National
Noted Author John A. Williams Dead at 89
By Herb Boyd
Special to the NNPA
NEW YORK (NNPA) – “Mine was a simple hunger,” John A. Williams said of his early desire to become a writer, “to know more than I then knew, and to set it down.” That simple hunger grew ravenous over the years and Williams wrote more than 20 books, including perhaps his most popular, The Man Who Cried I Am. Williams, 89, died July 3 in Paramus, N.J. according to a notice from Syracuse University, where he attended and earned degrees in English and journalism.
If he were not as well-known as many writers of the 1960s, he nevertheless had a loyal following among the radical intellectuals then – and now – and his essays, non-fiction books about Black history, journalism, and his novels were consistently rewarding and captured the essence of the flourishing Black arts movement.
He caused quite a stir when The Man Who Cried I Am was published. To promote the book, Williams excerpted the King Alfred Plan, a fictional plot by the CIA to eliminate Black people, made copies and placed them on the seats of subways in New York City. Readers were unaware of the ruse and believed the plan to be real.
Born in Jackson, Miss., Williams joined the Navy during World War II and used the GI Bill to complete his education at Syracuse. After a series of menial jobs, he began to seriously pursue a career as a writer, thanks to the portable typewriter given to him by his mother-in-law. “That was my life jacket,” he said.
Williams worked as public relations writer, copy editor, and hack journalism, as he called it, for numerous small publications and “girlie” magazines before landing assignments at Ebony, Jet, and, particularly Holiday magazine. At one point, he even tried to publish his own newsletter but that floundered and he worked as a grocery clerk, in a foundry, and practically any kind of employment to take care of his family.
Much of this period of his life, in the 1940s and 1950s, is vividly recounted in a chapter he did for Men On Divorce – The Other Side of the Story. “There had been occasions when my ‘Homies’ called me ‘The Writer,’ knifing deeply into the hunger I was only vaguely sure I had,” he wrote.
With his writing zipping along at a promising clip, his novel Night Song, about a talented musician akin to Charlie Parker, was impressive enough to earn him a Prix de Rome from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1962, but the prize was retracted following an interview with the Academy. Williams charged that they discovered he was Black and thereby rejected him. Portions of this rejection would be fictionalized in his books, most poignantly in The Man Who Cried I Am (1967).
Other early fiction was in 1960 with One for New York or The Angry Ones; three years later, he made a bigger splash with Sissie (1963). Each book depicted protagonists in battle with the system, struggling with racism and the obstacles nullifying their humanity.
In 1963, on the strength of his novels and articles, Holiday magazine sent him across America for him to gather his impressions of where the nation was on race relations in particular. This Is My Country, Too (1965) was the result. Beyond the Angry Black (1966), a collection of essays edited by Williams gave him further recognition on the literary scene.
Several historical writers and activists are thinly disguised in The Man Who Cried I Am, specifically Malcolm X, Richard Wright, James Baldwin, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The main character is Max Reddick, whose life and activities mirrors those of the author.
Far less fictionalized but no less entertaining was Captain Blackman (1972) that basically chronicles American history and the prominent role of Blacks in the shaping of the nation.
In the 1980s, Williams added another genre to his creativity – playwright and librettist, though these attempts never really got the traction of his other pursuits. One of his books, The Junior Bachelor Society (1976), was made into a television movie.
Nothing was spared by Williams when it came to injustice and indifference. He targeted the publishing industry in !Click Song (1982), deftly sketching the travails of a struggling writer. This earned him he first of three American Book Awards.
His teaching career was almost as expansive as his writing, becoming a Regents’ Lecturer at the University of California, Santa Barbara, 1972; Distinguished Professor of English, LaGuardia Community College, City University of New York, 1973-78; visiting professor, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Summer 1974, Boston University, 1978-79, and New York University, 1986-87. Professor of English, 1979-90, Paul Robeson Professor of English, 1990-94, and since 1994 professor emeritus, Rutgers University, Newark, N.J. Bard Center Fellow, Bard College, 1994-95. Member of the Editorial Board, Audience, Boston, 1970-72; contributing editor, American Journal, New York, 1972.
