Wow....Brotha Troy, I see that you are 100% committed to the mission of exposing Amazon. Continue to teach. I remember clearly when you first informed me personally of Amazon's penchant for dealing from the proverbial bottom of the deck. That was many years ago before I stepped away from writing and all related activities.  It was you who told me how authors leave money on the table when dealing via Amazon, and that got my attention because as a hustler, I never enjoyed the thought of someone taking something from me. Being that I considered your advice valuable, I even managed to open my own online bookstore for a while.

I, currently, am embroiled with the company in question over certain of their practices. For a fact, the transition from CreateSpace to KDP was by no means seamless. During the conversion process, the interior of some of the books were disfigured. In some places, there were blank spaces between sentences, In other places, entire sentences were squeezed together as if a single word. One book that was previously printed is now blocked.

Herein lies the problem. Writers, such as myself, who are not tech-savvy are eager to turn over the reins to someone else, especially when the major publishing houses are seemingly out of reach, and writers, such as myself, viewed Amazon as the McDonald's of the self-publishing world so the lure is practically irresistible. To a rookie in the game, such as myself, finding a One Stop Shop for all my publishing dreams was better than getting "fries with my milkshake. Man, this was Wal-Mart!

I don't care what the industry may be, but any time a single business entity can make you believe, whether by clever advertising or by brute force, that they are the future, then total control is there for them to seize. In any event, writers, such as myself, are mortified  at the notion of having to do more work after finishing the book, and Voila, there is Amazon, the "too-good-to-be-true" babysitter for your book. Yes, brotha Troy, you need to teach! Writers must be educated to know that success in writing a book must be accompanied by the success of getting the book into the hands of readers.

January 1^st

Don’t believe the hype! There are only 7 days a year. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. It’s just that they come at U 358 more times in a bewildering array of brilliant disguises.                                                                                           -Ali-

Until you have made a happy landing at that place called YOU, there is no need to even consider making resolutions. You don’t know who you are, so how can you choose wisely? Without intimate knowledge of your real needs, you will tend to choose what speaks loudest or sparkles brightest. There must exist a continuing sense of loyalty to yourself, and then you must crush all the remnants of the person you were molded to be by others. Then you work with what’s left. That’s the framework that leads to YOU. HAPPY LANDING!

January 2^nd

Anything is something when you have nothing on your mind

-Ali-

Be Real! When you begin to take meaningful steps to throw off the shackles of oppression that yoke you spiritually, physically, mentally, financially, you must accept the fact that affirmations, no matter how potentially powerful, do not work unless you are on a level playing field. Be real about that fact. Too many people start the year under the false illusion that affirmations are some sort of “poetic” genies and that if they shout them loud enough or often enough, seeming magic will occur. Not hardly. Be real. An affirmation concedes nothing without the dirty work that must precede it.

January 3

Life is a point between birth and death where nuthin’ exists beyond good and evil except

The miserable failure of men who throw themselves in open competition with God.                                                                                     

                                                                                                                                    -ali-

 Consider this: one reason for the low self-esteem of many black women is that they willingly participate in the condescending ritual of allowing the black man to set himself up as a rival to God. In the name of love, they silently watch as their existence is slowly diminished while they are emotionally murdered. God, in His Infinite Wisdom, created woman to be a queen, a mother, a nurturer, but merely because man, in his puny arrogance, feels he can make better use of her as a “ho” or a dope fiend, she permits herself to be transformed. Why?   Because of the foolish desire to love someone

not her equal!

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-

Yes, that was part of my upbringing, and those were the lessons we were taught coming into the street Life. In 1964, I was a part of that crowd that entered into white schools for the first time, and let me tell you something, it was stressful. All during the summer of 64, we, (the students) were looked upon as pioneers and it was made clear to us that the whole 'colored' race was depending on us. In church, the sermons were geared to us, telling us about the importance of what was to happen when school started. Basically, they were afraid that the white students would humiliate us by showing just how much smarter they were than us. Brotha Troy, we represented.  Still, though, we messed up the hood with the so-called "teachings" of the white coaches

THE OTHER END OF THE STICK

The social revolution for the control of the black image had a profound impact on the sistas as well. Oppression was not solely a franchise for the black male because harnessed to his very existence was the black woman. After 1865, once she was no longer needed as a breeder of  slaves, she posed a definite threat.

