Pioneer1

Cynique Familiar? Can you show me an article where other's have recently pondered the idea that a large portion of the violence in America is a result of decent Black people having to defend themselves from the predators unleashed in their communities? As far as I know I'm one of the few if not the only people bringing the topic up online. And even if it HAS been said over and over again...does that make it WRONG...or does that mean that despite the truth being told people are failing to ACT on it and apply the solutions? Now we may agree that all Black people aren't all criminals, but we shouldn't have to go to extremes just to find agreement. Wouldn't it be reasonable to atleast agree that MOST Black people aren't criminals either? However you may be reluctant to do so because then you'd have to consider the idea that too many Black and Brown people are actually victims of systemic injustices that were purposefully designed to put them in catch-22 situations. -Having to join gangs for protection because the local law enforcement isn't providing it -Having to sell dope, steal, and commit other illegal acts to make enough money to survive -Having to lying and hustle to acquire and maintain half-way decent housing -Having to harm or even kill deranged people who were allowed to roam their communities untreated In bullet-riddled Chi-town the black Chief of police and the black female mayor continue to complain about too many suspects and repeat offenders being released back into Society to commit more crimes. Meanwhile, the black Cook County States attorney prates about the criminal justice system being too hard on blacks when it comes to setting bail. Who's really more on point? Both, because like most people you fail to recognize that while both are correct they are simply placing their weights on different points. But the point each of them make is valid and doesn't contradict the other. Again, this is where CRITICAL THINKING skills become even more valuable. -Most of the suspects and repeat offenders they complain of being let out too early are VIOLENT offenders. -Most of those Black community activists and political leaders are complaining about who being kept in jails unnecessarily with excessively high bails are NON-VIOLENT offenders like prostitutes and those caught in possession of drugs. These are relatively victimless crimes that shouldn't even be considered crimes in the first place. All of this "baby mama drama" and gang membership you bring up are mere SYMPTOMS of a much larger problem that goes beyond Black dysfunction. If it were a Black thing....you would see OTHER Black ethnic groups like Caribbeans and Africans suffering from the same problems. The only time these problems begin to creep into immigrant communities after 2 or 3 generations of living in the U.S.: which should tell you there's something about this society that BREEDS the type of social dysfunction you see describe. And guess who's responsibility that is? You imply that it's futile to continue to blame the government and let Black people off the hook for the dysfunction in society, but WHO'S responsibility is it to serve and PROTECT the people? Is it the citizen or the government we pay taxes to? If the patients at a hospital fail to get better, you don't blame the patients...you blame the staff at the hospital because they're supposed to have the skill and expertise to help those who need it. People can't just make up their own laws and apply the solutions they see fit without answer to some governmental authority, so besides petitioning the government to do it's job of serving and protecting the people....what else do you suggest they do?

Here's a more recent video of Tommy Sotomayor ridiculing the little Black girl who just won the national spelling bee:

A few points.......... 1. I didn't say the media ignores "white on white" crime. But they don't focus on it like they do crimes that involve Black offenders. When Asians were getting attacked earlier this year the main stream media didn't focus on the Caucasians who outright killed them nearly as much as the focused on and kept show the videos over and over again of homeless Black men slapping or kicking them on some crowded street. I agree with you that it IS tired and lame....but then again..so is police brutality and other forms of racism. Please tell the offenders that the victims ARE tired of this. 2. You're right that what Caucasians do to eachother doesn't justify what goes in in Black neighborhoods BUT there is a such things as "fair policing" and "fair coverage" in the media. If EVERYBODY is going 85 mph on a 60 mph hightway but the officers ONLY stop and ticket Black drivers....yes they did break the law and Caucasian and Asian speeding doesn't justify THEM speeding also...however is it fair that you only ticket the Black speeders? Likewise with the media. Is it fair to show the pictures, names, and personal information of every Black suspect while doing the same to only a fraction of the White suspects? 3.I'm not saying that self defense makes up the MAJORITY of the violence that goes on in Black communities across the U.S. I honestly am not sure WHAT percentage of the violence is done for vigilante and self defensive purposes and given their history of lying and manipulating figures I won't trust the figures put out by Caucasian sources. But I'm sure a large portion of this violence is. I've had to get physical with a few knucklehead on the street to protect myself and I've seen other decent Black men and women who were minding their own business but were approached by thugs and addicts who had to get physical with them to protect themselves. Even if we look closer at the gang life in places like L.A. and Chicago, unless you're willing to say that MOST of the Black and Brown youth in those cities are just naturally pschopathic killers....then you'd have to concede that most of them are decent people who joined gangs for reasons OTHER than the desire to shed blood. Most young people join gangs for PROTECTION. In other words, they didn't join because they like to go around shooting and hurting people. They join so that IF someone attempts to shoot and hurt THEM they could atleast have some protection and ability to defend themselves and pay the offenders back. You can dwell on the surface and just point fingers at Black and Brown people and say they are naturally violent and shake your head at them....you CAN do that. But when you think about it critically you eventually end up leaving the fruit, going through the branches, down the trunk and into the ROOTS where you discover that problem comes form the government ALLOWING violent people with drug and other mental problems roam around the urban areas victimizing people.

