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I agree

@Delano I know I had grown weary of it. In fact, the reason I visited today was because of you and Feynman articles. When I saw those I thought of you and then I thought to visit the forum. Sadly, Pioneer’s comment up there - reminded of those times. @Pioneer1 you do realize President Obama was in charge (FOR REAL) and had a cabinet filled with black women. They seemed to love him being in charge! Most Black women have no problem working for black men - And there are plenty of black women who will follow black men anywhere. So maybe I’ve misunderstood your statement or its context.! But as it’s written it makes NO sense. Troy owns the website but he works for us, the visitors, members and contributors. In fact, I bet there are more women signed up than men. So why would anyone (but alt-reicht) be turned off by a black man owning a website?

I’m in agreement with you @Pioneer1 ! And I used to subscribe to James Clear too - but then I thought his perspective is no better than mine - and in fact, mine is far superior to his when the topic concerns MY life. Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about “facts” - and insisting something subjective is a “fact” does a lot of damage to those it seeks to subjugate. Case-in-point, I was having a discussion with someone about foreclosures and homes up for auction. The person said you have to pay auction.com $100 to see the property. Well, that’s not exactly “fact” Now it is a fact that auction dot com charges a fee BUT that’s not the whole story. You can see the house for free - if the former homeowner , the one going through foreclosure let’s you in. Because chances are they are still living there! Also it’s a fact that you can buy the property at auction. You don’t even need auctiondotcom in Essex County for example, because the sheriff handles the sale. But it’s also fact that you could save yourself aggravation and wait until the bank takes possession. You can buy it from them with financing and for less than you’d pay at auction. All this to say, ask yourself who do the facts benefit? Then you’ll understand why they don’t change minds. And in some cases rightfully so!

@Pioneer1 life is complicated man. Often it is difficult to make sense of it. For example, I would love for the larger Black community to embrace what I do here simply because I'm a Black man against struggling against massive corporations, who intend to exploit us, to support Black culture and people here on the web. I just does not work that way. I see people on Twitter, for example retweeting and commenting on 45's nonsense. Sure they mean well but they are only helping Twitter and counterintuitively 45. I wish these very same people would retweet my posts that are actually promotes their work, or writers that they want supported. Some even advertise on the site. So it is not that they don't support, but too much of what we do with our energy and time can undermine what we do with our money. @Cynique's contributions here were prodigious. I named the forum for her (though I honestly I was a bit sadden by her using a typo on this honor as a passing swipe rather than her just letting me know). However she spends time on Facebook not once sharing any of her brilliant posts here on the platform. Why? Maybe she wanted to keep her online lives separate. It really does not matter. The bottom line is that most people do this. They easily share trivial utterances made on social media but rarely share major coverage here. They'll gladly do it when asked, but it is not automatic. Right niw I'm too busy maintaining the site to worry about a succession plan. If the last 20 years are an indicator, the next 20 will be rough. I do recognize people do not live forever. The reality is most businesses fail and the vast majoirity don't outlive their founders. Mult-gereational survival is not in AALBC's favor, but you've all given me something to think about Thanks

@Pioneer1 you've demonstrated your support for the site, in ways others can never know, beyond just engaging here. I would not be surpirised if @Cynique posted here again nor would I think less of her for doing so. My kids, like most people their generation, express liite interest in what I do here. That does not mean that they don't love me. It just means that they will not be taking over the site. If I were to keel over today, unfortunately, the site would die with me. Unfortunately, as Pioneer wrote, this is how we do.

So I guess mulattos like Colin Kaepernick and Aeshya Curry are going to be among the new spokesperson's for AfroAmerican issues. Or better yet.....the KARDASHIANS can also be spokespersons! When it comes to AfroAmerican isssues, Trump seems to be paying more attention to and granting favors for KIM KARDASHIAN than even Kanye, Jim Brown, Steve Harvey or any other AfroAmerican jockying for his attention.

Chev Well, if you give her some space, then maybe she will offer some input. The floor was hers all along. What I post and my presence shouldn't impact her ability to express herself. And she said on numerous occasions that it didn't matter to her whether I stayed or left. (yeah right....lol) I hope you don't get offended at this as a female, but like I told Troy....it's been my observation that most female posters like being on sites where they can point their fingers at certain people and get them punished by either being shamed and ridiculed or suspended and banned. I understand that most females tend to be more sensitive than males and it's hard for them to ignore the presence of certain individuals so the concept of "live and let live" and the concept of a place where EVERYONE (including those they don't like) have the total freedom to express themselves makes them feel uncomfortable. I don't think YOU are this way because you post your ideas and do your own thing but many females I know can't stand to be on the same site with someone they don't like whether they are communicating with them or not. Personsonally I don't think it was my presence that made Cynique angry this time but my expressing my belief that she found some of the men on this site attractive and got sexual energy off of her exchanges with us that perhaps made her feel "funny" or embarassed. I would have taken the statement back if I knew it would have gotten this reaction from her. Troy If I had the money, not only would I invest a lot of it into this forum but I'd also invest in your abilities to do other things like networking with and building more AfroAmerican book stores both online and physically. Perhaps even take things to another level like tarting an on-line independent film clubs for AfroAmericans similar to what you're doing for authors. You don't talk about your children on here much but if none of them are going to carry on your legacy then you need to find intelligent young minds whom you can trust to safely and successfuly transfer everything you've built and all the knowledge you've gained to. The Nation of Islam teaches that the concept of "godhood" is passed down from one man to the next as he takes everything he knows and passes it to another and then the next man not only possesses that knowledge but BUILDS upon it with the knowledge he accumulates and it goes so forth and so on generation after generation. Too often in this society individual AfroAmericans have to start from scratch because their parents and elders left them nothing to build from AND when they finally do build something and die, unless a White man steals it from them - what they know and build doesn't get passed down but just passes away with them.

@Pioneer1 You may be right. Black discussion forums are rapidly becoming a thing of the past. I revisited a post, not even two years old, where someone who ran a discussion forum ranked a few others. Half the forums have shut down -- including the one run by the person who made the post. Connie summed it up best she has more fun on Facebook. The part about typos on posts here, while true, is also true on facebook. That really is the bottom line. For the vast majority of social media users I observe in real life - who pass me their phone to share something funny they saw on some social site. Of course these sites are designed to highly engage folks and they work very well. Fast growing platforms like TikTok are completely driven by entertaining videos. Facebook's mobile feed attempts to mimic this but they can't... ultimately people will leave Facebook too. During the peak of this forum, I would regularly laugh out loud by something I read here, but I could also learn something. There was humourous posts, serious ones, and everything in between. Most importantly, at least to me, is that this platform is Black-owned and independent. I'm a child of the 60s, who grew up in the segregated northern ghetto of Harlem. So Black independence is a thing I find to be important. This is a sentiment that is dying along with indie Black focused and owned websites. One reason independence is important is that businesses like AALBC provides opportunities for people. The writers, editors, and others I pay are not being paid by the likes of a Mark Zuckerberg. Of course AALBC's ability to do this is adversely impacted the dominace of Google, Amazon, and social. Fortunately, individuals whether they are sponsors, site vistors, or contributors to this forum are the people who keep this site alive. If you are reading this thank YOU for helping to keep this site alive! Also, thank you on behalf of the writers whose work you support, but who will probably never fully appreciate your impact.