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Thank you, I was confused when I posted previously, and did not realize that I was kicked out right after I had logged on, so I posted as guest and then realized I needed to log back in again. I used to live in Charleston, SC many years ago, and I remember that church very well. Yes, I also agree that we have the same oppressor, but they are so dumb and controlled and can't even see it. What a shame. But what can we do? They are rising up and being encouraged to go in this direction by the 'people in high places'. They too, in my opinion, are being used to keep up White Supremacy.

Wow! I read the article and I do agree that 'we' tend to give White women a pass and view them as being fragile should be be called out or exposed for doing something cultural offensive. Even though, I am pretty critical against wrongdoings that I see in regards to White women, I too find myself sometimes willing to give them the benefit of the doubt for certain issues, that I find myself wondering why I do that. And, I kind of know the answer, it's deep seeded and I believe comes from a pre-conditioning and from the feeling of suppression and White Supremacy being masked behind White men as taking the wrap for issues that have been exposed. I believe we have been conditioned to overlook White women and view them as being off limits no matter how they show themselves as being just as active about racism and White Supremacy as the White man. And I really have a lot of emotions about this topic because I have had to deal with issues that I have been faced with that makes it hard for me to ignore now. This issues just strikes a tune with me because I constantly have a burning question in my mind concerning 'the reaction' of Ms. Dolezal being exposed in comparison and contrast to so many other issues, one that would include Black people have downplayed Ms. Stanely Dunham. I'm trying to wrap my head around how the presidents mother could have been given a pass to be able to be considered a foundation of our Black race and culture when every thing that I read doesn't show anything credible! She has been given credit, but she didn't live the life of a Black woman or African or African American. So, what is so different from her and Ms. Dolezal? In fact, Ms. Stanley Dunham moved in on another Black woman! The president's father was married at the time the president was conceived. He was 'a money train' sitting in a college class on some kind of scholarship or something at a time when Stanley Dunham's parents left the continent to move to Hawaii to seek a better life. During the 60s when the Civil Rights Movement was in swing, she was not apart of any movement that I read about that aligned her to the plight of Black people at that time. The write-up throws down the presidents father, but builds up his mother and in my opinion, GIVES HER A PASS, but she is just as negative as what his father as been portrayed to have been. She was not embracing the Black plight, rather, she was looking for relationship that gave her economical gain. I just don't get it. Ms. Dolezal is by far rare in her actions to have a passion to align herself with the Black race for gain when things are going well. I mean, the very epic film of a White actress portraying the part of a well documented Black woman just screams to this issue. NO, Cecil B. DeMille did not cast a Black woman to play the part of Zippora, but he chose a White woman! I think too, that many White woman possess some kind of imbalance when it comes to the plight of Black women in many ways that we have been made to 'not see'. Many of them hide behind White racist men, but it just doesn't seem natural for White men to be racist against Black women, and not White women too. i think many of them hide their racism and want to be portrayed as being passive, but that is not true.

Nothing surprises me anymore. Lunacy is rampant in the land! And when what constitutes blackness is juxtaposed with what constitutes craziness, there’s a common thread. In addition to all the bizarre occurrences daily reported by the media, I have never in my life encountered so many people who strike me as crazy as the ones I come across on the internet. When folks don't have to be accountable for their behavior because they can hide behind avatars and anonymity, their true selves emerge. And it ain't pretty. I find myself wondering that if one's behavior is sociopathic, is one a sociopath no matter what one's facade masks? Applying this question to race I ask if, as many claim, it is an artificial concept, then if you identify with blackness to the point of passing for black, are you black no matter what your DNA is? This situation is too crazy to assess because of the ambiguity of blackness. To me Rachel Dolezal, the white wanna-be sista making headlines, sounds like a woman who has taken on a leadership position in a black organization for the same reason that some black people do. They like the spotlight, the prestige, and the authority that goes with this status. An extra perk for these spokespeople is being entrusted with the role of dramatizing black victimization by delivering the scripted rhetoric that calls attention to their “mission” - and themselves! Racism provides a platform for their egoism. It is also been my observation that some African-Americans who look like they could pass for white but identify themselves as black, secretly like the favorable reaction they get by doing this, particularly the approval of any dark skin people who are humbly honored by this act of condescension. To me, Rachel Dolezal complies with this profile. Bottom line, she engages in this charade because she’d rather be a black somebody than a white nobody! I consider her an opportunist whose motivation suggests a psychosis; a coo-coo Caucasian. ( And people of her ilk are making me neurotic!) As for Walter White, back in the day, he was what was known as a "voluntary negro", a “race man” who could, but did not pass for white. One explanation given for his long career in the NAACP was how, when it came to fund raising, his appearance helped ingratiate him to white philanthropists who felt more comfortable making financial donations when approached by someone who looked the way they did.

