Pioneer1

ProfD I'm a bit surprised at your view on the term. Given your strong FBA identification and stance, I actually presumed that you felt the same way I did about the issue...lol. That makes you guilty of using a derogatory phrase invented by white racists. Calling a foreigner who came to the United State illegally an "illegal alien" should be considered no more derogatory than calling a man who forces women into sexual encounters a "rapist". Derogatory names and slurs are often exaggerations meant to dehumanize whoever they are targeted toward. Calling someone who is here illegally an "illegal" is a statement of fact. Why should AfroAmericans fight for low wage jobs? I'll give you 3 valid reasons: 1. A lot of low wage jobs have traditionally been used as entry level jobs for Black youth to work on part time to earn money after school or for them to enter the work for right after graduating to learn basic work ethic. People have noticed around the nation that a lot of the McDonalds and dish washing jobs that Black youth used to occupy to earn money during the summer and after school are now occupied by Latinos who can't even speak English. Sometimes almost the entire establishment is staffed by them. 2. A low wage job is better than NO JOB at all. Unemployment in the AfroAmerican community is much higher than in the White community....for various reasons...so we're in no position to brush any field of endeavor off our shoulders as if they are dispensable. 3. Low wage jobs often lead to HIGH WAGE jobs. They are usually entry level and a means of access to the higher wages. If Latinos are snatching them up left and right...that's less opportunity Right. AfroAmericans should not be working in such a place. It's hard to avoid when the MAJORITY of work places in the region are like this or going in that direction. Latinos used to be focused on agricultural and seasonal work, but haven't been around this country and I can tell you that Latino presence in manual labor jobs have been growing tremendously fast these past 10 or 15 years. For several decades now, AfroAmericans have been educated to seek better employment opportunities. Some have. Keep in mind that everybody....not even the majority of people....will graduate from college with a degree. Especially with one that offers a great paying field of work. There are people with Master's Degrees working at Starbucks and Target....lol. The best thing that guarantees AfroAmericans decent employment is less competition from other groups....mainly Whites and Latinos. One of the reasons there are so many Black professionals in places like D.C., Detroit, Atlanta, and New Orleans is simply because of our numbers in those cities. There are so many of us and compared to the number of Whites and Latinos....that success HAS to come our way. But in many of the other cities where Black people aren't a majority....in many cased they get totally locked out. It only proves that AfroAmericans don't want to work for them. True. Some of it is the pay more so than the work itself. I grew up in a working class neighborhood where the majority of adults worked in factories and did manual labor but their jobs paid well enough for them to buy homes, buy new cars, and take care of entire families AND "outside women"...lol. I don't believe most Black youth would mind doing that type of work IF it paid $30 or $40 an hour today which would be the equivalent of what those jobs were paying in the 70s and 80s. White folks aren't beating down doors for manual labor jobs either. No, but they are doing them. Especially the poor and uneducated one. But you can't always believe what you see White folks doing. Like Neely Fuller Jr. said....they often have "mysterious sources" of income....lol. A White man can be slapping together tacos at Taco Bell for $14 an hour but have 2 cars, a stay-at-home wife, 3 kids with one on the way, a mortgage, and a summer cottage up north. ...AND has an opioid addiction, lol. And you're scratching your head wondering how is he able to afford all of this on a minimum wage salary. Because he's White and gets money from "other" sources....lol.

ProfD Many AfroAmericans have done well for themselves given certain opportunities. Ofcourse. The questions I have about this statement of TRUTH are: 1. What PERCENTAGE of AfroAmericans have and are doing well for themselves vs those who are falling through the cracks, are they are minority or majority? Because that would give us a better perspective and understanding of the overall economic state of our community. There have ALWAYS been "some" or "many" Black folks who were able to prosper...despite....even during Slavery. So we can get geeked up knowing "many" Black folks have made it if the MAJORITY haven't. 2. How many of those who HAVE done well for themselves use that wealth to establish more power for AfroAmericans in their community and society in general to maintain that prosperity? Tilting the playing field requires more than providing labor i.e. working for someone else. True. That's a start though. Real capitalism is building & producing wealth generating institutions. Am*zon is modern example of it. Facts. AfroAmericans can definitely do this on a smaller scale with barbershops and Soul food restaurants....if the desire was there.

ProfD Capitalism isn't bad. The tilted playing field is a major obstacle for certain groups of people. AfroAmericans have had plenty of opportunities...on a smaller scale...to tilt the playing fields in OUR favor but many of us have neglected to do it for ignorant or selfish reasons.

I use the term myself from time to time. I don't think it's offensive, it's just a fact. The term "undocumented" is misleading because it gives the impression that a person is where they belong but just doesn't have their paperwork together....or at best are just working under the table. If you sneak into the nation without proper notification and authority your very presence is breaking the law. You are BEING illegal by simply being here. But what I think IS happening...and I don't think AfroAmericans should allow it to happen....is that the racists in the U.S. are trying to slowly replace AfroAmericans with a more compliant and docile cheap labor source which for the most part will be Latinos. I've seen this at various jobs, where they basically give Latino workers...most of whom ARE illegal....more privileges and treat them with more respect than the AfroAmerican employees. They are allowed more time off to do personal things and they even let them bring in food to feed fellow co-workers at lunch time. I've seen this happen at several jobs. They even make signs and instructions in Spanish to cater to them. Unfortunately because so many young AfroAmericans DON'T want to work on these manual labor jobs anymore.....not only aren't they NOT outraged about what's happening and the plans to replace them....but they don't even care. Which seemingly proves the point OF the racists....that the "niggers are lazy and don't want to work anyway".

