Client’s Husband   As a courtesy, I contacted my client’s husband (who worked in Montgomery) and asked him for a meeting before I filed her complaint.  He obliged me, but he did not want to meet in my office.  Instead, the husband came in his unmarked State Trooper car to pick me up from my office.    During our drive around downtown Montgomery, the husband, who was armed, threatened to “ fuck [me] up ” if I represented his wife.  He called me an “ arrogant, uppity nigger ” who was getting out of my place.  I listened to this man’s racial slurs and profanity-laced rant, without saying much.    When my client’s husband finished driving me around, he let me out in front of my office. As I exited the car, I leaned in and told this man I would see him in court.  His face turned fire engine red.   My client gave me authorization to file the divorce complaint.  I loaded the husband down with a detailed divorce complaint and a ton of simultaneously filed discovery requests.  I also filed a simultaneous motion for an emergency restraining order to keep him away from my client during the divorce proceedings.  The Order was quickly granted after her husband failed to show for the hearing.   For the next three weeks, I subjected the husband to a Blitzkrieg technique I would later call “ laser litigation .”  It broke him right away and he agreed to the divorce settlement my client wanted.   My client was elated.  Her physical abuse ended from the moment the husband met me in Montgomery.  I did not care about his racial slurs or threats of physical harm, which I had experienced from so many white police officers, white attorneys, and white judges before I met him.  I just wanted my client’s dignity and freedom restored.    We secured her divorce, her dignity as a woman, and her freedom in record time.   Epilogue   My client’s case (and others who were similarly situated) went a long way toward ending marital rape in Alabama.  Word of her case spread quickly within the ranks of Alabama’s law enforcement community.    She was an extremely brave woman.  It was an honor to represent her.   I stayed in touch with my client, via phone calls, for many years.  I will never forget her courage and commitment to ending marital rape for women in Alabama.   I ended my divorce practice in 1983 because it was skewing my view of the institution of marriage and making me increasingly hostile toward married men who emotionally, physically, and sexually abused their wives.  I was beginning to take great pleasure in punishing these abusers, which I knew was not right.   Ten years later, Alabama ended a husband’s legal right to rape his wife.  Hopefully, our society, in its quest to "Make America Great Again," will never go back to that place in time.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on April 1, 2025 Steve Marshall (left) shakes the hand of disgraced former Governor Robert Bentley after Bentley appointed him as Alabama's new Attorney General in April 2017. An Editorial Opinion   In the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court case in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022) that paved the way for states to impose near-total bans on abortion, Alabama Attorney Steve Marshall threatened criminal prosecution of any person or group promoting and/or facilitating out-of-state abortions in states where this medical procedure is legal.   Yesterday, a U.S. District Court in Montgomery, Alabama ruled that Marshall’s threat of criminal prosecution constitutes an unconstitutional restriction on the plaintiffs’ right to travel and freedom of speech.  The Court’s March 31, 2025, 131-page ruling is linked here.     This ruling is a high-profile defeat for Marshall, who is on a losing streak in major constitutional law cases.  On June 8, 2023, Marshall lost the Allen v. Milligan voting rights case in the ultra-conservative U.S. Supreme Court.  As a result, Alabama gained a second Black Congressional member in the 2024 elections.   In yesterday's right to travel case, the Court stated that Marshall’s legal arguments contravened "history, precedent, and common sense . "   (Page 67).   That’s the Court’s charitable way of saying Marshall’s legal arguments were dumb.   Steve Marshall was initially appointed as Attorney General by disgraced former Governor Robert Bentley in April 2017 in the governor's effort to escape criminal liability on ethics charges in his “sex-for-power” scandal.  Bentley scoured the state for the weakest and most inexperienced prosecutor he could appoint as Attorney General.  The search yielded Marshall County District Attorney Steve Marshall, who possessed a “powder-puff” resume and marginal list of greatly embellished “achievements.”     Inside Alabama political circles, Steve Marshall is generally considered to be weaker and dumber than former state Attorney General/U.S. Senator/U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions.  President Donald Trump fired Sessions in November 2018 after he proved to be dumb and disloyal.   Marshall, whose appointment as Attorney General resulted strictly from a pure act of “Good Ol’ Boys affirmative action,” has amassed a distinguished record of (a) avoiding criminal prosecutions of corrupt corporate executives and dangerous street gangs, (b) violating constitutional rights, and (c) losing high-profile civil cases. Marshall rarely stands up for the rights of any person outside of a mother's womb.