By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on April 27, 2024 An Editorial Opinion As I watch the growing student protest movement and encampments on college campuses across the nation over the Israel-Hamas war, I am stunned by the lack of crisis management experience and courage shown by the affected college presidents.  They simple do not know how to end these protests in a non-violent manner. The presidents of colleges under siege today could learn from the crisis management experiences of black college presidents in the South during the height of the turbulent civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s.  The police response to those on-campus student protest encampments in Deep South states was often brutal and fatal. Here is the remarkable story of how an on-campus massacre of Alabama State University student protesters and sympathizers was averted in 1965: Following the tear gassing and beatings Colonel Albert "Al" Lingo and his state troopers administered to non-violent protestors at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma on “Bloody Sunday” (March 7, 1965), civil rights activists from the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (“SNCC”) took over the campus of Alabama State and were looking for another bloody confrontation with Lingo and his state troopers. This kind of violence would bring national attention to SNCC and further its cause. Die-hard segregationists wanted Col. Lingo to “clean up” the Alabama State campus – at any cost. Students, faculty, and staff members were in full sympathy with the “Movement.” Emotions were running high, and the situation was ripe for violence and bloodshed. Under enormous pressure to restore order, Lingo considered coming onto campus to root out the demonstrators and “outside agitators.” This was a recipe for a massacre. By April 23, 1965, the situation on campus had reached a boiling point; it was a time bomb awaiting Col. Lingo’s “riot squad.” Lingo was ready to move on the situation and let my father know that state trooper action was imminent. He was coming on campus to restore “law and order.” My father, who was president of Alabama State at the time, asked to see Lingo at the Public Safety Department Office in the Capitol Complex before his state troopers came on campus that morning.  Lingo agreed to a meeting but told my father, “You’d better get down here quick.” On his way to Col. Lingo’s office, my father decided that speaking to him would do no good. After all, Lingo was still on an emotional high from “Bloody Sunday.”  Instead, my father decided to appeal directly to Gov. George C. Wallace for help in defusing the situation. Father believed that a direct appeal to Wallace was the only chance he had to prevent violence. Somehow, my father never felt that George Wallace was a racist. From his years of personal and professional contact with Wallace, father was convinced that the governor acted like a racist in public and said racist things publicly solely for political reasons.  However, Wallace never displayed racism to my father in their personal interaction and was always respectful to him. My father asked Wallace to stop Col. Lingo from sending state troopers on campus. With no trooper action, father felt the situation would soon run its course and end without violence. He reminded Wallace of the tear gas and billy clubs Lingo’s troopers used at the Edmund Pettus Bridge. My father also reminded Wallace how he had temporarily lost control over Lingo on “Bloody Sunday.” Father predicted far worse violence would occur if Lingo and his state troopers were allowed to enter Alabama State’s campus. At first, Wallace denied my father’s request. Then father told him: “Governor, I’ve done what I could to avoid a massacre. I’m sorry you won’t help me. Blood will flow today on the Alabama State campus. Your children will never outlive the damage done to the Wallace name. My conscious will be clean. At least, I will have done all I could. Thanks for seeing me.” As my father was leaving the meeting, Cecil Jackson, the Governor’s legal advisor shouted for him to “wait a minute.” Jackson reminded Wallace that a joint committee of the Senate and House were meeting in Wallace’s office in a few minutes. Jackson proposed that the committee be allowed to hear my father’s request and, with the committee’s concurrence, Wallace should reconsider father’s request.  Wallace agreed. Wallace briefed the committee on the deteriorating and potentially violent situation at Alabama State.  Then, he allowed my father to make a direct appeal to the committee for support. My father asked for black police officers as an alternative to Col. Lingo’s infamous all-white state troopers.”  Father added that he did not wish to crush the protest – an integral part of the Movement – but to prevent violence and bloodshed.  He wanted control of the campus until emotions cooled and the protest died down. When asked where he would get black officers, father told Wallace and the legislators gathered in his office that the only black police officers in Alabama were on the Mobile police force – about 20 of them. During the meeting, violence broke out at Alabama State when 10 to 15 Montgomery police officers entered the campus to arrest a SNCC staffer named Willie Ricks. They were pelted with rocks and bottles.  