Cynique

@Pioneer1 Apes and humans probably share a common ancestor but somewhere along the evolutionary process, they veered off into separate species. Homo Sapiens and Simians may be cousins. But so what?

@Pioneer1 I hope that Mel's anecdotal's examples will impress on you the reality that the anecdotes that shape your view of the world are simply one facet of the black experience and that your ongoing effort to make the black community over in your image is short sighted. Blackness has become a mosaic not a monolith and in the final analysis, cream rises to the top. The ideal scenario of too many brothas is one where sistas sacrifice themselves on the altar of the needs and desires that black men define as being "supportive", - doing this even when these men are not equal to a task. But black men with the right stuff will succeed in spite of institutionalized racism and uncooperative black women. Furthermore, many of those who do this will be ones raised by a mother who taught them how to stand on their own. Seems to be me a black man would relish the idea of making it on his own because he was strong enough in character and fortitude to do this. A secure, capable man doesn't need to yearn for supportive women; he will automatically attract them. Unfortunately, for many men what support also includes is for women to withhold opinions that take the form of criticism. In other words, they want to be humored, which is another word for having their egos stroked. Of course black women are not with out their flaws. But inside of every loud, overbearing, sarcastic, super bitch is a vulnerable woman who can be cured by a dose of TLC from a strong black man. And, so it goes.

Hummmm. I just saw this. I think they read the book in 2015. (i am a member of this book club. that's why they read it. ) Thanks for the updating.

There's a whole crowd of Millennials out there who know very little about past protests. Every generation has to go through its own growing pains before they become disillusioned with reality, and learn from experience. The media has given this cause a lot of free coverage. There's no such thing as bad publicity when you want to call attention to something. This whole situation is more harmless than harmful. Considering what the post racial picture in America looks like, you could say the same thing about the futility of Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat on a segregated bus. Bottom line, America is a bullshit country and black folks don't have their bull shit together yet.

A demonstration is step #1 in a movement; the boycott is step #2 in the process of bringing about reform. Kaepernick's demonstration has inspired talk of boycotting the NFL. If he is picked up before the season opens, his bending a knee will have caused owners to defer to the black community and whites of good will who believe in the right to protest. If none of this leads to anywhere, don't blame the messenger, blame the country who the message is for, - a place where it is necessary for a black citizen to agitate against . I am not passionate about this issue but i don't think that Kaepernick should be dismissed and derided for rockin the boat and making waves. He had to be aware of the consequences of the choice he made, but he made a conscious decision to do what he did. So be it.

Well, all of you guys who were young kids during MLK' s civil rights movement obviously don't get that the primary goal of a demonstration is to dramatize a grievance. You don't seem to be able to process the idea that it is a tactic designed to agitate and make people uncomfortable and even feel guilty. It is the first phase toward a goal which will pass through many stages before it is institutionalized into the norms of society. Radicals have been known to set themselves on fire to demonstrate their cause. Women secured the right to vote by staging demonstrations. Of course in America, Colin's gesture is doomed from the start because the country is racist to its core as illustrated by the solicitation in another post on this site wherein the acting president and CEO of the Missouri NAACP sends a request for donations to help fight what is a disgrace to have to fear in the year 2017 where it is unsafe for black people to travel in certain areas in a state. SMH BTW, i don't know whether it's fake news or not but there's a report circulating on the Internet that one of the owners of the NY Giants football team has said that Kapernick will be playing in the NFL this season.

Well, the assumption is made that Kaepernick, himself, is protesting not being picked up by a team. Seems to me it's other people and organizations, many with their own agenda who are doing this. He's a free agent but he is not demanding to be taken by another team. Others are the ones doing this and they are using as an argument the fact that he is being bypassed for quarterbacks who are not as good as he is. For all we know, Kaepernick doesn't care about a team selecting him. I suspect that he has made his bed and is willing to lie in it. He has spread his money around for good causes in addition to "bending his knee". Maybe he just wants to combat racism in his own way. Why should black people have a problem with this? What his detractors continue to ignore is that his protest has sparked controversy and exposed the NFL and America for what it is. That's what demonstrators do. Whether they bring about change or not, they call attention to injustice and force the culprits to deal with it. He has become a thorn in the side of the NFL. That's his victory.

White people aren't any more altruistic when it comes to sex than anybody else. White men definitely exert their power and authority to harass their women for sexual favors, and ambitious white women sleep their way to the top through liaisons with influential men. Women of any color are not that much into providing sex as a way to reward a man for the good job he's doing or if he needs some inspiration. They are into seducing a man if they find him appealing or if they happen to be feeling horny.

