Edward Smith > Quotes

“Like Malcolm and others who came to us to awaken our consciousness, the Moors also had a message that was so deep that you had to pay attention. This was back in the sixties, man! As more and more brothers turned to the Muslim religion for support and guidance, it turned out the Muslim leadership was just as bad as any of the leadership in Brownsville. One summer day, Lockley Bey was found thrown off a roof from the Atlantic Towers apartments.”
― Edward Smith, Imagine That!: The story of Ed Smith, one of the first African Americans to work in the design of video games and personal computers

“At thirteen, we had a visiting preacher come in from nearby Washington temple. He came with his mother, who was a popular preacher in her own right, but her son, who was the same age as me got up and preached. My mother immediately looked at me and said “You can be a preacher one day too”. As it turned out, that preacher was Al Sharpton and I never did enter the seminary. I would frequent the local Muslim mosque as well because, for me, religion was universal. The teachings of the Koran are so interconnected with the Bible that both are relevant in their teachings. I learned that religion is so universal that no matter what your sect, the underlying theme is the same: peace, love, respect for all men. This was the message I learned from Martin, Malcolm, and Gandhi. I would have gone to a Jewish Synagogue if I were invited. At the same time, I was fully aware that even in religion there are wars.”
― Edward Smith, Imagine That!: The story of Ed Smith, one of the first African Americans to work in the design of video games and personal computers

“The 73rd police precinct was two blocks south of Linden Boulevard and was known by everyone in Brownsville as one of the most racist precincts in Brooklyn. There were more claims of police brutality, false arrests and “accidental deaths” than almost any other police department in New York at that time. Let us not forget, New York police have been responsible for the sodomization and the chokehold death of Michael Stewart, the shooting of Eleanor Bumpers, the sodomy of Abner Louima, the chokehold death of Eric Gardner…”
― Edward Smith, Imagine That!: The story of Ed Smith, one of the first African Americans to work in the design of video games and personal computers

“I guess it’s no surprise that the beat cops were gone right after the riots of sixty-eight. I saw the transition from foot patrol to riding around in police cruisers, looking for any black man to harass. Don’t hang out on a corner with more than three guys. You will get stopped and questioned because in Brownsville we all look alike and racial profiling was the norm.”
― Edward Smith, Imagine That!: The story of Ed Smith, one of the first African Americans to work in the design of video games and personal computers