By the start of the 19^th century, the black woman was no longer viewed as a “transitional” figure in the dark menace. She was the producer of it. And as the creator of this scourge, what to do about her only became a matter of timing.

All things considered, white America exercised uncommon restraint regarding the black woman. That, considering their disdain for her sons, was admirable. Initially, white tolerance was exemplified by the government’s ban on having more than two children, ads while this was a blanket decree to all women, it was no doubt a nasty strike at the black population explosion. Yet, black births continued.

Once it became apparently clear that black procreation couldn’t be legislated, a vicious sterilization program was enacted.

By the mid 1930s, under the banner of Psychiatry’s Racial Purity :aw, over 15,000 sterilizations were performed in this country, mainly by Dr. Lorthup Stoppard, an avowed racist, who believed what he was doing was humanitarian.

In 1939, the founder of Planned Parenthood,  Margaret Sanger, proposed a plan to eliminate black babies. She  hired black preachers with “engaging personalities” to spread the message that sterilization was the solution for poverty. However, just before this phase of the sterilization project could kick off, worldwide protests shut it down as a human rights violation. America would be forced to halt its sterilization program------or to justify it.

Conveniently,  it was around this time that the concept of IQ was used by Uncle Sam to continue his project under the guise of :scientific justification”. Within a short time, Lewis Terman, declared that blacks were so feeble-minded that they should not be allowed to reproduce. Now, with so-called scientific justification.

The program finally had legs, and in New Orleans, black prisoners were experimented on, and given electrode implants. The psycho-surgery was performed by Dr. Robert Heath of Tulane University, who bragged that “niggers were cheaper to use in experiments than cats because niggers were everywhere.”

Not wanting to miss all the fun, the CIA funded the infamous Dr. Heath to conduct LSD experiments on brothas in the Louisiana State Penitentiary. Not to be outdone, The National Institute of Mental Health got their licks in by feeding brothas a drug, B3, which is 100 times more powerful than LSD. Some of the brothas hallucinated for 77 days in a row!

The Civil Rights Movement helped little as The Mental Retardation Facilities and Communities Health Centers Act was passed in 1963 which placed black school children at great peril. Funded by NIMH, and founded by Dr. Robert Felix, this was white America’s boldest strike against brothas and sistas. This time, they were going for our jugular-----the children. The government, at every level, gave Felix the absolute power to administer powerful psychotropic drugs known to induce aggressive and violent behavior!

Dr. Felix’s Mental Health Center’s Act put psychologists and psychiatrists in public schools in ever=growing numbers, and as the numbers increased, the SAT scores decreased. All at once, teachings about morals, ethics, and human cooperation were substituted with a new “value clarification” system devised by who else---the psychiatrists. These programs led to a moral decline as students were conditioned to choose personal choice over social responsibility.

And this was merely Headstart. In 1965, “Special Education”classes were established via the US Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Now, let’s pause for a bit of reflection. In 1930,  80% of African-Americans over 14 could read. Sixty years later, after twenty=five years of Special Ed, only 56& of the black population could read. Since Dr. Felix, the suicide rate for brothas, 15-19, has zoomed. Surprised. Well, it was known that the drugs would result in violent and suicidal behavior!

On any other planet, it would be astounding that a nation that had tricked unsuspecting black kids into taking mind-altering drugs known to cause violence would a decade or so later want to hunt them down because they were violent and irrational.

Additionally, Lonnie J. West, a psychiatrist, formerly of UCLA’s Neuropsychiatric Institute, preached that the violence of black, urban males was genetic, he recommended castration as a remedy. It was only after nation wide  protests that federal funding dried up, but it was revived in 1982 when Duke University’s Medical School was provided funding to study aggression in black children.

A report by the African-American Coalition for Justice in Social Policy indicates that NIMH’s research parallels the skyrocketing violence in the hood. Jim Brewer of the Coalition stated that “most of the violence in the last three decades has been the results of experiments in the form of drug therapy and psychological school programs. Theses have ravaged our inner cities and manufactured criminals out of young people, all because we unwittingly allowed psychiatrists and psychologists to study behavior in our schools instead of leaving teachers to teach education.” If you, by now, entertain the notion that we have been set up, then welcome to the club.

