By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on May 16, 2024 An Editorial Opinion Public safety in Birmingham, Alabama has collapsed.  Police protection for its citizens is virtually nonexistent.  The city is as dangerous as a war zone.  Violent crime has spiraled out of control. On Tuesday, Michael Phillip Coleman, a 62-year-old man confined to a wheelchair, was gunned down in a Birmingham drive-by shooting.  The murder of this wheelchair-bound victim was an unthinkable act of violence. It ushers in a new and sickening dimension of violent crime in the city. What is more, on Mother's Day, gun violence in the city wounded a 9-year-old girl in a "wild west-style" shootout near her home.  On the same day, an 11-year-old boy was wounded in a second and separate Mother’s Day incident. Drive-by shootings, running gun battles on city streets (and Interstate highways within the city limits), and mass killings have become regular occurrences in Birmingham. Birmingham city officials obviously have no effective plan to combat this surge in violent crime.  They have ignored proven policing strategies for curbing violent crime.  For whatever reasons, they have become soft on violent crime. Instead, these officials have embraced Kumbaya sessions with street criminals. They have advocated in Washington, D.C., for the decriminalization of marijuana laws. And, they have experimented with a pilot program that teaches violence prevention to juveniles. None of these "Photo-Op" measures is working. They sound good on social media platforms, but they are a complete waste of time and money. On Tuesday, the city council approved Mayor Randall Woodfin's plan for a 200-person Citizens Observer Patrol to monitor crime in dangerous neighborhoods. Under the plan, Birmingham residents would volunteer and be trained to patrol the city’s neighborhoods and report criminal activity to the police. Today, the only Birmingham resident who enjoys adequate, around-the-clock police protection is Mayor Woodfin. Up to four officers are assigned to Woodfin's security detail to protect him from violent crime. Ordinary Birmingham citizens, who are afraid to leave their homes, must fend for themselves. Birmingham is Dying In the 1970s, Birmingham was the largest city in the state. Today, Birmingham, with a population of 193,491, is the fourth-largest city in Alabama.  Huntsville, with 227,522 residents, is number one.  Mobile, with 204,600 residents, is second.  Montgomery, with 201,287 residents, is third. When Woodfin became Birmingham’s mayor in 2017, the city’s population was 211,125 residents.  Birmingham's population decreased by 17,634 residents since Woodfin assumed his office. Because of (a) the surge in violent crime, (b) an understaffed police department, (c) the routine delivery of subpar basic city services, and (d) the poor quality of 25 Birmingham public schools (including two designated magnet schools), businesses and middle-class residents (black and white) are fleeing the city in droves. Focusing on Optics Rather Than Results The people at City Hall are focused on optics rather than results. For the most part, they are merely play-acting in the roles of mayor and council members. They have not solved the growing public safety problem that threatens the city's very existence. What is worse, City Hall has consistently failed to use available city funds and resources to fully staff the city's police department. Jefferson County, Alabama District Attorney Danny Carr and U.S. Attorney Prim Escalona (Birmingham) have not provided any leadership in curbing this violent crime, either.  As a result, violent gang members, career criminals, and drug dealers have taken over the streets of Birmingham. Escalona is a Donald Trump holdover appointee who has served throughout Joe Biden’s entire term as president, thanks to a political deal GOP power-players in Alabama struck with Democratic Congresswoman Terri Sewell (in exchange for campaign .donationsfor Sewell). Furthermore, Escalona has zero experience in criminal law enforcement. Epilogue At this juncture, about the only public safety strategy left for city officials to rollout may be this desperate move:  The city of Birmingham could hand out bullet-proof vests and SWAT-style police helmets to residents who want them (free of charge) so they can go to the grocery store, neighborhood gas stations, and to and from work and church with a measure of public safety protection that affords them the best chance to survive in Birmingham's increasingly violent war zones. Since Randall Woodfin has been mayor, the city has spent over $120 million in taxpayers’ money building a football stadium for the University of Alabama at Birmingham, bailing out the World Games 2022, propping up the now-defunct Birmingham-Southern College, and financing a downtown amphitheater, all for the benefit of the over-the-mountain crowd. The $100 million "rainy day" savings account Mayor Richard Arrington, Jr., left in 1999 for his successors for emergencies is almost gone. There may be enougn money left in this savings account to pay for protective vests and helmets for Birmingham citizens who want this kind of public safety protection and equipment.

