Mel Hopkins

I'm not sure but it appears we can no longer post updates on our profiles. This is a really good site. I'm glad you didn't dump the forum 🙏🏽

The First Chapter celebrates impactful storytelling, featuring Malaika Mutere's Bantu Waltz, where music, identity, and colonial survival intertwine through a powerful, evocative narrative. Bantu Waltz : Nya's Archangel Story by Malaika Mutere Reviewed by MELEvery writer knows: the first chapter is a promise. It’s where you bring your best pen forward. And if done right, that first chapter becomes a map, a mood, and a motive. That’s why I bring to you, The First Chapter, a feature dedicated to honoring the artistry and ambition of Chapter One. Our inaugural entry belongs to Bantu Waltz: Nya’s Archangel’s Story by Malaika Mutere—a novel that doesn’t tiptoe onto the page but dances in with rhythm, rage, and reverence. Mutere’s prose is at once a celebration and a lament, a reminder that the stories we tell about music, memory, and colonial survival are neither linear nor light. They’re layered. Underneath the first chapter’s sun-drenched opening scene—students dancing, families gathering, a new year rising—lurks a tension that is anything but decorative. In a flashback, the protagonist, Nya, shares a memory that recalls British invasion music floating over Kenyan airwaves; the reader is reminded that even joy carries the echo of conquest. It’s not just a song; it’s a symbol. That static hums with identity theft, cultural interruption, and ancestral resistance. And like any song worth listening to twice, this chapter delivers a syncopated truth: music in the wrong hands is deception. But in Mutere’s hands? It’s a key. A call. A coded language meant for the descendants of Bantu lineage—those with the ancient mitochondrial DNA to decipher the message carried in the melody. I read this chapter before Black Music Month slipped away, and I’m glad I did. Because what Bantu Waltz makes clear is that Black music is more than a beat; it’s a genealogy. And sometimes, a first chapter is more than a beginning—it’s a remembrance. So if you’re looking for fiction that blends Soul, Sorrow, and Sound into one artful opening, I recommend Bantu Waltz to readers of Soul/R&B fiction, social anthropology, and cultural memoirs dressed as novels. Because The First Chapter isn’t just a feature. It’s a feeling. Originally posted Art intersects MEL June 30, 2025

The Black man who killed my father while he was trying to prevent a robbery of his uncle store was convicted with life with no expected parole. He is free today and has been for some time, so I suspect there are a lot who are free today. But that crime spree back in the day - sent me fleeing NY so, I'm not mad at that crime bill that saved other Black families who couldn't leave New York. If there were people falsely imprisoned my heart breaks for them and I hope some liberal project got them out. But it wasn't like Black people caught up in that bill were innocent. They left a lot of Black families without fathers, sons, mothers and daughters. In other news, Hi @ProfD ! I hope you are doing well on this Memorial Day!

I love learning too much to focus on just one subject. A dissertation is limiting, and the only subject I know better than communications and marketing, is scheduled passenger airlines. I initially enrolled in GSU to take some classes and then decided to upgrade my journalism experience by incorporating data science.

Welcome back! 🙋🏽‍♀️👋🏽 I was in HIST class while Troy was tinkering and missed the upgrade entirely!

Brooklyn was a bloodbath in the 90s -I had to hit the deck a couple of times with the twins in my arms because they were shooting in the playground across from my Bed-Stuy home. One night DEA and Narc cops from NYPD jumped my mother's fence chasing drug dealers. Her Clinton-Hill brownstone was on the corner and our drive-in garage sat on the side of the house that bordered our backyard. It was a perfect getaway. Nope you didn't have to be in the drug trade to get runover by it. I was terrified for my girls. You were lucky to be oblivious to the crime - it was ugly. I'll never forget walking to the J Train and stepping over brainmatter. This became a regular occurence for me. That's exactly why we left. I wanted better for my girls. I got it too! The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) 1990-1994 Actually it started in the 1980s maybe even before my father's off-duty shooting The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) 1980-1985

College grads today may need to board a flight to Latin America to find their next job. And this time it is not because corporations are looking for cheap, low-skilled labor. U.S.-educated LATAM professionals, including lawyers, finance specialists, and HR directors, are filling back-office roles that used to sit in American cities. This has been quietly accelerating since the early 2000s. This week, a VP of Global Services Finance at a major Dow company, Johnson and Johnson departed to 'pursue external opportunities' — the same week senior procurement postings went live in Bogotá. This is the pattern. Sad part is, the current administration has halted immigration while U.S. corporations export the jobs immigrants were supposedly taking. If this feels like it should be bigger news, consider who funds the news. History does tell us all of this may backfire because I left Brooklyn when the Colombian Drug Cartel ran roughshod through parts of Brooklyn.