Again, I'm tickled at your take on this subject as I was previously when I read your post. But more to the point, your comment in that she "likes the spotlight" and "Racism provides a platform for their egoism" is interesting and I didn't really consider this until now. However, based on her parents I don't see her doing this for money, so it does make sense that she fed her ego. And yes, she may have secretly relished in the favorism and attention that she may have gotten from Black people, possibly darker skinned black people. But my first reaction was that she reminded me of what was said in the movie depiction of Alex Haley's when the master's wife talked about pretending that she was a slave woman. I think many White women as a secret imbalance when it comes to the history and present issues that face Black women, and to me, it's unavoidable. I think these odd behaviors, that not only Ms. Dolozal has shown but so many others, are just one of the negative fruits of White Supremacy that goes along with the issue. She is by far not the only white woman that wants to be in the shoes of a Black woman when we are 'elevated' or delivered out of a suppressive state and that is all a sick part of White Supremacy, in my opinion. They want to play in the victory roles but not during the times when we are suppressed. If it's glamorous to be rescued by some fantastical dashing White Slave master or a gorgeous Superfly black man who saves a sexy Black woman from being attacked, then the White woman wants to be 'that woman' and they don't see the gut wrenching truth behind fantasy. They are not apart of the shaping of the Black culture 'up from slavery' from slave row, but fixate on accounts of times when certain women have been elevated or freed out of suppression. I think it's llike a fantasy, a misplaced fantasy in which they can now pick the good parts of our culture to admire and want to embrace, but don't realize that this type of escapism is offensive. For many of us who have been hurt by racism, their is no escape. We can't get into a position where we can get paid to speak about our hurt, most of us just live it everyday and therefore, we don't have the freedom to speak out without knowing there are possible repercussions and we won't be able to run from it. As a White woman who fantasizes about being a Black woman, I don't think you would find one that would want to be portrayed as an ugly black woman. So, White woman can pick and select how they want to portray themselves in Black face' and therefore, it would be a light skinned Black woman, of which carries a negativity and a blow to our history and experience as well. But I find her behavior so common, I think we just have been conditioned to ignore it in the past and for some reason, her parents wanted to lash out against her, and so we are now facing this issue as a result of their conflict. In ancient history, foreign woman who became apart of Egypt put on wigs and portrayed themselves as Egyptian woman in order to be elevated above the original Egyptian woman, but we don't highlight this fact! So why now? Some White women today, blow up their lips and add padding to their hips to present themselves as being attractive with this 'Black trait' but that doesn't mean they want to be Black women, but just the White woman or light woman that has the attractive traits of black woman. They are picking and choosing what they want out of our culture, but then too, some of them are probably doing that in regards to other ethnic cultures as well because they are in a position where they can look at others and then mimic it when they know it will bring some kind of satisfaction. In a way, it could be said that we Black women do the same thing, but not on this scale. For sure, we couldn't speak about issues under the NAACP, and get the attention that she did so easily. I saw her on youtube passionately speaking about 'the reasons why we should boycott the movie, Exodus, and I asked myself, why hasn't a black woman been heard speaking against this move?

I completely agree. There are, I think, plenty of Black-owned businesses that are a bit pricier or a bit less convenient that their white-counterparts that I would still support. For example, Bevel, which makes grooming kits for people who suffer with razor bumps (mostly Blacks), has fairly pricey products and you have to get their products online, but I plan to support once I'm able because they make a product I legitimately need, they hire a lot of Blacks, and they speak out when things go down. There are plenty of companies small and large that do the same thing, all of which are worthy of support. Unfortunately, none of the Black banks fit that bill, as far as I know. Speaking just about the banks, it's not even about the resources. It would be incredibly easy and cheap, for example, to offer an internship program to Black high school and college students who want to get into banking and finance; you could even partner with the Black nonprofits and HBCU's, and the PR boost would be enormous. But for various reasons they're not (last time I checked), and the Black banks are getting dismembered (Carver Bank is no longer Black-owned), partly due to the recession but I think mostly out of extreme conservatism and inability to innovate. The question I ask myself when thinking about doing business with them vs BoA or Chase is: "Do I want to try and prop up a sinking ship, or do I want to get on the good ship that shoves me into second-class?" Right now, until the banks either change management or someone gets a clue, I lean towards the second-class as much as it disgusts me. Because honestly at least the ship won't capsize with me in it.