By: Donald V. Watkins May 13, 2024 An Editorial Opinion On September 18, 2023, the U.S. Departments of Education and Agriculture declared that Alabama A&M University and 15 other historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are owed $12.8 billion.  The money owed to each HBCU is set out in a letter to the governor of the state where the land-grant HBCU is located. The money represents the aggregate amount due to all 16 HBCHs that were underfunded over the last 30 years. According the the Departments of Education and Agriculture , the list of HBCUs entitled to this money and the amount owed to each one are as follows: Alabama - Alabama A&M University - $527.3 million Arkansas - University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff - $330.9 million Florida - Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University - $1.97 billion Georgia - Fort Valley State University - $603 million Kentucky - Kentucky State University - $172 million Louisiana - Southern University and A & M College - $1.1 billion each Maryland - University of Maryland Eastern Shore - $321 million Mississippi - Alcorn State University - $257 million Missouri - Lincoln University - $361 million North Carolina - North Carolina A&T State University - $2 billion Oklahoma - Langston University - $418.9 million South Carolina - South Carolina State University - $470 million Tennessee - Tennessee State University - $2.1 billion Texas - Prairie View A & M University - $1.1 billion Virginia - Virginia State University - $277.5 million West Virginia - West Virginia State University - $852.6 million Adjusted for updated financial data, the total amount owed exceeds $13.7 billion. No HBCU on the list has initiated litigation to collect the money it is owed. Instead, the presidents and trustees of these 16 HBCUs have engaged in a display of cowardice, malfeasance, dereliction of duty, and sellout that would cause them to be criminally prosecuted if this unparalleled breach of their fiduciary obligations had occurred at historically white colleges and universities (HWCUs). Instead of collecting the money, these HBCUs are engaging in subterfuge and backflips to distract their institutional stakeholders from discovering the sad fact that they have sold them out to the MAGA power-players in their respective states -- to the tune of $12.8 billion. For example, at its commencement services two weekends ago, Florida A&M University publicly announced its participation in what turned out to be a $237 million flimflam scheme that quickly fell apart. The university is owed $1.9 billion, but will not go to Tallahassee to collect this legitimate debt. On the same day the $12.8 billion indebtedness was announced in Washington, D.C., Alabama A&M University's president reportedly informed Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey's offices that A&M would not pursue the collection of its $527 million debt. Last week, Alabama A&M announced a highly-suspect $52 million plan to acquire a 192-acre defunct HWCU college campus in Birmingham, knowing full well that A&M does not have the financial wherewithal to acquire, own, operate, and maintain the targeted campus. The bogus press announcement was intended to divert public attention away from the fact that Alabama A&M has not collected one dime of its $527 million debt. Alabama A&M, Florida A&M, and the other 14 HBCUs on the list of institutional creditors have voluntarily forfeited their right to collect the $12.8 billion debt owed to them, and they did so without a legal fight.  They all engaged in this suicidal forfeiture exercise to appease the MAGA power-players who control the governorships and/or state legislatures in their respective states. None of these 16 HBCUs on this list is financially secure enough to forfeit its portion of this $12.8 billion. Finally, no group of blacks in the history of America has ever forfeited $12.8 billion of money that was legitimately owed to them without one hell of a fight.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on May 11, 2024 An Editorial Opinion The Biden administration has finally and formally acknowledged Israel’s war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Gaza.  On Friday, the U.S. State Department released a 103-page report that extensively documents the findings presented in the Executive Summary excerpted below: “On October 7, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and other Palestinian terrorists launched a large-scale attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip, killing an estimated 1,200 individuals, injuring more than 5,400, and abducting 253 hostages. Israel responded with a sustained, wide-scale military operation in Gaza, which had killed more than 21,000 Palestinians and injured more than 56,000 by the end of the year, displaced the vast majority of Palestinians in Gaza, and resulted in a severe humanitarian crisis. The continuing conflict had a significant negative impact on the human rights situation in the country. Significant human rights issues included credible reports of: arbitrary or unlawful killings, including extrajudicial killings; enforced disappearance; torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by government officials; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest or detention; political prisoners or detainees; arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy; punishment of family members for alleged offenses by a relative; serious abuses in a conflict by Hamas and Israel, including unlawful or widespread civilian deaths and harm, enforced disappearances or abductions, torture, physical abuses, and conflict-related sexual violence or punishment; serious restrictions on freedom of expression and media freedom, including violence or threats against journalists, unjustified arrests or prosecution of journalists, and censorship; substantial interference with the freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of association; restrictions on freedom of movement and residence; serious government restrictions on or harassment of domestic and international human rights organizations; and crimes involving violence or threats of violence targeting members of national, racial, or ethnic minority groups.” As we have reported since December 15, 2023, Israeli descendants of the Nazi holocaust during World War II are perpetuating their own holocaust against tens of thousands of innocent Palestinian babies, children, women, and men in Gaza. Israel's holocaust has been atrocious.  