ProfD

Unfortunately, they have been whitening black folks for a long time: Nat King Cole was dark: Most famously, there was the King of Pop: So, I'm not surprised Mrs. Beyonce Knowles-Carter has received the whitening treatment. I think it's unfortunate that in 2021, some black folks are still selling out.

Absolutely. The Cosbys definitely payed it forward with HBCUs. I *hate* the way those same institutions tried to distance themselves from Bill when sh8t hit the fan. White folks go down fighting on behalf of their benefactor regardless of whether they're good or bad. Gil Scott-Heron sang We Almost Lost Detroit: Well, it might be too late for Morehouse which is located in Atlanta. I'm hearing ATL has become the national headquarters of the black alphabet soup community.

That's a tall order because African women have been brainwashed the most especially as it relates to AfroAmerican men. Without divulging too much info over the internet, because there are Africans in my family, I'll just write that I've got a window seat into that whole situation. The funny thing is if *I* ever decide to go to Africa, it's already set up that they'll roll out the red carpet for a brotha. I just have no desire to make the trip.

Well bro, in this day and age, the reality is that we need both. Otherwise, we get the dinosaur tag. Brick and mortar buildings are needed to produce things and warehouse merchandise. A virtual infrastructure to communicate and conduct business across time zones and continents is a necessity. The pandemic has proven that folks don't need to work in office buildings. I believe skyscrapers will eventually become luxury apartment buildings and condos as more folks work from home.

I haven't been around here that long but I'll definitely invest in the site and promote it. All money ain't good. Some endowments come with strings or expectations attached. Get the wrong paymaster and end up with this as an ad: Not to worry. My crystal ball tells me AALBC will be just fine over time.

I have no stake in cryptocurrency. But, if there's a way for AfroAmericans to build a viable economic infrastructure with it, I'd definitely invest. Right now, all forms of cryptocurrency are illegal in China. I guess that dude Xi Jinping ain't even playing with it.

Cool beans. We may not solve a single gotd8mn problem but it doesn't hurt to discuss and get riled up or laugh in the process.

OK. Gotcha. Thought you were giving them credit for something. As you can see, I refuse.

Haitian Gang Kidnaps for Ransom Killing the President was a semi-professional hit considering the perpetrators were caught less than 26 minutes later. So, I don't know whose bright idea it was to kidnap 17 people and demand a $17M ransom on an island. Needless to type, the FBI is on the case. This will not end well for the crash dummies in charge of this kidnapping. I just find it incredulous that these folks would try such a crime against an adversary with sophisticated technological resources. They have to know that from outer space, US intelligence is capable of identifying the brand of a smoked cigarette laying in the bushes. Being able to see every nook and cranny of an island is child's play. I predict this situation will be over in about 96 hours.

Sure. I clear up any misunderstanding they may have through dlalog, food, drinks, laughter and music. It's easy to see that we're not much different. Non-AfroAmerican black folks do have cultural ties that bind them. I think that's great for all groups of people who have it. But, in my dealings with non-AfroAmerican black folks, I find that many of them have been poisoned into thinking and believing the worst of Afro-Americans based white imagery and narratives of us. Of course, AfroAmericans don't help ourselves based on the sh8t folks get to see on TV. While it has been co-opted from our colonizers, I do believe AfroAmericans do have a cultural tie that binds us as well. AfroAmericans have a flavor and ways of doing things that we instinctively accept among ourselves. But, the most important tie to me is our black skin regardless of shade. Otherwise, I get along with people in general regardless of where they come from because in my mind we're all human beings first and foremost. Living by the golden rule serves me well too. Beyond that, I'm still calling balls and strikes as I see them regardless of race/ethnicity/culture. There's still work to be done in dismantling the system of racism.

Chinese folks created the first explosion with gunpowder. White folks just replaced sulfur, carbon and potassium nitrate with uranium and plutonium and a fission/fusion process to create a nuclear bomb. They take credit for inventing stuff but they steal a lot.

