Kareem, you've changed my life on the deepest level because your words to me in 1977 changed the way I spoke to myself.
Before we stepped onto the TV stage together on Hour Magazine with Gary Collins, I shared my pitiful basketball story with you.
In one sentence, you shifted the way I thought. I had been counting the wrong things... the number of times I missed rather than the number of times I scored.
Today, I pray that our country hears and speaks up together.
My book came yesterday. I am so excited. I put it on my coffee table for everyone to see. Since I came across your newsletter on substack maybe a couple years ago it’s kept me sane and helped me to keep growing even as I age. The bonus is you’ve mixed your wisdom with amusing videos and the music I grew up on. Life saving in a very tough era.
BTW I was proud to sit with a group of my Philadelphia friends recently and write thank you notes to the Eagles players who had the courage to stand up against the vile rhetoric of our unfit president and refuse to bend the knee for what else was that but a photo op of adulation.
Hi Marie, mine arrived on Wednesday—n my neighbor’s care until I return. Encouraged her to read. Quite thoughtful of you and your friends to acknowledge the Eagles for their awareness and grit. May seem like a small gesture, but all of us doing small things together, leads to movements and big accomplishments. So, thanks to you and your Philadelphian pals!
Kareem, great interview on CBS Morning. I liked the phrase referenced to your social/political work as “Activism for humanity,” and learned that you’re a practical jokester and have endured death threats, since the age of 17. Those who speak for “Freedom, Justice, and Equality” are to be commended! I admired Bruce Springsteen’s courage and commentary, the other day. “Free speech…opinions…evidence.” Of late, it’s the evidence that is frequently missing or misstated. Thank you for your commitment to caring, and giving of yourself to causes. Looking forward to reading your book.
Kareem, Thanks for a lifetime of leadership and inspiration!! I met you at 17 at a preseason practice at Loyola Marymount, where my dad (Del Tanner) was the trainer for the Lakers at the time. He was taping ankles as you and Lucius Allen were joking around before practice. I was very intimidated to meet you as everything I had read was about how surly and standoffish you were! You were nothing but gracious. After practice as I was loading my dad's car you come out to go to yours' and said "Goodnight Mike" I was shocked you remembered my name! This was my first realization of who you really are as a human and the true depth of character that you possessed. I still tell the story to my friends and acquaintances. I consider you one of the true inspirational people that I have met in my life and want to thank you for all your contributions to this country and the world! You have blessed so many of us in so many ways!! Humanity THANKS YOU!!! P.S. I missed your book signing at UCLA. and I need to know where can I get your book?
Thank you for both the book preview and the CBS interview. You are a warrior for truth and justice, Kareem! And now I’ll listen to Marvin as I start my day trying to save this democratic republic from idiocy (banning books and fluoride????).
My, my, my. Kareem and Marvin, what a gift! Thank you for inspiring me this challenging morning of this challenging time. My old legs are hurting but my heart is on fire!
I'm looking forward to reading Kareem's new book. As a Bronx resident who participated in the protests of the time, I lived through much of what Kareem reveals. I'm looking forward to his research and eloquent narrative. No one can do it better.
“Inner City Blues” always breaks me; thank you for sharing it, with the video. RIP Marvin Gaye— you gave us so much, didn’t deserve to be killed by your father.
Kent State was a horrible debacle. Live ammunition for a protest on a college campus? A man I knew was shot there; hundreds of yards from the protest, crossing a parking lot en route to class. Bullet barely missed his spinal column, major facial injury. No government intervention. Disgusting.
Wonderful CBS interview, Mr A-J! I’m looking forward to the book. Along with freedom of speech, there’s the freedom to listen. It’s awfully hard to do that, given the MAGA bunkum, but I try to keep informed at least as much as possible without getting furious and making myself sick.
I so thank you Sir. The Free Speech Movement out of Berkeley changed my life in profound ways. I watched at a distance from the Southside of Chicago, rumbling with change, outraged about what was happening down south and rather disappointed in most of our church leaders until Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Letter from a Birmingham jail. Free speech had become a candle that became a flaming torch in the dark burning away centuries of shame and torpor. And thank you trice for taking down the paywall on Substack so that the less wealthy could get a glimpse of the book. I am sure to put it on my bookshelf .
“Florida, which has pioneered book banning and anti-critical race theory programs, faces one of the worst teacher shortages in the country, with about 8,000 vacancies for teachers and 6,000 for support staff.”
It’s the nonsense like that in Florida, Texas & my home state of NC, that lead me to be on Substack to begin with.
Especially the nonsense to downplay slavery back at in 2023. Which lead me to compose this:
Oh Im sorry for misunderstanding these states & the GOP have been bandwagoning on bans lately my mind went straight to water only instead of the book. Because these people call themselves protecting kids when a lot them make excuses for the worst of the worst.
