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Well, Troy, this is where we get into the abstraction of gender as opposed to sex. What is feminine behavior? Not slouching in your desk, paying attention in class, and not slurring your words or bullying others? I wasn't aware that sitting up straight is a strain on males; it's certainly something the military stresses. Is being aggressive, disrupting the class room, not doing your homework, and sassing the teacher masculine behavior that should be tolerated. Behaving yourself has nothing to do with sex or gender, it's just being disciplined. IMO

“Most Black Republicans I know are intelligent....they aren't stupid. They just tend to be naïve and really believe in the "patriotism" and "values" lie so many Republicans claim to hold.” Well, as you said, most black republicans are very intelligent and well educated. They are not stupid nor are they the source of the sub cultural dysfunctional and chaos that is a virulent malignancy in segments of black America. Although I personally do not share many aspects of their politics -I think it is very misguided and erroneous to assume they are naive or gullible. They just see things differently. I do not agree with the idea that because someone has black skin they must conform to a particular rigid dogma for no other reason than having black skin. I dismiss this inane idea that black people must be monolithic in their ideology. For whites (and other non-blacks) - it’s perfectly acceptable to have diametric beliefs and opinions. Ann Coulter and Amy Goodman are both white females -but their ideology is 180 degrees opposite! Sean Hannity and Tim Wise are both white males -but their politics are completely polar! No one says anything about the radical differences in ideology and politics that exists between whites (or other non-blacks). I’ve never heard Tim Wise being called “self-hating” or Ann Coulter labeled a “sell out” by those who disagree with her. But with Negroes –it’s just the opposite! They are preemptively denied the latitude of diverse opinions and beliefs that others (races and ethnicities) enjoy. This is sad and indefensible…. Have an opinion or belief that differs or contradicts the so-called black group think orthodoxy? OMG! Standby for some serious personal attacks and racist name calling (e.g. white boot licking, house nigga, coon, sell out, uncle Tom, etc..).Again, I completely disagree with all of this reactionary nonsense. If you disagree with someone like Thomas Sowell, Ron Christie, Tim Scott or Larry Elders –fine! State why you disagree and why you believe their opinions are incorrect. But leave the adolescent Negro blood sport of race baiting and name calling out!

CD To the average person who knows little about psychology or psychiatry this may seem like a bit of a stretch to connect lead contamination with violence and academic performance. It may even seem ridiculous. But I had an experience years ago with mercury poisoning that let me know how real the effects of metals poisoning can be. I was a healthy person and out of nowhere when the mercury levels accumulated in my body I started getting rashes, my muscles started jerking in spots, and I started having anxiety issues. After prayer and research I was blessed to find out what the problem was and removed it and I got better. Lead, mercury, arsenic...these metals can cause severe PSYCHOLOCIAL effects in people at low doses! At high doses....they kill you. At low does....they may give you depression, make you bi-polar, scizophrenic, hyper-aggressive, retarded, and a host of other problems and you may not directly tie to the metal poisoning itself. If you look at what's happening in the inner cities all over the nation where the pipes are old and outdated and look at the high rate of violence and poorly performing schools....it can't just be a coincidence. Nowhere in nature do you find stupid and violent constantly occupying the same space. One person may be slow, another may be violent....but to have so many residents in a limited area that are of both low intellect AND quick tempered???? That area is being poisoned! It is actually said that the Roman practice of putting lead in their wine to sweetin it actually lead to the fall of the Roman Empire because the population became increasingly volatile and began fighting and killing eachother until the empire collapsed from the inside.