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on March 31, 2025 President Donald J. Trump An Editorial Opinion   Yesterday, President Donald Trump confirmed that he plans to stay in office beyond his second term, which expires in January 2029.  Most people have dismissed the possibility of this event happening. I have not.   Political pundits and media voices have consistently underestimated Trump’s dogged ability to reach his political goals, even though he has won the presidency twice -- against incredible odds.  They are underestimating him, again.   Trump already has a game plan to remain in power and a willlingness to do whatever it takes to accomplish this goal.  Trump has remade the presidency into an Imperial Presidency, with no “checks and balances” from Congress and with a grant of immunity from criminal prosecution from his MAGA-controlled U.S. Supreme Court.   Donald Trump is not going to leave the presidency, voluntarily.  To the contrary, Trump is fully executing a “Manifest Destiny” plan that includes: (a) staying in power beyond his term, (b) seizing the sovereign nation of Canada and the Danish territory of Greenland, and (c) using military force, if necessary, to prevent a regime change in America in January 2029.    The Political Infrastructure is in Place for Trump to Stay in Power Beyond January 2029   Sometime in early 2028, Trump will likely declare a national state of emergency due to alleged widespread threats of domestic terrorism, foreign threats of armed conflict against the U.S. interests, and military action Trump is expected to initiate in the Middle East.   Against this backdrop, Trump will impose martial law and suspend the Constitution until new elections can be held in 2032.   Trump has already seized ironclad control of the governmental bodies he needs to remain in power, via martial law.  He has a dictatorial grip over the U.S. military (via Pete Hegseth), the U.S. Attorney General (via Pam Bondi), the FBI (via Kash Patel), Homeland Security (via Christi Noem), the CIA (via John Ratcliffe), the National Intelligence Agencies (via Tulsi Gabbard), the U.S. Congress, the Republican Party, “Red state” governors, the U.S. Supreme Court, Wall Street, Fox News, X (formerly known as Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, and a host of other government agencies and major corporations that form the backbone of America.    The heads of these government agencies, media groups, and corporations suck-up to Donald Trump on a daily basis.  None of them exercises independent judgment on domestic affairs.   Elon Musk, who has shown a propensity to seek and attain “above the law” status in all matters of interest to him, is Trump’s sidekick, enabler, and First Buddy.  This South African native, whose family thrived during the country’s apartheid-era “white minority rule” government, is no stranger to supporting unpopular public figures and nefarious governance schemes.   America Now Has an Imperial President Running the Country What used to be a democracy in America has morphed into an Imperial Presidency, with a supporting oligarchy.  Trump is the Imperial President. Super-wealthy corporations and individuals are the devoted oligarchs.  We call them the “One Percenters.”  Their wealth is measured every day on Wall Street and is protected by Congress, the U.S. Supreme Court, and every U.S. president.   In 2010, in the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission , the U.S. Supreme Court gave wealthy corporations the legal right to buy elected officials in America, which they promptly did.  This is why tax laws favor the rich and why wealthy corporations and Wall Street banks always get bailed out in times of great economic crisis.     Prior to the outbreak of COVID-19 in America in February 2020, Trump was exploring a proposal to extend his term in office by repealing the 22nd Amendment, which limits a president to two terms in office.  Trump was inspired to extend his term in office by the example he saw with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin.  Both men ushered in changes to their countries’ constitutions that effectively made them presidents for life.  Both men serve as role models for Trump in the art of governing a nation with a dictatorial grip.   A Majority of Americans May Support Trump's Martial Law Plan   Trump believes his diehard base of MAGA supporters and the “One Percenters” will back his plan to remain in office.  To them, the end-result of permanent "MAGA-Rule" on the American political scene justifies the means necessary to achieve it.   In addition to declaring a national state of emergency, Trump will likely use federal agents and military troops to enforce martial law in America, particularly in cities and states that are governed by Democrats.  Trump has already characterized these areas as hot zones for violence, rioting, and lawlessness.   The blueprint for Trump's use of the military for the mass incarceration of American dissenters already exists.   A 1970 document written by Louis O. Giuffrada at the U.S. Army War College in Pennsylvania titled, “ National Survival-Racial Imperative ,” provides elaborate details of a federal government plan to round up black Americans and place them in concentration camps across America, if necessary for national security. Giuffrada, who was a full colonel in the Military Police Corps in 1970, later became President Ronald Reagan’s FEMA director. Giuffrada's Plan is chilling in its graphic profile of race relations America. It described a level of white "anger" in 1970 that is eerily similar to the "anti-DEI" anger Donald Trump has tapped into today.   