Mel Hopkins

It's inaccurate to say black people or black groups have nothing. There is black commerce. There are black-owned businesses in every U.S. industry or sector. We are communicating on one of the top black-owned global black literature - bookselling and publisher platforms. Black-owned businesses thrive where I live -and not in just media and entertainment, even though we have a strong showing in that industry. Such as Tyler Perry recently opening one of the southeast's largest film studios/sound stages. I say one of the largest because there are several black-owned film studios in Atlanta-Metro. We have black-owned billion-dollar law firms here - and Black-owned Tech firms with a billion-dollar valuation. So Juneteenth aside, black groups have more than a vote; we have private equity.

Mellody Hobson has a great backstory -I’m not surprised she’s winning in the finance game.

Like I wrote, “whackamole” - works every time!

I usually block/mute bots in black face on twitter because they are easy to spot. They are easy to spot on AALBC too because they spew the same rhetoric as the " the greys" trying to claim supremacy. Unfortunately there are so few of us that participate in these discussions, I feel like we're playing a game of whack a mole when they pop up. Anyway, this is an oldie but goodie report from Black Enterprise on the rise of blackface bots

Mellody Hobson, the 53-year-old co-CEO and president of Ariel Investments, is believed to be the first Black woman to be publicly identified as part of an original ownership group purchasing an NFL team. Here's what Broncos Quarterback Russell Smith had to say about Hobson and the $4.6 Billion historic purchase.

Depending on why you thought I was a millionaire, this might be the best compliment you've ever given me!

I know.

Data is the currency of the U.S., and it's available. Those who turn that data into information create revenue streams. So, of course, @richardmurray I know how many Black women are eligible to vote and the number of those registered. I also know how many Black women registered voters cast ballots in past elections. There are quite a few "apathetic" but eligible Black women and men voters who, as you say, are "uncomfortable" with the current system. Yet, if they chose to use their discomfort to get involved and consistently vote in every election, they would disrupt the entire U.S. Political system. That's the only way this government has ever changed. 27 times so far. Heck, Black men gained the right to vote in 1870 during the Reconstruction period, and two served as U.S. Senators. But back to the present. As I mentioned, data is available. And it's accessible to all, including those who choose to overturn democracy or maintain its status quo. These would-be revolutionaries, commonly known as insurrectionists, see the number of "apathetic and uncomfortable" citizens and count on them to aid in their mission. Black women voters, who gained the right to vote only 102 years ago in 1920, are merely trying to maintain a semblance of democracy. We don't have time to sit back and be "uncomfortable" "thinkin' of a master plan" to launch someday. We're too busy trying to keep what little rights we have left under this current system and remain free.

Oh snap I missed that one!

Oh one more thing! Thanks to President Obama's Jobs Act, my mother and I have private equity shares in black-owned technology fabless semiconductor company, Espre Technologies, Inc. Equity crowdfunding allows us to support black-owned businesses. And it's the first time we've been able to get in on the ground floor before it goes belly-up or public. The seed money we raised in the first round of regulation crowdfunding allows the inventor to fabricate his Edge device protection SoC (System on a chip). While the proprietary technology is a bit complicated, In short, -it helps wireless channels handle increased data. Without it, autonomous cars could stop processing information when it's most vulnerable. Or it can protect construction cranes from bad actors. The Jobs act allowed a black woman, Linda (Lynn) P. Smith, President/Founder/CEO, in Cincinnati to start a private equity regulation crowdfunding platform to raise money to "buy the block." While many people have probably heard about Bezos's real estate investment platform to allow people to buy shares in rental property, This sister's business helps people crowdfund to property to prevent gentrification. So, again working with who we have serves us. We need more legislators who believe in democracy and equity for all people.

