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O black woman, do you know who you are? It is you for whom the birds sing when the dawn opens itself for inspection. It is the glow in your eyes that the stars imitate when they sparkle. It is the color of your flava that makes the rainbow dull in comparison, and it is via your beauty that we can physically witness God’s artistry.-Gibran-• O black woman, do you know who you are? You are the secret that only reveals itself when a man is truly ready to experience the joy of having his dream transformed into reality. You are God’s private blessing to men who know what to do within the point between birth and death. To dwell within the kingdom of YOU is where heaven begins. -Gibran- • O black woman, do you know who you are? You are both the starting point and the finish line for everything I could ever aspire to be. You are a force of nature that has broken my shackles so that I can walk freely. You have erased my doubts so that I can think clearly. You have repaired my broken wings so that I can soar beside you. -Gibran- • O black woman, do you know who you are? You are the magic that awes the universe, the splendor that amazes the earth, and the glory that makes men heart beat with pride when they attempt to possess u. -Gibran- • O black woman, do you know who you are? You are the beautiful gift that God left on the doorstep of my heart. You are that special moment in time when nothing else matters but most importantly, you are YOU! Unmistakably YOU! -Gibran- • O black woman, do you know who you are? You are the sunshine that lights my life from within. You are the fire that warms every fiber of my being and that illuminates my path so that I am never afraid of the darkness. -Gibran- • O black woman, did u know that when I stare in the skies the stars spell your name? I feel your touch in the wind and I see your face in the clouds. And when I stand under the shadow of your smile, I find shelter from the storm. -Gibran- • O black woman, do you know who you are? You are that warm safe place where all roads lead at the end of a day when I have slayed all my dragons and find that all of my strength comes from you. You melt on my life and I become complete. -Gibran- • O black woman, do you know who u are? You are chocolate, dipped in mystery, a specially-designed flava whose smile is brighter than the rainbow. -Gibran-

The following are quotes from an article written by an employee of IPS Inc., the company who developed the discussion forum software I'm use here. The article was written to help explain why privacy is an important aspect to building and online community and growing a discussion forum. This article struck me because I did observe an great migration away from indie forums like this one to the large social media platform and I'm interested in growing this forum. Participation way down from a peak about a decade ago. Competing against the large social media sites is very hard, for the simple fact is that sites like Facebook utilize everything they know about you and the latest science to keep you engaged on they platforms. While an increasing number of people are abandoning social media (I'm one) I don't sense a great exodus of people leaving social media and returning to indie forums like this AALBC. However, I can see where privacy it is a strong selling point. I also work hard to prevent trolls from posting on these forums. Plus your privacy is protected here, anonymity is OK, and selling your data never crossed my mind. Interestingly it never occurred to me to maintain my privacy. I have never posted anonymously. One of the most prolific posters here, in the past @Thumper, never revealed his identity. For years many people thought I was Thumper :-). Recently @Cynique asked @NubianFellow how old he was, and he declined to answer the question. Was Cnyique trying to make sense of him by learning his age? Was Nubian preventing her from doing it by denying her the information -- forcing her to judge him in his words (assuming Nubian is in fact a man). There have been several posters here whose gender, age, and even celebrity was kept secret. One the "suits" walk in they mess everything up. This is the case with Amazon, Google, and Facebook. Of course I'm biased, but that does not mean what I've said is invalid. Below are some quotes from the article: “People may strategically express identities when they think they will not be punished, and/or connect them to an audience that is valued.” “For an individual with a stigmatized condition, a forum may be a real life-line in coping with the condition as face-to-face support is often limited.” “Forums allow a way to create a new identity that is either gender-neutral thus allowing the male users to assume a gender, or overtly male to ensure their contributions are evaluated on merit, and not with any gender bias.” “With a forum community, you can truly be who you want to be. This is not so with social media where others can create bias based on your gender, looks or topical preferences.”

Full stop. No! Gravity, tumors and now race, where will it end? Pioneer race is also a story we tell ourselves. In my reality (one shared with most informed, thinking people) there is only one race. In your version of the world, there are multiple races -- despite the fact that view is not supported by the current science, it is one you've adopted -- it is YOUR reality.