Epilogue   Donald Trump is predictable.  He wanted to transform the presidency, and he did.  Republicans and Democrats, alike, are afraid of his Imperial Presidency.  America now has an authoritarian ruler who issues presidential edicts (i.e., Executive Orders) every day.   On August 1, 2015, I published the first article in America that predicted Donald Trump’s victory in 2016, and explained why.   In March 2020, I predicted Trump's defeat due to his mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic response.  In September 2024, I predicted Trump's victory for a second term in the White House.   Today, I am predicting that Trump will not leave office voluntarily when his term expires in January 2029.  The ruling oligarchy in America will back his decision to remain in office as the nation's first Imperial President.  This experience, like many others during the Trump presidency, will be a first in American history.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on March 30, 2025 National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, D.C. An Editorial Opinion After only ten weeks in office, President Donald Trump’s blitzkrieg against the national policy of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) has brought him to the front steps of the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) in Washington, D.C.  Trump is not there to learn about the painful experience of Black Americans over the last 400 years -- from slavery to ongoing “ cradle to the grave " racial discrimination, as acknowledged by the U.S. Supreme Court on June 8, 2023, in Allen v. Milligan .   No, Trump is there to suppress and erase African American history and culture in his effort to restore what he believes is the greatness of the white European colonists who slaughtered millions of Native Americans and enslaved millions of Africans in their quest to make America great.  To accomplish his wholesale suppression and erasure of African American history, Trump issued an Executive Order on March 27, 2025, titled, “ Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History .”  The Order specifically targets the NMAAHC.   The intent and purpose of this Executive Order is stated as follows:   “Over the past decade, Americans have witnessed a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth. This revisionist movement seeks to undermine the remarkable achievements of the United States by casting its founding principles and historical milestones in a negative light.  Under this historical revision, our Nation’s unparalleled legacy of advancing liberty, individual rights, and human happiness is reconstructed as inherently racist, sexist, oppressive, or otherwise irredeemably flawed…..”.   The Order directs the Secretary of the Interior to:   “take action …. to ensure that all public monuments, memorials, statues, markers, or similar properties within the Department of the Interior’s jurisdiction do not contain descriptions, depictions, or other content that inappropriately disparage Americans past or living (including persons living in colonial times), and instead focus on the greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people or, with respect to natural features, the beauty, abundance, and grandeur of the American landscape.”   What History is Trump Trying to Erase from Our National Memory?   When America was "founded" in the 1,600s by white European colonists in the pursuit of their "Manifest Destiny," slaves of African descent were deemed “chattel property” that could be bought and sold to third parties and/or willed to heirs upon the death of the slaveowner.  They were insured as “property,” and could be used as collateral on bank loans.  Millions of Africans were enslaved in America for over 250 years.   Trump does not want any of this African American history mentioned or displayed in the NMAAHC or any other museum on federal property or on property listed in the National Register of Historic Places .   Like slaves of African descent, women in America had no rights that white men were bound to respect. From the time the first colony was founded in Jamestown, Virginia in 1607 until the late 1870s, a woman's husband enjoyed the legal right to (a) beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb, (b) pull her hair, (c) choke her, (d) spit in her face, (d) kick her about the floor, and (e) inflict upon her like indignities. This inhumane treatment of women came to a fitting end through a series of landmark court cases around the nation.  Women did not get the right to vote until 1920.  Furthermore, a husband’s legal right to rape his wife did not end until 1979.   Trump does not want America's historical treatment of women mentioned or displayed in the forthcoming Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum or any other museum on federal property or on property listed in the National Register .   The Declaration of Independence explicitly calls Native Americans “ merciless Indian Savages .” Indian Tribes that stood their ground in the face of "Manifest Destiny" were slaughtered -- by the millions -- in horrific ways. The Declaration of Independence also condemned King George’s refusal to return runaway Black slaves to their owners.  