There seems to be a ground swell of support growing for Kaepernick taking place in the black community who has no love for the slavemaster NFL team owners. Although i don't know how effective a suggested tactic to boycott NFL football games would be because blacks are only a small percentage of the paying fans. Watching the games on TV is more their thing and not doing this will not have much impact. Kaepernick's taking the knee was inspired by police brutality but it has inadvertently shifted focus and has now put the spotlight on the NFL where 80 percent of the players are black. Bought and paid for gladiators who are sacrificing their bodies and risking future brain damage all to provide entertainment for avid white fans. One possible way to send a message would be for all the NFL black players to show solidarity and pick one specific date to all sit out a game, demonstrating how important they are to the sport. But that ain't gonna happen. So Kaepernick will continue to just muddle through until he can find another venue in which to protest racism. @Troy Spike Lee certainly looked upon the black-on-black killings in Chicago as an opportunity to come to this town and stroke the black community, befriending a white activist Catholic priest, all the while laying the groundwork for making a movie inspired by what's happening in this city.

Well obviously black men and women are at odds. Each group feels let down by the other one. And anecdotal evidence is offered up as proof of this.. Sistas do tend to support each other, while black men's egos get in the way and they are more interested in advancing their individual cause and are competitive in doing so. I repeat, black women are willing to support a capable and trustworthy black male. Any objectionable behavior on their part is usually the end result of being disappointed after investing their hopes in black men who couldn't make the grade. The conflict between black men and women remains an ongoing situation. And you assume that the black men in Missouri are not "fighting", just because you haven't heard anything about them doing so.You're too busy chiding them for not doing what you think is the best course for something you know nothing about. BTW, how's your "fighting" to resolve the water problem in Flint, Michigan, workin out?

Break out the violins. Poor ol black men. Puleeze. Your lament about their plight is full of cherry-picked BS. Black women do support worthy black men. Who do you think got Obama elected? Who do you think marched with MLK? Who do you think were in the trenches with the Black Panthers? Who do you think helped found the NAACP in spite of the black men who wanted black women to butt out and stay in in their place? It was a black woman, Ida B Wells, who tirelessly crusaded against the lynching of black men all through the 1920s and 30s. Black women have been supporting worthy black men since slavery, in spite of the male chauvinism that threads the black community. In spite of how so many of male black leaders marry white women once they make it big. Get outta here with all of that whining and finger-pointing. Black woman like nothing better than to get behind a black man who can walk it as well as talk it. Black women are supporting Colin Kaepernick while black men like you are dragging their feet, criticizing a brotha whose methods they don't like. Furthermore, you don't even know whether or not the black people in Missouri are mounting strategies and plans to use the ballot to bring about reform , as opposed to stirring up hornet nests that will incite violence and fail at getting anything done. Singling out Missouri as a racist state and publicizing this, is a strategy in itself. Travel advisories are nothing new and undoubtedly date back to the "green book" a pamphlet put out by a black man beginning around the 1940s, advising black drivers what places to avoid when traveling through the Jim Crow south. Google "green book" for more info. At least Troy knows his dream of black unity via boycotts is a fantasy but you continue to romanticize and dramatize Afro-American men taking up arms against injustice which could be a ticket to genocide. You're expecting brothers to do what nobody else, including white men, in this country are of a mind to do in the year 2017. Bringing down the incompetent buffoon Donald Trump is the one thing that could inspire Americans of all colors and persuasions to stand up and do battle for.

@Pioneer1 You're the one advocating that black people to go to Missouri and fight and demand respect and justice. Now you're backtracking, proving that your rally cry is a lot of hot air. There's nothing silly about the NAACP's travel warning. It's a public service for black folks who aren't inclined to risk their lives by trespassing on the dangerous territory of white bigots operating in the true American tradition of discriminating against blacks. Your country! You've previously suggested that black people stand up and act like Americans in order to win their rights, which is just another way of saying put your foot on the necks of those beneath you and use them as stepping stones to a better life for yourself; something blacks can't do because they are on the bottom on the heap and there's nobody under them to put their feet on the necks of. Your country. You wish. If this place really belonged to you, all of your frustrated ranting wouldn't be necessary.

Well, you can go back even further and ask why Africans allowed Europeans to invade and colonize their countries and strip their continent of all its resources. It's not all about black males being chicken but about their being faced with and discouraged by superior firepower and overwhelming odds. All of which led to their adopting different ways of coping with adverse conditions; which sometimes included using their guile to go-one-on-one with their oppressors and outsmarting them . Being fool hardy shouldn't be confused with being admirable. "Pride goeth before a fall".

