Mel Hopkins

Hi Tanny, This proposal assumes educational attainment is tied directly to wealth. If it were then how could we explain white males who have less than or only a high school diploma have more wealth than blacks who have obtain doctorates in their field? Currently only about 33% of all americans over the age of 25 have a college degree or higher - 37 % of those who identify as white ; 23% of African-Americans; 55% of Asian-Americans; 16.4 % Hispanic - Americans - And Africans from Sub-Saharan countries are the highest educated of all imimgrants to the US with 41% of them holding bachelors degree and higher ...Yet it is estimated by 2053 black wealth will be at 0 if we keep on this path. So I don't think education is the answer to the wealth problem. I'm all for an educated populace but it's not the answer to wealth disparity. Links: Demos.org Why White High School Drop Outs Have More Wealth Than Black College Graduates Fortune.com More Education Doesn't Always Mean More Money Among Minorities, Study Finds TheHill.com Census: More Americans have college degrees than ever before Latimes.com African immigrants are more educated than most — including people born in U.S. The Guardian.com Median wealth of black Americans 'will fall to zero by 2053', warns new report @Pioneer1 that's not a black problem that's a human defective behavior problem - - one of the billionaire Mellon's just passed away allegedly due to his oxycontin abuse problem. He was only 54... Aside: @Troy I didn't even last a year on facebook. I had to delete my account again. Not only did I begin to feel like I was losing brain cells... I just can't go there with Mark Z and his scheming ways. I'm getting ready to delete instagram next. Soon AALBC will be the only social network I'll use. And of course, anyone who wants to visit me or track my movements on my websites can but I've had enough of this being a "product" for social network billionaires . Ok back to the education question

Not sure how this author, Minerva Stewart found me but I'm glad she did or I wouldn't have heard of her book, "My Awfully Wedded Husband". I'm going to go out on a ledge here and suggest that she might have found my blog post through a search engine because in the post, I have the phrase "dark comedy". I didn't review a dark comedy - but still she found my post useful enough to leave a message. I'll most likely pick up her book because I happen to like dark comedies... Anyway, search engines can be another tactic to finding your book's audience. I'm not sure if there's software that will help you sort out your exact target but at least you'll find websites that may lead you to your market. Ms. Stewart found me - a black divorced woman who writes, is a media junkie who also enjoys dark comedies. If she hadn't left a message on my blog I wouldn't have known she or her book existed - but now I'm a "fan". Who knows, I could be easy mark - but it's worth a try to get directly to your audience.

I hope Beyonce wins next year. She's the only artist I can recall who has used their platform to communicate the complexities of life for black women in America . Kendrick Lamarr's experiences are not mine and I've lived the african-american experience far longer than he . I would have preferred the membership designate this prize for his ability to capture the complexity of modern life of a black man in America... Still, congratulations to KL for being recognized by a body that I hold in high esteem.

DAMN by Kendrick Lamarr won a Pulitzer Prize for music...

Listening is the easy part of the conversation. The intake/input is stimulating. Once someone belabors a point then the conversation is a wrap. I know then the person isn't convinced of her/his own ramblings.

LOL! I'm going to look for the oldest record I have relating to this topic and see if I can find it through google today.

@Delano It means that I'm a purist when it comes to source material or at least when I was reporting for public record. At that time I couldn't even use the newspaper as a source. I could only use primary sources to write the story for publication. So, don't get it twisted when I stick up for Wikipedia but I recognize it's a good reference starting point. @zajiI agree and that's what makes me feel bad for not participating in the editing. But I do have adobe's convert this webpage into a pdf and before that I used to copy & paste and I have files that no longer exist on the web - which is a bit scary to me too!

Yes! And I even have an account to edit entries ( @Troy does too ) but I just don't have time to fight with those others nerds...