Of course, Trump moved the original Declaration of Independence into the Oval Office where he shows it off to friends and visitors.   None of the events Trump seeks to suppress and erase constitutes “reconstructed” history.  These events are explicitly referenced in the nation’s founding documents and law books dating back to the 1600s. According to Trump, the mere acknowledgment of this documented history “ inappropriately disparage(s) Americans past or living (including persons living in colonial times) .”      Trump Has Faced No Meaningful Resistance from Today’s Black Leaders   The Trump blitzkrieg to erase Black history and culture has faced no meaningful resistance from Black mega-church preachers who fleece their congregations each Sunday for money to finance their heavenly lifestyle on Earth.  Likewise, Trump’s Blitzkrieg has faced no meaningful resistance from any state-supported HBCU president, even though many of these presidents have a battery of lawyers and hefty legal budget at their disposal to challenge Trump’s anti-DEI actions in court.    Additionally, Trump’s Blitzkrieg has faced no meaningful resistance from Black mayors and county commissioners around the nation, many of whom have fully staffed law departments and litigation budgets to fight Trump’s non-stop assault on DEI initiatives in their cities/counties.      Finally, Trump’s anti-DEI Blitzkrieg has faced no meaningful resistance from the Congressional Black Caucus. The issuance of occasional softball press statements by a couple of conscientious Caucus members means nothing to Trump.   The lack of any legal action by state-supported land-grant HBCU presidents to challenge Trump's DEI rollback Orders does not surprise me.  Trump sees in them what I see  -- pure cowardice , psychological castration, and impotence.  For example, all 16 state-supported land-grant HBCU institutions received notices from the Biden administration’s Departments of Education and Agriculture on September 18, 2023, that they were owed $13 billion in equitable state funding. Not one of them took legal action to collect the money that was owed to his/her institution.  It's too late to get this money now.   For the most part, the nation’s Black mayors and other local officials will not fight for their African American constituents because they do not want to offend the Trump-aligned anti-DEI corporations that finance their campaigns.  Sadly, these public officials spend more time posting self-glorification photos and memes on social media than fighting Donald Trump on DEI rollbacks.   Trump Preserves Confederate Museums on the National Register Amid his attack on the NMAAHC, Donald Trump has chosen to preserve and protect the First White House of the Confederacy in Montgomery, Alabama. This museum stands enshrined on the state Capitol grounds in Montgomery, Alabama. It is an enduring symbol of states rights, Confederate heritage, and Confederate flag-flying Old South glory. First White House of the Confederacy, Montgomery, Alabama. This museum is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The National Register is the U.S. Department of Interior's official list of sites, buildings, structures, districts, and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance. As expected, Trump has taken no executive action to remove the First White House of the Confederacy from the National Register. Apparently, this museum does not " inappropriately disparage Americans past or living." Of course, Black slaves were deemed to be sub-human prior to and during the Confederate era. By law, they were "chattel property" and had no rights that white men were bound to respect.

By Donald V. Watkins ©Copyrighted and Published on April 29, 2019 Doyal Reed is Birmingham, Alabama's last warrior for economic justice. Reed's MESBIC produced more economic empowerment for Birmingham businesses in a five-year period during the late 1980s and early 1990s than all city officials and local government-sponsored empowerment programs have achieved during the last 25-years. An Editorial Opinion He has been a close friend, trusted advisor, and staunch ally for more than three decades. He has never flinched on the battlefield. He is keenly aware of the various personalities on Birmingham, Alabama’s political scene. He also knows who will “buck dance” for Birmingham’s traditional power-players, and who will not. As a youngster who grew up in the Powderly Hill community of Birmingham and who marched as a child with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth during their 1963 “Birmingham Campaign,” this man has been an advocate for equal opportunity, economic justice, and the fair administration of criminal justice since childhood. Like the other children who marched in the “Birmingham Campaign,” this man was willing to risk his life as a child for the betterment of his community, city, and state. His name is Doyal Reed. He is 6’4” tall, smart, tough, and fearless. He has a backbone of steel and a heart of gold. Doyal is Birmingham's last warrior for economic justice. At 66-years-old, Doyal shows no sign of letting up any time soon. Doyal Reed graduated from Wenonah High School in 1971, where he served as president of the student government association during his junior and senior years in high school. In 1975, Doyal graduated from Alabama A&M University (AAMU) with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. After