The mainstream media is really going crazy over the crime surge in the United States these past year or so. If they aren't pointing at Chicago, then they're pointing at Houston, Baltimore, and dozens of other hotspots all over the nation. Violent crime has been off the chain in many urban areas and it's really surging in suburban and rural areas but the violence there get's much less attention from the mainstream media because most of the victims and perpetrators are Caucasian. However when discussing violent crime, the media really just gives you a brief and relatively uninformative flash of what actually happens when violence occurs in most urban areas so you usually don't see what led up the violence and the entire circumstances surrounding it. They basically show you a bunch of police tape, lights flashing, and bunch of dark figures jumping up and down or hugging eachother before moving on to the next story. This is their way of DE-humanizing the victims and the communities in general. They also use terms like "senseless acts of violence" and some even openly use "Black on Black crime" to further insult the communities these crimes occur in. But how many of these "senseless acts of violence" in the Black community were senseless? How many were actually decent Black folks acting in SELF DEFENSE against the psychopaths and schizophrenics that SHOULD have been locked up and/or treated for their mental illnesses but instead were left on the street to harass decent citizens forcing them to defend themselves and their families against them? Picture this: A young man is walking down the street with his young daughter and some fool with red eyes and his hair all twisted up who has been diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic for over 20 years and has been in and out of juvenile hall and prison most of his life because he is never KEPT and properly treated -is standing on the corner watching the two was they come in his direction. As the man and child walk past him, this schizophrenic stares hard at the child and even starts making lewd remarks and gestures at her. The father...like most good fathers....checks the man for disrespecting him and his daughter like that. A fight breaks out, and the schizo goes full blown manic and not only fights the father but tries to attack the child too as a form of "get back" forcing the young father to KILL this maniac in order to protect his daughter and himself. Now the mainstream media will just show 30 seconds of this story labeling it as another "senseless act of violence" and maybe show a bloody spot on the street and a bunch of Black folks standing around crying and hugging eachother with police and abulance lights flashing. They maybe even show a couple mugshots of both men and even get into the criminal record of both. Many of the viewers watching this will shake their heads at "Black men killing eachother" and call it "senseless" without knowing the FULL story and how common it has become around the nation because of lack of proper mental health treatment. Most men of ALL races would probably do the same thing this young man did and be praised as a hero for doing it, but because he was a young Black man caught up in a man-made disaster and the story is being told by a sensation based media...the story is lost. All over the nation, many decent Black folks are often forced into having to do what they have to do to in order to defend themselves from the monsters and frankensteins who have been let loose in their communities. Many have to even do what they thought was the "unthinkable" just to protect themselves and their families because the government too often does a piss poor job of doing what they are being tasked to do...which is protect the public.

A lot of cases of homicide in these urban areas are actually SELF DEFENSE.

Very few human beings are actually "free". Pretty much those who are living ALONE and in ISOLATION . Free....according to my definition...means UNRESTRICTED, NO RULES, NO LIMITS. If you are living in a society there are obviously rules and limits to your behavior and in most cases your speech....you're not free. Even if you live in the wild, if you live around other people or just ONE person you generally can't say or do whatever you want to them. You are RESTRICTED in your behavior and speech...you're not free. Very few people on this planet are actually free.

