This second letter is the one my father refers to in his column on Sept. 15, 1934. The same arguments on capital punishment are still being argued today. As for me, I would have to agree with Mr. Streator, though not on the hanging part 
. My dad wrote the original column on Sept. 1, 1934.
The New York Age, September 8, 1934
“When the white man ‘lifts his foot off the neck’ of Negroes and when the Negro in turn lifts his own tiny foot off his own neck, when a Negro reporter, writer, cartoonist, or etc. can go to the News office and apply for a job with the assurance that he has the same chance as his white brother, his color regardless, then it will matter whether he is called colored, Negro, or Aframerican”
The New York Age, December 22, 1934
With current assaults on the press, including in South Africa, of all places, this column is validation that the fight continues.
The New York Age, December 8, 1934
“I certainly missed you the last few days – Misplaced my teeth – just found them. Thought I’d have to begin school without them . . . the thought was devastating!” I spent most of Friday, Dec. 28, which would have been my mother, Mary Ray’s 93rd birthday, reading letters like this one. I missed […]
I’ve been looking for an excuse to post this video in this blog since I launched it. Now it seems like this is my last chance. My good friend Jack Hubbard shot it when my daughter Zuri, whom he calls “The Swan” graduated high school. I can’t believe it’s been four years. On Sunday, Zuri […]
My nephew, actor Lamman Rucker was in Barbados last week and was the talk of the town. Several local news outlets and blogs noted his arrival. Nationnews.com did a nice write up on him. Check it out. He also did a nice video for Amtrak’s Black History month series “My Black Journey.” Lamman Rucker’s Great […]
In 1947, the same year he married his childhood sweetheart, my Aunt Evelyn, he joined the North Jersey Philharmonic Glee Club, an ensemble of African-American men of every religious affiliation, social station and neighborhood that continues to this day. And he would cherish both of them until he died in 2000.
My sister Malaya Rucker-Oparabea, a dancer and storyteller, and her son, actor, producer and entrepreneur Lamman Rucker, have devoted their lives to their art. On Sunday, May 15, they talked about their relationship on an online radio program “Phenomenal Saging Mothers.”
