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This is why indie presses are so important. Can you image anyone from a "big five" New York publisher saying anything close to what she sister is saying?

The people who have the ability to begin the problem solving process, focusing on helping the the people who need help most, first could eliminate this problem tomorrow, but do not have the will to do so, and the people who have the will to do so, do not have the ability. Keep picking up the books and maybe reading some of the books will allow people who are not white to again begin the problem solving process.

@Troy, After you mentioned Erica Kennedy died by her own hands; it touched me in ways that I didn't expect.I tried to find anything that would explain why. Of course, nothing can ever explain why someone takes their own life but I'm glad she made a difference while she was here. Prince, did a lot with his celebrity and his talent. He was and is a leader by example! I'm not a celebrity but I can make requests, such as Prince did, when it is within my power to do so. I will too.

Hello Troy, I know I'm a little behind on what has been happening here on AALBC.com, but I just want to let you know how good this site looks and flows. I just visited the homepage and it looks great. I also took time to read and print out a copy of the "Ten Steps to Promote Diversity in Children's Literature" by Wade Hudson. I definitely plan to share it. Even as an author who is out there pushing my own work, I still try my hardest to support other authors--especially us. It's a difficult road toward acceptance and recognition in the literary industry. If we don't support our own, who will? Just like the article says: "You can make a difference!" We, together must make a difference for our struggling reader/learners. We've got to put a cork in that infamous pipeline to prison. Again, if we don't, who will????? While I am still very busy trying to market and promote my books, I'm going to try to stop by to visit a little more often. Thanks so much for caring. My best to you always, Shirley

Hello Celestial Greatness and Troy, In this instance, I am using diversity strictly as it pertains to children's literature. As an adult, looking back through my child's eyes, I seem to only remember reading European literature and history in school. I was bored too death because for one thing there was nothing in it that pertained to me and my chitterlings, pigs' feet, collard greens, black-eyed peas, watermelon eating, big crazy family, Black culture. I loved the foods that we ate. It was sustaining and damned good. As a child I had no idea about cholesterol, nor did I care. I just knew that I hated being embarrassed when someone spoke ill about what we ate and it happened more often than I wanted to imagine. I almost fought a lady once when I lived in GA and she had the audacity to talk bad about me, a "N" word eating watermelon. I should have had a book right then depicting me enjoying the biggest slice of watermelon ever!!!! Now look at how watermelon is treated on menus. It's not only delicious, but it is very healthy--and as an a part of the agricultural industry, it can be lucrative for farmers. This is my a wonderful representation of my/our cultural diversity--Black children and their enjoyment of Watermelon. Sounds like a great title to me. Sorry, I get a little carried away at times. Back to books. And then when I did got older and could pick and choose the books that I preferred to read, many of them were filled with untruths and outright lies. When I went with my daddy to the White church that he cleaned on Saturdays and Sundays, I would often go into the nursery and look through all the wonderful, colorful children's books. I saw long, straight, blonde hair, blues eyes, and happy endings. Not one of the characters looked anything like me nor did they live in a neighborhood like mine. So as a result of what I'd read, here's what my confused mind did: I went home and put white towels on my head to cover my nappy hair and pretended to be a blue-eyed Cinderella until my Momma told me to take that shit off my head. Having shared that memory, I want our children to see themselves behaving on the pages of our books just they are--good and bad. I want them to visit their histories and cultures via the pages of diverse literature--whether that literature pertains to Africans, Latinos/Hispanics, Asians, whomever. I want to see and hear our varied languages--colorful and brilliantly presented. I want to experience our pains, joys, and sorrows on the pages of good books. I want to see our triumphs as well as our failures. This is diversity in literature to me. This is why I write about intelligent R.A.T.S that represent our young males doing battle with intolerant green giants. This is why I write about beautiful dark-skinned mermaid princesses who are courageous, smart and clever survivors. This is only a peek of what children should see in their literature so that their minds can soar into all sorts of possibilities, so that they can hear rich and varied vocabulary, and so that they can become great and creative thinkers. This is the diversity that I speak of. Now about hate. Hate is a destructive force. A quick step back into the dark days of our history says so. For that matter, just look around us right now. I don't want to hate to move me. I don't want to teach hate in a way that is destructive. But I do want to make children aware of hate and how to handle it when it comes at them or when they feel a need to use it. I must respectfully disagree--hate is a power that destroys from the inside out if it is improperly handled. Love, hate's opposite, can be easily transformed into destruction. It is indeed a slippery slope when we speak of these two very powerful emotions. Thanks so much for the opportunity to exchange views. This is how the power of knowledge is shared and how our great minds are challenged. I absolutely appreciate your input!

