By Ralph E. Moore, Jr. Within the past 40 years, we built two expensive quality stadiums– Oriole Park and Ravens Stadium– for wealthy team owners and we closed down recreation centers in the city for lack of funding. Despite the best efforts of Baltimore City Public Schools leadership, the school system still struggles to give […]
Author Archives: Ralph E. Moore Jr.
Posted inCommentary
Commentary: The Moore Report – Frank Wills: The Black patriot who did his job and brought down a president 50 years ago
By Ralph E. Moore, Jr., Special to the AFRO There once was a president named Richard M. Nixon (1969-1974) who was the first president in U.S. history to resign. There once was a hotel in D.C. named “Watergate,” where the president’s men broke in to steal secrets from his election opponents (the Democrats in 1972). […]
Posted inCommentary
The Moore Report: A review of D. Watkins latest book, ‘Black Boy Smile’
By Ralph E. Moore Jr. D. Watkins may very well be the best-known writer on the Baltimore scene these days. I’ve read all his books: “The Beastside,” “The Cook Up,” “We Speak for Ourselves” and now just out “Black Boy Smile.” This latest book is different from the others. As a memoir, it is far […]
Posted inMusic
The Moore Report: Rumor has it: a Black man showed Elvis Presley how to sing
By Ralph E. Moore, Jr., Special to the AFRO Otis Blackwell is one of the most famous songwriters, but most folks never heard of him. Blackwell wrote several bestselling songs for Elvis Presley. And admittedly, I never heard of Blackwell until Stevie Wonder received a Grammy Award for Best Male Vocalist in 1976 and acknowledged Otis Blackwell as a magnificent […]
Posted inBaltimore News
The Moore Report: Peace Camp Year 16 and reparations from churches as penance to Black and Brown folks
By Ralph E. Moore, Jr. The Nawal G. Rajeh Peace Camp Peace Camp will be held at the St. Frances Academy Community Center from July 5 to August 5. Each session will meet from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on weekdays at 501 E. Chase Street near Greenmount Avenue. The camp, named after co-founder, Nawal […]
Posted inBaltimore News
The Moore Report: More bite-sized bits of news and notes…
Celebration of the 120th anniversary of Father John Dorsey’s Ordination By Ralph E. Moore, Jr. Charles Dorsey, Jr. directed the Legal Aid Bureau in Maryland for many years, providing legal assistance and advice to the poor, unable to afford lawyers on their own. In April 1995, he died. The Bureau’s building, near City Hall, is […]
Posted inBaltimore News
The Moore Report: “Summer’s comin’ Blues”
By Ralph E. Moore, Jr. I have lived in Baltimore City for 70 years now. I left briefly right after college, getting a community organizing job in Buffalo, N.Y. I returned to Baltimore at the end of that summer of ‘74 to take a teaching job; I didn’t want to be in Buffalo, N.Y. during […]
Posted inReligion
The Moore Report: Holy Bad Attitudes and Behaviors: “Subversive Habits,” a book about White racism among nuns in the Catholic Church
By Ralph E. Moore, Jr., Special to the AFRO If you have ever had your hand slapped by a sister in school or you were treated lovingly, I recommend a book for you: “Subversive Habits-Black Catholic Nuns in the Long African American Freedom Struggle,” by Dr. Shannen Dee Williams. Catholic nuns, particularly, are viewed in […]
Posted inCoronavirus
The Moore Report: COVID doesn’t care either; it keeps coming, watch out
By Ralph E. Moore, Jr. Face it, we’re all a bit tired of wearing masks, getting vaccinations, keeping our distance, avoiding travel, not hugging and hearing depressing news about the spread of COVID and the entrance of yet another variant on the horizon (next is monkeypox?). It is scary enough that over 1,000,000 citizens of […]
Posted inNational News
The Moore Report: History lesson: A big Navy ship just named for a big Black Marine pilot and general
By Ralph E. Moore Jr., Special to the AFRO Remembering the late General Frank Emmanuel Petersen, Jr. Lessons, a Fighter for Racial Justice and Equity On May 14, the United States Navy honored the first Black pilot in the Marines and the Corps’ first Black general by naming its latest model of warship for him. […]
Posted inCommentary
Commentary: The Moore Report: “Ain’t Too Proud-The Life and Times of the Temptations” closes at the Hippodrome Theater
By Ralph E. Moore, Jr., Special to the AFRO The Temptations of Motown are the greatest rhythm and blues group of all time. The musical about the Temptation story is one of the best couple of hours or so one could spend in a theater. The familiar songs make you sing along, and the stories […]
Posted inOPINION
Commentary: The Moore Report – Senator Tim Scott, Justice Clarence Thomas and Herschel Walker: Who are these guys?
By Ralph E. Moore, Jr. When the other-than-Lindsey-Graham-U.S. Senator from South Carolina, Tim Scott (R-S.C.), an African-American, voted against the confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to become the first African-American woman to sit on the Supreme Court, many wondered: who is this guy? Justice Clarence Thomas, only the second African-American to sit on the […]