Correct. That's why I place emphasis on a strong black man. Building a nation takes strength, intelligence, charisma, diplomacy, etc. Leadership ain't for the faint of heart.

Well, since black folks created everything, we're just taking it back. White folks don't really create anything. They steal and repackage it.

Nope. As a musician, I listen to a little bit of everything. My music collection is eclectic. I'm just pulling tracks off the surface. Again, I can do this all day across multiple genres.

Same here. I have the great fortune of being around Africans enough to know better. Being a natural comedian, whenever they (Africans) try to complain about AfroAmericans, I have several questions: 1) why did you leave your country and come to America 2) why didn't Africans come back to pick up our ancestors when the cruise ship got stranded 3) why did Africans sell each other into slavery 4) why are African countries practicing greed and corruption 5) why are people poor and/or starving in Africa with its abundance of resources 6) why do Africans mix and match Polo, FUBU, Phat Farm, Enyce and RocaWear 7) Why are Africans afraid to put lotion on their heels African n8gglets are no different from AfroAmerican n8gglets especially when it comes to believing the white man's ice is colder.

Troy, I have no desire to be a drag on this very fine forum. If anything I write seems to be negative or out of line, let me know. You've captured it in the quote above regarding why black folks are content with sharecropping on the plantation that is America instead of owning it.

Adding insult to injury, Eminem rounds up 12 AfroAmerican rappers to form a crew. Those n8gglets grinning and smiling in the background enjoying a white Trojan horse ride. Hip-Hop is black music. Michael Jackson looked just fine up until the Off the Wall album. The success of the Thriller album led to that dude to losing his mind and bleaching himself. The ultimate display of black self-hatred was him adopting those white kids and leaving his fortune to them. Yeah, because black folks don't own much of anything, white folks can take it and do whatever they please. Kinda like discovering America.

The answer to everything you've expressed is a solid, strong black man. A man should not be with a woman who does not recognize and respect him. The little thugs and gangsters would fall in line if they had positive black male role models. Those same n8gglets seem to fall in line when the police show up and before the judge bangs the gavel. IMO, black men leaving the AfroAmerican community is a cop out. It's easy to take up with women who have been culturally conditioned to be submissive. AfroAmerican women bear the scars of not having strong black men around and having to raise children by themselves and having to work a job in order to make ends meet if they aren't the primary bread winner, etc. So, it takes strong black men to heal all of the scars, wounds and ills that have been inflicted on the AfroAmerican community.

Pioneer, there's truth in what you've typed but the reality is that as black men we need to boss up. In the same way that we wouldn't let someone disrepect us or ours out in these streets, we need to apply the same mentailty to strengthening the AfroAmerican community. A lot of the dysfunction we discuss here can be fixed if/when the black man pulls his pants up and lets his nutz hang and fists swing as necessary. Black men need to build and connect in order to solidify the infrastructure of the AfromAmerican nation. Too many black men are buying into the pussification of society. AfroAmericans definitely cannot afford to get pulled further down in that fox hole. We cannot do everything they do.

Yeah, that author is on his head as far as I'm concerned. I have always been and forever will be fine with Black, African-American or AfroAmerican when describing black folks born in the US. Warts and all, America (US) is our home country. We just need to fix the raggedy parts of it.

Mzuri, 1st and foremost, if anything i write comes across as complaining, this will be my last post on this forum. Definitely not my intention to drag it down. Working with what we got doesn't seems to be working as it relates to uplifting AfroAmericans. In other threads, I've mentioned banks, radio and TV stations and other things in terms of self-sufficiency that we do not have in abundance already. There's no reason that we don't. "And W T F does whitey want from us??? You will be figuring for a long time to answer that elusive question." It's not hard to see. Turn on your computer, TV or radio. Entertainment. Sports. Music. Fashion. Beauty. Black folks are participating in all of these activities. White folks are making plenty money in the process. Black folks don't own any of it. The NFL is a multibillion dollar business. Over 70% of the players are black. Yet, there are no black team owners. That's just a sampling of the bigger issue. But yeah, I'll fall back if it reads like I'm commiserating and complaining.