History class was kicking my butt! It was a short semester class jammed packed with a lot of work including up to the very present. I did get an "A" and learned a lot about the United States that even I didn't know! And I read a lot! Some of it was so depressing I felt like I was struggling through PTSD. Thank goodness my professor was a Black woman with a PhD - she held the light towards the finish line. I took the summer off from school. I needed a break. 👋🏽🙋🏽‍♀️

No lies detected - Was Curry's father a high profile baller?

Pareto principle - 80/20% Or 20% of the people do the work. While 80% folly. "vital few", "trivial many" And the vital few group is usually very diverse.

In a similar vein to "Watermelon Man", I need to add, "The Blackening," which I initially overlooked, but I was drawn in once I saw it on Netflix's "before it leaves soon" page. It's genuinely hilarious and the best satire horror comedy I've seen in a while! It's about a group of college friends meeting up at a cabin in the woods after a hiatus - you know, the "life 'be lifing'" type of excuse for absence. So, like any cabin in the woods horror flick scenario, the first to die is a black person - but who's the first when everybody is Black? Well, surely it has to be the Blackest one, right? I hollered when they pointed to the actual African in the group. Anyway, that's the premise of this satirical flick, and it is really funny. Tongue-in-Cheek funny! So, although The Blackening was released in 2023, it should be a contender for this list because it absolutely has staying power.

Maybe the DOJ, IRS, or FINRA paid them a visit. 👀

"Between nine and fifteen thousand years ago, scholars believe that a land bridge existed between Asia and North America that we now call Beringia. The first inhabitants of what would be named the Americas migrated across this bridge in search of food. When the glaciers melted, water engulfed Beringia, and the Bering Strait was formed." ( Mack 1.1) We just walked on over to the Americas. There were Black people here before Columbus It was easy to migrate to the Americas - heck most indigenous people and Hawaiians were Black first.. Heck "erry body" was Black. I truly believe that is the only way would could initially survive the UV rays from the sun. -

I'm assuming this stands for "Foundational Black Americans" and ADOS American Descendants of Slaves? What is the difference? Or is the difference because they (Black People) were never slaves in the Americas? If yes, while those Black people weren't slaves, they weren't citizens either. They were Stateless and had no rights or protection under the U.S Constitution until the 13th and 14th Amendment.

I have to disagree. Some Africans were reported to be sold because they were imprisoned or had debts. But the Portuguese literally built a fort at what is now Ghana's shoreline because they had already invaded West Africa and had to fight other invading Europeans who headed to the continent to get goodies. But we are talking about the 1400s. This was just the beginning of what historians call the Atlantic Slave trade. Elmina Castle "In 1482, Portuguese traders built Elmina Castle (also called São Jorge da Mina, or Saint George’s of the Mine) in present-day Ghana, on the west coast of Africa. (Mack 1.1 Portuguese Exploration..") But the millions of enslaved Africans wasn't sold by Africans, that was the British, French, and Spain until they finally got out of the human trafficking business. Then the newly minted Amerricans started a second middle passage - and imported a few million more. By the time of the Civil war there were four million Africans in the southern states (also why they lost) ...Africans selling Africans is white propaganda to deflect from the truth of the slave trade that harmed so many lives. The reason why historians know they trafficked all those Africans to various Carribbean islands and the Americas is because of the hubris of the white man who kept-effing records. Like Thomas Jefferson who had a list of his 600 slaves, they kept records everything!

We do have interest! There a many Black people interested in diplomacy. But it would help if we all vote so we can get in an executive in the oval office who would appoint us. Linda Thomas-Greenfield - Wikipedia Championing Equality at Home and Overseas: African Americans Leading at the UN No, that's one of the reasons I married him. He had this annoying sense of humor but it helped me loosen up a bit. Then he went and cheated on me - (after I had the twins) and treated me like the side-chick. I took him back but then he said one thing that hurt my feelings so bad that I was done. I ran and got my name back and probably decided then that I would never marry again. Shoot, I barely even dated anyone seriously. But enough my sob story. 😩 I think you both said the same thing because most men have different goals than women -Some women can live a lifetime alone and men can't imagine a life without someone in it.

