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I'm currently reading Uncle Tom or New Negro? edited by Rebecca Carroll, for leisure. Seeking detailed thoughts, invoked feelings and views on this book. Oh and I have just joined the site, not sure if my wording is proper.

I agree with a fellow FaceBooker when she asks "Does it strike you as odd that the disgraceful slaughter of a lion in Africa causes far more outrage in America than the daily lynchings of Americans of color?" Ironically, had this lion killed the hunter, excuses would've been made blaming the man for encroaching on the lion's turf, while explaining that this was just a case of a lion being a lion. Or is anybody ever outraged when lions kill each other, committing fur-on-fur crime. Too bad there's no such universal lamenting among human beings when a black person is murdered by a white cop - during the course of a racist just being a racist when he kills a black motorist for just being a black motorist. One thing for sure: Lion lives matter. Good thing I'm a Leo or I would really be pissed about this situation.

(c) 2000 Evelyn D. Hall

I watched the video snippet and listened to what Ta-Nehisi Coates had to say, and it was true. But is it profound or enlightening to anybody other than naive white people who might just include the editors at his publishing company. Are there any critical thinking black people who don't know that personal responsibility and virtue on their part does not trump racism and poverty?? Or does being twice as accomplished as a white rival even guarantee success. In reality, many high profile blacks have become multi-millionaires not by exhibiting personal responsibility but by simply having a talent or a skill that provides entertainment and diversion for white people. A famous quote by Proust says that "The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes" Could this be why the articulate and animated Ta'Nehisi Coates has catapulted to the ranks of an intellectual rock star? Because he simply looks at the ongoing problem of race with a new set of eyes, making his generation aware of what black elders have already figured out. It's interesting that Toni Morrison and Cornel West have butted heads over the validity of Coates' genius. Has Toni anointed him because he says what she wants to hear because what is familiar to her is what she wants to hear? Does Cornel feel threatened by this upstart's ideas, a frustration making him resort to style over substance diversionary tactics that consist of theoretical counterpoints? Am I missing something here? Or is the release of this new book much ado about nothing, comparable to the hulabaloo over Harper Lee's prequel to "To Kill A Mockingbird". My cynical reaction to so much of what is going on this silly world is not something I have to work at. It comes natural to me. Would I be bragging if I make claim to being a true iconoclast??