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Again I believe Hillary is getting beat up because of her gender, despite her white skin. Consider this; Bill Clinton engaged in a variety of activities that embarrassed the nation and hurt the Black community and he got a pass while doing it. Today Hillary is getting beat up and called to account for all the stuff Bill did--talk about a double standard. I think Obama beat Hillary primarily because he was selling hope and change--something Hillary simply can never do. This is tragic because she may be a great president given the opportunity. As far as intellect I'm not sure Obama is that much smarter that Hillary; assuming he is smarted than her at all. As far as oratory skills, Obama never wowed me personally but I guess this is purely subjective. Donald is selling a hope and change too, and he is making no attempt to come across as smart (I doubt he is capable of it). No one will confuse him with a great orator either. The other issue is we usually switch parties after 8 years; republicans have an advantage here. I agree there are many factors in play. But again, Hillary represents the status quo. Trump represents everything Hillary is not. Now that the republicans are starting to line up behind Trump, he will be a formidable candidate for president. Meanwhile, Bernie shows no sign of dropping out so while the democrats are duking it out, the republicans will continue to build momentum. Besdies, a white man beats a white woman everyday of the week...

Cynique Will Hillary pass up a chance to create a great legacy or just go along with business as usual? When people allow candidates to symbolize their hopes and grievances, are they setting themselves up for disappointment in view of past history? If a Democrat like Obama couldn't keep his promises, what kind of results can a Progressive independent like Sanders have in initiating reform? Would a Trump presidency allow America to openly become the bigoted anti-thesis of democracy that it has always been? Great questions you raised. I actually was FOR Hillary over Obama during the '08 election. Not that she was a saint....as I knew she wasn't, but I figured that she'd be more of a fighter on certain issues dear to Black and poor people than Obama who just came across as too cereberal and professorial.....and now I'm CONVINCED that this is the case. I think that regardless as to whether Trump actually gets in office or not, the damage has been done. He has indeed did what he was promoted to do....which is make racism and facism more acceptable in public discourse. His entire presidential run was about dismantling the idea of political correctness. However I don't know if his backers and promoters anticipated the backlash among progressives and especially progressive youth who have been challenging him at every turn lately. Last week they hemmed him up so bad somewhere in Arizona they forced him to run out of his car for safety....lol. As someone who has been retired for 24 years during which time, whomever was president made little difference in my day-to-day life, how many others are there like me who have simply stayed under the radar? Why should I even bother to vote? Well, if the WRONG person gets in office and eliminates social security and pensions like they've been doing on a LOCAL level to many retirees....you may have to come OUT of retirement and find a job again just to eat! I'm sure you won't feel like posting much on AALBC after spending a day splashing around down at the carwash, lol. Troy Pioneer the board has life because of folks like you; it is simple as that. Ahhhh....lol....ever seen a Black man blush?? I didn't know Thom Hartmann was still on the radio. I used to listen to him all the time when I lived out West. Him and Mike Malloy. as Trump supporters seem more motivated... like Bernie supporters Trump motivates his supporters the same way Sarah Palin did, by talking in a highly charged by very simple way that appeals to the lowest intelligence of the demographic. As with Palin....many people who support Trump has no idea what he actualy stands for but he talks so base and low class that they can easily understand HIM and what he's saying in his speeches. I've read stories where people who've lost thier factory and lumber jobs in rural parts of the nation see Trump as a savior if elected. They really believe that he'll help them even though he doesn't even patronize them with a lie that he will. This man simply gets on stage and tells people that they are unemployed because their factor closed down....that's it. Or he'll tell a mother that she can't afford medicine for her children because the cost of medicine is rising....and leave it at that. He doesn't say who caused these problems NOR does he offer a solution to them....he basically tells people what they already know. But they see it as him speaking to their needs and that's enough to win their support. Who knows....with any luck Hillary will choose BERNIE as her running mate and that would almost certainly bury any chances Trump has of winning. Mel This has been my reason to vote since before I left Brooklyn in the 90s... EVERYTHING happens at the local level. Thanks to the Republican party in Illinois, I saw this from the field...They put me in the game. And that game is brutal and those dudes are gangsta. I mean, drive-by gangsta too. You brought up another good point I forgot to mention. Black people need to stop focusing on party affiliations and focus more on the actually ISSUES themselves. This calls for us to be more ANALYTICAL in our thinking. We have to be able to decide who has our best interest in mind at any given election and go with THAT candidate regardless of their party affiliation. Which means on a local level some times we go with the Democrat, other times we go with the Republican, and other times still we go with the Independant. But we go with whoever promises to and continue to carry out our agenda. I learned a lesson studying African immigrants around the United States. Many of the Nigerians down in Texas are actually Republican. When you ask them why it's not just because of family values and business, but also because Nigerians are extremely intelligent and business minded and heavily involved in LOCAL POLITICS as a way of fortifying their business success. They talk with their money and Republicans know it and cater to it.