<<<<<< 

And what about the beloved black woman? No doubt, she still represented a sizable threat, and there was no great willingness on the part of white America to insanely believe the ‘black male’ problem could be effectively neutralized or fixed by their pet projects (sterilization, mental health centers, prisons) so they had, by necessity, to adopt a more proactive approach when it came to dealing with the black woman’s complicity.

Here is the essential point. And in all fairness, it must be understood that the black woman, like the black man, is a finished product of white racism, so at best, many of her reactions/responses are instinctual/automatic. Having said that, the black woman is ‘possessed’ with the most idealized concept of the white man as a savior-in-waiting. To the older sista, it’s Jesus. To the sista in the ‘hood, it’s Uncle Sam with his welfare checks. And to the young sista, it’s Santa Claus. Sadly, this super-sized Mighty Whitey image is still alive and well in certain circles.

What’s worse is that sistas are extremely disillusioned with brothas-----or at least our capacity to address, or even better yet, to satisfy their expectations of us. Since day one, there has been little doubt about what black women wanted. Sistas have always demanded security, and had every reason to initially believe that we would be able to sponsor the notion.  And why not? The black woman was no idle spectator in what black men had done for the white man. She, indeed, was a personal witness to the manner in which we had labored to grow this country from nothing. She, with her own eyes, had seen the magic emanate from our hands as we had conjured up crops from a barren earth. At no point was the sista absent as we went about the business of making cities out of wilderness, of making cotton king, or of making the white man wealthy. So after this visual testimony, how could the black woman expect less from us.

CHAPTER 6

The Blank Slate/Full Plate Syndrome

One of the primary difficulties facing the post-slavery black female was the ability to make herself a woman. Slavery, no doubt, where sistas had toiled in the fields as long and as hard as the brothas, rewarded her nothing due to gender. Sure, sistas gave birth and, for a period, raised children, but more times than not, the major characteristic of sex was to breed which was simply another chore to be performed.

The end of slavery should have brought about, for sistas, a return to femininity, but just what was it? After a lengthy 250 years of being treated as chattel property with no true opportunity to grow psychologically as a woman, black women had no clear knowledge of the African rituals and customs that defined womanhood, and since black womanhood was heretofore unknown on these shores, sistas were left with a blank slate on which to define themselves. But how was this to be accomplished? Since she had worked as an equal in the back-breaking work of the field, had shared equally the horror of servitude, had eaten the same coarse food, and had worn equally coarse, unflattering clothes, did sistas demand full equality with brothas? Or did they borrow heavily from Miss Ann, the slave mistress which provided the only comprehensive view of womanhood that black women had ever seen? Either way, ultimately, black women would be compelled to become feminine, and essentially this shift in perspective would be as traumatic for sistas as learning to be breadwinners would be for the brothas. For certain, both these factors had an obvious impact on the complexities of black life today.

Notwithstanding anything else, black women had to acknowledge that the essence of womanhood did not evolve from the authority of their vaginas because on the other side of their fertility, there were such subtle cues as hair, makeup, nails, attire, etc, whose proper use tended to legitimize the arts of feminine seduction.

Since sistas had no experience in this, the arts of femininity would have to arise out of the black woman’s imitation of Miss Ann since they possessed nothing from their personal experiences as slaves that could provide them the wealth of information required to become more than ritualistic caricatures of true womanhood. Titties and ass only set men off in pursuit of them sexually, and though physical assets may not have offered the true secrets of femininity, they became the initial building blocks of black femininity. With not much else, titties and as became the physical electives that awarded sistas the ‘everlasting life’ of womanhood.

The invention of a black femininity, never accomplished in the new world would not be easy following a lifestyle of being a sexual object. Additionally, when compared to Miss Ann, sistas could not identify anything about themselves that would brand them as sexy. Their entire image was organized around the ‘plantation mammy’, an apron-wearing, dirty-faced, rag-headed matron. Surely, no pin-up model, and hardly the ideal on which to base their collective worth. And what of the ethical behavior that would, most definitely, have to accompany the new, black femininity? Sistas simply could not establish an image without the underlying ethics to maintain it since the freedom to be true to themselves would be more a condition of good decision-making rather than physical attributes.