The police fired shots in the air to escape the bombardment. The meeting was interrupted when my father got an emergency phone call from campus police about the violence. He told Wallace and the legislators he had to go -- right now. Things were spiraling out of control on campus. My father’s resolve electrified Wallace and the legislators. They did not want the responsibility for a massacre. Wallace took the habitual cigar out of his mouth and held it with an outstretched arm. He then told my father he was eager to help. Wallace agreed that the state would reimburse Alabama State for the cost of hiring the Mobile police officers to maintain peace and order on campus. He also pressured Mobile’s police commissioner and police chief to allow the city’s black officers to work on Alabama State’s campus after these police commanders initially balked at the idea. Because my father needed to get to Mobile immediately, Wallace ordered that the Governor’s airplane fly him there. When he arrived in Mobile, my father pleaded with the black police officers gathered at a city auditorium to accept this special duty assignment. Fourteen of them were present. The others were off duty and could not be reached on such short notice. After my father’s passionate plea, each of the fourteen black police officers answered the call of duty and agreed to come to Alabama State – for however long it took to prevent the bloodshed and restore order on campus.  They were led by Officer George Sullivan, Jr. All of them were flown to Montgomery on the Governor’s airplane. Col. Lingo met the first group of Mobile police officers at Dannelly Field Airport in Montgomery. He offered Sullivan and his fellow officers the use of riot gear, including tear gas and billy clubs. Sullivan declined, saying, “Dr. Watkins brought us here to help students, not hurt them.” After a two-week stay at Alabama State, the Mobile police calmed the atmosphere on campus and returned home. They had done what the State of Alabama could not do. And, what the University could not do alone. They helped to save lives and prevent bloodshed. Only God knows how many lives and how much blood. These fourteen dedicated and caring police officers were commended by a Joint House and Senate Resolution of the 1965 all-white Alabama Legislature “for their responsible attitudes and actions and for their devotion to their public duty and their concern for public safety.”  Each one of them also received the President’s Award at the May 1965 Commencement for the Alabama State University’s Mobile Center. As for Gov. George Corley Wallace, Jr., his loss of control on March 7, 1965, caused “Bloody Sunday,” but his resolute leadership on April 23, 1965, prevented a likely massacre of black students, faculty, and staff members on the campus of Alabama State University. [Editor’s Note:  This story is told in greater detail in “Fighting Hard: The Alabama State Experience,” authored by Levi Watkins, Harlo Press (1987)]

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on April 24, 2024 This week, the Republic of Namibia is hosting the Namibia International Energy Conference 2024.   Nabirm Energy Services (Pty) Ltd., headquartered in Windhoek, Namibia (West Africa), is one of the privately-owned oil and gas exploration companies invited to attend this prestigious event, which ends on April 25, 2024. Nabirm CEO Olayinka Arowolo represents his company at this year’s conference. Also attending this year's conference of power players in the multinational oil and gas business are Halliburton (U.S.), Chevron (U.S.), Exxon Mobile (U.S.), Total Energy (France), Shell (U.K.), Galp (Portugal), and scores of other international oil and geotechnical support companies for the hydrocarbon fuels industry. Nabirm is the only African/American-African-owned oil and gas company in attendance at this international event.  More than 2,000 attendees from 25 oil producing countries are participating in this year’s conference. In 2011, Olayinka Arowolo and I co-founded Nabirm to explore oil and gas opportunities in 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, and overcame every obstacle in our path to success. Nabirm’s offshore oil block in Namibia’s Walvis Bay is surrounded by the major multinational oil companies depicted on the license map depicted below. 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.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on April 25, 2024 An Editorial Opinion College students protested against Jim Crow-era laws in the South during the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s. College students protested for the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968. College students protested during the 1960s and 70s to end the Vietnam War. College students protested for equal rights in collegiate sports. College students protested to end the U.S.’s war in Afghanistan. College students protested for abortion rights. Today, college students are protesting to end Israel’s genocide against innocent Palestinian babies, children, women, and men. Thank God for college students who protest injustices in the world.