Yeah, doing negative things and saying "white folks do it too" is the equivalent of finger pointing and it's childish. Ain't nobody got time for that. I don't have a problem with AfroAmericans taking a concept and improving upon it constructively. If black folks can come up wtih an action hero or a thing of beauty, go for it. Most art is built on variations of familiar themes. Some folks can take a blank canvas and come up with something original. A lot of stuff is derivative. Music and sports would be devoid of flavor if AfroAmericans didn't use their gifts, knowledge, skills and abilities to flip the script on it. Remove all black football and basketball players from the game. Hardly anybody would watch it. AfroAmericans added Rhythm and Blues; soul and funk to music. We are responsible for the baby making music of the 1970s. White folks consume what black folks do until they figure out how we did it. Then, they codify, reproduce and sell it to themselves. From The Rolling Stones to Elvis Presley to Michael Bolton to Celine Dion, they've repackaged black music. Now, they consider Eminem one of the greatest rappers. So, if black folks can come up with a better version of James Bond, Superman or a doll, they should do it. I'm a huge proponent of AfroAmericans seeing themselves in positive positions of power, intellgence, excellence and beauty. In my eternal optimism, I'll forever be pro-black to a fault. Even if it kills me. I can live with that.

Absolutely. As I mentioned in another thread, AfroAmericans need to learn how to become producers instead of wallowing in being employees and the ultimate consumer. I believe that here in America, Asians make 90% of their money from AfroAmerican consumers buying their food, dry cleaning, beauty supply products and services (hair and nails), etc. When I was a youngin, AfroAmericans owned everything in my community. In the late 1980s, I saw the handwriting on the wall. AfroAmericans cashed out and Asians showed up. It's been that way for three decades now and counting. AfroAmericans need to figure out what other folks need from us and that we can produce for ourselves and own it. That is the beginning of building your own economy.

Rev, there's quite a bit to unpack from your post. But, I extracted a couple points that I do agree. Black folks (AfroAmericans) should be up in arms over the swiftness in which hate crime laws were enacted for the alphabet soup community and Asians. Black folks have been killed by racists with impunity for centuries. There is no protection from a knee on the neck or a bullet in the back from a racist. IMO, regardless of what traces of our DNA show, the United States of America (USA) is the homeland (country) of the AfroAmericans. As such, AfroAmericans should have the full rights of citizenship as afford by the US Constitution. We should also have reparations for America's original sin. AfroAmericans definitely have the responsibilty of learning and knowing their history and passing it along to their offspring. We should be filling the internet and TV with knowledge and positive images of ourselves. Our intelligence, excellence and beauty should be reflected in everything we do in all areas of human actiivity. AfroAmericans have a lot of work to do here in America. Unfortunately, many of oru people have been been anesthetized, dazed and confused by insolence, distractions and tokens of progress and/or success. It's never too late to get it right.

If folks are that busy they shouldn't be dating. If folks aren't doing anything worthwhile or constructive, they definitely shouldn't be dating. IMO, American society is definitely conditioning male behavior to be less assertive and aggressive. The equivalent of pulling a lion's teeth outta its mouth. They want males to be more sensitive to everything. I call it the pussification of men. Unfortunately, too many boys are being raised by women. A mother can teach her son how to be caring and compassionate. She cannot teach him how to be a man. However, by design, real men and women will connect. Survival of the fittest. Without it, humanity ceases to exist. Alpha-males don't need coaching and/or a pep talk. They know what to do when it comes to getting a woman's attention. I definitely remember those days when males and females seemed to be more attracted to each other like magnets and they had no problem with public displays of affection (PDAs) The times have changed and it looks different but folks are still hooking up and showing PDAs. Just a matter of being in those spaces. Movie theaters, shopping malls and school and college campuses are filled with it. Ao, I'm not overly concerned that dating will become exclusively virtual nor will old skool male/female interactions be compromised. Pheromones still exist.