Celes quickly married anything pale white and relied upon White Supremacy to claim the confused offsprings were "black" (the idea that one drop of black makes you black lie comes from - The Doctrine of White Supremacy), embraced white liberal attitudes that "men were no longer necessary in the family" and that women, through feminism, could raise children alone, that Black Americans should be more concerned about social issues at large and less concerned about Black America's issues, and implied that Black America's economic situation would improve if we only embraced white liberal democrats and bashed white conservative republicans (in which studies show that white liberal democrats are equally as racist in employing African-Americans, particularly Black American men! Not only that, white liberal democrats are also notorious for attempting to control the thinking of Black Americans in the white liberal racist democrat stating "You are Black" should a Black American disagree theologically with gay marriage, abortion or any other white racist liberal movement). The older Black generation also informed us that anyone with a drop of black must be dumped on the Black community and be an issue for Black America to embrace all rejects by different cultures, which instantly made Black America's respectability further decrease substantially in the world, as no culture has or will ever respect any culture that has an open-door policy to all, particularly rejects or trash (which is why cultures, countries, organizations and institutions tend to more highly respected when these entities exercise exclusivity. 　 Those were very insightful comments concerning the confusion so many AfroAmericans have about race. I've been saying for quite some time now that the "one drop" rule is not only inaccurate, but is down right insulting and demeaning to the Black race by forcing every rejected one into our ranks while keeping thier own ranks "pure". Infact, I touched on it not too long ago in these threads: http://aalbc.com/tc/topic/3667-race-ethnicity-nationality/ http://aalbc.com/tc/topic/3642-the-myth-of-race-and-the-evolution-of-skin-color/ This is why I use the term "AfroAmerican" for our particular ethnic group in the United State regardless of phenotype. But I'll use the term "Black" specifically for those AfroAmericans with a preponderance of African ancestry that clearly manifests in their physical characteristics.

I'm not trying to be contrary but anything "socially designed or demanded is constructed and thereby unnatural. But yes, what you're suggesting indicates natural law and environment demand how our families are structured. Which also may be the key to healing our pathology. For example, procreation is one of the eight biological life functions but marriage and/or child-rearing is a social construct. The human species tend to care for its young but not necessarily in a two-parent model but a community. I would have to dig up my notes but I read there are some uncontacted tribes- who still follow the hunter-gatherer model such as Cynique mentioned. Some have existed for 60,000 years untouched by the West. The hunter-gatherers as we've come to know through their artifacts existed as a community. According to some researchers, hunting-gathering depended on the environment, not necessarily the sex, but it was wholly communal. Along with men, women fished and participated in wild-game hunting when they could.(See: Alphabet vs Goddess by Leonard Shlain, MD) The environment also played a huge part in why some of us left Africa and moved out to other parts of the world but again, they left as a group. In fact, here in the present, Malcolm Gladwell, in his book “Outliers" talked about how a strong community and environment assisted new immigrants to maintain health and vitality even when money was low. Once they left their community, however, they first suffered poor health then they died. The family structure that would “win” out, if it was necessary for family to have a main structure, would be “community”. Living in close-knit communities is the one structure that allowed us to grow a “healthy” civilization for the last 3 millennia. We've been moving away from that structure and we're suffering.

"Child worship" thank you so much for this phrase @Cynique ! This is a topic within itself. Not sure when this practice started but I've fallen victim to it. I remember my girls, telling me, "if you love 'Harvard' so much, you should apply and go." That was when I realized I was about to begin the practice of what's you have labeled "Child worship." Looking back now, I can see why I fell victim. My child worship moment happened when the girls were applying to college. I didn't go to the school I wanted to go to because my mother objected. She didn't want me to go away to school. It is only now, I see I was about to repeat the practice but luckily I had raised them to think for themselves. "Generational curses" come to mind. I think @CDBurns alluded to this but solving problems may begin in the home too. Still I believe this all goes back to solving our personal problems first.

Sunrise Sparkling with the glint of sunrise The sun’s red-orange hue Somehow turns me blue Because it wasn’t so long ago the sunrise Was in your eyes, giving me my morning view As I awakened from a night of passion To glimpses of sunlight that laps The lapses of the moon’s radiance underneath Your eyelashes; Wondering if I still hold that dream in your eyes But what is visible Is the glistening dew Resembling tears of the day we separated Like mist turning into a trickle, then a drop falling I wanted to cry but my eyes did not give in I evaporated, coming back anew Thinking of, but never with you The grass that completed me Held me together As we created a shine That made other lovers want to be us Sparkling, with the glint of sunrise The sun’s red-orange hue Arising, hugging the curves of you my Earth As I stare out this window It wasn’t long ago The sunrise was in your eyes, for my morning view You can find my poems at: http://www.blurb.com/books/6815581-incarcerated-thoughts-of-love http://www.amazon.com/Incarcerated-Thoughts-Love-Paul-Leach/dp/1364510820/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_img_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=0P55BS6694XA5V9F6X2M