@NubianFellow I don't feel that 'Shaming' is ever warranted or necessary coming from Black men about this particular issue of Black women wearing 'false hair'. And so, now, they've gone from Jerry curls and perms to obsessively SAGGIN!? WOW! That showed them! Black men have now been so shamed that they now wear their pants low to the point it is an obssession all across America. LOL. It has power alright, the power that it carries keeps us extremely suppressed. No other culture does this attack, gender attack, on a wide-scale but Blacks. And yet, we can't see the damage it has done to our existence. This oppressive behavior of demeaning each other is so affective and has sooooooo much POWER and completely helps this government operate freely without having to deal with us unwanted people in their higher sectors. We grapple on the lower realms of society getting the crumbs while others look on, laughing at how we attack each other, destroying self images amongst each other rendering us completely unable to fight other important issues that would help to give us relief and freedom. Freedom to see a better positive image that other human beings express because they are not constantly being shamed by their men. I think I know what you’re getting at, here. You are comparing Black women wearing false hair to CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR being downplayed. You’re equating gang murders to Black women wearing false hair. And, you are taking it a step further and saying that we, Black women, do acknowledge that it is a CRIME TO WEAR UGLY FALSE HAIR but we want Black men to overlook this obvious crime and look at our other insignificant attributes such as our intellect or our curvy physique or etc. Nappy hairstyles count much more than anything else that we could possibly look like or do. Well, I for one am happy that some Black AfroAmerican men do speak out against the obsession with Black women wearing hair weaves and extensions but however, the issue of ‘shaming’ is absolutely not good. I also agree with you that Shaming [ie. joking, mocking, ridiculing…] Black women for wearing weaves, wigs and extensions would be a big part of our culture and I also believe that has been used by this oppressive system to further their cause. I don’t know how to completely say what I believe and think that an expert on human behavior might do a better job than me in giving a more complete breakdown on what I am trying to say, but because as a Black woman, who becomes the recipient of such ‘shaming’, many of us can give some good feedback on this subject. I think that because we have been ‘conditioned’ to believe that this aspect of our culture is normal adds on to our detriment. Although Black men who do throw down Black women and use this issue as an excuse for their Self Hatred don’t need no help from White Supremacist society but it helps to the cause of both. And, I think this ‘hair issue’ stems from part of the conditioning of the past Chattel Slave System whereby the slave yard ‘Buck’ was used to attack and totally demean the Black helpless slave women first and then came the White attackers. No, I absolutely do not feel that you have done anything like this intentionally, but it would be the conditioning of this system that would be a deceptive part of the intense position of ‘shaming’ that some Black men have taken against Black women on their choices in how they style their hair. You may feel that your approach may not be this or that or may not be ‘shaming tactic’ but I guess this is subjective and based on individual accounts. Your approach may be taken as well meaning by some and not others. And your approach is well intended and so, the outcome regardless, will be good because it’s heartfelt in how you appreciate and adore Black women, but there are other Black men that may use your same approach and don’t mean Black women any good at all. So, therefore, let me offer a personal story that may help to better understand this issue: ========================================================================================================================== Decades ago when I worked as an Environmental Scientist at shipyard—MY HAIR!!! I became so tired of having to style my natural hair everyday and go to work. I worked outside in extreme elements a lot. I had to work in high temperatures in the summertime or based on the type of job I had to cover, sometimes, I sweat profusely and then went out into the cold winter weather and then back into my office building with my hair soaking wet. So one day, I impulsively decided to braid my hair and added extensions over the weekend. I didn’t give it much thought because I had done it before at another job. But when I came to work, I was confronted with a blow to my person, that I knew was wrong. The setting of the building was as such; After punching in the code to get in the building, and walking mid-way down the hallway to swipe the time-clock, and then walking further down the hallway past other office spaces, then, I entered my office space on the left. It was a rather spacious area and there were six (6) employees including myself who was the only female scientist for the north zone office that covered the environmental monitoring for the northside of the entire shipyard. My desk was straight across from the entrance to the back so when I sat, my back was to the windows and I faced the entrance. I sat in the middle of to men on either side of me, and their desk faced my desk. I faced forward and so, they were able to look up and view me in profile during the work shift. [1] On my left side of the office against the side wall area was the desk facing me of one man, a tall slender built, straight-haired Native American man, a single man--John. [2] On my right side of the office against the side wall area was the desk facing me of another man, a tall slender built dark skinned, single African American man--Doe. [3] Towards the front right was another tall slender, dark skinned, slender built, married African American man-Sam and [4] next to him was the desk of my supervisor nearest the front door, a married, tall slender White man—Clark [i.e. all of these names superficial].