What would be crucial when black women made their new covenant with themselves would be---for the most part---how much slavery had affected their opinion of themselves on three very vital levels. They undoubtedly would have to determine how bondage had affected them as (1) humans,(2) as women, and (3) as black. And since all three were closely related to their most innate sense of being, if anything that had happened during slavery which could not be rationalized or repressed on any level, then they would lack the power to confirm themselves as complete or healed.

There can be no argument that bondage was a unique experience for the black woman, one where her capacity as a human was ignored, her womanhood denounced, and her blackness pronounced a curse. Admittedly, not much to kindle optimism, but the sista had to be reborn out of these ashes. But what kind of self-worth could possibly evolve from a prior life where she had been a possession of the white man, and an obsession to the black man?

yes.

<<<<<< 

The theory goes that the road to our self-hatred had been paved long before this, and that  black on black crime that was an offshoot of this mentality had actually been seeded with the actions of a tiny elite: the integrationists , and the athletes.

With hindsight, we all realize that integration was not the sacred cow black leaders had hoped it would be. For some reason, integrationists,  acted on the principle that our problems would be solved by living next door to Mr. Charlie and Miss Ann. Never had our leaders been so wrong.

1964.

In 1964, American politics were a constitutional hodge-podge, and it is highly unlikely that Congress was unaware of what would ultimately happen once HUD{Housing and Urban Development}, without ceremony, crashed the gates of black America to raze the slums to the ground.

More than anything else, the cranes and the bulldozers should have been welcomed, and the demolition crews applauded as hard-hat heroes.

What happened next was social genocide, the heady stench of white folks trying to perform a miracle of doing good to a people they didn’t know a damn thing about. Sometimes, the charity of white people can be a harrowing experience.

When the urban renewal program came thundering through the hood in 1964, the bulldozers which were the precious toys of integration also knocked over black, family life because white  researchers failed to recognize how tight-knit black communities were at that time.

Despite all the lavish spending to integrate blacks into the social fabric of America was socially spoiled because no one wanted the black youth------except white coaches! For them, integration was a sports bonanza, and at last they had gotten access to the fabled nigga athlete. Dreams of a sports dynasty danced in their heads.

To the black urban male, sports was the most masculine endeavor he could envision, but white coaches re-created the values these youth had been taught to cherish. Everywhere in the hood from the preachers, the pimps, playas, and coaches, the youngbloods were taught the etiquette of black sportsmanship. You never kicked a man when he was down; you never hit below the belt; you always gave a man a fair fight.  

In the hustling world, it was preached that you never took a man’s last, and that you always gave him a little something to go home with. This was “street” wisdom and there was nothing shabby about it. Even as a foe, the black man was first and foremost, a brotha.

The atmosphere in the white world was totally different, a complete reversal of the teachings in the black community. White coaches preached the theory that coming in second was for suckers, that you win at all costs, that it was your duty as an athlete to succeed by any means necessary. You kicked your opponent when you had him down, you punched him in the balls, and you took everything he had.

The quality and diversity of this new gospel sounded exotic to the black youth who swallowed it up, figuring that, at long last, they had found the Holy Grail, the esoteric knowledge that had granted the white man the power to do all the great things they had done. The black athlete felt privileged to finally have this key to success because If these pearls of wisdom had worked so well for the white man, surely they would work for him. And it was then that black neighborhoods became the testing grounds for these new-fangled teachings.

Like the Golden Horde that poured out of the Mongolian steppes, black athletes, already aggressive, bumrushed the hood and turned it inside out. Learning from scratch, these brothas went about the destruction of black America with uncommon arrogance.  Methodically, these brothas sought out the rules to becoming king-of-the-hill with the same intensity of an Einstein in search of the theory of relativity, or a Newton hunting for the laws of gravity.

For the first time, blacks made it a career to taking advantage of other blacks. Even during slavery, the question of stealing from another black was a not a question at all. It was a foregone conclusion. Taking from the white man could never-----under any circumstances-----be deemed stealing. It was stealing only when you took from another black.

Before 1064, and the teachings, most black on black crime were crimes of passion; unfortunate lover’s quarrels, or juke joint murder where the liquor got to talking a little too loudly. Hardly ever did blacks prey on one another, if not out of brotherly love, hen out of the notion that “niggas ain’t have shit worth taking noway.” Either way, black property was safe from the hands of other blacks.

True enough, we started defecating where we laid our heads.

