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In the first place, little of what you say is true about the relationship I have with my sons, so it's hard to put myself in the scenario you have "concocted". My 3 sons use Mother's Day and may even depend on it as an occasion to make up for their ongoing lapses, and i appreciate that. i know it sounds odd but it's like me and my kids have kinda outgrown each other. We're more like siblings. But on Mother's Day we all "make nice".

@Pioneer1, I've never experienced an "overseer" so I may be to liberal in my use of the definition -but this feels like you believe in doing the work of those who seek to oppress. What people choose to wear is their choice. If someone chooses to make a caricature of someone's style - that ignorance is THEIRS and theirs alone.. not the person wearing the style. I'm glad those young women are ignorant (as in unaware) of the caricature of Aunt Jemina - at least they aren't tainted by self-hate and it won't take up room in their head.

@Troy After coming from the National Museum of African American History and Culture... I understand this depiction. I wouldn't have before visiting the exhibit. I was blown away by the workmanship and detail put into the artifacts - original cloth, homes, tents, all makeshift spoons, dishes, a hand stitched shawl that Harriet Tubman wore... These people were ENSLAVED and still took pride to make the best out of crap! According to some exhibits, they picked the cotton, ran the gins and had to make their own clothes from inferior fabric... so maybe if they smiled it was from the pride they took in their work. (shitty yes, but really awe-inspiring) @Pioneer1 So you fought to rid the "mammy image" that was created by someone who seeks/sought to oppress you, by denying black women agency to wear what they choose? Is that how you fight someone who oppresses you? By subjugating someone who is willing to fight along side you?

In the first 27 days of not using social media at all. My traffic from social media has actually gone up when compared to the prior 27 days. It is also higher than the traffic from the same 27 days in 2016. After about 6 months or so I'll write about the impact of not using social media on my business. My initial conclusion is the increase this just reflects how the impact of my personal activity on social media has been on my websites traffic. I have to admit I have sometimes I found it hard to ignore the desire to share something on social media that I just posted on this site. I feel like people will not learn about the interesting book or author I just posted. Intellectually, know this is just the result of 10 years of conditioning to use social media. I know of course over time this urge will diminish. From an online social perspective, I have y'all :-) From my family and friends perspective, most are not active on social and those that are, are the ones sharing the minutia from their daily lives--either way I don't feel like I'm missing anything, From news and information perspective, I know I'm better off ignoring social media. It has been interesting to see traditional news outlets start to sell themselves on the virtues of providing true journalism and not the fake news you find on social media. The subscriber base for the NY Times has increased. It appears the pendulum may be swinging the other way. Last night (March 26th), 60 Minutes aired a segment which spoke about Fake News. They demonstrated how websites can buy fake likes and shares, which not only gives people the false impression that articles are important but "tricks" social media into sharing these articles as trending--which greatly increases the organic reach of the entity buying the fake likes. I put "tricks" in quotes, because I know social media sites can identify the artificially amped up articles, but they have little incentive to remove this fake engagement because it helps the social media platforms too. I watch and enjoy the Showtime program Homeland. One of the threads in the season's series deals with social media and how is used to influence public opinion. This is straight out of the article @Mel Hopkins shared about how social media was used to influence the trump campaign. This is actually not the first time I stopped using Facebook. About 2.5 years ago I stopped as part of a much larger campaign called, 99 Days without Facebook, which asked the question would you be happier with Facebook. I hoped to use the campaign to encourage others to join the effort. I don't think I convinced a single to leave Facebook. I boycotted Facebook for 37 days. This boycott is different. I don't care if any joins me. I'm not even trying to convince anyone to. I'm relating my experience here for my own benefit as much as anyone else's

Hi there. As for me, my only reasons for not joining in on this site is that I forget. Yes, I do log into Facebook but usually to see family stuff, and I have only recently begun to "tweet". I am in the process of learning how to market my first book so I am also concentrating on getting speaking engagements and writing new articles and I blog. Yes, my publisher set me up on Amazon which I have no problem with. My book writing project was originally about inspiration, and I happen to be a Black person writing about a Black man. But I did not initially set out to specifically reach Black people. So I have become a part of the White mainstream social marketing media. And once I started trying to connect with Black book stores and what not, I became disappointed. Once I found AALBC I was delighted. But I have found that I have to remind myself that I need to engage with others on this site the same way that I do on my Blog, and on twitter. I want to have a site on AALBC separate from my blog and I intend to work at gaining a presence on AALBC by commenting on more discussions. Thanks for AALBC Troy.