Troy I remember as a kid in the 6th grade I was put out of class because the teacher said I kept slouching instead of sitting "properly". She kept pointing at a girl and telling me to sit with my legs squeezed together like her. I wasn't articulate enough at the time to explain to her why it is highly uncomfortable and in some cases painful for boys to sit like that, I just wouldn't do it. And when I went to the Principle's office she also kept telling me to do the same and I finally told her that I couldn't sit like that because "I got something down there that won't let me do it". As I said, a lot of boys are being punished just for being boys....most of whom by nature are biologically hardwired to be aggressive and push boundaries. But Black boys seem to be especially targeted in a White female dominated educational system. 　 While some of these changes may be liberating, most people are just confused, as the culture is in a constant state of flux. What is wrong today will be perfectly acceptable tomorrow. That's why I've decided to take a NEW approach social acceptance and say we should tolerate almost EVERYTHING in society as long as it's between consenting adults and doesn't directly harm anyone other than the practitioner. 　 CD The irony is that the video you posted of the gay dude is an exaggeration of the way women walk. Women don't even behave like that. This is true. It seems to me like he was going out of his way to get attention. I've noticed that some feminine acting Black men behave as such as if to tell society, "I just soft and silly, nobody to worry about. I pose absolutely no harm to you." Kind of like Black men who won't stand at a bus stop or train station if there is a White woman there alone for fear that she may be afraid of HIM. You know the more I study, the more I realize that there has always been a large gay population in the Black community. I mean many of our major writers were gay, but they weren't so feminine that it was easy to decipher what their orientation might be. That is the problem... gay now seems to mean that you have to carry the characteristics of the sex you are attracted to. Men act more like women and women act more like men. I've always wanted to ask someone gay why this is necessary if being homosexual is about the attraction to someone else. Why does a person forego the stereotypical qualities associated with their sex? I don't ever ask because these questions always lead to confrontation and I'm not that interested in fighting through the confrontation to ask, lol. There is a gay population in EVERY race and nationality just like there are LEFT-HANDED people. That's why when that Iranian president came to America a few years ago and claimed that they didn't have gays in his nation (Iran) like in America the audience nearly laughed him off the stage. At various times in history it may unsafe or seen as unacceptable in society, so you may not hear about them....but they are there. In societies where homosexuality is forbidden and punished, a lot of homosexuals join the CLERGY and become priests or nuns to help hide their lack of interest in the opposite sex. But... I really do want to know why a gay woman takes on the "male" persona? And why the gay man takes on the "female" persona? (I do know that not all gay people do this.) I do believe that in many cases it's NATURAL for some straight people to just operate in a way more common to the opposite sex, so you'll see a straight man who likes women but has a lisp and bashful demeanor. But as far as the exaggerated masculine or feminine behavior...I think it's often a homosexual person trying to make a SOCIAL STATEMENT. A lesbian doesn't have to put on a wife-beater and tatoo herself all up and sag and spit to be a lesbian, all she has to do is go out and get a woman. But she'll do all of that as a way of drawing attention and letting either society at large or a targeted audience know this is who she is and how she gets down. A Black man who grows up in a hard ghetto may exaggerate female characteristics to let the local thugs know that he poses no threat and thus doesn't need to tested or challenged. Cynique I thought the issue was that straight black men were unconsciously starting to act a tad effeminate. That's different from flamboyant behavior on the part of black men who are actually gay. Obviously the flaming male in the video is flaunting his gayness but this has nothing to do with a trend toward straight black men losing their masculine demeanor. Unless this distinction is made, everybody is not on the same page. Well I'm not sure about the various points other people were pushing but MY point was that modern academia seems to make it hard for masculine Black men (gay or straight) There are plenty of gay Black men who are masculine. Spending a week of observation of any state penatintary will prove that statement. It's not so much the gay or straight Black man whom society fears, it's the MASCULINE Black man (aggressive, bold, risk taking) that seems to be often targeted. But as far as the flamboyancy....... As I told CD, that's usually a gay man acting in an ultra feminine way just to get attention and make a social statement. It's purposely exaggerated for that effect.

Hello Troy, I just watched the video from beginning to end. What a fantastic job you have done sharing and explaining this platform. I absolutely love it. I am busy getting ready to launch The Peanut Butter Trap, Hate is Such an Ugly Word via Amazon's CreateSpace. I am really excited. I am praying that my proof is all that I expect and more. The cover is awesome. I am also attending my online courses at Gotham Writers Workshop. This is already a great experience for me. I can already see the benefits in my writing. For my first book, The Hunt for the Magic Pearl, I have filed a complaint with the Indiana State Attorney General to report what transpired with Archway Publishing. If nothing else, I can be released from the contract and I have hopefully put them on notice. I am awaiting a response from Attorney General's office. I am saying this to let you know that I am busy, busy, busy and loving every minute of it. I have not abandoned aalbc.com. I really do appreciate all that you are doing for the African-American literary community. Keep on making good things available to us, we all need this. My best to you always, Shirley

