Author: Ernie McCray

I was raised in a loving and alive home, in a black neighborhood filled with colorful characters in Tucson, Arizona. Such an environment gave me a hint that life has to be grabbed by the tail as tight as a pimple on a mosquito's butt. With no BS and a whole lot of love. So, from those days to now I get up every morning set on making the world a better place. On my good foot*, and I hope my writing reflects that. *an old black expression

Indecisiveness as a Transgression Against Humanity 

 Ernie McCray  July 9, 2024  5 Comments on Indecisiveness as a Transgression Against Humanity 

by Ernie McCray

So many voters
want Biden to drop out of the race
due to
how he imploded
in the first presidential debate,
showing his age,
they say,
and that’s easy to understand.

But the contest between him and Trump
still stands,

Continue Reading Indecisiveness as a Transgression Against Humanity 

Is This Presidential Race Really About Age?

 Ernie McCray  July 1, 2024  6 Comments on Is This Presidential Race Really About Age?

by Ernie McCray

Although I’m 86 years of age
I never
thought much about
what growing old
would actually be like,
that I would someday be in an
age group
that’s laughed at,
made fun of
in comedy routines|
and on late night TV shows
and on a sitcom or two.

Continue Reading Is This Presidential Race Really About Age?

Remembering Jerry West: One of the Very Best

 Ernie McCray  June 17, 2024  1 Comment on Remembering Jerry West: One of the Very Best

by Ernie McCray

Jerry West’s passing
is very much on my mind.
The reason being he was a
true contemporary of mine
as we were born a month apart in 1938,
and our names, a couple of times,
were mentioned among
the top scorers
in the 1959-60
college basketball season,
both of us
basketball legends
at our respective universities
but my being in the spotlight in hoops
came to an abrupt end
while “Zeke from Cabin Creek”
took greatness to another level,
becoming the logo
that symbolizes the NBA.

Continue Reading Remembering Jerry West: One of the Very Best

Don’t Let a Fairy Tale End in a Disaster, WNBA

 Ernie McCray  June 11, 2024  2 Comments on Don’t Let a Fairy Tale End in a Disaster, WNBA

by Ernie McCray

The other night
I saw a video
of a cheap shot
laid on Caitlin Clark
that was called a foul
but it seemed more like a mugging
to me,
way-way-way
unnecessary.

Continue Reading Don’t Let a Fairy Tale End in a Disaster, WNBA

Separate Water Fountain Memories (Still in a ‘Black History Month’ Frame of Mind)

 Ernie McCray  June 4, 2024  4 Comments on Separate Water Fountain Memories (Still in a ‘Black History Month’ Frame of Mind)

by Ernie McCray

Clicking through
a civil and human rights
kind of website
my eyes came across
a very familiar sight,
images of “Colored Only””
and “White Only”
water fountain signs
which immediately reminded me of
when my mother and I
would travel down below
the Mason and Dixon line

Continue Reading Separate Water Fountain Memories (Still in a ‘Black History Month’ Frame of Mind)

Missing the Joy Bill Would Always Bring

 Ernie McCray  May 29, 2024  3 Comments on Missing the Joy Bill Would Always Bring

by Ernie McCray

Bill Walton.
The Big Redhead.
Dear friend.
Gone.

And I will miss him immensely
for the sheer joy
he brought to my life,
beginning when I first saw him
on a basketball court
in high school,
never having seen
such dominance
in a basketball game,

Continue Reading Missing the Joy Bill Would Always Bring

Reflections on the Little Time I Spent With ‘The Negro’

 Ernie McCray  May 28, 2024  2 Comments on Reflections on the Little Time I Spent With ‘The Negro’

by Ernie McCray

Looking through a box
of my mother’s things
I came across
“The Negro,”
a magazine
my mother used to subscribe to
when I was a child,
this particular issue
dating back to
June, 1945
when I was a seven-year-old,
and it brings back memories
of me listening
to conversations
my mother and her friends
engaged in
about articles they had read,

Continue Reading Reflections on the Little Time I Spent With ‘The Negro’

 Nice Town, Savannah

 Ernie McCray  May 22, 2024  3 Comments on  Nice Town, Savannah

by Ernie McCray

Just returned home after
spending a very nice couple of days
in Savannah, Georgia,
a town well thought of
by anyone I’ve ever known
who has been there
and after being there myself
I can sing its praises too,
the beauty of its live oak
and Spanish moss trees,
the busy energy in the ports
off the river
that carries its name,
cobbled streets that remind you of
times gone by,

Continue Reading  Nice Town, Savannah

A Silence Regarding Arab and Jewish Students That Needs to be Broken

 Ernie McCray  April 25, 2024  19 Comments on A Silence Regarding Arab and Jewish Students That Needs to be Broken

by Ernie McCray

The war between Israelis and Palestinians is affecting Arab and Jewish students in our schools, requiring educators to tend to the learning and emotional needs of both groups of young people.

But many Arab students claim that they aren’t getting the amount of attention that their Jewish counterparts are receiving. These students took part in a focus group as part of a study conducted by a doctoral student who is from the local Arab American community.

Students say they’re feeling alone, unheard, extremely uncomfortable with the way the armed conflict in Gaza is discussed on their campuses.

Continue Reading A Silence Regarding Arab and Jewish Students That Needs to be Broken

 The Beat of the Drums Goes On

 Ernie McCray  April 17, 2024  1 Comment on  The Beat of the Drums Goes On

(Written for a Black Student Union Coalition Conference)

by Ernie McCray

Sometimes I hear
the beat of the drums.
African drums.
In moments of quiet solitude
when my mind
is in tune
with my people’s
never-ending struggle
for liberty and justice
in America,
a country we built,
from daybreak
to sunset,
with our backs
bent over under the weight of cotton sacks.

Continue Reading  The Beat of the Drums Goes On

Muslim Students Need a Different Vibe

 Ernie McCray  April 9, 2024  4 Comments on Muslim Students Need a Different Vibe

by Ernie McCray

Well, it seems
that my friend, Lallia Allali,
a renowned leader in the Muslim community,
is no longer
welcome
to tend to the learning needs
of Arab students in San Diego City Schools
ever again,
in spite of the district’s supposed
restorative justice practices wherein it claims
to be about cultivating relationships that help build and sustain
school cultures
that are positive and welcoming
for students, staff, and families.

Continue Reading Muslim Students Need a Different Vibe

Listening for Sounds of Hope From a School System

 Ernie McCray  March 5, 2024  2 Comments on Listening for Sounds of Hope From a School System

by Ernie McCray

Like a bat
responding to vibrations
from its echoes,
I listen
for feedback
from those whom
I’ve asked
to try seeing matters
through the eyes
of Lallia Allali
who says that what she’s seeing
is a lack of support for
Muslim students

Continue Reading Listening for Sounds of Hope From a School System