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on April 22, 2024 IMMEDIATE NEWS RELEASE --- Beyond the United States, Israel is viewed as an aggressive perpetrator of genocide against innocent Palestinian babies, children, women, and men in the name of fighting Hamas soldiers. Since October 7, 2023, Israeli's campaign of genocide has killed 34,000 Palestinians, 21,000 of whom were clearly non-combatants.  This genocide is inexcusable, inhumane, and shameful. Decades ago, the company I now head as Executive Chairman branded itself as Masada Resource Group, LLC.  The word “Masada” in our name stands for the mountaintop fortress in old Palestine (which is now called Israel).  The location of the Masada fortress is depicted on the map below. Masada was the last Jewish stronghold during a revolt in Judaea (66–73 AD).  Besieged by the Romans for a year, almost all of the inhabitants of Masada killed themselves rather than surrender to Roman rule. Today, this mountaintop fortress is a revered Israeli national monument. The second page of our 1990 corporate brochure explains why the founders, who were not Jewish, named our company “Masada." Today, Israel’s campaign of genocide in Gaza has tarnished the Masada corporate name and brand around the world. What was once a proud corporate name is now associated with a modern-day Benjamin Netanyahu-led campaign of genocide. Masada's new brand name -- OxyNol Solutions -- best reflects the company's innovative waste conversion process, as well as its corporate mission of promoting and producing clean fuels from ordinary household garbage. Masada has strategic business alliances with world-class partners and key external vendors around the world.  None of them supports Israel's campaign of genocide in Gaza.  We do not support this U.S. government-backed campaign of genocide, either. Rebranding Masada Resource Group to OxyNol Solutions frees us from the global fallout of Israel’s campaign of genocide against innocent Palestinians in Gaza, which we condemn in the strongest possible terms. It also properly aligns Masada with the winds of geopolitical change in regions around the globe that were once colonized and/or occupied by extremely violent colonial powers.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on April 21, 2024: Updated at 4 P.M. An Editorial Opinion The Israeli genocide of innocent Palestinian babies, child, women, and men continues, unabated and with the full support of the United States.  It is inexcusable, inhumane, and shameful. Israel's campaign of genocide is also U.S. policy.  This genocide would not be possible without the U.S. aid that is used to inflict it upon the Palestinians in Gaza. On Saturday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a foreign aid package that allocates $26.38 billion for Israel.  This aid package is expected to pass the Senate on Tuesday. President Joe Biden is expected to sign it into law on the same day. The aid money is allocated for the following purposes: $5.2 billion go to replenishing and expanding Israel’s missile and rocket defense system; $3.5 billion for buying advanced weapons systems and $1 billion to enhance weapons production; $4.4 billion for other supplies and services to Israel; and $9.2 billion for humanitarian purposes, including in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank. Over the weekend, Israeli strikes on the southern Gaza city of Rafah killed 22 people, including 18 children.  Israel has carried out near-daily air raids on Rafah, where more than half of Gaza's population of 2.3 million has sought refuge from fighting elsewhere. The Israel-Hamas war has killed over 34,000 Palestinians, devastated Gaza's two largest cities, and left a swath of destruction across the territory. The 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. The war has killed at least 34,049 Palestinians and wounded another 76,901, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.  The ministry does not differentiate between combatants and civilians in its count but says at least two-thirds have been children and women. Israel blames Hamas for civilian casualties because the militants fight in dense, residential neighborhoods.  The military says 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 considered innocent Palestinians or collateral damage. This is a genocide in progress.  At this point, everybody knows that the United States is NOT working to stop the genocide of Palestinians in Garza.  Instead, America is openly aiding and abetting this genocide. I do not support the genocide of any ethic group for any reason.