Bro Troy stated: “But I will not blame the victims for the root cause of the problem, which stems from an economic system entrenched with white racism.” Really? And that’s the problem. Instead of holding people accountable for their personal poor decisions making and the consequences of those poor decisions –you will give them a free pass and blame their reckless self-destructive behavior on history and past grievances. Trust me –I am more than aware of the historical injustices and race based violence that black people in America labored under. But the uber dysfunction and hyper-violence that is pandemic with Negroes today has nothing to do with slavery, segregation or racism. Such an assertion (“white racism and an economic system entrenched with white racism”) contradicts both history and facts. You are putting the cart before the horse bro Troy. I want to say this first –yes there is racism against black people (the current POTUS is a perfect example) and yes there is such a thing as racial profiling, discrimination in housing, employment and in the justice system. This particular condition is not in dispute. It is not the “existence” but the degree to which it exists and the definitive impact it has Negroes. This is where you and I disagree. If an “economic system entrenched with white racism” is the direct cause of all the violence, illegitimacy, coonery and buffoonery that is common in black America today, you have to explain why widespread (legal) racial violence, total segregation, minimal access to American political and economic institutions, Jim Crow laws, fettered education, illiteracy, exclusion of blacks from state and federal jobs, quotas and restrictions of job classifications in the military (e.g. cooks and manual laborers only) and virtually no judicial redress, let’s say 100 years ago –did not reduce black people to what you see today. You have to explain why the Moynihan Report in 1965 (more than 50 years ago!) attempted to sound the warning siren about a projected black illegitimacy rate of 25%. Yet today, the black illegitimacy rate it is estimated to be over 70%! Let’s go back further. Did you know data from U.S. Census reports reveals that between 1880 and 1960, married households consisting of two-parent homes were the most widespread form (vice single female today) of black American family structures? For example, a study of 1880 family structures in Philadelphia showed that three-fourths of black families were nuclear families, composed of two parents and children. In your beloved New York City, in 1925, 85% of kin-related black households had two parents! How is this possible when virulent racism, job and housing discrimination and extreme race violence (the norm) was exponentially worse than what it is today? You suggested the abysmal state of American Negroes in 2016 is the result of poverty. Well, you have to explain why black communities of more than 50 years did not endure the level of violence and senseless homicides that is so common today. The overall poverty level of black Americans has greatly declined when you compare it to what it was 100 years ago. In fact, 50 years ago, in 1966, 41.8 percent of black Americans were in poverty. By 2012, the poverty among black Americans had fallen to 27.2% (yes -still more than double the rate among whites!). My point is this -the current state and total collapse of the black two-parent home would have been inconceivable to black people 100 years ago! The rate of poverty among black Americans 100 years ago was staggering when compared today. The ongoing siege of black communities by street gangs, thugs and the mindless violence today -would floor black Americans of 100 years ago. But according to you, the current pathology of black America is the direct result of poverty and racism when 100 years ago the poverty and racism black people endured was ten fold worse! Yet black people did not suffer the crushing exigent dysfunction and intra-group violence as Negroes in 2016. WHY? I will wait for your response……

The Big Bang was named by the opposing Astrophysicist. It was an attempt to belittle the opposition by giving it a title that is crudely sexual. Do even Astrophysicist resort to name calling.

LOL, From one pop culture vulture to another, how can picking celebrities apart be resisted?? Their egotistic narcissism makes them so ripe for ridicule. It's hard not to mock their award show acceptance speeches, trite utterances that alternate between mawkish soliloquies and rehearsed spontaneity. Both of these, however, are preferable, to the reading of a long list of those who are to blame for the winner being on the stage accepting an award that snide Golden Globe host Ricky Gervais so aptly reminded, is something nobody but the recipient cares about after a week. But, worst of all is enduring the unctuous suck-ups trolling the red carpet, microphone in hand, asking designer-garbed zombies, "who" are you wearing. I can't wait for Chris to rock the Oscars this Sunday, laying a guilt trip on those responsible for not finding a subservient role to reward a black actor for playing. I wouldn't miss it!

Disqus installed. Thank you sir!

Okay Chasitie, please, please, please, (in my James Brown voice) install Disqus. Unlike Troy, I'm too lazy to comment when I have to sign in and I want to comment on the page. Dope post again! Love the appropriation of "Blacker the Berry"! You killed that. It's a good analysis. I still hate Squarespace because no one seems to know how to add ads to their platform, but that's a different story. It was a good post though.

