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(before scrolling down)Aftershocks of History
Anthem for Entire Initiative
This Book is My “Love Letter”
to the Whole Country.
Not just 50%.
Book is Dedicated to Melvin B. Tolson and the 1935 Wiley College Debate Team
Inspired a movie (2007)
Some of the Topics Covered in the Book
I have completed the first draft of all 51 topics. Some chapter contain well over 175 citations, yet reader-friendly. It’s the most difficult project I have ever worked on. Land mines everywhere. Everywhere!! Yet the most rewarding experience. Learning so much. — Joel
The Manifesto
Searching for a Metaphor
Hot Pepper? Elephant? Land Mine? Earthquake?
REVIEW
by owner of the Baltimore Sun
……………………………………………
At its core, Aftershocks of History stands on three powerful pillars:1. First, a method. The foundation is the Wiley College debating model mastery of both sides, intellectual rigor, and moral discipline. You’re not just presenting information; you’re training the reader to think, to reason, and to engage without fragility. That alone separates this from most academic texts.2. Second, a unifying metaphor and process. The 10-point “earthquake” framework is particularly effective. It reframes conflict not as something to avoid, but as pressure that must be released through structured, honest dialogue. Your E.A.R.T.H.Q.U.A.K.E. principles give readers a practical system; something rare in conversations that are usually driven by emotion, not process.3. Third, courage in scope. The breadth of topics is ambitious and necessary. You are stepping directly into issues most institutions either sanitize or avoid altogether. What strengthens your approach is that you are not advocating ideology. You are building a language for engagement. That distinction is critical and gives the work credibility across audiences.What stands out most is your intention: this is not written to win arguments, but to prepare people for them with discipline, dignity, and clarity.That “love letter to the whole country” is not sentimental; it’s structural. It shows up in the Conversation Covenants each group designs, the insistence on evidence-based reasoning, and the refusal to reduce complex issues into slogans.If I were to offer one reinforcing note: Lean even harder into positioning this as a training manual for citizenship and leadership, not just a textbook. That is where its real power lies in classrooms, boardrooms, churches, and media alike.You’re not just contributing to a conversation. You’re attempting to redesign how the conversation happens.That’s meaningful work.
Scientific Racism, Eugenics, and the Great Chain of BeingT O P I C — I M A G E RY
Reparations: 40 Acres and a Mule
Jack Johnson, Racism, and the Law
Black People and the Deadly Dance with Both American Political Party Machines
Booker T. Washington vs. W.E.B. DuBois
Uncle Tom Revisited
Algorithms, Echo Chambers, and the National Conversation
Afrocentrism, Eurocentrism, and Truthcentrism
Searching for an Ethical View of History
Black Lives Matter: The Organization and the Movement
Founding Fathers, Enslavement, Hypocrisy, and the Burden of Contradiction
Separate, but Equal
Follow the Money: Mercantilism, Capitalism, and the Transatlantic Slave Trade
Civility in Politics and the Beating of a Senator
Electoral College, Reconstruction, & Hayes/Tilden Election
Did Africans Sell Other Africans into Enslavement?
White | Christian | Nationalism
Critical Race Theory
Protesting, Persistence, and the Pursuit of Justice
Arab Slave Trade: 13 Centuries
Notions of a Post Racial Society
Three Fifths of a Human Being
Socialism: Equality, Economics. And the aftershocks of Revolution
Berlin Conference 1884-85: Carving Up Africa
American Black Conservativism
The Contested Meaning of the “N-Word” in American Culture
Hurricane Bigotry: When Wind Gets a Name
Abortion
Identity Politics and Wokeness
Victimhood, Agency, and Opportunity
Tuskegee Syphilis Project
Willie Lynch Letter: Real or Hoax?
Barbary Trade: Millions of Europeans Captured, Enslaved, and Forgotten
Manifest Destiny and the Doctrine of Discovery
Free Speech, Hate Speech, Comedy, Media, and the Shaking Ground of Democracy
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Complicated History, Complicated People
Annie Turnbo Malone: Taking Back the Hair Care & Beauty Industries