By: Donald V. Watkins © Copyrighted and Published on December 6, 2019 Many readers have asked why I have not written articles about my imprisonment in the federal prison system. Actually, I am writing two books based upon my personal experiences inside the federal criminal justice system. As an attorney with an extensive litigation and journalistic background, I have seen, first-hand, how politically corrupt and racist this system really is. President Donald Trump described the system as "corrupt" and "rigged" during his endless tweets about Special Counsel Robert Mueller's two-year investigation into Russian meddling with the 2016 Presidential elections. However, Trump only scratched the surface on the corruption aspect and never touched on the racial component. Once Trump was out of harm’s way, he stopped bashing the system altogether. In my first book, titled "Inmate 36223-001: The Story of a Political Prisoner," I expose the infestation of the federal criminal justice system by prosecutors and judges who are nothing more than political hacks on an ideological mission to roll back or minimize individual rights guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution, particularly for people of color. Among the many topics discussed in the book are these: 1. The impermissible targeting of political dissidents by federal prosecutors; 2. The eagerness of prosecutors to manipulate and completely control the grand jury system; 3. The ability of prosecutors to impermissibly "twist" evidence and get away with it; 4. The cozy, incestuous relationship between prosecutors and trial judges; 5. The ex parte (or one-sided) private meetings between trial judges and prosecutors in particular cases, even after the defendants in these cases are represented by legal counsel; 6. The undisclosed, unreported, and totally inappropriate interference with the criminal justice system by powerful U.S. senators who sponsored prosecutors and judges for their presidential appointments; 7. The strategic collaboration between prosecutors and sympathetic local media reporters; 8. The manipulation of the trial jury by trial judges; 9. The complete lack of impartial trial referees during the grand jury process and trial phase of the proceedings; 10. How seemingly polite, mannerable, highly-educated whites with extremist racial views have contaminated the federal criminal justice system by using their judicial and prosecutorial positions to impose a white supremacy agenda under the color of federal law. None of these actions are new. All of them occurred during the height of the FBI's COINTELPRO program, which used the same despicable techniques and approach from 1956 to 1971 to destroy political dissidents and civil rights leaders in America. Now, COINTELPRO is back under the label of "judicial conservatism," and it is in full swing. In recent years, it has been practiced by both Democratic and Republican appointees to U.S. Attorneys positions and judgeships, particularly in the South. Manifest Injustice My second book, titled "Manifest Injustice," profiles the cases of five inmates at the Talladega Prison Camp who are truly innocent of the charges against them. Collectively and individually, these five cases spotlight the gratuitous acts of judicial fluffery that too many federal magistrates and trial judges (male and female) perform on federal prosecutors during the criminal proceedings. They also document the way prosecutors are allowed to perpetuate "fraud upon the court" in the name of law enforcement. Not one of the federal magistrates and trial judges in these five cases gave a damn about the U.S. Constitution's protections of individual rights or its guarantee of a fair trial during the judicial proceedings. Not one of them deserves to be respected. In one case, the "fraud upon the court" and prosecutorial misconduct were so gross and offensive that they literally made me sick. Rather than getting to the bottom of this fraud, the trial judge actually tried to assist prosecutors in covering it up. This particular defendant, who is black, has been wrongfully imprisoned for five years, with another five years left on his sentence. The prosecutorial fraud in his case was perpetrated in front of five different judges, none of whom cared about it. My books will be published after I am released from federal custody. They will tell the cold, hard, ugly truth about the federal criminal justice system. Stay tuned.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on April 17, 2024 It was bound to happen sooner, or later.  It’s happening now. In letters sent out this week to Republican digital vendors, the Donald Trump presidential campaign has requested down-ballot GOP candidates who use his name, image and likeness (NIL) in fundraising appeals to give at least 5 percent of the proceeds to his campaign. This is an unprecedented cash grab by a former president and current presidential candidate. An article published today by Politico details Trump’s one-of-a-kind political NIL deal. The GOP created this newest Trump quagmire, and they will have to deal with it.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on April 16, 2024 Who is this man? Why did he attend Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey’s October 18, 2022, press announcement of a plan by Manna Capital Partners, LLC, to build a $600 million beverage manufacturing plant in Montgomery, Alabama. The story of Manna Capital Partners and its troubled Managing Partner, Kevin Randall Attkisson, is featured in my April 13, 2024, editorial titled, “Shattered Facades: Ulysses L. ‘Junior’ Bridgeman’s Manna Capital Partners Seems to Function as a Minority ‘Front’ Company for Sanctioned Managing Partner Kevin Randall Attkisson.” What is this man's connection to The Coca Cola Company?  