April 16, 2024

Isiah Smith, Jr. | Author

Isiah Smith, Jr. is a retired government attorney. He was born in Blakely, Georgia, but considers Miami, Florida, his adopted hometown.


Thinking Makes it So

Jan. 27, 2018

 

On May 7, 2016, a 30-year-old woman aboard an American Airlines flight from Philadelphia to nearby Syracuse, New York, had a fellow passenger escorted off the plane for suspected terrorist activity. The suspected “terrorist” was Guido Menzio, a young decorated I... Read More >>

Men Who Would Be King

Aug. 26, 2017

There’s seems to be something in the mysterious makeup of the American mind that longs for a time when kings ruled, and the people followed with blind allegiance.

You can see it in our morbid fascination with the British royal family, and the continued deification of Princes... Read More >>

The Health of a Nation

June 17, 2017

It’s an early hot, sultry Virginia morning, and I’m drenched with sweat. A pressure that feels like a two-ton elephant is crushing my chest, and I’m slipping into the darkness.

A sharp pain cuts through my chest. So, this is what it’s like to die.

... Read More >>

I Am Not Your African American

April 1, 2017

It would have been a gas to sit on a pillow beneath the womb of Baldwin’s typewriter and catch each newborn page as it entered this world of ours.                      &... Read More >>

Searching For Meaning

Jan. 28, 2017

“Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm”

 -- JAMES MADISON

I like to start an essay with a touch of humor and -- I hope -- brilliant witticisms. But I just can’t bring myself to this time.  Since early November, I... Read More >>