It has also violated well-known international laws against war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. Sadly, it has been aided and abetted by the use of American weapons of war. A Failure of Leadership in Israel and at Home Hamas’ invasion of Israel was a terrorist attack that was pre-planned months in advance. Israeli intelligence agencies had advance knowledge of the widespread attacks, but they failed to prevent or adequately defend against them. This catastrophic failure of Israeli national intelligence agencies occurred on the watch of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the current and former Prime Minister. Netanyahu is generally regarded in the international community as a ruthless and lawless "thug." Netanyahu’s hardline coalition government views all Palestinians as "inferior beings" and potential Hamas terrorists. Joe Biden has been too weak to stop Israel’s war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Gaza.  However, in recent days, Biden finally mustered up the nerve to pause the shipment of America's mega bombs and artillery shells to Israel. Biden's executive action is too little, too late.  More than 34,900 Palestinians in Gaza have been slaughtered ny Israeli forces, including 13,000 innocent Palestinian babies and children and 9,000 innocent women. Netanyahu has vowed to continue with his country’s campaign of genocide in Gaza.  His unrelenting war crimes have effectively isolated Israel from the rest of the world. America is Israel’s staunchest ally, but there is a limit to how much genocide Israel can perpetrate in the name of national defense.  Apparently, 35,000 Palestinians deaths is the limit Biden will tolerate in the Israel-Hamas war. Netanyahu would kill them all, if he could. He has dared the world to criticize this scale of genocide in Gaza. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump supports Netanyahu's campaign of genocide against the innocent Palestinians in Gaza, without hesitation or reservation. As Americans know, Trump has also advocated killing innocent people of color in the U.S. (e.g., the "Central Park Five," who were later declared innocent of the charges against them) and at the southern border of the U.S.(e.g., "military should shoot rock-throwing migrants").  Trump openly expresses his disdain for the people of color he does not like. This is Murder and Ethnic-Cleansing, Not National Defense I also agree with Prof. Noam Chomsky’s statement of the war: “The Israeli decision to rain death and destruction on Gaza, to use lethal weapons of the modern battlefield on a largely defenseless civilian population, is the final phase in a decades-long campaign to ethnically-cleanse Palestinians. Israel uses sophisticated attack jets and naval vessels to bomb densely- crowded refugee camps, schools, apartment blocks, mosques, and slums to attack a population that has no air force, no air defense, no navy, no heavy weapons, no artillery units, no mechanized armor, no command in control, no army... and calls it a war. It is not a war, it is murder.” Of course, Prof. Chomsky is a highly respected Jewish scholar.  His words ring true. Epilogue The International Criminal Court should issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and the top Israeli officials who organized and executed the war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Gaza. They are war criminals. Finally, we owe a huge debt of thanks to the thousands of college students across America who stood up and protested against Israel’s war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Gaza.  Without their conscience, courage, and tenacity, Netanyahu’s indiscriminate killing of innocent Palestinians in Gaza would have continued unnoticed and unabated. I will always speak out in real-time against war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, no matter who the self-righteous perpetrators of these crimes are. No person, world leader, or special interest group on the planet has a chokehold on my journalistic voice.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on May 9, 2024 An Editorial Opinion In her new book, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem bragged that she shot and killed Cricket, a 14-month-old German wirehaired pointer puppy she was training for pheasant hunting. Noem falsely claimed the puppy was “dangerous” to livestock and children and had to be put down. Noem led Cricket to a gravel pit and shot him to death because he was "untrainable." Noem could have rehomed Cricket but instead chose to destroy him. Noem, a right-to-life conservative Republican, included the story about killing Cricket in her book to show "MAGA World" she is willing to do anything “difficult, messy and ugly,” if it has to be done.  Noem thought her willingness to kill a helpless puppy would impress the MAGA faithful.   Judging from the political backlash Noem is experiencing, she was wrong. Noem also claimed she met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.   This claim is false, as well.  Noem has tried to walk back the claimed meeting with Kim Jong Un without acknowledging that she lied about it. Noem is considered a potential running mate for presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump.  Noem, who is married, is best known in Republican circles as Trump political operative Corey Lewandowski's alleged mistress.  Lewandowski is married, as well. Considering Noem’s propensity to lie, cheat, kill puppies, and suck up to ruthless dictators, she might be the most compatible candidate to serve as Donald Trump’s vice-presidential running mate.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on May 5, 2024 In August 2011, Olayinka Arowolo and I co-founded Nabirm Energy Services (Pty) Ltd. to explore oil and gas opportunities in the Republic of Namibia.  Arowolo was a successful African entrepreneur and experienced corporate executive who is based in Nambia. I was heading Masada Resource Group, a Birmingham, Alabama based waste-to-energy company that is now known as OxyNol Solutions. The "Nabirm" name is derived from a combination of Namibia and Birmingham. We headquartered Nabirm in Windhoek, the beautiful capital city of Namibia. African-based GRAFFI DBA Investment Holdings (Pty) Ltd. became a Nabirm shareholder in 2014.  U.S.-based Horizons, LLC (Huntsville, Alabama), became a shareholder in 2020. The shareholders of Nabirm believed in turning possibilities into prosperity in oil-rich Namibia.  We stayed the course, focused on the flawless execution of Nabirm's business plan, ignored every nay-sayer, and overcame every obstacle in our path to success. On November 11, 2015, OffShore Engineer magazine shocked the oil and gas industry when it made this announcement about Nabirm: Today, Nabirm is focused on the implementation of the geotechnical work required to extract at least 522 million barrels of “unrisked” recoverable Brent crude oil and 583 billion cubic feet of “unrisked” methane natural gas from its assigned offshore oil block in the Walvis Bay on a non-farm out basis. This is an exciting time for Nabirm, its executive team, shareholders, and their work in the international oil business.  In 2011, we reimagined resource-rich Namibia and it is paying off today. What many people said was impossible is now our reality. To those who believed in Nabirm and supported us on this journey, we say, "Thank You!"