Glad there is so much conversation here! Please be sure to like and share the actual blog posts on your social media if you could to keep the conversation going. Thank you!

Homosexuality is a very complex sexual dynamic. Professionals haven't even been able to sort out everything about it. So, Pioneer, you'd do well to preface your conclusions with an "IMO". Surely you don't think we didn't know that homosexuality doesn't discriminate. It is a "deviation" that has even been observed in animals. There are so many mysteries about homosexuality like how it's not uncommon, in the case of fraternal male twins, for one twin to be gay, while the other is straight, and there are other variations on homosexuality in both male and female twins which support the idea of sexuality originating in the womb. I find it interesting that gender is considered different from sex because it is a distinction associated with inanimate objects, most specifically clothing; i.e. the gender of a frilly dress is female. and the gender of a tweed suit is male but this is only because society has decided this to be the case, just another example of how much our "norms" are dictated by Society. As for teachers imposing girlish behavior on boys, this doesn't hold up when it comes to "tom-boy" girls. Nobody pressures them to act masculine, they just do it. It's all very complicated and I don't think you can generalize, especially because one person's interpretation of effeminate behavior may differ from another one's. So, who knows? IMO, the old saying about "the same fire that melts wax, makes steel hard" can, in a way, apply to school boys because they apparently develop differently under the same circumstances, and this leads to the the old controversy about which is more influential? Heredity? Or environment? No doubt, however, the lines separating the sexes are becoming blurred and the LGBT community is growing.

Prepare a book proposal. Make it as comprehensive as possible. Include the first 3 chapters. The goal is to sell the rights to your book to a publisher Research to find which imprint/publishing company publishes books like the one you have in mind Check the publishing company's submission policy. Look for the name of the acquisition editor If there is an open submission policy, submit a query letter /and the book proposal (if the company request it as part of the submission packet) to the acquisition editor. Example Harlequin https://harlequin.submittable.com/submit has open submissions and an editor will actually critique your submission if you follow their guidelines. This is really helpful because you'll learn your proposal's strength and weaknesses - Note this is for novels though but maybe if you have a narrative nonfiction that might work too. DAW inprint of Penguin accepts science fiction unagented manuscripts too http://www.penguin.com/meet/publishers/daw/ again do your research there are plenty publishing houses that will accept unsolicited material - but pay attention to dates and timelines If the publishing company has a closed submission policy; search for a Literary agent who takes on projects like the one you're proposing. (Note: reputable Literary Agents do not charge fees they take a percentage of projects s/he sells after signing you to an agency contract.) Check twitter for @writersdigest There's a lot of information on how to sign with an agent or pitch a company and other publishing/ writers' tips. If you sign with a literary agent develop a working relationship and follow her recommendations to get your book sold. If an acquisition editor decides s/he wants to publish your manuscript...HIRE AN ENTERTAINMENT ATTORNEY before moving forward. (This is the most important part)

I hear you, but I can only base my opinions on where I live and have lived in the US and by looking only at my experiences, it just doesn't carry any weight and removes the personal responsibility and choices in regard to the actions of the people. I'm just unable to give over the ignorance and violence to "lead in the water" right now. As the evidence becomes clearer in connection maybe I will accept it, but right now I will look at as an additional theory in regard to the low performance of kids in the ghetto. That's the best that I can do. When I look at Memphis it's gentrification that shifted violence in the city. It's also an unwillingness to work. I've told Troy this before and I guess I'm telling you, Memphis is 64% Black. It's one of the few cities where Blacks rival the numbers of Whites. Blacks hold very high positions in the city and a considerable amount of status. Memphis actually has a middle class (a shrinking one, but still). Memphis on any given day has more job openings than one could imagine in the US. These aren't just cheap, low paying jobs either. They are well paid warehouse positions and a lot of tech positions. If we look at Memphis' high crime areas, Hickory Hill, for example, less than twenty years ago it was a mostly White area so the pipes and infrastructure couldn't have possibly been shifted over the last few years. The same with the Raleigh/Frayser area. Maybe this could have happened, but what I know did happen was the projects in Memphis were demolished and all of the people from the projects moved to these middle class areas and the crime shifted with them. If I use your logic on Memphis this would mean we'd see the same problems in the White community, and that just isn't the case. It also avoids the discussion on how many of these students become the graduates of high schools and colleges out of this area. I don't know if there is a way to skip houses with lead poisoning, so the theory just doesn't fit when there are so many who are unaffected. Once again, I can make the same assumptions about Southeast San Diego where I lived and Los Angeles where I lived for a short time. The violence and issues with health were cumulative. In Memphis there are a ton of factories in South Memphis therefore you have a lot of kids with asthma in that area. This is verifiable so I know this is true. Does this contribute to violence... maybe, but it's a stretch. I do admire that you are taking the time to draw connections and put in the work and that's more important than anything.