graduating from AAMU, Doyal worked as an in-house accountant for Dr. Richard Arrington, Jr. at the Alabama Center for Higher Education. He then served as a co-campaign manager and political advisor to Dr. Arrington in his successful quest to become Birmingham's first black mayor. Doyal helped Mayor Arrington win a total of five terms as mayor. While working with the Arrington administration, Doyal Reed, Harold Gilchrist, and Myrtis Myles opened the doors of economic opportunity for hundreds of minorities in Birmingham by forming a minority enterprise small business investment company (MESBIC). This government-chartered venture firm provided much needed access to capital to bona fide minority-owned businesses. During the MESBIC’s five-year run in the late 1980s and early 1990s, minority business owners were able to qualify for and win hundreds of millions of dollars in city, county, and private sector contracts for goods and services. While promoting economic empowerment for companies participating in his MESBIC program, Doyal Reed never sought credit for his work. Likewise, Doyal never sought to cash-in on his personal and political relationship with Arrington or any other politician. Doyal Reed only cared about achieving positive results for Birmingham residents and local businesses by: (a) providing minorities a fair shot at competing for government and private sector contracts for goods and services, (b) improving the quality of education in Birmingham public schools, and (c) making sure Birmingham city government delivered all seven basic city services to each one of the city's ninety-nine designated neighborhoods and communities. When I became Mayor Arrington’s special counsel in 1985, Doyal was fighting for disadvantaged businesses that wanted to contribute to the city's economic growth. He was fixated on improving the quality of life for those who never had a shot at competing on a level playing field. When a three-person delegation from Birmingham’s big banks visited Doyal Reed and Harold Gilchrist at their investment banking firm in the late 1980s and told them to distance themselves from Dr. Arrington and me because we were pushing too hard for fair lending practices, economic empowerment, and community reinvestment, Doyal did not do so. Instead, on the next day, Doyal prominently displayed photographs of Dr. Arrington and me on the walls of his office for all visitors to see. Doyal Reed has always made two things very clear to everyone: First, he does not trade old friends for new ones. Second, no man/woman can intimidate him or cause him to become less than a man. To Doyal Reed, hard work, honesty, true friendship, courage, and dedication to cause of equal opportunity and the fair administration of justice are principled goals and personal attributes, whether they are appreciated by all segments of Birmingham society, or not. Ironically, many of the individuals who serve in Birmingham city government today, including Birmingham's mayor and most of the city’s council members, do not seem to care about economic empowerment for minority and women-owned businesses. They appear to be satisfied with the status quo. For reasons that are difficult for me to understand, today’s city officials have achieved far less economic empowerment for minority business enterprises than Doyal Reed accomplished with his MESBIC during a five-year period in the late 1980s and early 1990s when every move toward economic justice was met with massive resistance from the entrenched “Good Ol’ Boy” power structure that ran Birmingham for most of the 20th century. Earlier this month, Doyal Reed brought to my attention that the mayor, council, and park board members fumbled a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity to partner with Major League Baseball (MLB). Doyal was shocked at the way all of these city officials bowed down to the wishes of one council member -- Council President Valerie Abbott. Councilor Abbott’s opposition to MLB’s planned project at George Ward Park caused Mayor Randall Woodfin, the other 8 council members, and all five park board members to get on their knees, crawl towards Abbott, and willingly surrender the political interests of their constituents in the MLB project to her. As I have discussed in my five previous articles, MLB planned to invest $10 million in the construction of four full-size baseball fields and a world-class Youth Baseball Academy at George Ward Park. The project would have placed Birmingham on the world map for something other than the infamous 16th Street Baptist Church bombing that killed four little girls and the shocking images of Bull Connor using firehoses and police dogs to attack peaceful civil rights demonstrators. Because of his strong background in economic empowerment, Doyal Reed realized that a partnership with MLB would have given Birmingham a tremendous competitive advantage over cities that do not enjoy such a relationship. After all, MLB is a multi-billion-dollar enterprise that can deliver tangible economic benefits to neighborhood schools, non-profit organizations, local businesses, and civic organizations. After the MLB debacle, I realized that Doyal Reed is the last warrior for economic justice on the Birmingham political scene. He is a good and decent man who has demonstrated his unwavering commitment to the principles of fair play, economic empowerment, and participatory democracy. This is why I admire and respect Doyal Reed. This is why we are close friends to this day. This is why I am telling his untold story. It deserves to be told so that Doyal Reed can take his rightful place in the annals of recorded history. Doyal Reed with civil rights icon Rosa Parks in 1991.