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on May 4, 2024 An Editorial Opinion Historically white Birmingham-Southern College (BSC) will close its doors for good on May 31, 2024.  The small private college struggled for years to make ends meet.  In the end, decades of “White Flight” from the westside of Birmingham, Alabama killed the college. A group of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), led by Miles College has expressed interest in purchasing BSC’s 192-acre campus.  Independent of these talks, Alabama A&M University in Huntsville has announced plans to make an offer to purchase the property for its Birmingham campus. Both plans sound good in media announcements, but will they work? Alabama’s History of Underfunding Its HBCUs The Alabama Office of Minority Affairs (AOMA) reports that the state has fourteen HBCUs, the largest number in the nation.  Their names and locations are depicted on the map below. The 1991 and 1995 court orders in the higher education desegregation case of Knight v. Alabama established the following facts about Alabama’s two state-supported, four-year HBCUs (i.e., Alabama State University and Alabama A&M University): 1. ASU was founded in 1867 because black college-bound students could not attend white colleges and universities in the state, while AAMU was founded in 1875 because black students who wanted to pursue an education in agriculture and mechanical arts could not attend Auburn University. 2. ASU and AAMU have always been underfunded and neglected by the state.  As a result, these HBCUs were unaccredited for long periods of time. 3. The only equitable funding provided to ASU and AAMU during their history resulted from 1991 and 1995 federal court orders in Knight v. Alabama and this funding lasted until the court orders were lifted in the 2000s. 4. Enhancements in academic program offerings and campus facilities at ASU and AAMU resulted from court orders and not from the state of Alabama doing the right thing. 5. The bulk of endowment money for ASU and AAUM came from court orders in Knight v. Alabama and not corporate and individual donations. Like ASU and AAMU, Alabama’s historically black, state-supported, two-year community colleges were underfunded and neglected from inception.  Equitable funding for campus facilities and academic program offerings at these colleges came from federal court orders in the case of Lee v. Macon County Board of Education (Junior Colleges and Trade Schools).  Equitable funding for these colleges ended when the court orders terminated. In the 1950s and 60s, ASU operated satellite branches in Birmingham and Mobile.   ASU closed both branches in the 1960s due to inadequate state funding for these branch operations. AAMU Never Collected $527 Million Owed to the University by the State On September 18, 2023, the U.S. Departments of Education and Agriculture notified Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey that the state owed AAMU $527,280,064 due to underfunding over the past 30 years.  AAMU never made any effort to collect this $527 million debt. Privately, AAMU’s president told university trustees and inquiring stakeholders that AAMU is better off without this money. On September 28, 2023, Gov. Ivey disputed the debt and threatened the basic right of AAMU to exist under the Morrill Act of 1890.  Ivey claims the Act is “unconstitutional.” As a result of Ivey's threat, AAMU trustees have never authorized litigation to collect this $527 million debt. Instead, AAMU pursued an appeasement policy to please Gov. Ivey. Except for Tuskegee University, private HBCUs in Alabama have operated under tight budgets since inception.  Tuskegee enjoys a reported $157 million endowment, as of 2021. ASU’s reported endowment was $131 million, as of 2021.  AAMU self-reports an endowment of nearly $50 million. Prior HBCU Collaborative Efforts The only time HBCUs in Alabama united in a consortium for a common purpose occurred with the creation of the Alabama Center for Higher Education (ACHE) in 1970, which was based in Birmingham and headed by Dr. Richard Arrington, Jr.  ACHE advocated for the advancement of its eight four-year member institutions, which included ASU, AAMU, and Miles College. Because of the historical financial constraints experienced by many of its members institutions, ASU underwrote a disproportionate share of ACHE’s operational expenses.  AAMU paid its membership dues, but did not contribute more. After Arrington departed ACHE to become Birmingham’s first black mayor in 1979, the organization folded. If a new consortium of HBCUs is formed to acquire the BSC campus, Miles President Bobbie Knight has the best chance of making it happen. She is a member of Alabama Power Company's board of directors and has deep roots in the state's corporate community. A company with the financial strength and political clout of Alabama Power is needed to back President Knight in this effort. Even then, it will takes 4 to 6 years for Knight to put such a consortium on solid financial and operational footings. A Bridge Too Far? Considering Alabama’s shabby treatment of its HBCUs, it is highly unlikely that a consortium of HBCUs in Alabama would be financially capable of acquiring, operating, and maintaining BSC’s campus without adequate state funding or massive corporate donations.  Apart from the operational and administrative cooperation required to own, operate, and maintain the BSC campus, the financial commitments, resources, and capabilities to do so today are sorely lacking. AAMU might be able to acquire BSC’s campus at a “fire sale” price, but it is doubtful that the state of Alabama would adequately fund the operations of a Birmingham campus year-over-year.  AAMU has presented no feasibility study to the Legislature or public showing that the university has the financial strength needed to own, operate, and maintain the BSC campus as a permenent branch of the university. Based upon (a) the state’s history of underfunding AAMU and (b) Alabama's near-total failure to acknowledge the intrinsic and extrinic value of HBCUs in the state, it is doubtful that the archconservative, Republican-controlled Alabama Legislature will adequately fund Birmingham campus operations for AAMU. A glance at the endowments of HBCUs in Alabama shows that corporate giving to these institutions is and always has been anemic. The Support Systems for HBCUs in Alabama is Shaky The acquisition of BSC and its continued use as a college campus require planning and resources that do not rely solely on state funding.  ASU and AAMU are always one legislative session away from the abolition of their entire board of trustees (as was done this year at Tennessee State University) and/or extermination (as was attempted this year by the Mississppi Legislature).  The same is true for the state's two-year HBCUs. Just one year ago, the archconservative U.S. Supreme Court affirmed a lower court ruling in the Congressional redistricting case of Allen v. Milligan that acknowledged Alabama’s historical agenda since the end of the Civil War to keep its black citizens downtrodden from the “cradle to the grave.”  Any HBCU that believes it is exempt from this historical treatment is delusional. Today, the governing bodies of the HBCUs in Alabama appear to lack the experienced and expertise necessary to overcome the political forces and financial factors that have historically impeded their growth and operations in the state.  Hell, AAMU will not even collect a $527 million federal government-certified debt the state owes the university. Furthermore, the speed at which the Alabama Legislature is regressing on racial matters suggests that neither of the two BSC campus purchase options proposed to date is feasible or practical.  A lot has to be done to make either proposal work.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on May 3, 2024 An Editorial Opinion Yesterday, President Joe Biden addressed the nation to condemn college protests against the Israel-Hamas war and Pro-Palestine student encampments on college campuses across America. Biden acknowledged the right of students to protest the U.S.’s complicity in the war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide committed by Israel against innocent Palestinians in Gaza.  However, Biden said the student protests must not disturb the orderly operations of the college and university campuses. Protesting students who commit misdemeanor offenses (e.g., disturbing the peace, unlawful assemble, trespassing, etc.) must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, says Biden. Meanwhile, Biden is using the full weight of the U.S. government to prevent the International Criminal Court from issuing arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top Israeli officials for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide committed by the Israeli military in Gaza. Biden has steadfastly refused to condemn Israel’s war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, which the U.S. aids and abets.  