Pioneer1

Del Which one of my assumptions did I ignore? My position wasn't that intellectuals DID NOTHING. To the contrary, they did TOO MUCH...lol ....but of the wrong thing. My position was that highly educated intellectuals tend to over analyze things (too much thinking) and most of their "solutions" are convoluted and impractical. I never said ALL of them did or were, which is why I used the terms "tend to" and "most". Huey Newton agreed with you which is why he didn't put Angela David in charge to intellectual. So another great thunder agrees with you. Ofcourse. The mark of a good leader is to place people where their talents can be of best use to the movement. Huey WAS a real leader and he came straight up from the streets so he had social experience necessary to influence and motivate the masses of Black people from the streets. Unfortunately his drug use had influence over HIM.

Del Not sure who "Mohinder Gandhi" is/was, I couldn't find too much info on him. However with the notable exceptions of Booker T Washington and Dr King, the rest were great intellectuals sho 'nuff but were not very good leaders or organizers of the Black masses. Oh yes..... People like brother Cornel West can articulate the frustrations of Black people and the poor excellently! But aside from the two notable exceptions I mentioned (Washington and King), I doubt that the others you listed could mobilize and lead a street gang in the ghetto. That's not to diminish their intellectual talents. They were good at what they did. But they weren't "leaders" of the masses and their skills weren't effective enough to spark and maintain a mass movement among Black people. Even Booker T wasn't the most effective of leaders. He was an excellent educator with brilliant ideas, but it took Marcus Garvey to come and AMPLIFY his message of self-sufficiency and turn it into a movement.

(obviously anyone can comment) On more than one occasion you mentioned the lack of appreciation for those who are older. My question is WHY do you think there seems to be less respect or appreciation for the elders in society today? I have my opinions but I want to hear yours (and others) first.

Dr J Each person’s destiny is not a matter of chance; it’s a matter of choice. It’s determined by what we say, what we do, and whom we trust.” Quite a powerful message. A powerful quote indeed...... Who was the author?

Troy I understand a busy man like you probably had a long day, and need a way to relax but...PUT THE CHRONIC DOWN BRO...LOL!!! It's all good my brother. Thanx for making me read that OP about 7 or 8 times trying to figure out where I may have went wrong.....lol Edit how you see fit.

Troy Lol...damn. I thought the original post was about why so few minorities and especially Blacks were in positions of power? I

I don't mean to trivialize the historical role of White supremacy in maintaining so many Whites in power positions in society, however I must say..... From both my experiences and observations in the United States atleast, most Black people don't seem to WANT the responsibility that comes with being in authority whether it's at a national level or just typical low level employment. Oh don't get me wrong...we like TITLES: President, Mayor, Senator, Owner, Founder, ect.... But when it comes to doing the hard and often cold-blooded work that comes with being in serious positions of authority where you may have to fire people, piss people off, focus on coming up with new ideas, and put in extra hours of unpaid labor in order to see projects through to their completion...... Too many of our people are quick to roll their eyes and say "Fuck it" as they wave their hand off walking away. On most of the jobs I've been on I ran into Black folks who had been there years...decades...but wasn't manager and didn't want to be manager or supervisor. You see young White man...old White woman....come in and after a year or two they hop over the brother and make manager and instead of being angry a lot of our people are happy. "They came at me talking about some 'do you wanna be a Manager'...... Sheeeeyit....guuuuurl I told 'em haaaail naww I need my WEEKENDS free!" In most jobs I've been on since 16 as long as it paid more and offered more benefits....I could care less about the responsibility I've always wanted the MANAGEMENT position and I usually got it. But I had to reconcile with the fact that most of our people simply don't want it. I'm sure this nonchalant attitude is A FACTOR (certainly not the only one) for why so few Blacks are in power positions in America.

It took me years to learn there IS a such thing as thinking too much...... This is why most REAL movements tend to start from the streets, the people NEAR the very bottom of society. The very educated intellectual types tend to think too much and over analyze various strategies when it comes to solving societal problems. And even when they finish drinking their tea/lattes, shake hands, and come to the people to announce their "solutions".... they usually don't work because they aren't PRACTICAL. Most "solutions" arising from the intellectual classes are usually THEORETICAL and only look good on paper. It's the same in the workforce of today. There is a very high turnover rate in the modern workforce in the West because there's a gaping and growing separation between the middle class college educated executives and administrators who make many of the decisions and the inadequately educated and often unhealthy poor workers who attemp unsuccessfuly to meet their unrealistic expectations. This separation isn't just economic, it's social, and even ethical.