Peace: Yes, it has been quite a while. I was completely out of the loop as far as the book world was concerned. Man, it is a jungle out there.  I met more unsavory and shady characters out in the business world than I ever confronted in my 35 years in prison.  I'm traumatized and may need therapy to restore my faith in humanity. Well, it wasn't quite that bad, but I know that you know exactly whereof I speak.  As far as the books,  I did myself a real disservice by opting to convert some of my work to conform to the taste of the street lit crowd. I was influenced by the work of The Harlem Renaissance,and I fully intended for all of my work to reflect that, but it is what it is. Basically, I'm reforming my work. so I have done away with some of the earlier titles. I will make sure that I send only the links that matter.  Take care. Happy New Year

A New Day Has Dawned In The World Of Urban Literature With SoulFire Books!

Soulfire Books

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - January 1 2019— At SoulFire Books, our mission is to elevate and to evolve African-American literature by being fundamentally committed to being at the forefront of a new direction in our literary progression. At SoulFire Books, we acknowledge the awesome power of language simply because we understand how words shape and influence our behavior. And with this in mind, we fully intend to explore and to exploit the richness of the English language in a concerted attempt to breathe new life into the narrative of African-American literature. At SoulFire Books, we will teach, we will heal, and we will be unapologetic about our mission to introduce and to acquaint you with some of the most progressive African-American literature of our times.

 SoulFire Books, a vehemently strong advocate of social consciousness, is the direct outgrowth of our burning desire to reform African-American literature, and to that end, Soulfire Books is here to free urban literature of its rigid reliance on sexual gimmicks, predictable plots, and unrepentant repetitiveness. At SoulFire Books, we have built a strong body of work that will not only complement the work of the Harlem Renaissance, but will complete it.

Gibran Tariq, CEO and Founder of Soulfire Books, who has spent 35 years of his life in some of the toughest prisons in the country, emphatically declares that, "Any time the literature of a colonized people does not aggressively confront the conditions and plight of that people, then their writers have failed them." Tariq adds that from the very onset of the literary tradition of black people in this country, the primary focus of the written word has always been to inform, to educate, and to warn.

Explore the vast literary world of Soulfire Books where black literature has a purpose. Expose yourself to urban lit with a conscience where we don't merely welcome your literary presence, we celebrate and enhance it.

Check out any of the works we offer at SOULFIRE BOOKS and see for yourself if we stand up and measure up to our boast. We are utterly convinced that what you will discover to your total satisfaction is that we practice what we preach! GET WOKE! Visit our website for more information and let us satisfy your literary desires.  www.soulfirebooks.com
MEDIA CONTACT:  soulfirebooks09@gmail.com

980 299 0867

Author: Gibran Tariq

Book: The Unmaking Of The Black Man (and the negative impact of image in America)

ISBN: 9781732454903

Publication date: June 14, 2018

Link to book:  http://www.soulfirebooks.com/picks/books/the-unmaking-of-the-black-man_full.jpg

ATTENTION: The Unmaking of The Black man is a searing commentary on the negative image of the black man in America. The Unmaking Of The Black Man is an unapologetically precise exploration of the reasons why the black man will never achieve any emotional peace in this country until he, at last, controls and protects his image. This book offers countless observations and page-by-page examinations of just how much the emotional lives of black people in this country have been damaged by an image that was constructed out of the fears of white America.

In all cultures known to man, most of the emotional strength of that culture is derived from the image of that culture because throughout recorded history, nothing has suited man more than an image he could trust. Image, like your name, takes effect upon birth. A good one is added security to the right that are the naturally-occurring rewards of a strong image whereas a bad one acts as the burial rites for all your hopes and dreams.                                                                                                                                                 

No matter your religious belief, it is pretty much agreed upon that the very first gift God gave to man was image, but during antiquity, this spiritual image collapsed at the end of the sword, and now that man was free to reinvent himself, the inevitable happened. He altered his image from God-like to man-made, and once the heirs of this innovative concept discovered that survival was much easier when pursuing an offensive policy rather than a defensive one,  the beginning of the “Might makes Right” era was ushered in.

Although the pattern of peoples starting over again has been repeated countless time throughout history, we would be the first people to attempt it without the “hereditary gift” of a good image which meant we had to draw upon memory to chronicle our new history, but when it comes to remembering, what was there except the convulsive reminders of our total powerlessness.

Now is the time to read this book!