Likewise, Biden has never explained how killing 13,000 innocent Palestinian babies and children and 9,000 innocent women with U.S. supplied bombs and other military aid makes the world safer. Instead, Joe Biden continues to pledge his unconditional support for Israel's war effort.  For reasons he has never articulated, Biden believes that Israel’s war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide against innocent Palestinians in Gaza somehow advance the national security of the U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s position on Gaza is as extreme as Biden’s, if not more so.  Trump has advocated killing innocent people of color in the U.S. (e.g., the "Central Park Five," who were later declared innocent of the charges against them), at the southern border (e.g., "military should shoot rock-throwing migrants"), and in Gaza.  At least Trump openly expresses his disdain for the people of color he does not like. Based upon their own words and actions, Joe Biden and Donald Trump are okay with war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, provided that the victims are people of color.  As far as I am concerned, there is not a dime’s worth of difference between Biden and Trump in this regard.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on May 1, 2024 An Editorial Opinion A Harris Poll conducted during Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s final year of life revealed that nearly three-quarters of the American people thought he was persona non grata, and almost 60% of his black Americans thought he was irrelevant. Most white Americans turned against Dr. King after he opposed the Vietnam War. An April 4, 2018, article in the Smithsonian magazine explains why. In April 1967, Dr. King denounced America’s involvement in Vietnam, once at his own Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta and once at Riverside Church in New York before 3,000 people, on April 4 -- precisely a year before he was killed. Dr. King decried the hypocrisy of sending young Black men “eight thousand miles to guarantee liberties in Southeast Asia which they had not found in Southwest Georgia or East Harlem.” Beyond that lay the painful irony of seeing them join white soldiers, with whom they could “hardly live on the same block in Chicago or Atlanta,” in “brutal solidarity” as they torched “the huts of a poor village.” In this, they were, however unwittingly, agents of a U.S. policy that destroyed and depopulated the countryside, forcing its former inhabitants to take refuge in cities teeming with “hundreds of thousands of homeless children” who were “running in packs on the streets like animals.” The consequences of Dr. King’s outspoken opposition to the war were swift and severe. An outraged President Lyndon Johnson cut off all contact with King. And a great number of black Americans -- including many old allies and colleagues from the civil rights years -- warned that his stance could have devastating consequences for their cause. In the end, Dr. King stayed the course. He was assasinated on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee while supporting protests by city sanitation workers who were striking for liveable wages. Dr. King was right in his views about the Vietnam War. Today, Dr. King is celebrated with a national holiday in his honor and the King Memorial on the National Mall in Washington. Dr. King was my Sunday School teacher, pastor, and BTU instructor at Dexter Avenue Church when I was a young child in Montgomery. Like King, I feel compelled to speak out against Israel’s war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Gaza. In the name of national defense, Israel is committing war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide against innocent Palestinians in Gaza. My moral code will not allow me to: (a) rationalize Israel’s war crimes, (b) normalize them in exchange for money or some other economic benefit, and/or (c) turn my head away from them to escape harsh criticism from powerful Jewish special interest groups. If I am not liked by American war hawks because I stand up for humanity in the Israel-Hamas war, so be it. If President Biden is angry at me because I publicly exposed his complicity in Israel’s war crimes, crimes against humanity, and campaign of genocide against people of color in Gaza, so be it. As was the case with Dr. King’s opposition to the Vietnam War, I want to be on the right side of history in this war. After the fog from Israel's war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Gaza clears around the world, I want my children and grandchildren to know that I was on the right side of history in the Israel-Hamas war. Moral leadership begins in the family. To me, it is better to be right than liked on this issue.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on April 21, 2023; Republished on April 30, 2024 A Political Editorial Opinion I have been a political Independent since 2001. I am a registered Independent voter in California. I first published this article on April 21, 2023. Since that time, I have learned that President Joe Biden has been a willing accomplice to Israel's war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Gaza. Once a political leader aids and abets a campaign of genocide against any group of people, I cannot support him/her under any set of circumstances. In addition to Biden's support of Israel's war crimes and campaign of genocide in Gaza, I will NOT be supporting Joe Biden’s re-election bid for the ten reasons set forth below: 1. Joe Biden is too weak, inept, and senile to be president, again. He falls down all of the time, figuratively and literally. A senile person cannot adequately represent the political interests of my group of Independent voters. 2. As Chairman of the Senate Judicial Committee in 1991, Joe Biden had a chance to kill Clarence Thomas’ nomination to service as a justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, but he did not do it. This single political error in judgment has inflicted immeasurable suffering on tens of millions of women and Americans of color. Additionally, Clarence Thomas' lack of ethics as a Supreme Court justice has diminished the Court's stature and integrity, forever. 3. Women and Americans of color have lost more legally protected rights under Joe Biden than they have under any president since the "Redemption Era" commenced in 1870. 4. Joe Biden does not fight to win any political battle. He only fights to get his adversaries to the negotiating table, which is where he gives them everything they want. I would never have Biden negotiate a commercial transaction or deal for me in the private sector. Nobody respects him. 5. Joe Biden left Donald Trump’s appointed U.S. Attorneys in office in southern states like Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee for way too long. Some of them are still in office. As a result, the Department of Justice in these states is still carrying out Trump's old political agenda. 6. Joe Biden has perpetuated a warped “too big to prosecute” policy in the Department of Justice with respect to indicting and prosecuting New York Stock Exchange/Fortune 500 companies and their CEOs for criminal activities. This policy reinforces a two-tier system of federal criminal justice – a forgiveness program for privileged Wall Street crooks and a “throw the book at them” program for everybody else. 7. Joe Biden embarrassed himself and America with the way he hastily withdrew American troops from Afghanistan. Biden also left Americans behind in Taliban-controlled territory to fend for themselves. This failure of leadership is inexcusable. 8. Joe Biden picked the weakest Attorney General in U.S. history in Merrick Garland, who appears to be "lost in the job." Nobody pays attention to Garland because he is a toothless tiger. Biden’s selection of Garland as Attorney General has contributed to the vicious attack on existing legal rights for women and Americans of color. For the first time since 1964, our children and grandchildren will enjoy fewer legally protected rights than we did. 9. Joe Biden has not done nearly enough to protect school children and church-goers from gun violence. I am not interested in any president who offers “thoughts and prayers” but is too impotent to place a political chokehold on members of Congress who block gun reform legislation. 10. Beyond showering them with pleasant sounding “lip-service,” Joe Biden has done absolutely nothing for Mexican-Americans, other Americans of Hispanic descent, and Native-Americans. They were the original Americans. Furthermore, they were here in 1820 when the border between the U.S. and Mexico looked like this: At this juncture, I do NOT have a preferred major party candidate in the 2024 presidential race. I just know my choice will not be Joe Biden or Donald Trump. I will likely vote for a write-in or Independent candidate. After 40 months of watching Joe Biden’s pathetic performance in office, I know he is a “loser” on every performance level. In my organization, I fire “losers.” It’s not personal. It’s business!