Hello Pioneer, I hear you. I think we can discuss this issue until the end of time. What a great discussion to have. I will say this, racism and sexism are both powerful and ugly. I am a combination of both, therefore I see through both lenses. I believe that the world is changing--has changed. Women all over the world are starting to fight back. The role of victim is transforming a little each day. If Hillary is elected, I think there will surely be less victims in terms of White women and prominent Black and women of color. That's surely something to make the sexism shake his head and ponder. But, since I am not a seer, I guess we will just have to wait and see what really happens. Hello Troy, I hear you as well. I want to say that I never said that President Obama was smarter than Hillary Clinton. If this came off as the implication, it was certainly not what I meant. I feel that those who voted for Obama saw him as a very intelligent man. I still do. We can't strip of him that too! Now how he chose to use that intellect while in office is certainly up to discussion. Whatever the case, Hillary is the last person right now to speak ill of her President. Why is that I wonder? She was in the trenches with him. She saw first hand what went on with his proposed policies, along with the constant obstacles that were put into place to stop many of his plans/actions. Why isn't she slamming him with the rest of the world? She's a smart woman. I think this is yet another reason why Mrs. Clinton will have a fight on her hands. She continues to uphold the President. Oh, I can hardly wait to see the outcome to all of this madness. Finally, please know that I have never underestimated Donald Trump. My husband and I have had many debates about this dangerous person. There were some instances earlier on that I even agreed with him on a particular stance he had about building up the country. However, the more he talked, I more I heard the Donald Trump that I hear right now. You know, it doesn't take a genius to know how dangerous he is in terms of where he will take this country in both foreign and domestic affairs. I really don't know who will try to run this country in the very near future. But I can certainly agree that racism, sexism, strong political will, and lots of big money will be at the forefront of it all. *** I don't know how much time I will have left to devote to these discussions. I've had time to do this because I've completed another of my writing courses and I'm waiting on the final proof of another one of my books. I have thoroughly enjoyed being a part of these discussions. I will certainly drop in as often as possible. Thanks for the mental stimulation

One World publisher and editor-in-chief Chris Jackson acquired world rights to the two new titles, including audio rights, from Gloria Loomis of the Watkins/Loomis Literary Agency. He will edit both books. Jackson was Coates's editor at Spiegel & Grau when Coates won the 2015 national Book Award for Nonfiction for Between the World and Me. Read the rest of the article at Publishers Weekly