@Troy Wikipedia is a resource that contains primary and secondary source information. There is no need to dismiss Wikipedia when you can actually challenge and update information. Besides, if it doesn't come directly from personal experience everything is to be attributed as "reported by /referenced" ... And who writes a dissertation and cites Wikipedia, anyway? That's not what it's for...it's a collaborative work that is neither conclusive nor definitive. Anyway, Shirley Chisholm's page contains 71 reference sources - so unless you dispute all those references then Chisholm's Wikipedia page is a good source. Oh, and signed a veteran journalist who wasn't even allowed to use the newspaper as a source when researching and reporting

I added this press release to support what @Cynique wrote . Black Panther was just an in to get us to spend $1.5 trillion that we beg borrow and steal to spend - because we surely haven't amassed that fortune in our community.. Economist say by 2053 if we continue to trend - black wealth will be 0.. right now it's >1 percent.

@MAFOOMBAY it seems as if you still do - much of what you've written here is what I would use in an syllogism to support choice.

before 1400?, Makeda Queen of Sheba, Imhotep, Cleopatra, the alchemist, Memnon, - I got 4 but I know the gods/goddess a little better..

@TroyThank you! I was hoping you used Yawatta's review. Not because of the stars but she really read the book and dissected it! Also, even though Amazon snatched up goodreads the authors and readers seem extremely passionate about books.

Thank you @Wendy Jones - I guess I'm not amazon dependent as I thought... but I am also on goodreads.

@D.E. Eliot Thank you for sharing your journey.

Re: this sentiment It's a choice. And it absolutely explains why some in the black community choose escapism.

Lexus' Genius Product Placement in Marvel's Black Panther Movie Highlights Growing Influence of African Americans' Buying Power ROCKVILLE, Md., March 9, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- African Americans continue to have a supersized influence on the U.S. economy. By 2020 African Americans are projected to have a buying power of $1.5 trillion with a cumulative growth of 16% and a compound annual growth rate of 3% from 2015-2020, according to market research firm Packaged Facts in the report African-Americans: Demographic and Consumer Spending Trends, 10th Edition. Skeptics about the cohort's financial clout have to look no further than the recent success of the 2018 blockbuster Marvel superhero movie Black Panther, which has enjoyed record shattering returns and which to date has grossed more than $900 million globally. The film was a surefire success almost from its creative inception and official announcement four years ago as the news sent a simmering excitement through a black community starved for more minority representation in comic book movies. While Disney's Marvel Studios cheered the film's success, so too did car maker Lexus. Movie goers got a look at Lexus' new luxury LC coupe which is featured prominently in a major chase scene through the streets of South Korea. The scene marked two years of collaboration between Lexus and Marvel Studios. Packaged Facts' research revealed that product placement in movies and television shows resonates with African-American consumers. For example, black consumers are more likely to remember the brand name product characters use in a movie and try products they have never tried before that they have seen in a movie. Seeing a product used in a movie is also more likely to reassure black consumers that the product is a good one. Furthermore, when African-American consumers are online or in a store and see a brand name product they recognize from a movie, they are more likely to buy it than its competitor. Car manufacturers featuring their vehicles in comic book movies isn't anything new. However, as AutoNews.com states in an article, Lexus' multicultural marketing agency, Walton Isaacson, openly admits that the idea to for collaboration and product placement in Black Panther represented an opportunity to link the car maker with a cultural event. In addition to the product placement in film, Lexus leading up to the Black Panther release commissioned an original graphic novel, Black Panther: Soul of a Machine, featuring the LC 500 and a Lexus takumimaster craftsman as heroes. And don't forget the Black Panther-themed Super Bowl ad for Lexus. In the end it proved to be a shrewd strategy for Lexus. AutoNews.com reveals that there was "an explosion" of ad impressions across TV, social media, and in theater due to the film and the product tie-in. Further, in the week following Black Panther's domestic premiere on February 16, online searches for Lexus at shopping site Autotrader were up 15% from the previous week. Likewise, Autotrader revealed that online traffic for the LC 500 specifically was up 10%. It's impossible to say how many of these searches were performed by African Americans, However, based on Packaged Facts' previously referenced research on the impact of product placement on African Americans combined with the fact that Lexus is already popular with minority consumers, it's fair to deduce at least a portion of the searches were by black shoppers. Packaged Facts' data also revealed that African Americans are among the biggest car buyers in America. Between 2012 and 2015 spending by African-American consumers on new cars and trucks increased from $13 billion to $20 billion. Further, the 51% increase in spending by black households on new automotive vehicles significantly outpaced the 27% increase registered by other households. But it's not just new cars that get lots of love. Spending by African-Americans on used cars and trucks grew more than twice as fast as comparable expenditures by other consumers. About the Report African-Americans: Demographic and Consumer Spending Trends, 10th Edition analyzes recent consumer spending and demographic trends for the African-American population in the United States. View additional information about the report, including purchase options, the abstract, table of contents, and related reports at Packaged Facts' website: https://www.packagedfacts.com/African-Americans-Demographic-10293172/. About Packaged Facts Packaged Facts, a division of MarketResearch.com, publishes market intelligence on a wide range of consumer market topics, including consumer demographics and shopper insights, consumer financial products and services, consumer goods and retailing, consumer packaged goods, and pet products and services. Packaged Facts also offers a full range of custom research services. For more essential insights from Packaged Facts be sure to follow us on Twitter and Google+. For infographics, tables, charts and other visuals, follow Packaged Facts on Pinterest. Please link any media references to our reports or data to https://www.packagedfacts.com/. Press Contact: Daniel Granderson 240.747.3000 dgranderson@marketresearch.com View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lexus-genius-product-placement-in-marvels-black-panther-movie-highlights-growing-influence-of-african-americans-buying-power-300611592.html SOURCE Packaged Facts