[5] On the left front side was a tall, slender, older senior White man—Jim. So, Monday morning I buzzed myself into the building, punched the clock, walked into my office and sat down at my desk and I was usually the first one in the building. The second one was usually Black-Sam, the married Black man and he walked into the office and sat down and immediately, I sensed that he was alarmed and seemed cold in his initial body language. Usually, he would give the usual ‘Hey’ how you doing this morning, but he said nothing. So, I spoke, and inquired why he didn’t greet me. To my surprise, he was abrupt and blunt. He said to me, “I don’t like your hair”. And, his face was very stern as he glared at me, then he turned away and was dead quiet. Oh God, it hurt so bad. I couldn’t believe it. But I said nothing as usual. Its never been my nature to be an outward and vocal person, so I just remained quiet. And, he was never usually a vocal person either but was professional and he usually kept out of the shipyard conversations that could sometimes get vulgar. But, this morning, he shocked me. He was embarrassed by my presence with the ‘ethnic hair style’. But, in less than about ten minutes, in walked the tall and tan Cherokee man-John and he briskly walked over to his desk and sat down. After only a few quiet seconds, he said, “Damn! I love your hair! Sexy!” Well, I was still too hurt to say much to him. But, I snickered a little, and said, “Thank you”. Then about five minutes later, my supervisor-Clark came in and sat down, looked up, and immediately said with a smile, “Hey, I like your hair!” Then a few minutes later, the last one that came in that particular day, was Black-Doe, and he came in and sat down and said, nothing. Then after few minutes, Cherokee John took a call for a job assignment, he immediately jumped up and put on his hard hat, grabbed his shipyard backpack and said to me, “Come on, let’s go do this job assignment together.” So, I leaned over, got my hard hat and put it on, and I grabbed my backpack and through it over my back and out we went. … During the morning and after I got back to my desk, all day the other White men from South zone office, next door, would pop in our office and tell me that they loved my hair. They leaned against my desk and chit chatted as usual from time to time. I was the first African American Environmentalist in that building and in that huge ship yard ever and there was my friend, in the South zone office, a married, White Woman—Christian, who was the first ever women environmentalist in this shipyard ever. This shipyard was the largest in the world and second best only to a shipyard in Japan at that time. After lunch, Black-Sam picked up the phone and took a job assignment and then he grabbed his gear, and said to me, “Come on, I want to do this assignment with you.” So, I really didn’t want to go with him, but, I grabbed my hard hat and gear and went out the office with him and out the building and got in the passenger seat of the company jeep and he backed out of the lot and drove off. Inside, I was furious, but I was quiet. With in minutes, he said, “I am sorry. I want to apologize to you the way that acted this morning. I was wrong about your hair. It looks good. I am really sorry.” I said, “okay”. … At that time, I really didn’t need anyone to validate me, because, I was already confident in my appearance. I already had validation long before that point and I knew that I looked gorgeous in my youth, with or without hair extensions but, for that Black man to make a comment about my presence, and my braids, unsolicited, was wrong. It was an attack, but I am happy that he apologized. And later, that day; how many other Black men on the shipyard complimented me about my NEW-DOO!? LOL. Many! A lot of the Black men saw me in the yard that very day, with Black-Sam and came up to me and told me how much they liked my doo! LOL. But it took a very gorgeous Cherokee Indian who had women constantly falling at his feet, and other White men to ‘shame’ Black-Sam and Black-Doe that day. But I do want to say this; there is so much pressure put against Black men on accepting any and everything negative about Black women and this does put Black men in a terrible position and vice-versa. And for this reason, I did not hold this experience against the two brothers in my office. There is more to this story too, though… in the tune of job sexual harassment that I endured from both Black-Doe of whom, I did have a crush on, and Cherokee-John… I did have a crush on Black-Doe, but I did not want the relationship to go anywhere at that time, because I was stressed, very depressed due to my situation with my mother, and trying to prove myself, professionally, on the job. But, this personal story about how Black African American men feel about Black women and their hairstyles is complex for a lot of reasons, IMO, but ‘shaming’ Black women is definitely not the answer. All this type of PUBLIC Black-on-Black self-demeaning attacks only resulted in SAGGIN PANTS styles and etc that we have as part of our cultural definition today which means we are being conditioned to define our culture in extreme behaviors including excessive wearing of hair weaves and extensions and etc. but these extreme behaviors are not ours! As I have said before, White women wear hair extensions and weaves at the same rate that Black women do and white society have their extreme styles too, however, they come behind a movement furthered by Blacks and so, their social behaviors are not targeted. Black people become the trend setters and the 'fall guy' for promoting whatever it is, good or bad, in the world. White men do not attack White women publicly for issues that they may view as detrimental at the same rate the Black men do because it is not the right thing to do. Period. If Black men cannot find a way to address the issues that they feel are bad for Black women by encouragement then, let someone else do it. There is another example based on an old movie that I had just saw recently. The Black man in this film, IMO, is so gorgeous, like WOW! Mind blowing. In the movie, Phatgirlz, he tells the character played by Monique [paraphrasing] that she should not use certain explicative words and phrases to address other women because it takes away from her glory. Now, that is what I define as encouraging. In this world today as it has been in the past, we are always going to have this existing alongside of our cultures: RAHOTEP & NOFRET in Ancient Africa By Djehouty - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=51203600 Rahotep & Nofret 2600s BC; Nofret is wearing a wig, her real hair, bangs, can be seen under the wig. By Djehouty - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=51268686 So therefore, to just ‘shame’ Black women for wearing wigs and false hair enhancements in an environment whereby White women like this ancient White woman, NOFRET, who existed in ancient Black African civilization about 2600 BC is given ‘a pass’ to do this, is wrong. There needs to be a better way to address the issue of Black women who do go to the extreme though in wanting to portray White traits due to Self-Hatred.

the tumor is reality, it is not his reality until he realizes he has it.