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on April 29, 2024 An Editorial Opinion The International Criminal Court (ICC) is expected to issue arrest warrants for top Israeli civilian and military leaders over their actions in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas war. Those who are expected to be named in the arrest warrants are: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and IDF Chief of Staff Herzl Halevi. The ICC, which is located in The Hague, Netherlands, prosecutes those who are formally accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and the crime of aggression. The Israel-Hamas War The Israel-Hamas war in Gaza was sparked by an October 7, 2023, raid into southern Israel in which Hamas and other militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250 hostages. Israel says Hamas militants are still holding around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others. To date, the war has killed at least 34,049 Palestinians and wounded another 76,901, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The ministry also says at least two-thirds of the dead were innocent babies, children, women, and men. Israel claims it has killed over 13,000 Hamas fighters. If this claim is true, the remaining 21,000 babies, children, men, and women who were killed must be deemed innocent Palestinians or collateral damage. Prosecuting Alleged Israeli War Criminals On December 6, 2023, Karim Ahmad Khan, the ICC’s Chief Prosecutor, confirmed that his office was investigating the situation in Gaza, the West Bank, and east Jerusalem, including Israeli military actions in the war that began on October 7, 2023. Separately, on December 29, 2023, the Republic of South Africa filed a complaint against Israel in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) alleging (located in The Hague) that Israel had committed and was committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, contravening the Genocide Convention, including what South Africa described as Israel's 75-year apartheid, 56-year occupation, and 16-year blockade of the Strip. This complaint is pending investigation. For sticky geopolitical and foreign affairs reasons, the United States and Israel did not join the 124 nations that signed on to the ICC or the 193 countries that are members of the ICJ. Based upon knowledgeable sources, Karim Ahmad Khan is expected to issue arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and top civilian and military leaders of Israel. The warrants could be issued as early as this week. Khan is also expected to issue arrest warrants for top Hamas leaders. Alleged war criminals who are subject to ICC arrest warrants are expected to surrender themselves to the Court. If they refuse to surrender, they must avoid traveling to signatory countries that are legally obligated to extradite them to stand trial in The Hague for their war crimes. To date, the best-known ICC-designated war criminal is Russian President Vladimir Putin, who earned his arrest warrant by engaging in alleged war crimes against the people of Ukraine. Epilogue Israel knows how to retaliate for the October 7th Hamas attack with precision and a minimal loss of innocent life. The Israelis have proven experience in tracking down terrorists and killing them. "Operation Wrath of God" is a clear example of how Israel has punished terrorists in the past. "Operation Wrath of God," which ran from 1972 to 1979, was dramatized in the Steven Spielberg film "Munich" (2005). Israel is no longer engaged in legitimate acts of national defense in response to the October 7th Hamas terrorist attacks. Today, Israel is perpetuating war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide against tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians in Gaza. The United States, which vehemently condemns Putin’s war crimes in Ukraine, is a willing accomplice to Benjamin Netanyahu’s war crimes in Gaza. This glaring display of “in-your-face” foreign relations hypocrisy is an affront to ordinary Americans of reasonable intelligence. Thankfully, college students across the nation have become America's voice of conscience against Israel's war crimes, crimes against humanity, and campaign of genocide in Gaza. Their protests and on-campus encampments are growing. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden and the members of Congress who voted to heap $17.18 billion in military aid upon Israel last week to fuel its war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide are tolerating this criminal activity solely because they can get campaign donations from AIPAC and other Jewish special interest groups for doing so. Any American politician, from Joe Biden on down, who rationalizes and normalizes Israel's war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Gaza in exchange for a campaign contribution is not fit to serve in public office. So that we are clear, Israel's right to national defense does not include a right to commit war crimes, crimes against humanity, and/or genocide. Benjamin Netanyahu is a corrupt, ruthless "thug," and he must be dealt with accordingly.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on April 28, 2024 A Political Editorial Opinion As I look around today, I have come to the sad realization that ass-kissing has become an art form in American politics.  We see daily examples of politicians and others abandoning principled positions on significant public policy issues to engage in the unpleasant and smelly act of ass-kissing. The most advanced ass-kissers hold public office in Washington, D.C.  They have perfected the technique of smooth, slow, and wet French ass-kissing. They will even engage in unabashed acts of political fellatio, if requested by the recipient do so. Just ask U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-South Carolina). Donald Trump’s litany of criminal and civil cases has lifted the veil on a vast and deep reservoir of GOP ass-kissers, from Supreme Court Justices to members of Congress, and from state officials to local Republican officeholders. GOP officeholders and political candidates view it as an honor to publicly kiss Donald Trump’s ass, whether it is clean or not. AIPAC, a powerful Jewish political action committee, makes willing public officials and office-seekers get on their knees and French kiss the organization’s ass as they beg for campaign donations.  