@richardmurray thank you for thinking of me and thank you for bringing this project to my attention. I barely make enough time for my current writing projects so for now I have to pass. By the way, I don't write or speak Portuguese, lol.

I'm not sure about Australia but I've read a lot of news articles about the chinese owned corporations setting up factories in Kenya and other parts the continent that are not environmentally friendly and - the Kenyan government has finally gotten around to shutting them down. So would business owners and workers count as non-government entities? Also, I don't look at chinese nationals doing landgrabs in African nations as a positive. In fact, Chinese nationals own a lot of the hotels and other properties here in the U.S. and also noted for being in bed with jared kushner for that 666 park avenue deal ... nah they need to keep wakanda anything out of their mouths - they don't do us right either...

@Christy, welcome and thank you for joining! My condolences on losing your loved ones. <3 What are you selling in your online shop? Also how did you first become exposed to all those authors? Do you purchase from the author's websites, bookstores, online retailers book club, etc.? In addition to writing and publishing, we're also working to make it easier for readers to gain access to books by black authors. Any suggestions you have will be greatly appreciated?

While they are kicking Africans out of their republic? That's some stinkin' mess...

All three of these points are connected. While it's reported that europeans came armed with guns and bibles to colonize African countries - they didn't have control over their (Africans) minds. Unfortunately, many had succumbed to the ideology of the oppressor instead of powering through the adversity to succeed with their own morals of social justice, way of life and abilities intact. Just like perennials will find their way through the cracks of cement to bloom on the surface, no amount oppression can make one abandoned their morals or belief system. If it does then death is far better for those types. We of African ascent who are here in America obviously had far stronger ancestors than those whose bodies lie at the bottom of the ocean. Edit: To be clear, the story ended for those who are at the bottom of the ocean.

@Damani Wow! As I was reading your introduction, I felt like I was visiting the National Museum of African-American History and Culture. Welcome! I'm not being facetious either when I visited the museum I actually took photos of the exhibits of some of the events you mentioned here. Powerful! Also congratulations on finishing the first draft of your historical fiction novel! Aside: Not sure if this is your first attempt at looking for an editor but just a heads up. Novels require a different type of editor than non-fiction. I suspect editors for historical novels are even more detailed because they will help out with authentic language from the period. So, please don't let just any editor work on your book.

@D.E. Eliot did you mean an estimate of the novel's cost? Or did it cost $10k to publish your novel? If the latter, why did it cost $10K

@Damani , welcome. I don't see your introduction. Is this where you posted it?