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on March 27, 2025 Robert Archer Martin An Editorial Opinion Robert Archer Martin was one of the greatest men in Alabama history.  I knew him as Bob Martin.  This is his story.   Bob Martin began his newspaper career with The Florence Times of Florence, Alabama (now known as The Times Daily ) while attending Florence State University, (now the University of North Alabama).  As a college student, Bob began in the mail room, worked in circulation and started covering high school football games. He became a sports reporter and eventually sports editor.  He continued to advance at The Times ultimately becoming its executive editor.   In 1972, Bob Martin, with his family in tow, followed newly elected Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Howell Heflin to Montgomery where Bob began a 25-year career with the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) working under Chief Justices Heflin, C.C. “Bo” Torbert, Sonny Hornsby, and Perry Hooper, Sr.  In 1989, Bob earned his Juris Doctor from Jones School of Law.   Throughout his career in both the newspaper business and as director of the state courts, Bob became friends with and met many important figures in Alabama and around the nation.  I met Bob in the early 1980s. We hit it off right away. Bob was a thinker, a visionary, and a problem-solver. Above all, Bob had a backbone of steel and excellent communications skills.   When Bob ran AOC, he played a vital role in passing Alabama's Judicial Article (Amendment 328, which was ratified in 1973). The Article unified and standardized the public’s interaction with Alabama courts.   Bob also worked his butt off to end generational judicial bias against black lawyers and their clients in courtrooms around the state.  He was relentless in his efforts to level the playing field for Alabama's black citizens.  I worked closely with Bob throughout the 1980s and 90s on this goal.   What made Bob great was his unique ability to effectuate positive change in the state's judiciary, while minimizing the backlash from those who were resistant to any change in the “Good Ol' Boys” arrangement within the courts.  Also, Bob’s word was his bond, which is a rarity in today's world. When Bob gave you his word, you could take it to the bank.   After spending 25 years with AOC, Bob Martin returned to the news business.  Bob purchased The Montgomery Independent in March 1997 and soon after retired from the AOC to dedicate all of his time to the publication.   Bob Martin served as President of the Alabama Press Association (APA) Journalism Foundation in 2008. Bob was also a member of the U.S Army Reserve Unit in Sheffield, the Fighting 336th Army APU.  Bob Martin died on September 15, 2020 in Montgomery, Alabama.   Looking back on it today, no single person did more to eradicate generational white racism in Alabama's judicial system than Bob Martin.  He was truly one of the great ones. I really miss him!

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on March 26, 2025 Dr. Patrick Craig Walsh An Editorial Opinion During my 46-year legal career, I learned that two things meant more to Alabama judges than anything else.  First, male judges wanted their penises working on command.  Second, all judges wanted the hearts working properly.    In the early 1980s, whoever could assist Alabama judges with these two medical concerns had the unique ability to level the judicial playing field inside of their courtrooms for competent black lawyers who often experienced judicial bias from these judges solely because of their race. As explained below, this opportunity zone fell into my lap.   Fixing “Dicks”   Dr. Patrick C. Walsh   is a world-renowned urologist, researcher and writer. He is best known for developing "the anatomic approach to radical prostatectomy," which involved nerve-sparing techniques that reduced the likelihood of impotence and urinary incontinence.  In plain language, Dr. Walsh developed a technique for prostate cancer surgery that did not leave men's "dicks" impotent and dripping.   Dr. Walsh arrived in Baltimore, Maryland in 1974 to serve as the Director of the Brady Urological Institute at John Hopkins University Medical School.  He started performing his innovative prostate surgery in 1982. Today , Dr. Walsh is recognized internationally as a pioneer in the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer.   Fixing Hearts   Dr. Walsh was a friend and professional ally of my oldest brother, Dr. Levi Watkins, Jr., a John Hopkins heart surgeon who co-developed and implanted the first automatic defibrillator in a human being in 1980.  More than 3 million patients have this device implanted in their bodies today.   For several years, Drs. Walsh and Watkins were the only physicians in the world who could performed their innovative surgical techniques on the body parts that men cherish the most – their "dicks" and hearts.   The waitlists to see Dr. Walsh for a radical prostatectomy and Dr. Watkins for an implantable defibrillator were nearly a year long.  