Celes quickly married anything pale white and relied upon White Supremacy to claim the confused offsprings were "black" (the idea that one drop of black makes you black lie comes from - The Doctrine of White Supremacy), embraced white liberal attitudes that "men were no longer necessary in the family" and that women, through feminism, could raise children alone, that Black Americans should be more concerned about social issues at large and less concerned about Black America's issues, and implied that Black America's economic situation would improve if we only embraced white liberal democrats and bashed white conservative republicans (in which studies show that white liberal democrats are equally as racist in employing African-Americans, particularly Black American men! Not only that, white liberal democrats are also notorious for attempting to control the thinking of Black Americans in the white liberal racist democrat stating "You are Black" should a Black American disagree theologically with gay marriage, abortion or any other white racist liberal movement). The older Black generation also informed us that anyone with a drop of black must be dumped on the Black community and be an issue for Black America to embrace all rejects by different cultures, which instantly made Black America's respectability further decrease substantially in the world, as no culture has or will ever respect any culture that has an open-door policy to all, particularly rejects or trash (which is why cultures, countries, organizations and institutions tend to more highly respected when these entities exercise exclusivity. 　 Those were very insightful comments concerning the confusion so many AfroAmericans have about race. I've been saying for quite some time now that the "one drop" rule is not only inaccurate, but is down right insulting and demeaning to the Black race by forcing every rejected one into our ranks while keeping thier own ranks "pure". Infact, I touched on it not too long ago in these threads: http://aalbc.com/tc/topic/3667-race-ethnicity-nationality/ http://aalbc.com/tc/topic/3642-the-myth-of-race-and-the-evolution-of-skin-color/ This is why I use the term "AfroAmerican" for our particular ethnic group in the United State regardless of phenotype. But I'll use the term "Black" specifically for those AfroAmericans with a preponderance of African ancestry that clearly manifests in their physical characteristics.

Most people in southern Illinois, southern Indiana, and Missouri also have strong "southern" dialects. They don't say "AS-PER-IN" they say "AS-PERN". They don't say "WASH".....they say "WARRSH"

Yes, places like Missouri and Illinois are part of the "Ozarks" area which has a very strong backwoods rural tradition. Parts of Pennsylvania and Ohio have that same tradition as large segments of it are part of the Appalachia Mountain range. Hillbillies for real. Culture and education does have a lot to do with it, but rural people who live far away from large cosmopolitan cities tend to be narrow or closed minded, fearful of anything and anyone "different", and conservative in their thinking whether it's down south, up north, or even out west where you have a lot of very racist conservatives living in the rural mountainous parts of the so-called liberal Pacific Northwest. I observed more racism in the southern Midwestern region in places like Missouri and Nebraska than I had in the deep southern states of Alabama and Mississippi.

Sara I'd like to thank you for all that information you gave me! I already knew much of it. And as for the information that I didn't know.....I'm still not too sure what I'm gonna do with it. However, I'd like to thank you for it. As for your question, I'm not sure who the man is but judging from his uniform I'm guessing he was one of the key figures of the Mexican Revolution.

Dr J Once again we have evidence that skin color, not money, is the key to survival Please excuse the ignorace but.... Unless the ozone layer is depleted, how is skin color any key to survival in this world?

The California Endowment’s 10-year Building Healthy Communities initiative seeks to bring equity to all neighborhoods so that all Californians can enjoy the benefits of healthy communities and live long and productive lives. Look at the words: long AND PRODUCTIVE lives. I'm not sure about this organization, but most of those holding power in California don't want you living a long life if you're not producing goods and services for corporate America. And this is the primary reason why the United States is the only industrialized without some sort of Univeral healthcare program for all of it's citizens and this is part of the extreme inequality the video alluded to. It's the carrot on the stick held out infront of the horse (worker) to keep it moving forward. Healthcare is treated like a privaledge or reward only for those who either ARE working or those who have worn themselves out FROM working. So it's tied to employment and retirement. But I personally believe when it comes to states like California and Texas, they're going to have to get the boarders secured and their illegal population under some sort of control or the strain they would put on a Universal Healthcare system may break it. I've talked to many people who lived in Cali back before th 80s who said that much of it's "liberalism" started to diminished when so many illegal immigrant started taking advantage of it's many social programs.

Well, I'm waiting! Lol.... When I was younger I was at the mall one day and an older woman told me to never keep a lady waiting. I smiled at her, grabbed my crotch, and asked her had she ever have anything WORTH waiting for???

Dr J let's travel this road most are interested....we want change.... Most people want CHANGE, but most people don't want to do the work in coming up with and implimenting the solutions. This demands lot of careful thinking, disposable time, and patience as well as courage....a combination most people don't come equipped with. Troy There has been a lot of press lately on the rise in suicides over that past 20 years. I believe the largest increase is among middle aged white men. During the same period the icde rates for Black men has actually gone down. Some feel that the increase in white suicide is a reaction to the loss of white privilege. While this is devastating to white folks reality, this is par for the course for Black folks--arguably an improvement. I came across those articles a few days ago. I'm not sure how Black men compare with other demographics but I DO believe that a lot more Black men are suicidal than the numbers probably lead us to believe. I believe a lot of these police shootings are actually "suicide by cop" from hopless brothers purposefully putting themselves in fatal situations with the law. Del I'm going to seriously consider to begin to looking outside the US I echo Sara's sentiments.....don't go bro. We need more brothers like you to stay here and as Lauryn Hill would say help "reverse the hypnosis" Besides, CD Burns doesn't have his passport so if something goes down, somebody has to stay here with our brother......lol. Mel The family structure that would "win" out, if it was necessary for family to have a main structure, would be "community". Living in close-knit communities is the one structure that allowed us to grow a "healthy" civilization for the last 3 millennia. We've been moving away from that structure and we're suffering. That's exactly what I'm talking about....mini-communities in the form of group families. Say a group of about 4 men and 5 women get together and form a unit, an actual "entity" in and of itself made up of individual members but not reliant on any one of them. They have children in that group and that group helps to raise the children. As the children grow up some members leave that group, others join. But this acts as a more stable environment because it pretty much secures a feminine and masculine presence, financial support, a home, and other necessities for the well being of children. Atleast more so than the nuclear or single parent family structure would. Plus it works better for the adults involved by not putting too much pressure on one individual to be the primary bread-winner, disciplinarian, or homemaker.