It's quite alright. I live here. Utah was the first state to ban fluoride. Why? And RFK Jr also wants to ban all fluoride treatments that dentists use for their patients. It's truly disgusting. The measles disinformation and now chicken pox. Whenever will they get a clue? It's like regression to the dark ages.
Thanks for sharing. Having recently finished a couple of Timothy Snyder books, “On Freedom” and “On Tyranny” I’ve been taking a little bit of a break, but it looks like this will be the perfect book to read. Thanks for the recommendation and thanks for writing it. Great column as usual, such a haunting, beautiful song choice in Marvin Gaye.
Thank you Kareem for sharing your thoughts and ideas. Your experiences with the leadership of the Social Justice Movement and much more help shape your heart and soul. It's difficult to fathom the ignorance of those who still issue death threats. But we've seen so much of that together with stupid lately.
I so wish all white people had to spend at least one year in a black community, live with them, work their jobs, buy their food, be looked down on and treated the way black people are treated on a daily basis. Be targeted by the police, refused service in many places, be called names, and all of the indignities put upon them. I saw and witnessed what my then husband experienced. It is so unnecessary and demeaning. Thank you for playing Inner City Blues again. That's what it looks like. And gratitude also for hearing Marvin once more and remembering that time in my life. I have played that album many times.
My Amazon account says your book is being shipped on Monday so it should arrive soon.
Thank you again for all you do and for all you are. So grateful.
Hi Susan. You wrote, “I so wish all white people had to spend at least one year in a black community, live with them, work their jobs, buy their food,…” Not artfully stated, so seemingly, you wind up doing that which you’re trying to criticize. “Live with them?” Try this on for size: John Boehner has a Jamaican son in law; Mitt Romney, a Black adopted grandchild; John McCain, a Black daughter in law; Paul Ryan, dated his Black college girlfriend, wanted to marry, but told by Jack Kemp, he wouldn’t go far, if followed through. Btw, Mr Ryan also has a Black sister in law. And there are other Whites in congress, with similar backgrounds. “Their jobs,” I just don’t get; “their food,” I’m assuming you’re talking primarily
”Southern” foods, introduced to Africans by White slave owners. Of course, like sports, the arts, culinary, and other crafts, we “jazz” it up. The point is, you shouldn’t have to LIVE with people to know that common decency and respect are basic requirements, for dealing with human beings.
John McCain had a son named Jack who married a very pretty woman named Renee. That's all I know about that. Not sure why you brought up the late senator, who I had much respect for, but he has been gone nearly 7 years now.
But there's more. His great great grandfather, William Alexander McCain, owned a 2,000 acre plantation in Teoc Mississippi. At one time he owned 52 slaves, ranging in age from 6 months to 52 years. The plantation stayed in the family from 1848-1952. There are many black McCain descendants, none of which apparently have claimed a blood relationship to their white owners. But who knows? John claimed not to have known about the slaves, said he thought they were sharecroppers, even though he read a book written by a female relative that included information about the slaves.
The black McCain descendants invited him to a big dinner which he declined at the time as he was running for president. Schedule didn't allow time. That's his story.
Lastly, I find it very strange that you would bring up black relationships of white male Republicans. They are mostly passive, or at least secondary. It's like so what?
You suggested Whites living amongst Blacks to feel their pain, my point was, they not only LIVE amongst them, but are RELATIVES, at the highest levels of government—the people making laws that frequently perpetuate the pain. That’s why I offer you to have someone you trusted to explain to you, where you erred. You’re going down a whole lineage tree, and still don’t get it!
Explain artfully what not artfully stated means. You missed my point entirely. I did not wind up doing what I'm critiquing. Also not talking about southern food. Expressing my thoughts because of my own life experiences are my own to express and why are you so critical? Never pretend to know what you don't know.
Susan, you said it best, “Never pretend to know what you don’t know.” Get someone that you know and respect to explain it to you. You meant well, but made serious faux pas. Btw, I don’t always write things artfully, either.
You're free speech exposition is masterful. Every time I hear Marvin, there is a tear in my eye. Someday (and maybe even now) people will be feeling the same about you.
I'm proud of you. I want to thank you for reporting truth to power with honesty compassion and evidence. We are in this together. Peace. Christopher and family.
Kareem, you've changed my life on the deepest level because your words to me in 1977 changed the way I spoke to myself.
Before we stepped onto the TV stage together on Hour Magazine with Gary Collins, I shared my pitiful basketball story with you.
In one sentence, you shifted the way I thought. I had been counting the wrong things... the number of times I missed rather than the number of times I scored.
Today, I pray that our country hears and speaks up together.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Thanks, Donna, for sharing that memory.
