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Du Bois's speech reminded me of a comment @Delano, made in a conversation I started last week. Du Bois died a year after I was born and was old enough to have personally known black people who were formerly enslaved. It is a crying shame that almost 60 years after this speech was delivered the things Du Bois criticized have only gotten worse. His point on what we now refer to as campaign finance reform was particularly telling. W. E. B. Du Bois Criticizes Capitalism in the audio below. He was 93 when this speech was delivered and was a remarkable human. It seems he was wrong about socialism being the dominant world structure. I guess he was far more confident or optimistic in human nature. Your browser does not support the audio element. “…American Negroes must know what is going on in the world today and learn for themselves what [Socialism] has to teach them in order that they may preserve their culture, get rid of their poverty, ignorance and disease and help America live up at least to a shadow of its vain boast as the land of the free and the home of the brave” Del, maybe Dubois was right too.

I guess the manhunt for the "Cleveland Killer" or "Facebook Killer" has been called off and the situation resolved. After mercilessly killing a 74 year old innocent man on live social media and bragging (and probably lying) about having murdered over a dozen other people, the suspect ended up killing himself after being tracked down and surrounded by police in Pennsylvania. Besides themselves, few people really know what really goes on in the minds of people who "snap" and feel the urge to go on a killing spree, but part of me really believes that this situation could have been prevented. Which is why when people do things like this, I'm the type of person who likes to dig into the background to TRY and understand why or what may have led to it. When you look at his previous videos he not only blames his girlfriend ultimately, but he also blames his friends, his own mother, and society in general for not paying attention to his calls for help. Many people have called this a weak pitiful excuse by a deranged monster who just trying to justify his own evil. But I've heard this time and time again from other Black men. I hope people don't take this the wrong way or think it sounds "soft" but but I really feel sorry for Black men in this society. We don't have many places to turn to when WE need help dealing with problems whether it be legal, financial, or even relationship. -White people don't care. -Black women have their own concerns that are just as if not more dire -Often times we don't have money for the therapists what wealthy Whites have traditionally used as a "shoulder to cry on" -Unless you have a serious mental illness requiring medical attention, even a hospital won't really help you -And probably worst of all OTHER BLACK MEN tend to brush eachother off and even belittle eachother as weak and "bitch assed" for even complaining about their problems. I find it ironic that Black men who know FIRST HAND what other Black men are faced with and how other Black men are treated in this society are often times that hardest and coldest on eachother when it comes to financial and societal hardships. After being born in poverty, going in and out of jail, and straight catching hell for 30 years a Black man who hits the lottery or finds a rich girlfriend to take care of him will turn right around and look at another who is in the SAME CONDITION he was in just 2 or 3 years ago and with bitter contempt say: "Man, f*** that sorry ass nigga ! I made it....why the f**** can't he ?" I actually believe Black men not being able to "grieve" or "lament" their problems is one of the reasons the homicide rate is so high in many urban communities where Black men explode from a lifetime up pent up frustration. I'm not saying this is an excuse for murdering innocent people nor am I attempting in any way to justify his monsterous behavior, however with so many people in the media and even people in real life chanting the same lines over and over again that he should have sought help before he did what he did...... My question is, where should this Black man have gone to seek this "help"? Who feels sorry enough for Black men in THIS society to actually sit down and listen to them crying and complaining about how hard it can be trying to survive in a society designed by and for White males?

Perhaps the lack of sympathy for Black males was by design and in the making for a long time. Like the Irritated Genie said in a recent interview, before you get ready to wipe out a particular people you must first remove all of the public's sense of empathy for them to the point that if they are slaughtered there won't be any outcry. To the point we discussed in another thread over how Black men can be routinely shot down by the police and few outside of our community will even raise an eyebrow over it, but one Asian man is beat up on a plane by the police and there's an international uproar! Although I'm not very religious, I personally have a STRONG FAITH in God. That strong faith has not only gotten me through a lot of things but has prevented me from doing a lot of things that may have otherwise been considered harmful. A distant second is my linear form of thinking. I always liked the "direct approach" to solving problems so while a lot of my friends would get drunk, high, or even fight in order to release thier frustrations or forget about their problems.....I'd actually drive way out into the deep suburbs among the trees or go to some very secluded neighborhood and sit there and ponder over my options....even as a teenager. Because I wasn't the smartest person in the world I didn't alway come up with the best solutions for my problems but the good thing is I never developed the habit of getting drunk or high as a means of escapism and it's saved me a lot of money. However I recognize that many if not most Black men DON'T have this type of belief and many either believe in a religion that doesn't actually help them or teach them how to solve their day to day problem OR they don't have any type of belief system at all and live life by the moment and react impulsively to each situation they face. This isn't their fault. They have been "let down" by a society that teaches children half-truthes and gives them false narratives in school and on television and unless you were blessed to have GOOD PARENTS who were wise and caring enough to tell you how the world really works and what to do to get ahead.....many times you're just shit out of luck. You're probably not going to like this because it gets into "racial" differences but I sincerely believe that Black men and especially AfroAmerican men.....because of our unique experience and history in America....have a unique psychological make up and we need SPECIAL or UNIQUE help when it comes to dealing with life's issues. The tools used to help other people deal with thier problems can't be applied to us and expected to work anymore than the unique tools WE NEED to help us deal with our issues can be applied to others. I've seen so many Black men and women walking around the downtowns of major cities not just in Michigan but all over America these past 5 or 6 years just talking to themselves and looking tattered and tore up! I remember 25 and 30 years ago you NEVER saw a Black person walking around talking to themselves! Oh you had your bums and wineheads, but they could atleast hold a conversation while begging for some change; but now....... I wish I could organize Black psychologists, sociologists, and psychiatrists and hold a series of major conventions in order to map out some sort of broad based strategy to address the problems of the Black American community.

Well, before i became a committed christian at 17 again i piped down o rap, but before that i used to be into Rap, but I'm still the same way i was, i don't like the word Bitch or Nigga, and even when i was listening to hip hop i avoided the words, that's why i mainly listened to Tupac, and Nas. and common. don't get me wrong i like hype conversation, but I'm not into Gossip and seeing people acting a fool, or intoxicated seeming they have no common sense what so ever at all, i like heated conversations on stuff that informs me, because I'm a really argumentative person lol,