Black women are a monolith when it comes to voting. Black women registered voters typically back Democratic candidates, referendums, and questions by 90%. So far, nothing can shake our position other than suppression. We are the most loyal Democratic voting bloc - and it's because Democratic legislative proposals solve our problems. For example, before the Supreme Court and Republicans started chipping away at the Affordable Care Act - (Obamacare), we paid out of pocket for the minimum primary health care visits - forget about testing because that was cost-prohibitive. After ACA, our uninsured rates went down, and we got our health care issues addressed. Under President Obama and his JOBS Act, we gained access to private equity funding for our startups for the first time. Before legislation passed, President Obama helped black women gain equity in the U.S. Thanks to President Obama's renewed interest in our academic journey from Pre-school to Graduate school, Black women could get undergraduate, professional, and graduate degrees. As I inferred from @Stefan and @ProfD commentary - working with the party that delivers on legislative proposal solutions; and supporting candidates that propose to do the same is how we get a political party representing our community. Attempting to start a new party is laudable -but it reminds me of a Richard Pryor joke when he said," dude told his woman - he was leaving her and going to find some new "P"… She paused for a minute, then told him "if you had two more inches of "D" you'd find some new "P" right here. In that respect, Black women are a monolith because we believe in working with and using the resources we have to prepare enough to feed everyone.

True - but it helps folks like us to not carry them. They need to be left in their hell...they don't need us to remain there with them. (Aside: Someone killed my loved one and I forgave him on day one. And when I look back I think about my loved one and all the beauty he brought into the world)

Africans asking about your son's "tribe" makes me so happy! I got so giddy reading your reply. And I think it has something to do with my experience while working for United. One of my passengers looked like my Nana. She didn't speak English. She didn't know how to find the person supposed to meet her when our flight landed in Dulles. I think it was a delay or something. Because she looked like my Nana - I gestured if she spoke "Amharic," She did! I went to another passenger - who appeared to be from West Africa (he was wearing cultural garb), I know their language can be Yoruba, but I took a chance and asked if he also spoke Amharic, and he did! I was able to help my "nana" looking woman -and the West African brother agreed to help her when they disembarked. You already know I did a lot of research for my book. So without that background, I wouldn't have a clue to make the connection between the two if I hadn't, especially since I'm just a regular black American woman who happens to share mtDNA with North Africans/Ethiopians. All this to say, I'm not surprised your son looks like Habesha. And here's why I think it's a given. When I was in Lima -some of the Peruvians thought I was from there. When I flew to Jamaica, WI, and Aruba, some locals asked me if I had family there. We can learn a lot from the people who call us out. I know I did. For example, I learned the people from Aruba are Arawak (Taino), also from West Africa and Peru, and spoke a language-remix called Papiamento. As I was traveling around the world, I felt so proud to be African - even where they "hate" black people they still paid deference. It was a bit unsettling but in a way that made you wonder about your place in history. When we Black Americans travel abroad or find ourselves in a global setting, we see our people. I believe we (our ancestors) were nomadic people for so long that we crossed the whole African continent! This thread was eye-opening for me. Another one of "there is no right or wrong; simply belief" Although I used logic (as in debate) to tackle the topic, I still realized that my way of reading scriptures is more Hebrew than it is Christian. I even found an article in Time magazine that tackled the same theory of how Hebrews (Jews) and Christians read the Bible differently. I've always read the scriptures as a story of the Hebrew people, how they viewed their Creator, and their interaction with the Tribes they met along the way.

Have any of you ever perused Stewart Synopsis? This website is one of the most detailed history of the African Diaspora I’ve seen on the internet. I’ve never fact checked the work but it is fascinating. I think I chose the link about Africans and the bible but there is so much - much more to review. https://stewartsynopsis.com/dogon-tribe-palestine-and-benjamin-banneker

Not the monkey pox! We are living through a full-blown apocalypse and don't even know it!

If this were a debate, the original poster @Addison's position would be "The bible is holy, slavery is in the bible, then slavery is holy." This syllogism's crux hinges on believing that if the bible is good, it couldn't endorse something horrific as slavery. @Stefanshows that the bible condones slavery but codifies ethical treatment in the rabbinical literature. Condoning slavery is the point where many believers suffer from cognitive dissonance - and try to justify their belief that their God would never justify slavery so they can continue to believe God is good all the time. BUT the very people whose ancestors wrote and lived by the Old Testament with commentary (Talmud) tell us the Hebrew word "ebed" means slave. - "Where real slaves are referred to, the English versions generally use "bondman" for "'ebed," and "bondwoman" or "bondmaid" for the corresponding feminines (Lev. xxv. 49)." When one is referring to the old testament, one must take into consideration Hebrew transliteration. They must also consider the Talmud/oral history (Mishnah) that corresponds to understanding the history of Rabbinical literature. In this case, foreign-born enslaved people couldn't own anything - they had no agency. So, it's a stretch to conclude the bible doesn't endorse chattel slavery. It does. The Hebrew people had to contend with this fallacy, too - maybe right up until the Egyptians enslaved them. "Not until the Greek and Roman period, however, does the emancipation of slaves attain, as an institution, any importance for the Jews. According to a not wholly reliable authority, most of the Jews captured by Ptolemy I., Lagi (322-307 B.C.), were taken to Egypt, where they were ransomed by his son, Ptolemy II., Philadelphus (285-247), for a considerable sum and set free (Aristeas Letter, ed. Wendland, § 22). " So maybe if believers deal with the bible endorsing slavery - they will better be able to understand Jesus ransoming his life to free the Hebrews and others who chose to follow his way of life.

