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After watching the trailer, I'm not all that anxious to see this documentary. It is like being a war vet suffering from PTSD, and watching a grisly war movie. Over the past decade Manhattan has become a much nicer city. The image below shows the old meat packing district which used to be a freaking disaster. Today it is home to some of the most expensive real estate in the country. I don't get it, because I would definitely not want to live in the area. It is far too noisy and busy for my taste, but even for those with a desire to live there, the real estate is WAY out of proportion (think $1 million+ for a 1 bedroom and you still have to pay for maintenance, taxes, parking, schools, and everything in the vicinity is expensive). The city is almost crippled with all the new construction, but virtually none of it is for people with moderate incomes. Instead much of the new housing stock belong to investors with no need or interest in living in these places--it is just a safe haven for rich folk's money to grow. Meanwhile poor people struggle for decent housing and schools. Here is a little anecdote: In most places in the country you can go to a municipal park and play tennis for free, assuming tennis courts are not already in your community. Forget about tennis courts in schools, the vast majority of schools in Manhattan don't have them (if any). In New York City you have to pay $200 a season to play tennis in a city run park--and there aren't that many places to play. But rich folks play in private clubs where the fees are often staggering. Suffice it to say the next Serena will not come from New York City I could go on all day with little anecdotes like this. Basically if you are rich New York City is great place to live, but even if you are middle class you can't truly appreciate all the City has to offer. If you are a wage earner and make less than $150K a year you will struggle to find a decent place to live in Manhattan and still have enough money to do some of the things people with salaries that high, anywhere else in the U.S., might expect to do like take vacations own a nice car or pay for private school for their kids. New York could truly be a great city if did something to accommodate anyone other than the rich.

It appears Sara's account, or perhaps Sara herself has been, hacked by an actual troll? I have to block the account as I don't have the time to manage these exchanges... Kam interviewed Nate Parker and even asked him about the allegation of rape against him. You won't find his response interesting on the point (I didn't). Nate also seems to be saying a lot to come across as a devout Christian. I'm always nervous around people who have to tell you they are Christian; being a Christian or Christ-like is one of those things that should be self-evident, and I guess they have to tell you 'cause you wouldn't know based upon their behavior...

Well, if the government isn't going to do "it" and black folks have never gotten out of the talking stage of doing "it, then the media is who you have to go into cahoots with. You scratch its back, and it scratches yours. You get a vast amount of attention for whatever you want to communicate, and the media profits from the traffic you generate. It's the back-up Plan C, since Plan A and B have no traction. Calling attention to your cause is the first step in a long process. It's up to black folks to take things to the next level after a grievance is publicized by using the media to do this. IMO

The entire discussion we were having is bolstered by this film. The housing projects right across the street from the school featured is crazy. The only saving grace is the students they chose to interview who don't have private jets to fly away for vacations on the weekend give me hope that the next generation will recognize the disparities. Because nothing is going to change, unless those who benefited actually change it.

Cynique, both the Urban League and the NAACP have Facebook pages; and like the vast majority of Facebook brand pages, these pages get very little traction. If these organizations expended the resources (i.e. money because Facebook is pay to play for brands) necessary to increase engagement on they would take them away from somewhere else which further diminishes the impact of the organization. Of course increased engagement of Facebook's does not necessarily translate into more constructive action or communication of important information. The stuff that gets the most traction is generally the "click-baity" stuff. Do you see the problem? Even for the stuff I post, maybe one out of 100 (I have not took the time to take an actual count), gains any real traction. For now, the time I invest and what I get in return is worth my effort. In 6 months it may not be. In a year Facebook could be replaced by the next shiny thing. When my Facebook posts gain traction, it does so because others have shared it in mass. So those of you who click the share button from time to time, thank you. Also lets be clear about the media; Kaepernick did not "use" the media. Time magazine used him, as Cynique wrote, to sell issues, or more precisely to make money. I don't buy into the notion that a constructive dialog will take place, or more importantly that anything will come of Kaepernick being on the cover of the magazine. Did any of us read the Time article, or was the cover basically a semi-viral-meme floating around the WWW which is how I discovered it? In order for Black folks to make any collective progress, as opposed to a handful of exceptions, we will have to work together. That is the only way we will make progress. Waiting around for the government to do the right thing is naive and obviously does not work. The government only helps when we are organized; and we have not been organized for more than 1/2 a century in this country.

Book Review: Telling It Like It Is: The Remarkable Life Experiences of My Aunt Edna “We all deserve an Aunt Edna in our life and if you are not of of those lucky ones who has one, her biography is a good option.”—Carol Taylor I have 802 more book reviews to migrate to the website's new format, once that is done I plan to ramp up our publication of reviews. I hope to have that done this week. Look out for even more critical reviews of books written by Black writers!