@Troy Yes, that mini review was posted by my long time, home town acquaintance and fellow octogenarian, a Methodist minister and 1960s civil rights activist. A really decent fellow. Obviously i didn't know that the director of "Detroit" was white, and i 'm sure that contributed to black directors throwing shade on the movie. As for how much it cost to make a movie, all of this info is listed on Box Office Mojo's chart. Just swallow your distaste, and Google "Box Office Mojo", then click on the link provided for its home page, and once you reach the home page, click onto "complete week end results"

@Pioneer1 One question: When are YOU and all of your bravado going to muster a brigade of stout-hearted black men and head for Missouri??? Talk is cheap.

And your point is???

@Troy Well, it's not really "crazy" for you to not be interested in seeing "Girls Trip" inasmuch as it is the consummate chick flick. According to Box Office Mojo's week-end report, "Girls Trip" which cost 19 million to make, after being in release for 4 weeks has grossed $85,443,720."Detroit's" gross after being out for 2 weeks is $7,766,432 and it cost 34 million to make. Other factors that figure into how well a film is doing are the number of theaters it opened in. Detroit opened last week in a limited release. For this week, the number of theaters where each of these 2 films appeared was approximately 3,000. So it looks like Detroit is a bust, but word of mouth may raise its numbers next week, or be reflected in the final figures on Monday. "Detroit" did received a lot of criticism from other blacks in the industry , who called this based-on-true-events picture depressing and pointless. Some black film makers seem to enjoy badmouthing films made by other black ones. Not surprising, i guess.

I hope this one isn't foretelling a nuclear missile launch by North Korea.

I was scantily clad, wearing a sleeveless top and shorts and sneakers. When i recounted my close call to my family members they all thought it was funny. Everybody had a suggestion as to what I SHOULD"VE DONE. Thinkin' about disinheriting them.

Why can't this just be a pop video meant to entertain and not taken seriously or be deconstructed? The music and the lyrics are the hook. The setting is incidental.

@Pioneer1Too bad it's necessary to have to consider either your option or The NAACP's suggestion in this country where you assert that black people are not even respected by immigrants. A compelling portrait of the country you love and claim as your own. And you really think that if black folks descended upon Missouri with the intent to reform, that this would produce better results than Colin Kaepernick's kneeling. Get Real. If what you suggest erupts in violence, the governor of Missouri would call out the National Guard with Trump's full approval, and there would be mass bloodshed in a futile effort. The black folks in Missouri apparently have figured out how to navigate through this horrible situation in their state and are managing to cope on an individual basis, and probably aren't interested in interlopers from other states descending on Missouri, starting something they can't finish. Missouri isn't even a southern state and what's happening there is an omen of things to come. This country is regressing, reverting back to what Trump and his rabid followers think will make America great again. Black folks are suffering from the hangover of slavery. That's why they can't rally and unite. Slavery broke their spirit, and they would rather chase the almighty dollar and embrace materialism to assuage their ineffectiveness and impotency. The System is hard to beat because when all is said done white people of all persuasions are not willing to relinquish the upper hand and they got the wherewithal to enforce their superior position. The NAACP is outing Missouri, exposing it for what its; a microcosm of this bull shit country that grows more disgraceful by the day. Your beloved America.

Now, i can't see what Del posted on this thread.

@Del I deleted my response after i realized that your koan post was on part 2 of a long thread that had gone on to part 3.

Yes, I guess we should get a spare key and hide it somewhere. This quiet neighborhood where i now reside, a place where i moved to live with my daughter because i didn't feel like trying to maintain a house back in my old town, is very quiet and safe. So much so that i can go days at a time without actually seeing any people; just cars. So i actually wouldn't anticipate any problems leaving our door here unlocked. Where i formerly lived, the 80s were the last time i lived in a neighborhood where the doors could be left unlocked.

White Raven fans have pushed back and are bombarding management with a demand to not hire Kaepernick, and the owners are reportedly on the verge of caving to this pressure.. Black NFL players earn too much money to jeopardize their careers by publicly supporting Kaepernick . Suggestions that black people boycott the NFL by not watching their televised games will make little impact. So Kaepernick's cause is a lost one. One black player, whose name i've forgotten, did have the guts to say that the NFL stands for: "NiggasForLease". Demonstrations have never been guaranteed to bring extensive and permanent change. Even MLK's civil rights ones didn't do this because racism has made a comeback. What demonstrations do, however, is to expose racism for all eyes to see. They provide proof that the organizations demonstrated against cater to the will of racists and that they have no integrity but are just further proof of Pioneer's beloved country not living up to its morals and principles - as usual. Maybe Colin Kaepernick should quit football, go into politics and run for office. That's one way he could possibly gain wide spread black support the would lead to more viable results.