My book came yesterday. I am so excited. I put it on my coffee table for everyone to see. Since I came across your newsletter on substack maybe a couple years ago it’s kept me sane and helped me to keep growing even as I age. The bonus is you’ve mixed your wisdom with amusing videos and the music I grew up on. Life saving in a very tough era.
BTW I was proud to sit with a group of my Philadelphia friends recently and write thank you notes to the Eagles players who had the courage to stand up against the vile rhetoric of our unfit president and refuse to bend the knee for what else was that but a photo op of adulation.
I love that you wrote thank you notes. That’s activism at its best.
Hi Marie, mine arrived on Wednesday—n my neighbor’s care until I return. Encouraged her to read. Quite thoughtful of you and your friends to acknowledge the Eagles for their awareness and grit. May seem like a small gesture, but all of us doing small things together, leads to movements and big accomplishments. So, thanks to you and your Philadelphian pals!
Kareem, great interview on CBS Morning. I liked the phrase referenced to your social/political work as “Activism for humanity,” and learned that you’re a practical jokester and have endured death threats, since the age of 17. Those who speak for “Freedom, Justice, and Equality” are to be commended! I admired Bruce Springsteen’s courage and commentary, the other day. “Free speech…opinions…evidence.” Of late, it’s the evidence that is frequently missing or misstated. Thank you for your commitment to caring, and giving of yourself to causes. Looking forward to reading your book.
Kareem, Thanks for a lifetime of leadership and inspiration!! I met you at 17 at a preseason practice at Loyola Marymount, where my dad (Del Tanner) was the trainer for the Lakers at the time. He was taping ankles as you and Lucius Allen were joking around before practice. I was very intimidated to meet you as everything I had read was about how surly and standoffish you were! You were nothing but gracious. After practice as I was loading my dad's car you come out to go to yours' and said "Goodnight Mike" I was shocked you remembered my name! This was my first realization of who you really are as a human and the true depth of character that you possessed. I still tell the story to my friends and acquaintances. I consider you one of the true inspirational people that I have met in my life and want to thank you for all your contributions to this country and the world! You have blessed so many of us in so many ways!! Humanity THANKS YOU!!! P.S. I missed your book signing at UCLA. and I need to know where can I get your book?
Thank you for both the book preview and the CBS interview. You are a warrior for truth and justice, Kareem! And now I’ll listen to Marvin as I start my day trying to save this democratic republic from idiocy (banning books and fluoride????).
My, my, my. Kareem and Marvin, what a gift! Thank you for inspiring me this challenging morning of this challenging time. My old legs are hurting but my heart is on fire!
Is your Jukebox Playlist
a thing
Is it available to the public
I do it in every newsletter.
I particularly like the black-and-white video performances and was hoping to browse them.
I understand you have a tremendous collection of Jazz memorabilia.
Some people share these playlists on public sites. President Obama used to share his playlist annually on Apple Music.
I'm looking forward to reading Kareem's new book. As a Bronx resident who participated in the protests of the time, I lived through much of what Kareem reveals. I'm looking forward to his research and eloquent narrative. No one can do it better.
“Inner City Blues” always breaks me; thank you for sharing it, with the video. RIP Marvin Gaye— you gave us so much, didn’t deserve to be killed by your father.
Kent State was a horrible debacle. Live ammunition for a protest on a college campus? A man I knew was shot there; hundreds of yards from the protest, crossing a parking lot en route to class. Bullet barely missed his spinal column, major facial injury. No government intervention. Disgusting.
Wonderful CBS interview, Mr A-J! I’m looking forward to the book. Along with freedom of speech, there’s the freedom to listen. It’s awfully hard to do that, given the MAGA bunkum, but I try to keep informed at least as much as possible without getting furious and making myself sick.
More of hollering, please. ❤️
I so thank you Sir. The Free Speech Movement out of Berkeley changed my life in profound ways. I watched at a distance from the Southside of Chicago, rumbling with change, outraged about what was happening down south and rather disappointed in most of our church leaders until Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Letter from a Birmingham jail. Free speech had become a candle that became a flaming torch in the dark burning away centuries of shame and torpor. And thank you trice for taking down the paywall on Substack so that the less wealthy could get a glimpse of the book. I am sure to put it on my bookshelf .
“Florida, which has pioneered book banning and anti-critical race theory programs, faces one of the worst teacher shortages in the country, with about 8,000 vacancies for teachers and 6,000 for support staff.”
It’s the nonsense like that in Florida, Texas & my home state of NC, that lead me to be on Substack to begin with.
Especially the nonsense to downplay slavery back at in 2023. Which lead me to compose this:
https://open.substack.com/pub/rue1b225/p/another-means-of-insulting-intelligence?r=1x7pap&utm_medium=ios
FYI. Utah just banned Water for Elephants. 🐘🐘💦
Oh the fluoride issue & the manipulation of information by ignorance, fear & con artists around that.