I just partnered with What’s The 411 TV. They just produced their first series of segments this is one of them. I see there is a lot of room for improvement on my end. I have this bad habit of saying "ahh." I actually have to focus on not saying it. I also move my head too much. We could us a second camera and a tighter shot, but the positives far outweigh the negatives.

What is fascinating is the entire discussion centers around image or mostly. She had become a symbol and has cease to be a person. What is being said is an externalisation of internal prejudices, opinions and beliefs. That are being discussed as though they could be objective truths. It's like a Slave Auction of Black Women. Along the Black Mail Female divide. She means whatever you believe she means. But don't think you are right. Since this is an intellectualised conversation about belief. I am indifferent to the picture. Or it doesn't have the same weight or implied meaning.

We are commodifing her. As if she were a consumable. And since she is an actor that is partially true. But not in this context. Why does she have to be attractive or not atttactive. She is a sucees in a field littered with failure.

Some people are not pretending to be of the opposite sex, they genuinely know they are trapped in a body that does not coincide with who they really are. The profession that once diagnosed this as being a mental illness now says it is not insanity. It's a fluke of nature. And to accept this is to "live and let live".

I don't think this was a point of contention. I was never in doubt that you were looking at her from a perspective of American Black man. I've heard that perspective all my life... So you can imagine how weird it was for me to learn some white men don't look black women that way... and those white men see us not as the caricature they created for the black male consumption but they see us dark skinned women who wear red lipstick and have full-bodied hair, as attractive and appealing.

Mel Spiritually, it doesn't matter because connection and intimacy is different on the spiritual plane. You've visited the Akashic Records.......... Don't TELL me you've had "astral sex" too! Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiillll naaaaaw.....

This is one of those mindf-ck questions. Physically, I practice heterosexuality. I'm not sure if it was something I decided or decided for me when I chose to procreate naturally. Since one of those biological functions is to reproduce, I probably decided I'd go after boys and it became a habit. I like my life easy and that's probably on the soul level too so my drive to eliminate obstacles before they manifest is real. Spiritually, it doesn't matter because connection and intimacy is different on the spiritual plane.

Of course! That is probably why I don't see black people through the eyes of white nationals / racists. Never have.

@Pioneer1 Pioneer have you considered that maybe you are wrong pr perhaps mistaken? That possiblity exists. Yes but have you thought about how yiu could be wrong? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Which is subject to influence by culture, politics , peers and one sex organs and perhaps sexual orientation. @Troy Statistics won't tell you people's motivation. You can start by asking why you and Pioneer, see it differently than Mel and Cynique. However that requires a level of introspection and intraspectionthat is rare. That's not meant as a slight. The key may be in triangulation. @TroyAlso can you post the statistics in total and by race. Mean average and mode for your different categories : sex and race. Age may be interesting but may resukt in either samples tgat are too small. Region may also be interesting. Which couldbe used to see cultural shadings.

I understand Cynique. This is one of the reasons I'm motivated to run the survey. This is not really about Viola Davis or Time. To me, it is about all of us; how and why we, as Black people in a white racist society, perceive images like this so differently. I'm not concerned about reaching consensus on whether people think the picture of Viola is attractive or not, I'm more concerned about the motivation behind the perceived differences. Again, I believe the image reflects the underlying racism that permeates our culture. Others, of course, won't see it this way; because "It ain't that serious." My only concern is that people will view the survey as sexist. Perhaps racism is inextricably intertwined with sexism...

@Troy , There's no echo chamber here... We are eclectic personalities bringing our homemade dishes to the party. I can stay away, and when I return there's a whole host of different topics... But one the best things about posting here is even though we all have our own things going on, I feel if I post something everyone would "get it." I don't have to struggle to be understood.