What is The Coca Cola Company's connection to the Manna Capital Partners beverage project in Montgomery? Was The Coca Cola Company aware of the January 19, 2022, regulatory sanctions imposed upon Kevin Randall Attkisson by the Kentucky Department of Financial Institutions, as well as Attkisson's noted involvement in the Montgomery beverage project? Gov. Ivey mentioned Kevin Randall Attkisson by name in her press announcement and described Manna Capital Partners as a "minority-owned business enterprise and investment firm." . Stay tuned for more shocking developments in this explosive and fast-breaking story.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on April 13, 2024 An Editorial Opinion On October 18, 2022, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey surrounded herself with retired NBA player Ulysses L. “Junior” Bridgeman and other dignitaries to announce that Kentucky-based Manna Capital Partners planned to invest nearly $600 million to construct an advanced beverage production and distribution complex in Montgomery, Alabama. Manna Capital Partners was formed in Delaware on June 22, 2015, and registered to do business at its headquarters in Louisville on June 16, 2022. In her press release, Gov. Ivey claimed Manna Capital Partners was a "minority-owned business enterprise and investment firm." She also claimed its Montgomery “beverage park” would create 280 full-time jobs and would be owned and operated by its affiliate Manna Beverages & Ventures. Based on Gov. Ivey's representations, an elated group of local black political figures and business leaders in Montgomery celebrated the announcement with press releases and a show of support. The city of Montgomery even used the event to promote itself as "the best city for black-owned businesses." Those in attendance at the announcement ceremony assumed that Junior Bridgeman, who is black, was running the show at Manna Capital Partners. He was not! Kevin Randall Attkisson was/is. Who is Kevin Randall Attkisson? Kevin Randall Attkisson is the co-founder and designated Managing Partner of Manna Capital Partners. Attkisson, who is white, was formerly the Managing Partner of Bluegrass Financial Holdings, a capital management firm investing in real estate, privately held companies, and publicly traded stocks. Prior to Bluegrass Financial, Attkisson was a Managing Partner of Bluegrass Global Assets Fund, L.P., a commodity pool operator that invested in global futures and commodities with a heavy focus on metals. Attkisson also spent 10 years as Chief Executive Officer of an alarm technology business he co-founded in Chicago. In addition to serving as the Managing Partner of Manna Capital Partners, Attkisson serves on the board of directors of First Southern National Bank in Stanford, Kentucky. First Southern is an affiliate of First Southern Bancorp. Ten months prior to Gov. Ivey’s press announcement, the Kentucky Department of Financial Institutions issued a regulatory enforcement action that resulted in a “cease and desist” Order against Kevin Randall Attkisson. The Order followed a multi-year regulatory investigation into certain business activities and conduct by Attkisson, including: (a) his failure to maintain true, accurate, and current financial statements, policies, and reports, (b) his failure to deliver updated brochures to clients for the 2017 and 2018 fiscal years, (c) his failure to maintain policies and procedures to prevent a breach of fiduciary duty and conflict of interest to clients, (d) permitting an unlicensed representative to render advice to clients, and (e) providing incomplete and inconsistent responses to regulators during the course of the investigation into Attkisson's conduct. The investigation began on June 26, 2019. Attkisson was working at Bluegrass Capital Advisors, LLC, when the questionable activities and conduct occurred. The regulatory matter was completed on January 19, 2022, when Attkisson was placed under a “cease and desist” Order. Attkisson is no longer a licensed and registered financial services adviser. Additionally, Attkisson personally paid $9,500 of the total $35,000 fine in the case. The enforcement action against Attkisson is reported on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Investment Adviser Public Disclosure website and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority website. This information was readily available to Gov. Ivey at the time she announced Manna Capital Partner’s beverage plant project in Montgomery. Is Junior Bridgeman a Minority “Frontman”for Kevin Randall Attkisson? Junior Bridgeman was present at Gov. Ivey’s October 18, 2022, press conference announcing Manna Capital Partners’ planned $600 million project in Montgomery. Manna Capital Partners does not appear to have a company website. While the company has a LinkedIn page, Junior Bridgeman is not listed anywhere on this