I haven't. Thank you for sharing! I probably won't. I am working on my first screenplay but it's historical fiction.

OMG! Do you know that my ex-husband said the same exact thing LOL! | I'm not on the campus this semester. I've only registetered for asynchronous online classes.

I was included. I didn't know until this semester. I'm taking this awesome history class at my local university. 😊

We can too! That is still our medium. But I get your point, we don't have the other media. Heck we barely have newspapers!

Weren't the Russians, and Ukranians Slavs? The Slavs were enslaved back in the 9th and 10th century. If they supported it , it would make sense. The U.S. kicked China out of the U.S. country in the 19th century. "In 1882, Congress took up the power to restrict immigration by banning the further immigration of Chinese."

Except LLM /GEN AI like Chat GPT and Gemini will respond they are co-creating based off of what we share.. Now, Claude is different. LOL (I'm afraid of Claude 😄) But Claude creatively processed our conversation and showed me a pattern I missed. I'm thankful for that - because it brought clarity in how this government works!

UN backs resolution calling slave trade ‘gravest crime against humanity’ RFI Thu, March 26, 2026 at 4:08 AM EDT 2 min read A memorial sculpture by Sandrine Plante-Rougeol in Bordeaux, a historic slave-trading port, where the legacy of the transatlantic slave trade remains central to debates on recognition and reparations. (AFP - GEORGES GOBET)More The resolution – proposed by Ghana – was adopted to applause by a vote of 123 in favour. The United States, Israel and Argentina opposed the measure. There were 52 abstentions, including the UK and all 27 members of the EU. Ghana's President John Mahama, one of the African Union's most vocal supporters of slavery reparations, was at the UN headquarters in New York to support the vote. "Today, we come together in solemn solidarity to affirm truth and pursue a route to healing and reparative justice," said Mahama. "The adoption of this resolution serves as a safeguard against forgetting." Transatlantic cruise to turn spotlight on Brazil-Angola slavery past Despite being non-binding, the resolution goes beyond simple acknowledgment and asks nations involved in the slave trade to engage in restorative justice. It also highlights the legacy of slavery via "the persistence of racial discrimination and neo-colonialism" in today's society. "The transatlantic slave trade was a crime against humanity that struck at the core of personhood, broke up families, and devastated communities," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said. "To justify the unjustifiable, slavery's proponents and beneficiaries constructed a racist ideology -- turning prejudice into a pseudoscience." During discussions over the resolution, US ambassador Dan Negrea said the text was highly problematic. "The US also does not recognise a legal right to reparations for historical wrongs that were not illegal under international law at the time they occurred." He added: "The US also strongly objects to the resolution's attempt to rank crimes against humanity in any type of hierarchy." The UK and EU countries put forth similar arguments while acknowledging the wrongs of slavery. "The resolution risks pitting historical tragedies against each other that should not be compared, except at the expense of the memory of the victims," said French representative Sylvain Fournel. Heroes who fought to abolish slavery honoured in Paris Pantheon expo For African Union officials, the language of the resolution is central to its purpose. Amma Adomaa Twum-Amoah, the AU’s Commissioner for Health, Humanitarian Affairs and Development, said clearly naming these events removes any lingering ambiguity about their nature. “It is to say that what was done to Africans was not a tragic accident of history, but the result of deliberate policies whose legacies structure today’s inequalities,” she said. “Justice begins with calling things by their proper names.” Beyond recognition, the resolution encourages countries historically involved in the slave trade to engage in processes of restorative justice. Ghana’s Foreign Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has been explicit about what that could entail. “The perpetrators of the transatlantic slave trade are known – the Europeans, the United States of America,” he told reporters. “We expect all of them to formally apologise to Africa and to all people of African descent.” He pointed to the return of looted cultural artefacts as one possible step, alongside continued efforts to dismantle structural racism and, potentially, financial compensation for affected communities.

We have black owned radio stations and cathy hughes' urbanone network. Better for the imagine. Bump the boob tube!😄 Also you can stream TubiTV. A lot of our creative work, films, tv series, documentaries are airlng on Tubi and the creators also get paid. (I don't know how much though) you don't need to sign in either all you need is a browser and internet connection. BUT Tubi is owned by Rupert Murdoch.