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36th Day of ‪#‎BlackHistoryMonth‬: The 3 Bestselling Poetry Books for 1998 I sold a lot of these books back in 1998, this was during a time when folks said poetry does not sell. But what did I know, I was just starting out as a bookseller.

Sure knowing there are pockets of unemployment can use useful in understanding causes. The are pockets of unemployment all over the country. In some places, like the industrial mid-west, it is due to outsourcing of manufacturing jobs overseas. Again I don't believe putting racing into the mix is necessary to deal with the problem. Again "Africa" is not a racial group, so I don't understand what point you are trying to make. Ethnicities are not racial group either. You are mixing apples with oranges and it is making what you are trying to say unclear to me. Again, the purpose of the site is to celebrate our culture (obviously), if someone of Irish descent wants to get down, I welcome them. I'm not clear why you are so dead set upon embracing a construct created by racists to denigrate us as "our" heritage. Our African ancestors did not refer to themselves as "Black" why should we? Why do you @Sara?

I refuse to blame heavy metal toxicity on my people's current crises. The whites, Hispanics and Asians drink the same water as we do but they are not experiencing the difficulties that we are. There are other things in play here. However, I do believe that the lead and mercury is unhealthy for everyone.

Your Book on two of AALBC.com's most popular pages for 50 Days - Only $50 (5 spaces available these will go quickly).

There wasn't any race discrimination. People need to stop looking for something if they weren't a part of it simply to create a book or expose something that wasn't there; in my opinion. I experienced zero race issues while in the Navy from 90-98 Active, Reserve and Inactive. The military for me was the one place where your race didn't really matter. You could either fix the jet or you couldn't. You either passed the test, or you didn't. You either did your job or you didn't. When I was snatched away from in front of a propeller while on the flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln CVN-72 when I was in VF-114, it was by a white boy. When I prevented a huffer from rolling down the flight deck and hitting someone, it was to help a white boy. We all worked 12 hour shifts, 7 days a week. We all went to the Philippines before heading to the Gulf to rescue and move people from Manilla to Cebu after Mt. Pinatubo. When we were finally able to get off the ship, my crew that I ran with, my boys, had a Vanilla Ice, a Puerto Rican, Blacks and Zu, Yu and Edu. It was the fucking UN. During my second cruise I was one of the only sailors to make 3rd class in one of the toughest rates in the Navy. AE (Aviation Electrician's Mate). Our PO in charge was Black. We all had shitty chiefs who we knew were probably bigots, but we held our own issues with each other and it didn't affect the way the squadron was run. If you did your job and everyone made it in safe it was good. if we lost someone, which we did in a plane crash while doing sorties in the Gulf, we all shed tears together. The only issue with race was more white guys went to OCS so we had more White officers than Blacks and the Black officers we had tended to be more standoffish than the White ones. If you want to ask me a question, then fire away right here on this forum and maybe someone else will jump in and offer their POV, but before I went in the Navy, I should have been killed or in jail. The Navy saved my life. This is only my version as an Enlisted Sailor. Now, I think maybe if you want a different perspective you should focus your search on guys who were probably E-5 and above with more than 8 years in. Those guys will probably have a completely different view than me.