China and the so-called Communist Party are nothing more than a giant TEMP service for Western firms and corporations. A place they can find millions of skilled, educated, and dedicated workers for a relatively cheap price. Mao led a communist revolution to keep Western influence OUT of China. If he had any idea that THIS is what China would eventually turn into........ I personally think Capitalism works better than Communism in the grander scheme of things; China realized this and is now transforming itself into a fascist ultra-capitalists state. However the point is....what China is doing today isn't in line with what the original Maoists envisioned.

At this point, I have very little hope in ANY of the current national political parties. Republicans have already made it clear that they intend to do NOTHING for AfroAmericans and the Democrats only promise benefits to us INDIRECTLY at best through half-ass underfunded programs designed to help people who don't even need them; and if some of those people just HAPPEN to be Black or AfroAmerican, oh well. No more jobs or job training programs or funds given directly to Black community organizations like back in the 60s, 70s, and early 80s. No talk of Universal Healthcare. It's not even on the radar and that was one of the main issues Liberals were pushing for back in the day. Come on mayne...... Dude is actually building a multimillion dollar BUNKER under the White house! Does that sound like the behavior of someone who is getting ready to move in a couple of years, to you? You don't build an addition to a place you're planning on leaving anytime soon....lol. "So let me get this straight......... You're paying us $45,000 to build a new patio for a house that just got foreclosed on and you're moving out of it in less than a month?"

Yeah, there's being a few incidents here and there but it's relatively nothing compared to what we saw back in 2020 during the George Floyd protests and the January 6 Insurrection. Perhaps the mainstream media IS keeping things on the "hush hush" but if the public outrage was THAT big...they wouldn't be able to. Back in the summer of 2020 I didn't need CNN or Fox News to tell me that people in America were protesting and angry. I could walk outside and see and hear it. I didn't have to "dig it up" on the internet to know that it was going on....lol. I live in Michigan but I've traveled to other states around the country as recently as a couple weeks ago and outside of a few middle aged White folks on freeway overpasses holding up banners and signs written in crayon.....I haven't too much protesting. How long has America been fighting an actual hot war with Iran? Months now. That alone used to draw the youth out into the streets because they would be the potential draftees. But so far I haven't seen any protests. Again, nobody is even talking about how high gas is now......except me, lol. I think it's the high potency weed so many people are smoking. It's keeping many of the youth calm and satisfied....lol.

For this being nearly 2 years into Trump's second term, things seem to be eerily quiet in the nation right now as far as public protest. Given the amount of outrage in Minnesota over those 2 citizens being killed back during the Winter when it was cold as fuck, some people predicted much more turmoil and upheaval when the weather got warmer....lol. Look at the gas situation....... People were complaining when the national gas average was $3.75 to almost $4 a gallon. Now it's nearly $5 a gallon (in Michigan atleast) and nobody is saying shit about it. The complaining about gas has all but stopped.

Don't forget "Joy (what else? what else?) and Pain".....lol. May our good brother rest in peace and power.

When Troy said that, it was a foreshadowing of future events. He knew I'd be locked out of the forum for nearly 2 months....lol. .....man, them Harlem niggaz is somethin' else. They'll set you up to be murked with a big SMILE on their face...lol.

Sounds like a mixed up man with mixed up interests driving him to do what he did. It seems as if "whoever" or "whatever" is driving some of these cats to make their moves heard the chatter from the Black community about how most of the shooters have been White and how we said it's not out business. They heard the Black community say "It's White on White crime and we're staying out of it." So they found some "off white" or "half white" dude and put a battery in his back to go on a mission. When Black folks said he wasn't Black enough and insisted on not claiming him, I guess "they" (whoever "they" is) decided to send a SHO'NUFF Black man on the mission. This latest dude they claimed tried to run up on the White house and got neutralized....there's no mistaking whether HE'S Black or not. Now the question is, is he FBA?

Brother Malik Shabaaz (Malcolm X) is one of my favorite Black intellectuals. He was usually sharp on on point as well as witty with both friends and foes. Neely Fuller Jr. is another favorite of mine. Again, usually on point and sharp....even in his 90s.

Mel Yep...lol. I'm curious. Do you remember what year that picture was taken? I'm sure it was before he was incarcerated. Sometimes I like to look at people in pictures and wonder what's on their minds and whether or not they have any idea of their future and what lays ahead for them. When he was sitting there smiling for that picture, I'm sure going through the legal problems he was about to face was one of the furthest things from his mind.

Both of them were and are bad, but it appears that Crack came the closest to almost DESTROYING the Black urban community in a way that Heroin didn't. Heroin has been around for decades...since the 40s atleast....and caused it's problem. But you still had working class functioning Black neighborhoods, numbers running, the prostitutes actually looked decent.....lol. Violence was contained. Crack came along in the early to mid 80s like a bull in a china shop. In just a year or two the decent looking prostitutes and well dressed pimps became replaced with skinny skeleton looking "crack hoes" and the pimps were gone. Violence and automatic weapons appeared right along with it and violence skyrocketed. In Detroit you had "dope dens"....a few designated buildings to shoot up in. When Crack hit, nearly every 4th or 5th building or house became a "crack house".

ProfD Well..... White folks are still in the Congo aren't they? If White folks are still there, why are they surprised that Ebola, HIV, and other diseases are still there? Duhhhh....... As long as White folks are still there, don't be surprised if some NEW diseases that nobody has heard of before "mysteriously" pop up seemingly out of nowhere and have people dropping like flies.