Eric Foster

CLEVELAND -- I’m not crazy. It seems to me that every time I write about racism, that is how a fair number of people will try to make me feel. Crazy. Paranoid. Delusional. Obsessed. Whenever I mention racism as a reason for why something occurred, or why something continues to...

CLEVELAND -- To mask or not to mask, that is the question. Up until last Thursday, this wasn’t even a question for me. I advocated for all of us to wear masks last July after Gov. Mike DeWine instituted a statewide mask mandate. Call me Jim Carrey. I always have my mask.

Eric Foster is a business lawyer and debtor rights attorney in Old Saybrook, who has been practicing law for more than 28 years. Foster formerly worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where he focused on the regulation of the lending activities of banks. Now, Foster advises small business owners and advocates for debtors, helping them negotiate loans or file for bankruptcy.

CLEVELAND -- It was only a matter of time. The national wave of election-law changes proposed by Republican state legislators finally made its way to Ohio. Last Thursday, Ohio House Republicans introduced House Bill 294, otherwise known as the Election Modernization and Security Act. According to one of its sponsors, state Rep. Bill Seitz of Cincinnati, “The bill would allow for more secure and safe elections while ensuring Ohioans’ voices are heard at the ballot boxes.”

CLEVELAND -- Ma’Khia Bryant’s funeral was last Friday. You remember her, right? Probably not. On April 20, 16-year-old Ma’Khia was killed outside of her home by Columbus Police officer Nicholas Reardon. The killing occurred about 30 minutes before the verdict in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was announced.

CLEVELAND -- Fifty. Five-zero. That is the number of mass shootings that have been reported in the United States between the Atlanta-area spa shootings on March 16 and April 19, 2021. That’s a time period of just 34 days. Fifty shootings resulting in at least 64 deaths. For our purposes, a mass shooting is defined as a shooting in which four or more people are shot, wounded, or killed, excluding the gunman.

CLEVELAND -- On Jan. 1, 2009, Bay Area Rapid Transit officers responded to reports of a fight on an Oakland, California subway. They detained about 20 passengers. One of them, whom witnesses said was not involved in the fighting, was Oscar Grant. Oscar approached the officers and was immediately backed against a wall. Two officers then pinned Oscar, face down, on the pavement. A third officer, Johannes Mehserle, then drew his firearm and shot Oscar in the back. Oscar later died. The shooting was captured on cellphone video. Officer Mehserle claimed that he mistook his pistol for his stun gun.

CLEVELAND, Ohio - I’ve been having some interesting conversations with strangers this past week. I went out with my sister and some of her friends. One of them was a freshly minted lawyer. He was sharing with me his thoughts about starting his own practice. He has a job, a very good one in fact. Nonetheless a part of him wants to utilize his skills for his own benefit, rather than for the benefit of others. He had a litany of questions for me regarding exactly how I, as a lawyer, built my practice. His concern was clear — he had a financially rewarding job; he didn’t want to leave that job and fail.

As Mr. Foster quotes Thomas Jefferson, a well-informed electorate “can be trusted with their own government.” When just 51% of Americans can correctly name all three branches of the federal government, it’s clear that we are falling short of the “well-informed” description. Perhaps the best way to show your patriotism...

My views completely line up with Eric Foster’s in his March 24 column, “Ethnic studies feed the critical thinking our nation needs.” Ethnic studies programs could be exactly what the nation needs, not only in terms of critical thinking, but also in terms of working towards further unity. I have...

CLEVELAND -- On its face, a democracy, as a system of government, sounds like a wonderful idea. Merriam-Webster defines a democracy as “a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections.” Merriam-Webster actually has five different definitions, but I like this one the best.

CLEVELAND -- Last Saturday, March 13, 2021, marked four months since Arthur Keith was shot and killed by Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA) officer James Griffiths near the King-Kennedy North Tower public housing project. You probably don’t know much, if anything at all, about Arthur Keith’s case. That’s understandable. There was no mass protest in his name. There were no windows broken or trash cans set on fire. Keith’s name did not become a social media hashtag.

Every now and then you meet a young man who stands out from the crowd because of his obvious drive to accomplish goals that he has set for himself. One such young man is Grand Rapidian Eric Foster. In this interview with the GR Times, he discusses his self - started business, the mission of the company, racial barriers he has faced and more.

CLEVELAND -- In the fall of 1932, fliers began appearing around Macon County, Alabama promising Black residents free blood tests and, if it was determined they had “bad blood,” they would receive free treatment from “County Health Department and Government Doctors.” Macon County was a poor and rural county. The promise of free medical care was too good an offer to pass up. Hundreds of men signed up for physical examination. The men were primarily sharecroppers, and many had never before seen a doctor. A total of 600 men were diagnosed with “bad blood” and were advised they would receive treatment.

CLEVELAND -- Let’s say you wanted to start a business. Thing is, you don’t know the first thing about starting a business. No one in your family can help because none of them have ever started a business, either. You go out and buy as many books about starting businesses as you can. You come up with a business plan you think is solid and you start your business.

CLEVELAND -- During my first week of law school, a professor (whom I did not know at all) approached me in the study area. He asked me why I was wearing a hat. I was confused that a stranger was asking me such a random question. I responded with something to the effect that I liked the team. He told me hats shouldn’t be worn inside. I then took my hat off. He then went on to discuss the relationship between how I dress and my chosen profession. He advised me that, if I wanted to be a lawyer, I should begin by dressing like one and that the clothes that I had on (jeans, a hoodie, and a baseball cap) were not what lawyers wore to work. I muttered, “Thank you,” and then he went on his way.

HIGH POINT — Eric Foster, 69, passed away peacefully in High Point on Jan. 15, 2021. He was a resident of Davidson County for more than 60 years and for the past three years resided at Providence Place in High Point. He spent his working career in manufacturing and warehousing...

CLEVELAND -- Well … here we are. This is the last week of 2020. A year many of us will try to forget. For obvious reasons, this year was hard on all of us. If anything, this year will be marked by what many of us lost: jobs, housing, friends, family, stability, our sense of safety, our sense of community, our sense of connectedness.

CLEVELAND -- “Stand your ground.” I’m sure by now you have heard that phrase before. Most people first heard it during the aftermath of George Zimmerman’s murder of Trayvon Martin. Sidenote: I acknowledge that Zimmerman was found not guilty by a jury, but I still believe he murdered Trayvon. If you can do it with O..J, I can do it with Trayvon’s death. Either way, we know they both did it.