ProfD

Whoever they have grievance with would be targets. Again, I hope it never happens.

Watched the Forbes interview enough to know that it mentioned Dr. West has made about $15 million over 30 years. Detailed how his bread was made and lost. Running for POTUS will pull the whole portfolio out of the closet.

Facts. They've got the most guns.

Life without the possibly of parole is usually given to the most serious offenders. Instead of becoming a trustee or seeking higher privilege inside the prison those individuals should be trying to discourage others from coming there.

So many factors. It depends on how many books sold and syndication rights to any TV or radio programs. If Dr. West isn't an in-demand public speaker, I cannot think of anything else he's done that would translate into millions of dollars. Tavis did get caught up in some misconduct allegations and ended up having to pay PBS in their counter lawsuit. I don't recall Tavis being seriously linked to any women nor Puffy.

AfroAmericans haven't had nearly as much time as those groups of people. On the flip side, those same groups of people aren't too much better off than AfroAmericans now. The Roman empire collapsed. Ethiopians are still feeling their country. Egypt is not the crown jewel of North Africa, southeast Asia or the Middle East. I'm a huge proponent that AfroAmericans should be self-sufficient. However, there's also the belief that one doesn't have to produce something they can afford to buy. That's why most folks shop in grocery stores instead of growing their own food. I know AfroAmericans can produce everything we consume if it was necessary. There's no shortage of very smart people among us.

Agreed. The media definitely generates a lot of money stirring up divisions and using it as source material. Hopefully, the media won't get folks agitated to the point of grabbing their guns and causing a nationwide riot. I remember back in 1908 when Jack Johnson beat up Jim Jeffries to win the heavyweight. It drove white folks crazy.

Fair enough. AfroAmerican history is unique. AfroAmerican wealth based on consumerism is significant but it hasn't been aggregated into allowing us to exercise real power. Thanks. I could add that fact to my post but @Pioneer1 doesn't seem to like small numbers where hundreds are thousands and thousands are millions and millions are billions.

It would be similar to the insurrection. Started by folks who believe their country is being overrun by others. I hope you're right. The country has been divided without all h8ll breaking loose.

Yep. It's not uncommon for prisoners, er, people to join certain clicks, groups, organizations, etc., for a sense of power and/or protection.

AfroAmericans haven't been free for thousands of years.

IMO, marriage should always be a choice and not an expectation or obligation. Especially in countries where it's contractual. Unfortunately, that social conditioning leads them into trying live up to an expectation. There's a whole lot of people living their best lives flying solo. Intellect and fame don't always translate into a fortune. Making money requires having a product and being a salesman and having a customer base. I doubt that Tavis' paper has ever been in jeopardy to a woman.

Understood. AfroAmericans are several hundred years behind white folks in terms of wealth. However, considering how the continent of Africa is being carved up by outsiders and same goes for other countries, Black folks have whole countries to themselves but as a group of people they aren't too much better off than AfroAmericans financially.

Politicians pander to AfroAmericans when it's time vote. Some other groups of people feel like AfroAmericans should be empathic to their issues. Nope. AfroAmericans should not be lending their voices to and/or putting on the cape for any other group of people. None of those people has ever spoken up for or come to the rescue of AfroAmericans. They can save the empty rhetoric about donating to and/or joining NAACP or National Urban League, Yet, those same groups of people once relocated to the US will set up businesses in AfroAmerican communities. Let them fight their own battles and settle their own affairs. AfroAmericans should remain apathetic.

Only brotha @Troy could confirm or deny it. But, there's no incentive in him doing so because no one claims it.

Surely, I could blow off my responsibilities and sit around playing piano all day. So, either my free will won't allow me that luxury or my conscience has placed a higher calling on my purpose. I hope that while I still have the physical and mental capacity, the universe will absolve my responsibilities and reward me with unlimited time to indulge my passion. Now, the question becomes if today or tomorrow, I said f8ck it all, I'm just gonna do my thing...would that be pre-determined.