What I would say is that the Black banks in particular are so incredibly backwards and conservative that I would be very, very hesitant in depositing with them. Very few of them are active on social media despite its massive importance. Their Internet presences are abysmal. They refuse to merge with each other and would rather stay lords of single cities, instead of uniting and creating a national bank actually capable of something. But worst of all in my mind is that they are always silent when issues come up that threaten the Black community. If you are a Black bank and you present yourself as a Black bank and you say your existence is to serve the community, and you say nothing when that community is threatened, then you aren't there for the community. Your Blackness is then just a marketing stunt. Of course, the stagnation and lethargy of the Black banks is better (just barely) than the outright hostility of the White banks toward the Black community. But they need to get their shit together. Too many Black banks bemoan the lack of patronage given to them by other Blacks and yet don't do jack for the community. To be blunt, why should I support you if you won't support us? I'm not going to fork over my money to you just because we share a skin tone. Show me that you're doing something besides sitting there with puppy-dog eyes.

That's scary, 'not wanting to write'. I love to write but yes, this technology world has caused me problems too. The thought of living off of writing has left me many years ago, but I still believe that writing [& reading] is paramount to having a better quality of life. It's just that, I believe that there are some who deliberately write useless material to deter people from wanting to write and read about the issues that count, and this has played against the human race as a whole. And, this is disheartening for me, but nevertheless, I love to write, I have just got to get myself in the mood and this is taking a little longer than it has in the past.

I don't know if you touched upon this as far as billing, but I had a little bit of a problem seeing how I ws billed on the book that I just recently purchased. I used paypal through some unfamiliar site to buy my book and did not get a transaction number, the usual process. but I feel pretty okay because I saw paypal statement on my email.

Lol! You definitely made me laugh and I apologize if you weren't meaning to be humorous. As a matter of fact, I'm still laughing. I'm both Chevdove and guest. I didn't realize after I had logged on, that the computer kicked me out until after I have decided ot post initially as a guest. Yes, I will read you post on "wigger". I have found that the subject of dark skinned and light skinned can become challenging only with there is an instigator in the midst, like White people when they like to incite. Outside of that, I could care less about my friends being dark or light and have learned to be frank and move on to better things to do and talk about. I have left off from these new TV programs as well,f or the most part. But, I've never been an avid TV watcher anyways, but I do have my interest. I got rid of the cable channels awhile back because my kids seemed to gravitate to shows that I didn't want them to be watching. However, I like the History channel and american funny this or that, and I like the oldies [classics] like Good Times, and also more updated but oldies still like Living Single. i used to like Tyler Perry, but I got alittle tired of him lately. I think I'm old fashion alittle bit. I'm a Christian, or correction, a believer in Jesus Christ [the original one NOT pictured in most of the Black Churches I've been to as described in the Bible] but I don't think you will throw me off! I'm not at all conventional. Some might think I'm the spawn of the Devil too, and I could care less. I've not read the book you mentioned but I will check it out. I don't know if I can pick up the slack, LOL! I might be headed down the same path you are on[! but I try to see if I can help out!

And here is proof of what economist and I was saying just the other day (like we needed more proof...). When the economy is built on a capitalistic system that has it's foundation in buying and selling debt as a commodity, when this happens your money is poof! Like magic. http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/puerto-rico-says-it-cannot-pay-its-debt-setting-off-potential-crisis-in-the-us/2015/06/28/cbae1bc4-1e05-11e5-84d5-eb37ee8eaa61_story.html

This one though! As Count Dracula, I have had the opportunity to own many fine watches. I started wearing watches in the 1400's when they were not much more than portable, spring-driven clocks attached to the wrist by something that resembled a manacle. They were large and clumsy and would often get tangled up in my cape. As the decades and centuries passed, watchmaking technology improved dramatically. I have always liked to keep up on the latest in men's fashion, and I feel fortunate to be independently wealthy and so I have always been able to afford the best. I've sported Rolex and Cartier and Bvlgari and Piaget, but now "the best" has a new champion. I would remove this magnificent timepiece from my wrist only if it somehow stopped working, but since it is of the highest precision quality, I don't expect that day (or night) to come until around the year 2550. The snakes and lizards are awesome, but LOVE the skull! The only drawback is that it has a lot of crevices where graveyard soil can get stuck, but that's really my own fault for not placing a bread-bag over my arm when I retire to my coffin . FIVE STARS!!!!!

