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EXODUS II: 2028, LA Olympics Homeless Resolution Initiative EXODUS II aligns with society’s prevailing public desire to remove homelessness from neighborhoods, public spaces, etc., relieving the pressures destabilizing our communities.  It unites citizens around a common cause—the humane and lasting resolution of visible homelessness in their communities, to be rapidly gone EXODUS II rejects a …

EXODUS II Strategic National Plan – Elevator Speech Read More »

The Awakening of We the People ANNOTATED EDITION The Question Everybody Asks People often ask me, ‘How can you wear the American flag after what this country did to Black people?’ Others ask how a Black man can wrap himself in red, white, and blue. Some call it surrender, performance, or betrayal. Those criticisms miss …

EPILOGUE: MR. PATRIOT: The Citizen Who Walks Before the Republic Read More »

The record has been placed before us. What happens next belongs to the living. The Inheritance at Our Door We did not write the Declaration of Independence, frame the Constitution, endure American chattel slavery, fight the Civil War, enact Reconstruction, or stand with Dr. King at the Lincoln Memorial. We inherited all of it—the promise …

A CLOSING NOTE TO POSTERITY: The Train Has Arrived at Our Generation Read More »

From Brown to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 Moral Witness, Nonviolent Direct Action, and the Unfinished Work of Reconstruction I. Brown Declared the Right—The Movement Demanded Its Life Brown v. Board of Education withdrew constitutional sanction from state-mandated segregation in public schools. But a judicial declaration did not dismantle the larger system of racial …

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.: The Constitutional Demand to Honor America’s Promissory Note Read More »

The Judicial Destruction of the Civil Rights Act of 1875 From Federal Protection to the State-Action Barrier I. The Promise of Ordinary Freedom The constitutional transformation of Reconstruction could not end with the abolition of slavery. Freedom had to become an ordinary reality. A citizen might be free in name yet excluded from the inns, …

THE CIVIL RIGHTS CASES OF 1883: When the Supreme Court Closed the Door to Ordinary Equality Read More »

The Great Constitutional Pause—When the Reconstruction Train Lost Its Momentum ANNOTATED EDITION Reconstruction at Its High-Water Mark By 1875, the principal constitutional framework of Reconstruction stood in place. The Union had been preserved, the Confiscation Acts had begun the wartime transition from American chattel slavery toward federal intervention, and the Emancipation Proclamation had committed the …

THE COMPROMISE OF 1877: The Great Republican Betrayal Read More »

Federal Citizenship, Civil Rights, and the Seat Supported by the Reconstruction Triad ANNOTATED EDITION The Centerpiece of Reconstruction If the Reconstruction Amendments form the constitutional structure of Reconstruction, the Civil Rights Act of 1866 is its principal statutory foundation.[1] The Confiscation Acts began the federal transition.[2] The Emancipation Proclamation declared executive commitment.[3] The Reconstruction Amendments …

THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1866: The Heart of Reconstruction Read More »

The Constitution Received—and the Republic Yet to Be Completed The Unfinished Work Entrusted to the Living ANNOTATED EDITION [See: Long Version @ https://tedhayes.us/20-closenoteshort/] The Constitution Was Written Beyond Its Own Generation The Preamble speaks in the name of We the People and declares an intention to secure the Blessings of Liberty not only to those …

A CLOSING NOTE TO POSTERITY Read More »

Article II and the Continuing Responsibility to Enforce Reconstruction Law From Presidential Authority to Constitutional Stewardship ANNOTATED EDITION Article II Converts Executive Power into Constitutional Duty Article II begins by vesting the executive power in a President of the United States. It then requires the President to swear or affirm that the office will be …

THE PRESIDENCY AND THE CONSTITUTIONAL DUTY OF FAITHFUL EXECUTION Read More »

Justice Harlan Stands Alone Again From the State-Action Barrier to State-Mandated Segregation I. From Federal Retreat to State Command The Civil Rights Cases of 1883 restricted the power of Congress to protect Black citizens against racial discrimination by private proprietors. Plessy v. Ferguson presented a different constitutional wrong. This time, racial separation was not merely …

PLESSY v. FERGUSON When “Separate but Equal” Became Constitutional Doctrine Read More »