I'm not surprised that Dr. Cornel West has short paper. Being an intellectual and academician doesn't translate into wealth. 5 failed marriages suggests to me that Dr. West tried to conform to some aspect of the American Dream. Every man isn't meant to be married to another person. Some are better off married to their vocation. Even if it means running their mouths and eating grapes like an old Greek philosopher. I do think it's important for folks like Dr. West to get into politics. Challenges other candidates to bring their brain power to the discussion.

Definitely not taking their work in the struggle away and/or for granted. Just pointing out where I think that partying and celebrating i.e. complacency led baby boomers to fall asleep at the wheel. Unlike my fellow Gen-Xers, I never felt the struggle was over. As young fella, I'm sure my preaching got on my parents nerves too. I agree that we should be policing ourselves instead of putting it in the hands of the enemy. @richardmurray, you're corrrect...Black folks have always been several hundred years behind other groups of people from a financial standpoint.

I'm sure you brothas are already aware of the Black Boule. If not....that's interesting. I'll just type that they are the Black folks who would least be interested in Reparations.

Sure. They were also responsible for bringing Generation X into that cycle of poverty created by welfare, broken homes, drug addiction, etc. At the end of the Civil Rights movement and Vietnam War, we saw the rise of inner city problems. Gen-Xers were born into it. Many Gen-Xers overcame the odds of poverty and/or the lack of a solid economic infrastructure and managed to become successful. Unfortunately, many Gen-Xers were conditioned by that cycle of poverty. In turn, they also bred more n8gglets. The cycle continued.

@Pioneer1, from reading your posts, I get the impression the most dysfunctional n8gglets were running around from the 1990s up to present. Let me know if that's correct. The reason I'm asking for clarity is because those n8gglets would be the children and grandchildren of baby boomers. It's important to understand the role they played in the dysfunction of future generations. The housing projects were indeed started to help minimum wage workers to be able afford accommodations for their families. It was a stepping stone to a better life. Starting in the 1960s, housing projects became a place for women and their children on welfare aka poverty. Again, a form of social engineering designed to produce a desired outcome. Baby boomers benefitted to their own detriment. Poverty breeds all types of social ills. Add drugs and unemployment to the mix and there's a dynamite soup being stirred up over generations. The n8gglets running around in gangs and selling dope and killing each other were conditioned to be dysfunctional through social engineering within the system of racism white supremacy.

Not a position to like or dislike. The facts are: 1) Black communities had been flooded with drugs since the late 1960s. Drugs were a poison pill to destroy Black folks in more ways than one. 2) The 1994 crime bill did lead to mass incarceration of Black folks. The majority of whom were non-violent offenders. That 1,2 punch combo did exactly what white folks intended since the days of POTUS Nixon. Interestingly, we do not see or hear the same tactics being applied to a war against drugs in white communities. Crystal meth has never been criminalized as harshly as marijuana and cocaine. Fentanyl and opioid addiction are supposedly a huge problem for white folks but there's no harsh punishments being handed down on them for trafficking in it. I do hear the media talking heads blaming illegal immigrants for bringing drugs into the USA. White folks have always been the biggest drug dealers in the world through the pharmaceutical industry and illegal drugs too. There's no shortage of crime and violence and death on the hands of white folks. Yet, they aren't being punished as harshly. The main trick of the enemy i.e. white folks is getting Black folks to hate and destroy themselves by any means necessary.

Whether real or not, the letter is hilarious when the ex-slave runs the numbers and details how much cash he and his wife need to receive in order to return. Checkmate.

DC was similar before the crack epidemic. We had crews (gangs) but they only fought. Nobody got shot. When drugs and money flooded the streets that changed the game. Gun violence has gone down a bit since those days. Gun violence is still bad enough because these n8gglets aren't beefing and shooting over drugs and money. These dudes are overly emotional nowadays. No fist-fights. Afraid if they lose the fight it will go viral on TikTok.

As mentioned, I grew up in DC at the height of its dysfunction in terms of crime.