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.
Who Are We to Judge?
June 2, 2018
Who would want to be judged by the worse things they had ever done?
Who believes that it’s appropriate to condemn someone based solely on passionate allegations, and in the absence of other evidence?
Some allegations may well be (and are) accurate and sustainable. Bu...
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Enlightenment or Societal Regression?
Feb. 24, 2018
I seldom attend church — unless I’m in Miami, where I spend a part of each winter.
My relationship with religion is tenuous at best. However, I am capable of holding two opposed ideas in my mind at the same time while still maintaining the ability to function (apologie...
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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...
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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...
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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. &...
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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...
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Searching For Meaning