Leaderboard

Just copy the line of code to your website or Blog to embed the map of Black owned bookstores to your website or blog. This map is automatically updated too. <iframe src="https://www.google.com/maps/d/embed?mid=1bmEDQVy0eYrwQiQQuf5386tMqwU" width="640" height="480"></iframe>

At my advanced age, I wish i had a dollar for every time, I've heard a black man mount his soap box and preach the gospel according to economics. I think i could stroll the streets of the inner city, or strike up a conversation at a bougie cocktail party and the downtrodden brothas on the corner and the upwardly mobile professionals would all say the same thing as you loquacious orators. IMO, the black masses have enough sense to figure out that blacks need to get their game together, create their own business and become independent of the white system, so this is not news to them. The question is why haven't blacks done this? Well, aside from the reality of the white power structure in capitalistic America having no intention of sharing its wealth and power with anyone but their own - something the tax bill ready for senatorial ratification confirms, - blacks are focusing on the wrong problem. As long as an entrenched culture, wherein the black underclasses perpetuate a lifestyle that produces a perennial crop of fatherless boys born into the jeopardy of the violent streets, or the eventuality of the prison industry, and as long as middle class blacks are unwilling to sacrifice their materialistic creature comforts and embrace the philosophy of doing what's best for the greater good instead of adhering to the "I-got-mine-now-you-get-yours" approach, black folks will languish in the limbo of consumerism. However, as Troy has previously noted, this is also the fate of the average white population in the Oligarchic States of America where anything that reeks of Socialism being the great equalizer, is rejected. On a less negative note, black folks are at their best when setting short term goals, and focusing on individual accomplishment, adopting an "each-one-teach-one", approach to uplifting the race.

@Troy , What's revealed in this book relates more to courage. In the examples you mentioned, the risk taker has already made the decision . There's nothing to fear when you're in control. For example, no one forced you to bungee jump, skydive or perform thousand of somersaults. you made the decision. But God forbid, you ended up a quadriplegic (God forbid) - now you're no longer in control of your body - so how you continue through life displays your ability to be fearless/fearful. That's the book's motif - how we deal with the hand we're dealt. There are people who take those risk but crushed by the results. They display their fear in various ways that appear normal to the onlooker. It looks like self-sabotage. For example, a man who had one bad heartbreak but is now fearful to let himself be open to love is a display of fear. There are people who appear fearless but have a safety net to count on when walking the tight rope. Fear is very nuanced but both Greene and Fiddy tackle as many scenarios to make the point and arrive at the books intriguing conclusion. Even though I took a lot of notes I may want to revisit it again. (smile) You and Greene appear to agree. He said that he wants to punch folks in the face that say fear is innate. He seems to believe its a only a starting point or a fleeting emotion that anyone can overcome.

Kenneth Brother you must have went to college......lol. -White folks invented, own, and control the television stations. -White folks invented and control the televisions. -White folks invented and control the most of the news papers. And you don't like the fact that they use these mediums to promote themselves and their causes while ignoring yours? They didn't invent them to help you or do justice by you. They invented them to EMPOWER THEMSELVES. You said that someone needs to "speak out" for Black people? Speak out to WHO?? Who is it that you want to pay attention to Black people and our issues? I hope it ain't White people you'd like attention from. White people already KNOW the problems the Black community faces. Infact, many of them know the problems better than YOU do because many if not most of the help create those problems. Brother the solution is OWNERSHIP. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said: "DO FOR SELF OR SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES" Stop expecting White people to feel sorry for you or give you justice. They weren't made to help you or give you justice in their schools, on their jobs, or in their media. Start seeking to HELP YOURSELF. Seek to unite with your own people. There are Black people on this site like Troy and Mel who have experience in the media. Unite with them to build a powerful independent Black media where we can reach more of our own people and let White people do with THEIR media what they wish. When Black people start owning large segments of the media in America from newspapers to television stations both on cable and on broadcast television where we can start communicating with EACHOTHER....then you will see a major change.

@Mel Hopkins yeah I figured I'd answered my own question once I researched the book. This question probably should be a different conversations but there seems to be a thin line between being reckless and fearless. I'm the "I'll try anything once" kind of guy. Maybe I've lucky so far bungee jumping, skydiving, and the thousands of somersaults I've done have never hurt me :-) I dunno... You see, speaking from personal experience I quit a good paying job 10 years ago to run AALBC.com full and have been struggling ever since, but I have not stopped enjoying what I do despite the struggle (shoot maybe because of it ). I know people that work jobs they hate for the money or security. I have never done that. I'm not sure I'm capable of doing it. I do disagree with the author (Robert Greene), he said a number of times everyone has fear. I do believe there are people who have no fear, or the have so little of it they may as well have none. I believe I have met a couple of truly fearless people.

It is exactly what you posted up there... being courageous and the many ways we fail ourselves by being fearful. But wait I wrote a review when I finished reading it. From 2011 - https://melhopkins.com/2011/04/11/the-50th-law-thou-shall-not-fear-2/ Since finishing The 50th Law by Curtis “50-Cent” Jackson and Robert Greene, I’ve been feeling some type of way. If I had to identify the feeling, it would be an emotion ranging from vindication as in “I knew it” to one of frustration as in “when did I forget what I knew?” I'm jumping ahead of myself. The 50th Law is a multi-genre book. Its 304 pages (although my copy only had 291 pages) is divided up into genres of 1/4 history, 1/4 leadership, 1/4 self-help, and 1/4 memoir. If I were to summarize the content, it would be "Fearless-to-Free to be You and Me.” The latter being the title from the 70s soundtrack, telecast, and movement, which sought to do away with traditional gender roles. Almost 40 years later, the message resurfaces. Although it doesn’t promote gender neutrality, it is just as empowering. The 50th Law seeks to have us embrace our individuality to be the best we can be. This message is driven home by author Robert Greene providing an intimate look into the lives of historical figures and celebrities including 50 Cent. Greene illustrates how these iconoclasts embraced their individuality early on and without apology, which contributed to their professional and personal success. Embracing your individuality seems easy enough, right? It is if you don’t mind separating yourself from the crowd, standing out and apart. If it is easy why would the majority of humans spend their entire lives trying to fit? According to 50-Cent and Robert Greene “Fear” is why we so desperately cling to each other like sheep. And while “Fear” is the usual suspect, it is their answer to the “Fear of What” and the resulting solution that separates their thesis from those of modern-day philosophers. The answer is so thought-provoking it will have other readers “feeling some kind of way” long after they put the book down. I highly recommend “The 50th Law” to those who are ready to break away from “the herd.” Copyright (c) 2011 MH