Thank You @Stefan - I misspoke, well kinda. I want news reports that tell the story from the Black American perspective. We used to have Amsterdam News as a go-to, but I don’t think they have the budget to cover global stories let alone war. I did look at the website and at first glance, the content looks dense - and it’s kind of intimidating. But I’ll see what I can get from it.

Maybe that’s how folks get so caught up - lol

Absolutely! This is exactly why I've been keeping a side-eye on this invasion-war because eventually black people pay the price for not paying attention!

One black child is the part that cracks me up! Do you feel this is a case of colorism: light-skin vs. dark-skin. Because according to these scriptures - Emzara gave birth to all of Noah's children. Further, Kush is Canaan is Kemet -KMT is Mizraim is Egypt is Ethiopia. Nearly all of the land by the Nile river. So really, Noah's story is more of a story of migration. While some people feel these stories are "holy," - I see a report of a people, their record of movement, practices, and their knowledge of the universe, solar system, and Earth. Case-in-point, take these two supposed Greek letters "Nu (Nv) and Mu. The Greeks based their alphabet on the KMT (Egyptian) hieroglyphs. (The Phoenicians popularized the hieroglyphic system - but that's another story). These two "hieroglyphs" together loosely translate into "created from the primordial waters) Nu is the name of the oldest Egyptian god, who is the father of the Sun god, Re. Nu is also the symbol for primeval water that began all creation. (By the way, there's also an updated 'feminine' for this translation, which means the ancient Egyptians were not originally a patriarchal society - which was probably another source of contention for surrounding societies.) Mu is also the symbol for water - offspring from the primordial waters. Archaeologists say Egyptian hieroglyphs date back to early 27 - 28 B.C. So riddle me this. How did ancient Africans know that water was the oldest element in our universe? It was only 2014 when modern scientists discovered Earth's water (via a study of ice molecules ) is older than Earth and the sun? Scriptures have a lot of information, but very few "scholars" have extracted its wisdom.

There's so much geopolitical ignorance in America - but it's not surprising since most of us don't even know how our own government works. I can't speak intelligently on the Ukraine war-invasion... I'm still heartbroken that I can't get unbiased information on what appears to be a civil war in "the land of the gods" Ethiopia. Please continue to share your perspective and information - I'm paying attention I just don't know where I should focus it across the pond. (aside: we are so isolated here in the americas)

Don't stop there, Sis! Keep thinking it through. Laws are never divisive. It is the application of the law that divides the people. You brought up marijuana laws - look at the 2022 map, determine where marijuana is illegal, then look at incarcerated people based on the laws written for possession and distribution of marijuana. If you feel inspired, look at the record of the prosecuting attorneys involved in those cases - and law enforcement. Next, look at the states where marijuana is legal - or a misdemeanor- to see how those states seek to offer retribution to those tried and convicted under all laws. Once you gather that information - see if there's any relation to proposed criminality for terminating an unwanted pregnancy. Legislators who protect your freedoms separate themselves from those who don't. Vote for the ones who create legislation to protect you.

@Stefan Well stated! And thank you for the reminder! What we (I) do today will determine the future.

@KENNETHAnd they are viable opinions too! I was fortunate to work on a multimillion dollar project in West Virginia like the one you've mentioned in community development. It works but there is a lot of push back from people who believe they are too proud to accept help. Thank you for adding to the list!

Absolutely, this too! I just hope when the democrats and independents gain control of congress again - they move quickly. Exactly. So make sure you aren't responsible for any woman's decision to have an abortion.