He was busy looking for a job and did not attend his graduation ceremony from Syracuse, but he was there when they presented him with an honorary doctorate. Williams retired in 1994 as the Paul Robeson Distinguished Professor of English at Rutgers University.
He is survived by his wife, Lorrain; sons Gregory, Dennis, and Adam; four grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. And his sons have expressed that same hunger he had behind that portable typewriter.
Community
Biden Issues Another Executive Order Seeking to Curb Gun Violence
As he visited Monterey Park, California, on Tuesday, President Joe Biden lamented that every few days in the United States, the country mourns a new mass shooting. Biden argued that daily acts of gun violence, including community violence, domestic violence, suicide, and accidental shootings, may not always make the evening news. Still, they cut lives short and leave survivors and their communities with long-lasting physical and mental wounds.

By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
@StacyBrownMedia
As he visited Monterey Park, California, on Tuesday, President Joe Biden lamented that every few days in the United States, the country mourns a new mass shooting.
Biden argued that daily acts of gun violence, including community violence, domestic violence, suicide, and accidental shootings, may not always make the evening news.
Still, they cut lives short and leave survivors and their communities with long-lasting physical and mental wounds.
Before the President met with the families and victims of the Star Ballroom Dance Studio shooting on January 21, which killed 11 people and injured nine others, he signed an executive order to stop gun violence and make the country’s neighborhoods safer.
Also, the President told U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to ensure that the laws already in place about background checks are followed.
Biden also told Garland to clarify that part of the law that says who has to do background checks because some gun dealers might not know that they fall under that part of the law.
“We cannot accept these facts as the enduring reality of life in America,” Biden asserted.
“Instead, we must together insist that we have had enough and that we will no longer allow the interests of the gun manufacturers to win out over the safety of our children and nation.”
He said his administration’s policy remains that executive departments and agencies would pursue “every legally available and appropriate action to reduce gun violence.”
“Through this whole-of-government approach, my administration has made historic progress to save lives,” the President asserted.
“My administration has taken action to keep guns out of dangerous hands and especially dangerous weapons off of our streets; hold gun traffickers and rogue gun dealers accountable; fund accountable, effective community policing; and invest in community violence interventions and prevention strategies.”
Biden has taken several steps that he hoped would stop the mass shootings that have become common in the United States.
Administration officials said it’s up to Congress to act.
“Few policy ideas are more popular among the American people than universal background checks, but Congress refuses to act,” a senior administration official stated.
“This move will mean fewer guns will be sold without background checks, and therefore fewer guns will end up in the hands of felons and domestic abusers.”
Meanwhile, Biden called on his cabinet to act, including educating the public on “red flag” laws and addressing firearm thefts.
Already, the President was able to get the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act through Congress.
According to the White House, this law gives communities new tools to fight gun violence, such as better background checks for people under the age of 21, money for extreme risk protection orders and other crisis interventions, and more mental health resources to help children who have been affected by gun violence heal from the grief and trauma it has caused.
“I continue to call on Congress to take additional action to reduce gun violence, including by banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, requiring background checks for all gun sales, requiring safe storage of firearms, funding my comprehensive Safer America Plan, and expanding community violence intervention and prevention strategies,” Biden continued.
“In the meantime, my administration will continue to do all that we can, within the existing authority, to make our communities safer.”
City Government
Pres. Biden Visits California Community Devastated by Lunar New Year Gun Violence
On his trip to California last week, President Biden first stopped in San Diego to meet with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. The heads of state have formed a strategic alliance to scale up military technology intended to protect interests in the China Sea, an important trade route. Biden then traveled up the coast to Monterey Park approximately seven miles east of downtown Los Angeles where he met with families of the victims of the mass shooting at Star Dance Studio, where 11 people were killed and nine injured during a Lunar New Year celebration on Jan. 21.