page. Kevin Randall Attkisson is listed as the Managing Partner for Manna Capital Partners on his personal LinkedIn page. Strangely, there is no website for Manna Capital Partners listed on Attkisson's LinkedIn page. Junior Bridgeman appears to be a “frontman” for Attkisson's beverage manufacturing project in Montgomery, which has a well-known black mayor who enjoys substantial influence throughout Montgomery County. Interestingly, Gov. Ivey’s Office of Minority Affairs does not list or promote Junior Bridgeman's $600 million project anywhere on its website, even though Manna Capital Partners was touted at Ivey's press conference as a “minority-owned business enterprise and investment firm.” Established in 2016 under Executive Order 15, the Alabama Office of Minority Affairs (AOMA) is a cabinet-level agency. One of the Office's listed missions is to support minority-owned businesses in Alabama. Questions About Manna Capital Partners' $600 Million Project Persist? Is Kevin Randal Attkisson the person who is actually running Manna Capital Partners? According to Attkisson's LinkedIn page and various industry trade publications, he is. What is the status of this company's $600 million project in Montgomery? Nobody seems to talk about the project anymore. Has Manna Capital Partners broken ground on the Montgomery construction project? Apparently not. Was Gov. Ivey hoodwinked into supporting and announcing this project, or did she know about Attkisson's "cease and desist" Order? Kevin Attkisson's "cease and desist" Order would have turned up during the course of Kay Ivey's customary due diligence on this showcased $600 million economic development and "minority affairs" project. Is Manna Capital Partners a “minority-owned business enterprise and investment firm,”as claimed by Gov. Ivey? Based upon the objective evidence, it appears that Manna Capital Partners is little more than a minority "front" company for Kevin Randall Attkisson's business ventures. If the company's status as an "investment firm"depended on Attkisson's possession of a registered financial advisor's license, that license is gone.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on April 12, 2024 An Editorial Opinion On April 10, 2024, O.J. Simpson died without making a deathbed confession to murdering his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman. The question of the ages is this: Did O.J. murder these two homicide victims on the night of June 12, 1994? O.J. was formally charged with the murders of Nicole Simpson and Ronald Goldman and tried on these charges. On October 3, 1995, a jury found O.J. “not guilty” of the two murders. Blacks in America thought justice had been served in O.J.’s criminal case, while whites around the country were enraged by O.J.’s acquittal. Friends, Peers, and Allies Johnnie Cochran was a member of O.J.’s criminal defense team.  Johnnie was also a friend of mine, a peer in the national community of criminal defense lawyers who had won high-profile criminal cases, and an ally in the legal profession. Before O.J.’s case, Johnnie had won the freedom of Geronimo Pratt, a decorated military veteran and a high-ranking member of the Black Panther Party in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In the early 1970s, the FBI targeted Pratt in a COINTELPRO operation that was intended to "neutralize Pratt as an effective BPP functionary." Pratt was tried and convicted in 1972 for the 1968 murder of Caroline Olsen.  He served 27 years in prison, eight of which were in solitary confinement. Pratt was freed in 1997 after his conviction was vacated because prosecution withheld exculpatory evidence that tended to prove his innocence. Johnnie considered Pratt's release from prison "the happiest day" of his legal career. In 1976, I won a full and unconditional pardon from the state of Alabama for Clarence Norris, the last surviving “Scottsboro Boy.”  Norris was one of nine teenage "Scottsboro Boys" who were falsely accused in 1931 of raping two white girls on a train running through Paint Rock, Alabama.  All of the "Boys"were arrested, tried, and convicted of rape. Eight of them were sentenced to death on multiple occasions. The U.S. Supreme Court saved the Scottsboro Boys on three occasions within hours of their scheduled execution. The Clarence Norris pardon was based upon a finding of “innocence” of the criminal charge of rape, as proclaimed by the Alabama Pardons and Parole Board.  This was the first pardon ever granted by the state to a person who was originally sentenced to death and who was later declared innocent of the charges for which he was convicted. The Clarence Norris pardon, which was awarded to him in person, was the greatest and most satisfying accomplishment in my 43-year legal career. In 1992, I successfully prevented a criminal prosecution of Birmingham, Alabama Mayor Richard Arrington, Jr, on federal public corruption charges.  