Author: michael o. allen
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Living ‘Black’ in the United States of America
And living to tell the tales. Traffic was heavy on Route 17 in Hasbrouck Heights on my way home to Ridgewood, NJ, after work on Wednesday, which wasn’t exactly news. But, as I approached a stretch where Route 46 and Interstate 80 go over Route 17, traffic eased and I saw the reason why. Rubbernecking…
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The Company We Keep
My son asked me a question the other day that still cuts very deep. “How are you comfortable being in league with racists, xenophobes and reactionaries?” he asked. What prompted the question was my support for Brexit. I’ll admit it is true that the likes of Boris Johnson, the idiotic and racist former London mayor,…
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I Love this Man!
In a sport full of corruption and supremely egotistic managers, Arsene Wenger insist on coaching a system that emphasizes the team game. The sum is always greater than the parts with him. Wenger coaches with empathy and a generosity of spirit rare in today’s game. Love0 Share Tweet Share Pin
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‘Super Mario’ Four Years Ago Today
It is hard to imagine that Mario Balotelli is nowhere to be found in France as Italy is again proving doubters wrong at the UEFA Euro 2016. Italy seemingly limps into every tournament only to surprise. This years is no different, with the latest masterclass against Spain. Part of the reason many doubt Italy would…
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Trump: “More Profiling, Please”
It is no longer a rumor that Bill Clinton talked to Donald Trump in the weeks before he ran for president. For the people who believe that, Trump gives them ammunition daily. It’s like Trump calls the HRC campaign headquarters each day to get his talking points about how to further kneecap himself. Or, maybe…
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If it Walks and Quacks like a Duck . . .
Despite his “good relationship with the blacks” and being the “least racist person” he knows, Donald Trump history of discriminating against people of color goes back to the beginning of his business career. The New York Times, which over the weekend released a story about how DT devastated lives in numerous bankruptcies in Atlantic City,…
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Muhammad Ali’s Dream
It is a strange process that we put all our heroes and heroines through. First, we seen them as dangerous and revile them. Then, in death, we (even their former antagonists and adversaries) adopt them and turn them into everything we wished the hero to be, everything we could not make them be when alive.…
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A Sunday Walk
A friendly but earnest conversation between a man with a dog and a couple on a walk. This was a Sunday morning on Memorial Day weekend in a Northwest New Jersey suburb. I caught only a snippet of the conversation: “. . . back in the days when Christie was not a scumbag politician,” the…