Although I don't think the discrimination is as severe or intense at certain times..... I actually believe that as a group women ARE discriminated more than the Black race. Their discricrimination tends to be more global also. Where as anti-Black racism may be found in various regions of the globe but may be almost absent in others such as most of the African continent or even many urban areas in the United States........ Everywhere you go on this planet women tend to be in a somewhat subservient role to the man. Even in the rather matriarchal Black communities of urban America, the seemingly dominant role women play is only in the arena of family economic. She brings in the money and manages the household. But socially and politically and especially when it comes to religious matters, men still rule for the most part and that rule seems to be never seriously challenged. When I look at how women are discriminated against in society.... I would even go as far as to say that a lot of men think it's "cute" to act in a sexist way toward women, I'm often guilty of this myself. I tend to flirt with women in a sexist way, but I still consider my behavior quite benign as compared to a true chauvinist who actually believes women are somehow inferior to men or those who are driven by religious idealogy. Not only do many men feel it's natural for women to be mistreated, but because women tend not to react against personal injustices the way most men do.....a lot of men don't take it as seriously. It often takes another woman to understand the pain a woman may feel about a given word or deed. That's one of the reasons I don't bash the women who came out to accuse Bill Cosby for their timing. I don't know whether he's guilty or not but women who are victims of assault be it sexual or otherwise are often embarrassed and ashamed and find comfort in numbers. Sometime it takes someone like a lawyer or even a police officer to almost force them to come foreward and name their abuser and even then they'll only do it after other women step forward first. I'm not a woman, I don't know why many women make the decisions they make but atleast I recognize the differences in how many women operate and don't readily dismiss their claims of injustices simply because it's they didn't do what I would have done in a given situation. A recent example...... The other day I was in a coffee shop and a man kept trying to talk to this young lady. She was busy with her work and didn't seem to have time for company anyway which any real "playa" would have picked up on.....lol. She would keep her words short and focus on her work but she was very nice about it. He kept spinning around in the chair trying to make conversation with her and she kept politely brushing him off and finally he stopped talking to her. As he got up to leave he said have a nice day and "accidently" spilled hot tea on the poor girl, "apologized" with a smile on his face and briskly walked out the door. She sat their frozen with her mouth open blinking. A couple of women who witnessed it kept asking her was she OK and she just sat there shaking her head with a slight smirk on her face still in shock and they told one guy working in the coffee shop. He asked her did she want to call the cops and she said no, stated that she was fine, and just wanted to forget about it.....so he let it go and went back to work. But another woman a little older than the girl who saw the incident sat down and talked with her, helped, clean her up, and helped her gather her things and walk her out of the place as she started crying. Where as the male employee didn't recognize the symptoms of shock nor was he aware that women tend not to confront their attackers out of fear of being attacked again....a wiser female DID recoginze these things and jumped into action and helped her. Incidents or worse take place all over the world every day as men often feel justified in mistreating women and other men don't take those mistreatments seriously.

I can believe that. When I was a kid me and the other boys in my neighborhood used to invent all types of toys. We would make toys out of old television parts, stereo parts, old shopping carts and other things we find in the ally or out on the curb as trash. Make huge sling shots out of old bike tires and innertubes.....lol. And that was just in MY neighborhood which wasn't a bad neighborhood. My cousins who lived straight up IN the ghetto had all types of fun where they would get ahold of blow torches and melt down part of old abandoned cars and refrigerators they would find in vacant lots. Brothers were making dune buggies and everything else rolling around in the hood before they became commercial items.

Okay Troy, you've got me going on this one. Your statement: "Surely a man, even a Black one with little experience, or a reality-TV celebrity with zero experience, would be a better president, than even a strongly qualified woman." Some years ago, I would firmly agree with this. However, not in today's political climax. Older White men cannot discriminate against Hillary for her race because she is White. This is a given that leaves sexism as their weapon of choice. I have no doubt that this population of men is going to give her a fit at the polls. Do you feel that Barack Obama, the Black man, defeated Hillary, the White woman, because of her gender? Or did he defeat her because of the time, his powerful persona and intellect, the damage from the Bush administration, and/or the fact that he is a man--Black or not? I think just like with O.J. Simpson, we, not only Blacks, but a very confused, scared Nation needed a change and Barack Obama was just the change in skin color, charisma, and intellectual and oratory make-up that we needed at the time. If, in this case, "sexism" is the power tool that will determine Hillary's fate, Trump is sure to win. But it isn't. I think she isn't liked for a number of reasons--any one of which could be her undoing if she was not the color/person/woman/wife/Secretary of State that she is. There are many factors here. I do agree with you that sexism is going to jam her. But surely if this was a Black woman running with the exact same qualifications as Hillary, sexism would be beaten out by racism every time. Again, this is my opinion as a Black woman. Personally, I truly wish Bernie could have won the Country over. I am more of the revolutionary type regardless of the color of the proposed leader. I love how involved our young folks are in all of this. After all, it's all about the future of their world. Thanks always for stimulating my mind.