By Maxim Elramsisy
California Black Media
On his trip to California last week, President Biden first stopped in San Diego to meet with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. The heads of state have formed a strategic alliance to scale up military technology intended to protect interests in the China Sea, an important trade route.
Biden then traveled up the coast to Monterey Park approximately seven miles east of downtown Los Angeles where he met with families of the victims of the mass shooting at Star Dance Studio, where 11 people were killed and nine injured during a Lunar New Year celebration on Jan. 21.
“I’m here on behalf of the American people, to mourn with you, to pray with you, to let you know you are loved and not alone,” Biden said in the gymnasium of a Boys & Girls Club half a mile from the site of the shooting. “I know what it’s like to get that call. I know what it’s like to lose a loved one so suddenly. It’s like losing a piece of your soul.”
Biden announced an executive order to enhance background checks on firearm buyers.
“My executive order directs my attorney general to take every lawful action possible to move us as close as we can to universal background checks without new legislation,” Biden said.
“The executive order also expands public awareness red flag laws,” Biden continued. “So more parents, teachers, police officers, health providers and counselors know how to flag for the court that someone is exhibiting violent tendencies, threatening classmates or experiencing suicidal thoughts that make them a danger to themselves or others and temporarily remove that person’s access to firearms.”
The Executive Order aims to hold the gun industry accountable by providing the public and policymakers with more information regarding federally licensed firearms dealers who are violating the law.
“The president is directing the attorney general to publicly release, to the fullest extent permissible by law, ATF records from the inspection of firearms dealers cited for violation of federal firearm laws. This information will empower the public and policymakers to better understand the problem, and then improve our laws to hold rogue gun dealers accountable,” the White House said in a statement.
The president has called on the Federal Trade Commission to perform “an independent government study that analyzes and exposes how gun manufacturers aggressively market firearms to civilians, especially minors, including by using military imagery.”
In addition, the Executive Order addresses federal law enforcement’s reporting of ballistics data, and the implementation of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA). That law was passed in 2022 after a man with racist ideology killed 10 Black people and injured three at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York. Soon after that incident, an 18-year-old lone gunman killed 21 and injured 17 at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
“None of this absolves Congress of the responsibility of acting to pass universal background checks, eliminate gun manufacturers immunity from liability. I am determined, once again, to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines,” Biden told the Monterey Park audience.
Congresswoman Judy Chu (D-CA-28), a former mayor of Monterey Park, Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis (1st District), and Sen. Alex Padilla spoke at the event preceding the president. Several members of Monterey Park’s local government and City Council attended the event.
As part of his broader strategy to tackle gun violence, Biden announced an initiative to improve federal support for survivors, victims’ and survivors’ families, first responders to gun violence, and communities affected by gun violence.
“We need to provide more mental health support for grief and trauma. And more financial assistance when a family loses the sole breadwinner or when a business has to shut down for a lengthy shooting investigation,” Biden said.
The Executive Order calls for Congress to prevent the proliferation of firearms undetectable by metal detectors by making permanent the Undetectable Firearms Act of 1988, which is currently set to expire in December 2023.
Biden also acknowledged Brandon Tsay, who disarmed the shooter, thwarting a second attack at his family’s dance studio in Alhambra. Tsay, who was Biden’s guest at his State of the Union Address this year, met the president as he arrived at Los Angeles International Airport.
Biden’s trip comes as gun violence deaths (including all causes) are trending higher in the first three months of 2023 than the recent high in 2022, according to The Gun Violence Archive, an independent data collection and research group.
“I led the fight to ban them in 1994. The 10 years that law was in place, mass shootings went down. My Republican friends let it expire, and mass shootings tripled since then,” Biden said. “Let’s finish the job, ban assault weapons. Ban them again. Do it now. Enough. Do something. Do something big.”
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of March 22 – 28, 2023
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of March March 22 – 38, 2023

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