Arrington was a victim of the unofficial and unlawful COINTELPRO program. He was a designated "target" in a racially-motivated, Birmingham-based, criminal investigation for four years (1988-1992). My criminal defense team ultimately persuaded the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington to decline the approval of an indictment in Arrington's case. I was also able to get the Department to issue its first-ever formal public apology to the “target” of a public corruption investigation. By 1995, Johnnie Cochran and I had earned national reputations for our work in high-profile criminal cases. The New Orleans Conversation After O.J.’s acquittal, I saw Johnnie in New Orleans, Louisiana.  We discussed Johnnie's work in O.J.’s case at length, including Johnnie's strained relationship with co-counsel Robert Shapiro and Shapiro’s post-trial criticism that Johnnie had played the race card “from the bottom of the deck” to win O.J.’s case. Of course, I asked Johnnie whether O.J. had killed Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, as charged in the criminal indictment.  Based upon this private conversation between two friends, peers, and allies, I knew going forward that the answer to my question was a definite, “Yes.” Epilogue Johnnie Cochran died on March 29, 2005, while I was in the middle of a six-month criminal trial in the case of U.S. v. Richard Scrushy.  Scrushy, the founder and former CEO of HealthSouth Corp., was charged with leading a multiyear, $2.7 billion corporate fraud scheme. My criminal defense team defeated federal prosecutors on all 85 felony charges in Scrushy's original indictment. Unlike O.J. Simpson, Richard Scrushy was truly innocent of all 85 criminal charges against him. Under pressure from our defense team, federal prosecutors voluntarily dismissed 27 of the 85 felony charges against Scrushy in a superseding indictment. I retired from practicing law in 2019.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on April 11, 2024 Most Americans view the King James Version of the Bible as the most authentic and complete Christian Bible on Earth.  It is revered by Christians around the world. The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version (AV), is an Early Modern English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England. It was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by sponsorship of King James VI and I. Contrary to popular belief, the KJV Bible is NOT the oldest and most complete Christian Bible on Earth.  It is the version of the Bible that was promoted by the British monarchy and other European powers from 1611, going forward.  These European powers also imposed the KJV Bible upon the subjugated indigenous populations of the countries that became their colonies. The Ethiopian Bible for Orthodox Christians Written in Ge’ez, an ancient language of Ethiopia, the Ethiopian Bible is nearly 800 years older than the King James Version, according to carbon dating.  It contains 81-88 books compared to 66 for the KJV Bible.  It includes the Books of ENOCH, Esdras, Buruch and all three Books of MACCABEE, as well as a host of others that were excommunicated from the KJV Bible. The world’s earliest illustrated Christian Bible was discovered at a remote Ethiopian monastery and preserved by the British charity that located it . There are two volumes which date from the same time, but the second volume is written in a different hand from the first. Both contain illustrations and the four Gospels. The incredible Garima Gospels are named after Abba Garima, a monk who arrived in the African country in the fifth century from Constantinople in 494 AD and copied the gospels with the assistance of another scrivener. The Ethiopian Bible has been kept ever since in the Garima Monastery near Adwa in the north of the country, which is in the Tigray region at 7,000 feet. The Garima Gospels have been kept high and dry, which helped preserve them for centuries. They are kept in the dark so the colors look fresh. Ethiopia is mentioned variously in every major division of the Hebrew Bible and used interchangeably with Cush and it was later identified with Nubia and Aksum. Finally, the Ethiopian Bible depicts the ethnicity of Jesus and his parents as the Middle Eastern people of color that they were. The King James Bible depicts them as white.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on April 9, 2024 An Editorial Opinion During his fundraiser at billionaire John Paulson’s Palm Beach mansion last Saturday, former president Donald J. Trump railed against migrants of color coming into America at our southern border.  He also proclaimed his preference for immigrants from “nice” countries like Denmark, Norway, and Switzerland. Of course, the populations of Denmark, Norway, and Switzerland are overwhelmingly white. In 2018, Trump referred to African nations, Haiti, and El Salvador as "shithole countries." Interestingly, Trump has never acknowledged America's exploitation of Haiti, which included the following despicable acts: In 1915, under pressure from First National Bank of New York, President Woodrow Wilson ordered the U.S. Army to invade Haiti. The Army seized Haiti's national capitol and took all of the gold from the country's treasury. This seizure wrecked Haiti's national economy. After 111 years of independence, Haitians no longer had a voice in the administration of their national affairs. America ruled Haiti with an iron fist until the U.S. Army's armed occupation of the Caribbean country ended on August 21, 1934. The U.S. never returned the gold that it wrongfully seized from the Haitian government. In 1931, Marine Corps General Smedley D. Butler summed up our financial intervention in Haiti this way: "I helped make Haiti .... a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenue in .... Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints." On February 28, 2004, some 200 years after Haiti declared its independence, French, Canadian, and U.S. forces backed an armed insurgency against Haiti's first democratically elected president, Jean Bertrand Aristide. President Donald Trump referred to African countries, Haiti and El Salvador as " from Norway At his fundraiser, Trump also complained about migrants who were coming to the U.S. from Yemen, “where they’re blowing each other up all over the place,” and claimed that migrants from Latin America “make the Hells Angels look like extremely nice people.” Of course, Trump failed to mention that Friedrich Trump, his grandfather, was able to migrate to America from a part of Germany with his wife Elisabeth despite his checked past and after his German citizenship was revoke for dodging the country's compulsory military draft. Trump’s statements about migrants of color were overtly racist.  Yet, the millionaires who paid $250,000-a-ticket to attend Paulson’s fundraiser simply chuckled at Trump’s remarks. The Most Glaring Examples of White Racism in U.S. Immigration Policies The adoption and implementation of racist immigration and naturalization policies in the United States did not start with Donald Trump.   He is merely the loudest and most current drum major for this movement. The following acts represent some of the most glaring examples of white racism in America's immigration policies: 1. In 1862, the federal government passed and administrated the Homestead Act of 1862. The Act awarded 270 million acres of land that was seized from more than 500 Native American tribes to nearly 3 million white European peasants (for free) who were openly recruited to America from 1862 to 1986. The U.S. government placed ads in European newspapers seeking white migrants to help America become a majority white country. 2. Congress passed, and the U.S. government vigorously enforced, the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which banned persons of Asian descent from entering the U.S. for a period of 80 years. Exceptions were made for Asians who worked for white companies as indentured servants. They were forcefully deported when their services were no longer needed. 3. "Operation Wetback" is a 1950s-era U.S. State Department program that rounded up approximately 1.3 million undocumented non-white Mexican nationals who were living in America and deported them in railway cars to Mexico.  Undocumented white Mexicans who immigrated to America (via our southern and northern borders) were not subject to deportation. The term “Wetback” is a racial slur for non-white Mexicans. 4. The U.S. government has strictly enforced disproportionally limited immigration "quotas" on migrants from countries where the indigenous populations are people of color, while openly and continuously welcoming Europe's "tired, poor, and huddled [white] masses" into America with few restrictions. France thanked America for receiving French peasants by giving the United States the Statue of Liberty. 5. Since 1990, rich people from around the world have been able to buy their way into America through the EB-5 Investor Visa Program.  The program, which was created by the Immigration Act of 1990, allows eligible immigrant investors to become lawful permanent residents -- informally known as "green card" holders -- by investing at least $1,000,000 to finance a business in the United States that will employ at least 10 American workers.  About 80% of EB-5 investors come from China, South Korea, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom. Others come from Canada, India, Mexico, Iran, and Japan. Epilogue After crippling national governments around the world and causing endless cycles of political turmoil, economic instability, and violent factionalism in them for over a century, America needs to stop its ongoing white racism against migrants of color from countries that were victimized by the United States' relentless campaign of state-sponsored assassinations and destabilization of national governments. Donald Trump’s perpetual demonization of migrants of color have made them “undesirables” to his MAGA political base.   This is why Trump was able to get away with separating migrant children from their parents at the southern border and putting them in cages during his presidency. Every immigration “solution” implemented by Trump during his presidency was rooted in a race-based immigration system that has historically favored white immigrants from “nice” European countries like Denmark, Norway, and Switzerland. Immigration is the one area where government-sponsored affirmative action for whites goes unchecked and unchallenged.