Elmore Cisco James, Jr.
Make Believe: Showboating in America

Show Boat is the heartbreakingly stunning and beautiful, mixed-race woman that is, tragically for America, a rejected Julie. It’s about time—eighty some-odd years later—that we finally get to know her.... America is the land where all Europeans arrive to become “white.” And American theatre artists are invested in keeping that world “white,” even if it means creating the occasional false and misleading image. But Show Boat’s theme shatters all notions of “white” pretense by making the claim that: Whiteness is pretense.... In a Playboy interview in the early sixties, the genius trumpeter Miles Davis was asked how, if he were dying, he would like to spend the last hour of his life. Miles answered, “By choking a white person.” 

PJ Rain
Dedication, Passion, and Family - Two Coaches for the Ages

In today’s coverage of sports, we frequently find ourselves captivated by the lavish victory celebrations, inordinate symbols of wealth, and the air invincibility surrounding our athletes.   In fact, there is a tendency to allow the initial portrayals of high-profile superstars and their amazing athletic feats to fool us into believing that they are immune to the everyday transgressions that permeate all lifestyles indiscriminately....  It is important that we remember to acknowledge those among us who have neither been dragged through headlines full of negative imagery nor commanded and received excessive fanfare for their incredible achievements.  Two of our individuals who have consistently exemplified all that is good about sports while at the same time positively impacting the lives of scores of future leaders are the late Eddie Robinson...and C. Vivian Stringer.... By simply conveying and reinforcing the simple principles of dedication, passion, love, and family, each of these outstanding coaches has taught several generations of young athletes to be winners in life.... They have shared what they know about family and community to lead their teams to be successful, and they have demonstrated by example how love and commitment can carry individuals to achieve greatness.  

PJ Rain
Remembering Others After the MLK Holiday - A Peek at Jackie Robinson   

Although the Dodgers were based in Brooklyn, Spring Training was held in Florida, and life in the civilian “Jim Crow” South required a different type of navigation through racial hatred.   It consisted of a level of restraint that [Jackie] Robinson had not yet experienced, and it involved a degree of sacrifice that would take its toll.   The tests began right away, with Robinson and his wife being inexplicably bumped from their flight to his first Spring Training in Daytona Beach.... This continued repression was difficult for Robinson who had never been docile or passive.   It was so difficult that he would occasionally explode into private outbursts among confidants.   There was even a point during the 1946 season, while Robinson was playing for the Dodgers’ Triple-A Montreal Royals farm team, that he sought medical attention, and was directed to rest away from the ballpark.   The diagnosis was that his fatigue-like symptoms were related to the prolonged stress that he was enduring.