In a perverted way, AIPAC records, documents, and photographs individual acts of political ass-kissing. In 2001, black elected and appointed officials across America fell to their knees and began the practice of ass-kissing on a wholesale basis. Now, ass-kissing within the ranks of black public officials has become a rite of passage for acceptance into the white political world.  If a black public official refuses to dutifully kiss the ass of white public officials and special interest groups, he/she is deemed to be “militant” or “undesirable.” Legacy media organizations engage in ass-kissing for advertising money, subscription fees, and, in some cases, direct “hush money” payments from the corporations and organizations whose asses they must kiss.  A December 19, 2022, National Public Radio article did a wonderful job of describing and documenting how this form of ass-kissing works. Ass-kissing is the one area in American politics where there is true bipartisanship. Republicans and Democrats, alike, engage in ass-kissing on an unrelenting basis. As for me, I have never been an ass-kisser.  The foul smell and uncleanliness in that area is too much for me to bear.  I spent three years in federal prison camps (2019 to 2022) on bogus criminal charges because I would not kiss the racist ass of Lloyd Peeples, a failed Birmingham, Alabama pizza restaurant owner and skinhead who masquerades a Donald Trump hired/Joe Biden retained federal prosecutor in Birmingham. If we are going to embrace ass-kissing in the political arena, it should come in the form of former Alabama Attorney General Bill Baxley's 1976 "kiss my ass" response to a letter from the Ku Klux Klan complaining about Baxley's criminal investigation into the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing that killed four little girls in Sunday School in 1963. Today, I know of no white or black officeholder in America who has the political courage or commitment to civil rights that is necessary to write a Bill Baxley-style "kiss my ass" letter on official stationary. Finally, ass-kissers are not my cup of tea.  I do not hang out with them and I never want to be viewed as one.  If this makes me a “militant” or “undesirable,” so be it. At least I still have my manhood, which no one will ever take from me.

By Donald V. Watkins ©Copyrighted and Published on June 9, 2019 I have written many times about my family’s personal interaction with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rev. Ralph David Abernathy, Ms. Rosa Parks, Dr. Maya Angelou, and a host of other world-renown civil rights activists in the 1950s and 60s. Because of our exposure to these humanitarians, my siblings and I consider ourselves to be children of the civil rights movement of that era. Whenever Dr. King saw us in church or visited our home in Montgomery, Alabama, he would tell us: ”Don’t let anybody take your manhood. Believe in yourself and believe that you are somebody. Be proud of your heritage.” Dr. King also told us: “If the negro is to be free, he must move down into the inner resources of his own soul and sign with a pen and ink of self-assertive manhood his own Emancipation Proclamation.” He proclaimed: “A man who won’t die for something is not fit to live.” On April 4th, 1968, Dr. King was shot and killed in Memphis, Tennessee while he was protesting with sanitation workers who were demanding higher pay and better working conditions. I was a sophomore at Southern Illinois University when Dr. King was assassinated. One piece of me died that day while another piece of me was born out of the anguish from that tragic moment in American history. I think Dr. King knew that his death was imminent. He gave his famous “I’ve Been to the Mountain Top” speech the night before his death. This was his last speech. As it turns out, Dr. King gave his own eulogy in this speech. About eight years after Dr. King’s death, I learned that the Federal Bureau of Investigation, America’s top law enforcement agency, wallowed in the gutter in its treatment of Dr. King. A recent article by David J. Garrow, whose 1986 Pulitzer Prize-winning biography titled “Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Leadership Conference,” details the Bureau’s abhorrent treatment of Dr. King. During the Bureau's COINTELPRO program, the FBI tormented Dr. King for years, labeled him “an evil, abnormal beast,” and pressured him to take his own life. To the FBI, Dr. King was considered the “most dangerous Negro” in America because of his ability to give powerful speeches and inspire the masses of Americans with his prolific writings. Fortunately for society, Dr. King did not commit suicide. Instead, he inspired people like me to: (a) desegregate The University of Alabama’s law school and other public institutions in the South, (b) become effective and committed civil rights lawyers, and (c) liberate Alabama from the suffocating grip of racial discrimination and hatred. My time to go to the front line in the fight against racial discrimination and hatred in Alabama occurred after I passed the Alabama Bar examination in 1973. Thanks to my parental upbringing and early exposure to Dr. King, I was not afraid. The landmark cases were lined up and waiting for me. The same was true with respect to the searing flames of racial hatred. My mentors quickly taught me the courtroom skills that were necessary when dealing with hardcore racist judges, as well as the survival skills I needed to handle adversity outside the courtroom. My career started with Mr. Clarence Norris, the last known surviving Scottsboro Boy, and his two-year quest to secure a full and unconditional pardon from the State of Alabama for his repeated convictions in the early 1930s on false rape charges involving two white teenagers. Mr. Norris' pardon request was highly controversial at the time. The death threats against me in this case were immediate and unrelenting. In 1976, Mr. Norris became the first defendant in Alabama history who was originally sentenced to death and who later received a full and unconditional pardon based upon his "innocence" of the criminal charges upon which he was convicted. My next controversial case involved the infamous Tuskegee Syphilis Study. In this case of unethical medical experimentation, 600 impoverished black men (399 of whom had latent syphilis