"Look at what happened to Sandra Bland..." Sarah Bland was not shot nor killed by the police. Her demise occurred while held in custody in the Waller County jail. The sheriffs dept runs the country jails -not the police.

I really think this re-discovery of so much lead contamination in the drinking water of urban areas around this nation may be a turning point for Black progress. It may provide many answers to a lot of the social, criminal, and academic problems that Black America has been facing for decades. For decades many of our social scientists, civil rights leaders, and others have been trying to figure out the root cause of so many of the problems plaguing the inner cities of America....perhaps we may now have a leading suspect.

Video is the next wave and while it is mostly crappy, silly videos that get all of the love, there is a market out there for informative videos. The thing is we stop creating content and never find our niche. The more videos you have the more you show up in search and that improves your ability to reach more people. Now, I said I want to see how the Facebook video performs. I lied. Unless the Facebook video successfully steers people to AALBC, what is the point other than notoriety? I do know that Facebook video is seen more than your written posts, but if it doesn't lead to conversion what's the point? I guess if the goal is to get more people to see what you have and then get them to follow you to your site via a callout of some kind, then it makes sense to post natively. However, I don't see how Facebook video helps those of us not in the music biz or entertainment and we don't get paid for it. You should definitely make this video your welcome video for AALBC. You also need to start utilizing the annotations and cards. They work very well in producing more content being watched. You could also go to your description for the video and add time breakdowns for each individual section instead of splitting the video up. By adding the minute:seconds it creates a hyperlink in the description and people can click to the section they are interested in. It's an awesome tool!

What happened in "the Fly N T" (as locals call it) is probably happening in cities all over the nation, it was just EXPOSED in Flint. I don't live in Flint but I do live in the Detroit area just about an hour from Flint. I've been there several times to see first hand what's going on. The media is being deceptive about the aid being provided. The sad fact is with all the love and charity people around the nation are giving the city of Flint....it's not enough. It's not enough because the problem will cost BILLIONS of dollars and YEARS to fix properly and no one person in this country has the amount of money and resources to fix it. I personally don't even think the city of Flint and state of Michigan combined has the money to fix it. Only the Federal Government has the money and resources to fix this problem. I've been saying for weeks now that we need to bring in the Army Corps of Engineers to fix the problem and provide temporary housing for people. Hell, why should an American city rely on CHARITY and fund raising when the Federal Government is currently spending billions of dollars in Iraq and Afghanistan? Perhaps this crisis could be a turning point in this nation to help rebuild our infrastructure.

"Do monthly thematics with groups of bloggers by blog subject matter, have an overall monthly theme that everyone participates. Post and follow a schedule to engage on each other's blogs around the theme. Use social media to cross promote the posts about the topic making it something of a month long round table discussion. Win win win for bloggers... readers and demographic impacted by the topics of discussion. Schedule themes around topics that are being discussed globally... have a common place to announce thematic changes for breaking news topic changes like 1)the Cosby scandal when it happened, 2)a new Black Lives Matter incident, 3) political developments during the voting season... Even when it is "entertainment" based blog subject matter discussing how current national news events impact the subject matter covered by the blog." Troy, I'm a marketing professional now. I returned to college to get a BBA in Marketing because I fell in love with it as a result of becoming an author who needed to spread the word about my books. I have four different levels of ways we can execute or implement this in a way that will benefit AALBC. The simplest and riskiest way to implement it would be to send out an invitation to the bloggers you know to sign up and offer slots to be featured during each thematic month for everyone to participate. This is simple because it is first come, first serve and sign up based. Risky because when people don't invest in things like this in MOST cases... they don't follow up on it and participate. This kind of community would require mature commitment, ongoing engagement and a desire to see other blogs increase traffic. If you want to know the other ways, I'll be happy to discuss how to do them so you're able to implement them if you choose.