Men from all over the world and all walks of life wanted the specialized medical services these two trailblazing physicians provided.   As a matter of professional courtesy and because of their close personal friendship, Walsh could usher someone to the front of Dr. Watkins’ line, and Levi could do the same for the line of patients waiting to see Dr. Walsh.   Judicial Demand in Alabama for Specialized Medical Services   Beginning in 1980, people from all over Alabama, including judges, called me in an effort to get a priority spot in the front of the line for my brother’s automatic implantable defibrillator.  The calls for medical assistance exploded when Dr. Walsh began performing his pioneering prostate surgical procedure in 1982. For some reason, judges begged to be placed in the front of Walsh's prostate surgery line. Levi and I were extremely close. He desegrated Vanderbilt University's medical school and I desgregated the University of Alabama's law school. We knew, first hand, how widespread and vicious white racism was in Alabama and other southern states in the 1970s and 80s. What is more, both of us were raised to be bridge builders.   After I entered the legal profession in 1973 and experienced judicial racism on a Richter Scale of 10, I wanted a level playing field for myself and other black lawyers in the courts of Alabama.  The only affirmative action I had seen in the legal system came in the form of white judges cheating in their courtrooms for the benefit of my white opposing attorneys. I could count on that cheating like I could count of the sun rising each morning. By 1980, Levi and I realized we could use cutting-edge medical advancements at Johns Hopkins to level the playing field for competent black lawyers in Alabama. So, we decided to turn the unsolicited requests from ailing Alabama judges into a leveling program for competent black lawyers who were being unfairly railroaded in Alabama courtrooms. We started with the implantable defibrillators in 1980 and expanded the program to include Dr. Walsh's prostate surgery technique in 1982.   Frankly, Levi was stunned that white judges in Alabama were leaning on me to get their “dicks” and hearts fixed at Johns Hopkins.  He did not think they were worthy of jumping the line. Outside of our de facto courtroom leveling program, they were not.   So, from time to time, Levi and I used priority access to the pioneering advancements in cardiovascular and urological treatment procedures at John Hopkins Medical Center to level the playing field for the competent black lawyers who suffered unimaginable racism and abuse in Alabama’s white male dominated courtrooms in the 1980s.  Once the judicial playing field was level, these lawyers were able to showcase their legal skills and win the cases they deserved to win.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on March 24, 2025 Legendary NFL quarterback Bart Starr (left) with his father Benjamin Bryan Starr (right). An Editorial Opinion   Most people knew Benjamin Bryan Starr as the father of legendary NFL quarterback Bart Starr.   I knew him in a totally different way.   When I met Benjamin Bryan Starr, the judges, court personnel, and attorneys in the Montgomery County, Alabama Courthouse called him “Chief Starr.”  The former World War II Air Force veteran served as a bailiff in the courthouse following his retirement as a labor foreman with the state highway department.   Chief Starr, who was of Native American descent, took a special interest in me during his years as a bailiff in the courthouse.  He admired my work in the high-profile Bernard Whitehurst and Scottsboro Boys cases in the 1970s. A Powerful Ally In his own way, Chief Starr blocked for me within the walls of the Montgomery County courthouse during the early 1980s much like Mary Griffin Auburtin blocked for me in the Perry County courthouse during the 1970s.  Both courthouse icons made it their mission to minimize the amount of bigotry and racism I experienced from judges and court personnel in their courthouses.   Like Auburtin, Chief Starr was openly friendly with me.  He was also very knowledgeable about courthouse politics, and he freely shared this knowledge with me.  Chief Starr loved to walk me into the judge’s private chambers right before the start of my trials. There, he would announce that I was a good guy and a friend of his.  Like Auburtin, Chief Starr was a powerful and dependable courthouse ally. He truly believed in equal justice.   Chief Starr attended my trials whenever he could.  Through his body language and other visible courtroom gestures, the well-known father of Bart Starr made sure the jurors in my cases knew that he had a favorable opinion of me.   These actions mattered in winning my cases in the Montgomery County courthouse.  They also contributed significantly to my ability to amass a 217-8 overall win-loss record in trials during my 46-year legal career.   As was the case with Mary Griffin Auburtin, Benjamin Bryan Starr asked nothing in return for his friendship.  All he wanted was a level playing field for me within the walls of the Montgomery County courthouse, and Chief Starr did his best to level it. I did the rest.   Chief Starr died on April 26, 1985, at age 74.  He was one of the great ones. Benjamin Bryan Starr fought for America in the Pacific Theater during World War II and fought at home as a courthouse bailiff to level the playing field within the Montgomery County, Alabama Courthouse.