Troy Every man is not a potential rapist. I think most guys would stop if a woman changed her mind or made it obvious she was not interested. Some dudes make straight FOOLS of themselves over women they end up falling in love with. I remember getting a call from one of my friends who said he was hiding in the bushes. I asked him why. He said the police might be looking for him because he kept trying to serenade some Asian girl outside of her window and she threatened to call them on him..lol. I asked him why was he calling ME up???? What do you expect ME to do for you now? I warned him for weeks to leave that woman alone...lol. Cynique They say rape is a crime of opportunity and is more about control than lust. These are traits that are only found in a certain personality types. I really don't think every man is a potential rapist. Am I wrong? I've heard many people say rape isn't about sex but about power and it may be but I believe much of it is about pure lust and sexual desperation too. Some of these dudes are just horny and want sex however they can get it, even if it means taking it against a person's will. I don't believe every man is a potential rapist because some men are disabled and don't have the physical/ mental ability for one reason or another to force themselves on another; but when it comes to men with "rapey personalities"....there are indeed overly aggressive men who feel they have the right to "take" what they want in life with no regard to the feelings of others. When I was younger I didn't understand rape because I didn't feel comfortable seeking sex or even attention from a woman who didn't feel any type of attraction to me. I mean literally...I didn't see myself getting an erection for a woman who didn't have any desire for me. Even if I thought you were the finest thing around....if you showed NO interest...my pride prevented me from making a fool of myself by engaging in any further pursuit. But as I got older I noticed that SOME boys didn't have those same standards and loved to pursue girls who repeatedly made it perfectly clear they weren't interested and even insulted them, called them ugly/gay, and humiliated them in public. Some boys would even STALK girls in school at a young age. So I do believe some men have that mindset.

Glory is one of my favorite movies. It's over 30 years old but TIMELESS. I still remember my first time seeing it.

Troy ? I didn't know there WAS much of a relationship between Bill Cosby and Dr. Alvin Poussaint. I remember him because he was more popular in 90s than he is today, but I wasn't aware of (or maybe I forgot) his relationship with "da Cos".

I think the mainstream (white stream) pays far more attention to Kanye than Black people do. But they don't do it out of respect for Kanye and his ideas; they do it as a form of humiliation. They give him attention because they're expecting him to make a fool of himself which plays into their "Black Inferiority" narrative. When was the last time you heard Dr. Alvin Poussaint's name even MENTIONED in the media? They don't want to show Black folks who actually have some SENSE because that doesn't fit their "Black inferiority" narrative. The support AALBC.com gets from institutions and people will never generate as much attention as as someone with, say, 100,000 Instagram followers. Don't say "never"....lol. You don't know what may be in store for you in the future. I do consider AALBC an INSTITUTION now. And as such...I think those who have benefited off of promoting their books on your platform not only owe you a debt of gratitude but should also initiate an ENDOWMENT to ensure that this institution remains not only in existence but relevant for decades to come. Think about it..... AALBC was started it the PREVIOUS CENTURY! You made it from the past century to this one. Imaging how far you could go with an Endowment program where those who grew out of this platform reached back and gave so much a year to ensure it's success.

Del When she said a Black ventriloquist, that's who I was thinking of. I didn't know his actual name, but I saw him on some old t.v. shows like The Jeffersons. I think you have to have a bit of a "split personality" to begin with if you chose to be a ventriloquist as a profession. If I were a woman I'd be a little uneasy around a man like that, lol. How could you take him seriously?

Troy Please quantify, "A lot." More than you were getting working your 9-5...LOL. This particular brother didn't have a HUGE following like Tariq Nasheed or Joe Rogan, but he did have (and still does) a nice sized audience and I'm sure the donations were welcomed. Does that now excuse his reaction? It helps EXPLAIN his reaction, but it doesn't necessarily "excuse" it in my opinion. Not that what he did NEEDS to be excused by me. Certainly he has the right to cuss and throw a temper tantrum at perceived injustice. Who am I to tell him he shouldn't? However having known the brother for some time and having considered him intelligent, quite reserved, and somewhat religious (kind of Black Hebrewish) I wasn't expecting that reaction from him. I've been on this site for years and even when I disagree with people you know there are certain behaviors I haven't engaged in. Now imagine if me and a female poster got into a disagreement over a topic and I resorted to calling her a bitch and telling her to suck my you know what and we engage in a brief back-n-forth before ending the conversation. You'd probably be unpleasantly surprised if not a little shocked at my "out of character" behavior. I would expect that behavior from some people but given that brother's intelligence, religiousness, and otherwise reserved demeanor I was a bit shocked at what I considered to be an immature reaction from him.

She broke the rules but if should receive any punishment it should be a FINE....not a suspension and prevention from participation. I also heard that her mother recently died so perhaps that was part of her way in dealing with the grief. Marijuana isn't a performance enhancing drug so this punishment was far too excessive for this young lady. She and others should definitely PROTEST this decision.

Troy I also forgot that a lot of people make their money through social media. A lot of people make thousands and even MILLIONS from sponsors and donations and selling products off of social media so what may be a minor inconvenience for some may be costing others a lot of money.