That's because this would have happened no matter what. Obama is just the latest on the Iron Throne. When you import the majority of your consumables and your debt is owned by the world like I said it's just a matter of repaying the debt. The person in office is just the person in office. Consider this, if my company begins to grow I will be considered in the same boat as the people who pushed this thing through, Nike, etc. Then again if I even sniff a consistent million each year for two years I'll be bought out. The lack of focus on eating, shopping, spending local is the only thing that could have slowed this down, but it was just bound to happen. We buy more than any other country so since we are no longer producing anything and our economy is built around consuming and debt, other countries need direct access to the US without the taxes, duties and tariffs. Now the smart person in the Black community would begin buying up warehouses or leasing them at pennies on the dollar and establishing storage and shipping options for the amount of product that will begin to arrive. Because if someone in the US doesn't do this, very soon there will be more warehousing companies opening with logistics outside of the US leaving the physical back breaking labor to whoever will take those jobs, until the robots come. What we do have to add here is that the TPP is just able to be legislated now, it isn't law... yet.

I don't get Ebony, lol.

Ditto on your Game of Thrones statement. I'm completely avoiding the discussion on the church shooting because since Colorado and Sandy Hook, I've just realized that people really do live in a video game world where shooting people is comparable to playing a first person shooter video game. I honestly think they think there is a reset button and they can start over and if they can't their boring lives are now front page stories and they have something they would have never had in their day to day existence, fame.

I would like to see the blog integrated into the first page of the site and the books, even the paid ads, be featured as blog posts/articles. Basically I'd like the traditional banner, with ad at the top of the page, rotating slider featuring paid ads at the top, an AALBC power list box, a Huria Blog box and then the blogs beneath all of that. I mean really the biggest issue I see is that people are really getting used to the blog format on the homepage as opposed to being a click through. People scroll now and if there is an extra button to click to get to information then I think it hurts. If we can see an excerpt of the blog posts that would be great. The site is so informative it will be hard to decide what to do, but you know how to keep it rocking. As far as making a living from the site, you might want to break down the advertising into a year long billing subscription. I know for a fact if you sent me a billing option that I would pay each month to keep a book on the front page. If the billing option doesn't show up then I keep kind of pushing forward and forget to do anything. (Does that make sense?) Whatever you do I will be ready to look at it and I will help in anyway.

I'm confused as to who is saying what?????? Are ChevDove and Guest the same person?? Anyhow, welcome to the board whoever is whom. Regarding the conversation, I am somebody who would pass the brown bag test and over the years, I noticed that I am treated differently than sistas darker than me. They observed this, too, and never hesitate to tell me about it. Sometimes in jest and other times in resentment. People from time to time ask me if I'm "mixed" and I simply tell them "not to my knowledge". I've never had the desire to try and pass, and consider myself a legitimate black person in psyche as well as experience. I must confess, however, that at this point in my old age, people of all races get on my freakin nerves. Everybody is crazy but me. I've pretty much given up on this fucked up society turning itself around. I am not optimistic. Nevertheless,ChevDove/Guest, I'd be interested in your thoughts about my take on the Rachel Dolezal case, an opinion I expressed elsewhere on this board under the headline "On Being a "Wigger". Anyhoo, as a result of my disillusionment with America, instead of watching the News which is alll bad, and the prime time TV fare which is mostly tripe, I've gravitated to almost exclusively watching the Science and Discovery and True Crime and TLC channels. The massacre at the black church and the reaction to it, just numbs my sensitivities. I need a respite for racism. More and more I am captivated by programs about quantum physics and how things are made, and UFOs and Aliens, or about people who murder their mates in order to collect their insurance money so they can hook up with the person who they're been having an affair with. I am also an avid fan of Game of Thrones which is violent and lascivious and utterly incomprehensible.. As for reality shows, I look at ones about gluttonous slobs who weight 600 lbs and can't get out of the bed, or about nut-cases who are compulsive hoaders and are buried in their homes under mountains of trash and feces and filth. Or, could I care less about my hometown hocky team, the Chicago Black Hawks, winning the Stanley Cup. zzzzzzzzzz I do watch the opening monologues of the Late Night TV talk show hosts, just to hear them skewer celebrities, but the interviews with the guests rarely command my interest. As for the Net, I hang out on FaceBook mostly to harrass anyone who is too comfortable in their views. i just go on their walls and highjack their discussions with my opposing views.. I am especially a menace to devout Christians who consider me the spawn of Satan. So, ChevDove, you ask why am I spewing all of this drivel. Well, this is what I've degenerated into. Since you've come aboard, maybe you can take up the slack because I'm fading awaaaaaaaay.... World weary and jaded. Now, for the real reason I jumped into this subject. It occurs to me that since my latest book "The Only One" is about an interracial romantic triangle that pits a black sista against a white gurl in a contest to see who can win over a fione brotha, this novel suddenly has some relevance due to the hot topic fueled by Rachel Dolezal in regard to the entitlement and advantages white females fall heir to. http://conniediversbradley.simplesite.com/ ,