Category: Columns

by Ernie McCray

Two of my grandchildren,
Lyric and Marley,
Lyric almost ten,
Marley, eight,
slept over
the other night
and things went great.

by Ernie McCray

Had a nice weekend at the
“The 2023 Annual Conference of
California Community College
Trustees”
at the
Monterey Plaza Hotel and Spa
with mi querida
who is a trustee.

by Ernie McCray

On the subject of racism and guns
in our nation
I can’t get Ralph Yarl
out of my mind,
how he,
a Black teen,
got lost one day
and, as people in such a situation do,
he knocks on a door

by Ernie McCray

Made it.
85 earthly rides
around the sun.
And most of it
has been a ton
of fun
but this aging
has been no
stroll through the park, Jack,
or anything close to that,
as parts of me, like my back,
up and quit on me a while back,

by Ernie McCray

I’m at an age
when my life
consists of mostly memories
and sometimes these remembrances
come to me
suddenly
and randomly,
as I can, in one moment,
remember
a time when I was
down, up against it,
overwhelmed
with cares and woes
like a man adrift in a dark churning sea,
a swallow away from drowning,

by Ernie McCray

Wow!
Somebody
finally
indicted
a man
who can’t open his mouth
without committing
a major crime,
after a lifetime of thuggery
of all kinds,
and one of his attorneys
is talking about
how we
should be
bothered by

by Ernie McCray

I’m almost 85.
And with more years behind me
than ahead of me
I am thankful
to still be alive
and to have been brought to life
by a mother who
loved and befriended me
and guided me
towards a nice path
to take on my life’s journey,
a voyage
I’m thankful for
just for the gifts
that have been bestowed on me:

by Ernie McCray

How silly are we,
as a society,
to talk about
getting rid of
drag queen performances
to shield the productions
from the view of our children
as though our kids
sneak out at night
going to drag venues
and strip clubs
and the like.

Yikes.
Are homo sapiens’
brains on strike?

by Ernie McCray

Oh, I so enjoyed
sharing my experiences
with you
bright young people
as an 84-year-old Black man
who has
sat at the back of the bus
and put up with
a whole lot of other stuff
and, somehow in all the
huffing and puffing
against such,
managed to
keep the love in me
untouched.

by Ernie McCray

At a time
when we
should open our eyes and hearts and minds
to ways
we can
learn the rich stories
that make up
who we are collectively
as subsets
in the vast world
of humanity,
along comes someone like
Ron DeSantis,
the governor of Florida,

by Ernie McCray

Just being mentioned with Bayard Rustin
would be enough to fill me with glee.
But receiving the Bayard Rustin
Lifetime Achievement Award
is mind blowing for me.

Makes me feel
like Bojangles
dancing a soft shoe
down a stairway
in a Shirley Temple movie
or on Old Broadway.

Because Bayard was a hero of mine.
Big time.

by Ernie McCray

Black History Month
has come a long way
since a beginning
that was filled with
controversy over celebrating
it in the month that has the fewest days
when Black History, so much of it
American History,
could be integrated in historical studies
throughout a school year
and there have been those