I'm not sure why Kevin Samuels is picture in that video, it was all about Tommy. Kevin is a whole 'nother fruit cake....lol. But you're Tommy's his arguments are childish because he sounds like a hurt little boy. He constantly complains about what women are "allowed" to do but men can't.....as if we should be allowed to act like women. A lot of men, and especially younger Black men take to him because he expresses the anger they feel against women. But outside of emotional satisfaction his rants solve no problems. They only make more. Men and women are different. Traditionally women weren't EXPECTED to make a lot of money, be tall and muscular, or even "super man" in bed. ...all she has to do look good and/or be sexy to satisfy most men, lol. Cooking, cleaning, and being good mother WAS expected but now it's just a bonus, lol. Instead of complaining about why men aren't able to get away with the same things that women are he should be teaching younger men how to improve themselves to make themselves more desirable to the opposite sex. Instead him and clowns like him and Kevin are wasting time complaining about something that is BIOLOGICAL and hardwired into women's psyche and won't change anyway. I'm working class and what some even consider poor. What I look like preaching to women that they SHOULD sleep with me regardless of my financial status???? I don't go around getting angry at women because some would rather have a man with a Lexus or yatch and mansion. I EXPECT women to flock towards men with a lots of money, they are biologically programmed to do so. I figured that out by my late 20s. What's up with these goofy ass niggaz all over the internet crying about how women don't like broke dudes???? "She don't like meeeeeee! She said she's tired of eating from the $1 menu! These women ain't shit" Plus Tommy made a bunch of SEX VIDEOS. He makes his living from complaining about his mistreatment by women for being a dark skinned man, but he's making millions and having sex with the women of his choice WHILE complaining about it.

BREAKING NEWS @Chevdove Looks like your girl Shari'carri won't be competing in the Tokyo Olympics! Apparently she tested positive for marijuana use and they aren't allowing her to compete. Update! Shari'Carri Richardson Won't Be Allowed To Compete At the Olympics. | REAL 92.3 (iheart.com) I'm not sure what marijuana use has to do with your ability to run or not. It's not as if it's a performance enhancer. If anything I would think it would SLOW you down..lol.

I don't support the death penalty...not for this society atleast. But I DO support corporal/physical punishment for certain crimes. Especially crimes that involve violence or sexual violation (which could be considered a form of violence). It's obvious that simply tossing people into a lock-up isn't enough to deter some people from repeating their offense. Hell, for some people from extremely destitute backgrounds....prison is a STEP UP from where they were already living. String them up against a wall and whip their ass enough, and the next time they see a little kid or woman and get a funny thought in their mind...they'll flinch. "Not sure what you did buddy, but I hope it was worth what you're getting for it now"

Facebook is a private entity, just like Twitter, Youtube, Discord, and other platforms. They legally have the right to ban who they want for whatever reason they want or no reason at all. The sooner our people understand and accept this the sooner they will work together to build their own larger social media platforms on the internet or better yet build their own INTERNET instead of expecting Caucasians to give them justice. An intelligent young brother I had a measure of respect for (and still do to a certain extent) recently exhibited some behavior I thought was a little "beneath" him. Apparently Instagram banned him for 2 weeks and so he took to Youtube and cussed Instagram out. I hadn't really heard him cuss before or show a lot of emotion. He was rather stoic and logical in his demeanor which made him stand out as a young Black man and I found it rather impressive. So THAT behavior of cussing and throwing a mild tantrum over being suspended for 2 weeks on a platform he should have KNOW would do that to him....kind of made me look at him in another light.

Many people were talking about these incidents happened back in the 70s, but I found out that atleast one of the incidents happened as late as 2004. Del I didn't realize how many women were victims of sexual assault until I got older and older and started relating to women in a LESS physical way and in a more intellectual way in terms of conversation and genuine platonic friendships. We'd be driving down a highway or sitting in a coffee shop and women will talk about their early experiences of being violated as casually as talking about the trees outside or the weather. Almost no emotion. It was slightly shocking and a bit confusing that they weren't breaking down when they'd tell me some of this shit they experienced. Mel The encounter you shared reminds me of the old saying, "The only person who can stop a BAD guy with a gun is a GOOD guy with a gun". It took a good man to stop a bad one. Not only should we teach boys not to rape, but we should punish them appropriately WHEN they rape or sexually assault someone. You can teach and talk to some people until you're blue in the face but wouldn't impact their behavior ONE BIT if they don't think there will be any negative consequences to their offense. It'll go in one ear and right out the other. CORPORAL PUNISHMENT for physical crimes like assault, rape, armed robbery, ect...will make a young thug think twice or maybe three or four times before they decide to violate someone.