and 201 of whom were members of a so-called "control" group) were tricked by the U.S. Public Health Service and Macon County, Alabama officials into believing they were being treated for syphilis. In fact, they were not being treated at all. Even when penicillin became the recommended treatment for syphilis in 1947, this treatment protocol was withheld from the men who had syphilis. From 1932 to 1972, the government tracked their medical condition as they suffered and died from this general disease. A class action lawsuit against the government brought death threats and harassment against the lawyers who fought for and received compensation for the surviving participants and their families. Between 1975 and 1977, I represented the Estate of Bernard Whitehurst in a wrongful death case against the Montgomery police department. Whitehurst was an unarmed black man who was fatally shot by Montgomery police officer Donnie Foster. Police officials initially claimed that Whitehurst was a fleeing felon who shot at Foster while on the run. My investigation, which included exhuming Whitehurst’s body, revealed that he had been shot in the back and that the gun found beside his body had been “planted” there by a police detective after his death. ​ The Whitehurst case evolved into a nationally recognized scandal and resulted in the resignations of Montgomery’s mayor and police commissioner, the indictment of three police officers, and the firing or resignation of eight others.  This scandal was headlined in the April 3, 1977, edition of the Washington Post as “Alabama’s Watergate."  On March 8, 2018, I featured this case in an article titled, “We Done Shot the Wrong Nigger: The Bernard Whitehurst Story.” The death threats and racial hatred I received during this case were unbearable, but I stayed the course. The Montgomery police department also tried to get me indicted on charges of bribing and threatening police officers. This became the first of many efforts by law enforcement officials to get me indicted on trumped-up criminal charges. Anonymous callers to my home also threatened to throw acid in the face of my very young children if I did not back off of my investigation. I never backed off in my quest for the truth in this case. In 1983, an out-of-state black family was mourning the death of their mother/grandmother in Montgomery when two white police officers mistook the Michigan and Ohio mourners’ license plates as a gathering of out-of-state drug dealers. Unbelievably, these officers raided the funeral gathering. The mourners "stood their ground" at their family home on Todd Road. Violence erupted in and around the home. The officers, who were believed to be home invaders, were shot during the ensuing melee. The mourners were subsequently arrested and severely beaten while in police custody.  My investigation as a Montgomery city councilman into what happened during the “Todd Road incident” resulted in felony criminal charges against eleven of the mourners being reduced to misdemeanors in four cases and dropped altogether in eight others. Again, there were death threats and hatred directed at me for merely investigating this incident. After the Todd Road incident, I moved my law practice to Birmingham, Alabama. At the time, Birmingham was led by Mayor Richard Arrington, Jr., its first black mayor. Little did I know that I would experience racism on steroids in Birmingham. It didn’t take long for whites in Birmingham to openly referred to me, orally and in writing, as “The Mayor’s Nigger Lawyer.” Dr. Arrington, himself, was openly referred to as "Mayor Arrogant Nigger." Prominent white business leaders tried to run me out of town. The local media, led by the Birmingham News and now-defunct Birmingham Post Herald, vilified me because I served as Mayor Arrington’s confident and effective Special Counsel during the time when local FBI agents and federal prosecutors were attempting a coup d'état against Dr. Arrington (from 1988 to 1992) after they failed to defeat him at the ballot box. The government lawlessness in Arrington's case is detailed in the Congressional Record-Senate at S2533-2546 (March 9, 1990). After Mayor Arrington left office in 1999, federal investigators in Birmingham poured over all of my invoices to the City from 1985 to 1999 looking for any evidence upon which to charge me with a criminal offense. They found nothing. During my 46-year-legal career, my other landmark civil rights cases: (a) changed the method for selecting members to the Alabama State Board of Education from at-large to district elections; (b) desegregated all of Alabama’s community colleges and technical schools; (c) desegregated the faculty and staffs within 67 of Alabama’s then-128 public school systems; and (d) desegregated Alabama’s 32 four-year public colleges and universities and secured court-ordered doctoral and new academic programs, as well as nearly $600 million in new funding (beyond the regular state appropriations) and endowment money for Alabama State University and Alabama A&M University. All of these positive changes on the state’s racial landscape came in the face of non-stop death threats and massive resistance to progress for the historical victims of official, state-sponsored, racial discrimination. I have always known that the privilege of standing up for those who have no voice in society comes with a heavy price. I have always been willing to pay this price. Sometimes the price is a physical assassination, as was the case with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Sometimes it is character assassination and imprisonment, as was the case with Nelson Mandela. In my case, the price for my advocacy for transparency and accountability in government and respect for humanity has been character assassination and may eventually include imprisonment. My visit in 2012 to the small prison cell on Robbins Island in South Africa where Nelson Mandela spent 27 years of his life in isolation has prepared me psychologically for the possibility of imprisonment. Despite all of the hatred, death threats, and threats of bodily harm to my children, I am proud of one thing – I never allowed anyone to take my manhood from me. God has blessed me with the privilege, ability, and opportunity to serve humanity without being killed or suffering bodily harm. For this blessing, I am eternally grateful.