The book Water for Elephants. Sorry if I was a bit obtuse.
Oh Im sorry for misunderstanding these states & the GOP have been bandwagoning on bans lately my mind went straight to water only instead of the book. Because these people call themselves protecting kids when a lot them make excuses for the worst of the worst.
It's quite alright. I live here. Utah was the first state to ban fluoride. Why? And RFK Jr also wants to ban all fluoride treatments that dentists use for their patients. It's truly disgusting. The measles disinformation and now chicken pox. Whenever will they get a clue? It's like regression to the dark ages.
Best to you. 🌹❤️
Yes and I wasn’t even aware that they’re trying to aid chicken pox, which would help shingles.
Meanwhile we have two nutjobs milking it at the departments of education & health.
Thanks for sharing. Having recently finished a couple of Timothy Snyder books, “On Freedom” and “On Tyranny” I’ve been taking a little bit of a break, but it looks like this will be the perfect book to read. Thanks for the recommendation and thanks for writing it. Great column as usual, such a haunting, beautiful song choice in Marvin Gaye.
Thank you Kareem for sharing your thoughts and ideas. Your experiences with the leadership of the Social Justice Movement and much more help shape your heart and soul. It's difficult to fathom the ignorance of those who still issue death threats. But we've seen so much of that together with stupid lately.
I so wish all white people had to spend at least one year in a black community, live with them, work their jobs, buy their food, be looked down on and treated the way black people are treated on a daily basis. Be targeted by the police, refused service in many places, be called names, and all of the indignities put upon them. I saw and witnessed what my then husband experienced. It is so unnecessary and demeaning. Thank you for playing Inner City Blues again. That's what it looks like. And gratitude also for hearing Marvin once more and remembering that time in my life. I have played that album many times.
My Amazon account says your book is being shipped on Monday so it should arrive soon.
Thank you again for all you do and for all you are. So grateful.
Peace and Love. ♥️♥️
Hi Susan. You wrote, “I so wish all white people had to spend at least one year in a black community, live with them, work their jobs, buy their food,…” Not artfully stated, so seemingly, you wind up doing that which you’re trying to criticize. “Live with them?” Try this on for size: John Boehner has a Jamaican son in law; Mitt Romney, a Black adopted grandchild; John McCain, a Black daughter in law; Paul Ryan, dated his Black college girlfriend, wanted to marry, but told by Jack Kemp, he wouldn’t go far, if followed through. Btw, Mr Ryan also has a Black sister in law. And there are other Whites in congress, with similar backgrounds. “Their jobs,” I just don’t get; “their food,” I’m assuming you’re talking primarily
”Southern” foods, introduced to Africans by White slave owners. Of course, like sports, the arts, culinary, and other crafts, we “jazz” it up. The point is, you shouldn’t have to LIVE with people to know that common decency and respect are basic requirements, for dealing with human beings.
John McCain had a son named Jack who married a very pretty woman named Renee. That's all I know about that. Not sure why you brought up the late senator, who I had much respect for, but he has been gone nearly 7 years now.
But there's more. His great great grandfather, William Alexander McCain, owned a 2,000 acre plantation in Teoc Mississippi. At one time he owned 52 slaves, ranging in age from 6 months to 52 years. The plantation stayed in the family from 1848-1952. There are many black McCain descendants, none of which apparently have claimed a blood relationship to their white owners. But who knows? John claimed not to have known about the slaves, said he thought they were sharecroppers, even though he read a book written by a female relative that included information about the slaves.
The black McCain descendants invited him to a big dinner which he declined at the time as he was running for president. Schedule didn't allow time. That's his story.
Lastly, I find it very strange that you would bring up black relationships of white male Republicans. They are mostly passive, or at least secondary. It's like so what?
You suggested Whites living amongst Blacks to feel their pain, my point was, they not only LIVE amongst them, but are RELATIVES, at the highest levels of government—the people making laws that frequently perpetuate the pain. That’s why I offer you to have someone you trusted to explain to you, where you erred. You’re going down a whole lineage tree, and still don’t get it!
Explain artfully what not artfully stated means. You missed my point entirely. I did not wind up doing what I'm critiquing. Also not talking about southern food. Expressing my thoughts because of my own life experiences are my own to express and why are you so critical? Never pretend to know what you don't know.
Susan, you said it best, “Never pretend to know what you don’t know.” Get someone that you know and respect to explain it to you. You meant well, but made serious faux pas. Btw, I don’t always write things artfully, either.
It's spelled faux pas.
Just in case you need to know.
Thank You!🙏🏽
You're free speech exposition is masterful. Every time I hear Marvin, there is a tear in my eye. Someday (and maybe even now) people will be feeling the same about you.
Kareem,
I'm proud of you. I want to thank you for reporting truth to power with honesty compassion and evidence. We are in this together. Peace. Christopher and family.