The arguments in the Black community have already started. One side says Cosby was a victim of racism who should have never been incarcerated in the first place and the women were just trying to grab a bag from him The other side says Cosby was a rapist who should have been punished for his crimes a long time ago and LATE justice is better than NO justice. Back and forth...back and forth. Issues like this illustrate the importance of CRITICAL THINKING. Just being one dimensional and seeing things only in Black and White is one of the reasons the AfroAmerican community ends up further divided...especially when it comes to issues like this. I may be wrong but I believe Dr. Cosby pretty much ADMITTED that he drugged atleast some of the women before his sexual encounters. So their ability to resist was indeed compromised. I believe that crimes were indeed committed although I'm not sure what the exact punishment should be. But I also believe he was used as a "fall guy" for the Me Too movement who wanted to see predatory men get locked up and the Establishment didn't want to prosecute and imprison their own...so just focus on making a public example of the Black offenders as usual. It doesn't justify what he did, but it puts it in perspective. However my biggest take away from this situation is that we as Black men need to be more sensitive to OTHER demographics, especially women. We know how offended we get when it comes to racism and can smell insincerity and injustice a mile a way when it comes from Caucasians. We need to understand that most women are the same way when it comes to sexism. Sexism and even misogyny (which was almost unheard of among traditionally mother-loving Black men) has been increasing in many Black circles over the past 40 years and especially the past couple years thanks to social media platforms encouraging it. I mentioned Tommy Sotomayor and Kevin Samuels in another thread but they are just a few of those responsible for spreading this hatred. Many others exist and are gaining popularity. A lot of Black men are being programmed to literally HATE Black women and blame all of the ills of the community on them. Many of the victims of this sexist and irrational programing themselves are NOT critical thinkers. Many are one dimensional in their thinking due either to youth and immaturity or just poor intellectual abilities....and are being manipulated into being anti-woman and especially anti-Black woman. You see this on BOTH sides to various degrees but the anti-Black man attitudes that exist in some circles among Black women have existed at basically the same rate for atleast 50 years, it doesn't seem to be "growing" like the anti-Black woman attitudes. How do we counter this and heal our community? As I said earlier I think Black men need to be more sensitive and considerate of other demographics. A lot of brothers are saying and are of the beliefs that why should they care about other people when no one cares about them, but I remind them that if they looked back in their life at the few people who DID care about them and showed them any love...it was mostly likely a Black female as opposed other demographics. But more importantly I think CRITIAL THINKING is one of the solutions and we need to teach our people from youth what it is and HOW to best engage in it because I think the sooner you learn how to think analytically the less likely you are to be manipulated and used for other people's diabolical plans.

Chev Trust me, you aren't missing much when you miss Kevin...lol. If you've ever heard him, he acts and sounds like a feminine gay man anyway. I'm not sure why so many men listen to his show and take advice from him.

I guess almost everyone's heard the news huh...lol. I've come to appreciate and respect the perspective of the opposite sex over the years. Part of me is very glad that an 80 something year old Black man who is blind and has other health problems doesn't have to suffer behind bars anymore.....however another part of me wonders how women and especially women who have been victims of sexual assault feel. I'm not a woman and I've never been a victim (or perpetrator for the record) of sexual assault so I don't know if it's my place to celebrate or say he shouldn't have been locked up to begin with. I'd love to not only hear the perspectives of @Chevdove @Mel Hopkins & @Cynique on this issue but also what they've heard of any female friends/family they know who may have been victims of sexual assault may feel about this.

Here's a little TASTE of Tommy Sotomayor He says things far more inflammatory but I don't listen to him much so I can't all of the crazy shit he says but that's just a taste of it.

Troy That would explain the rapid economical advances over the last 50 years, but seems like a poor use of energy. It depends on one's perspective. Maybe if you're wealthy and and have everything YOU need, you'd consider entertainment the better use for technology. Seems like superior intelligence would be better used to stop us from killing each other, stop us from making the planet inhospitable for human life, curing cancer, or ending poverty. How do you know superior intelligence isn't being used by malignant forces to CAUSE these problems? It's hard for me to believe human beings came up with the formula for nuclear weapons all by themselves. How are we better off using technology (money,. time and energy) by putting a helicopter on Mars? You and I aren't getting anything out of it, but I'm sure those who built the robot and those responsible for ensuring it made it safely to Mars are gonna reap a fortune from this little project.

Smoke-n-mirrors my man...smoke-n-mirrors. Both him and Matt Gaetz and the others have been under several "investigations" for years for one reasons or another but ain't NONE of them had hand cuffs on them yet. Trump has been caught on live television committing several crimes and people are playing stupid like they aren't sure if what he did was illegal or not. That man ain't going to jail.