But NOT thinking can be quite costly....in time, money, and even your freedom. There are a lot of impulsive men and women in prision who made moves without thinking them out carefully. However I've come to believe that people who sit around and think "too much" are often to stagnant and inactive.

Sara Well, since I ain't skeered o' you, I ain't acarin' 'bout yo "good" side so will say what I want! Well...... Since you ain't scare......I'm sorry. Might as well apologize to you since intimidation didn't work....lol.

I understand the demographics and population distribution of states like New York and Pennsylvania. What gets me is how so many people born and raised in Northern States around big eastcoast cosmopolitan cities like New York and Philadelphia can STILL have such conserative right-wing and in many cases "red neck" political and social views like I found in Pennsylvania. I think I saw more Confederate flags driving around mid-Pennyslvania than I saw all over the south. Pennsylvania produced Taylor Swift who does a lot of country music. Why would a girl born and raised in a mid-Atlantic state promote "country"? How can people just a few miles away have views so different from their urban counterparts. You find the same thing in Illinois with people from Southern, Central and even parts of Northern Illinois having vastly different political and social beliefs than those in the Chicago area. Something is going on around the nation that is driving the more rural populations outside of the cities to be of similar mindsets...I believe it's TALK RADIO.

Sara Euuuu.... somebody don't like it when others don't take their insults lying down.... and fling 'em right back at'em! That's right. Standing up to bullies don't always work, sometimes it gets you in MORE trouble with them....lol. Sometimes it's best to just agree with them and do as they say to stay on their good side....lol.

Sara "I found definitions of both that I find plausible, to wit: http://www.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_difference_between_ghost_and_spirits " Sad. Just sad. Well, I can't say the person who extrapolated their definition of ghosts and spirits is WRONG. We are human beings trying to use the very young and very limited English language to describe ANCIENT spititual concepts that often go beyond our underdstanding. Spirit originally meant "breath" so because of this I choose to keep the world "spirit" associated with the life-force or chi...or the individual rather than their actual essence.

Del Just no that if you want to travel this road most aren't interested. Maaaaan, I don't think most people know how REAL this statement is. I'm truly astounded at how few people tend to be interested in TRULY changing their society and solving their own problems. They would rather conform to the problem. God has blessed me to have never had a drug problem. I didn't understand why people liked getting high and going out of their minds so much. Then I found out that it's a form of escapism for people who can't stand the reality they're living in. I was suprised at how many people became drug addicts because of this. Others are suicidal and see THAT as a way out. It's weird how so may people would rather kill themselves or turn to drugs and alcohol rather than just atleast TRY to change things. I don't know if it's because of fear, indifference, confusion, or a mixture of all 3.

Sara One of the biggest indicators of autism is a tendency to repeat oneself, as in "half the teachers.... half the teachers." Ergo, stop projecting your challenges upon others.... simply because they take you to task for exaggerating WILDLY, i.e., making stuff up (Freudian slip?). Yeah, I'm gonna "slip" something alright. It's gonna be my FOOT up somebody's ass in a minute...lol. And REPEATEDLY....like a true autistic....lol.

I've read some beliefs that ghost are a "shell" of the deceased person's soul or their "astral body". I'm not sure. What I do believe....quite strongly....is that we have atleast a SOUL and a SPIRIT. The spirit is the LIFE of a person that keeps them functioning. The soul is the actual "self" or the essense that we speak of actually being us. When a person is in a coma, their soul may be abscent from the body and travel to various locations but their "spirit" is still there keeping them alive. Yoga and other forms of meditation focuses on separating the soul from the body in a healthy way. Sara I thought you said you didn't believe in ghosts. Now you write a whole thesis about them....lol. Sara and Troy It I were a spirit, I seriously doubt I would give a crap about anyone who has done me wrong on this physical plain. Personally, I believe that once you die, that's it. You don't hang around for there is no reason to do so. So what do you two think about traditional African and Native American religions who believe in sacrificing to deceased loved ones believing that they are still near to them and can assist them? This belief is actually found all over the world....not just Africa or the Americas. I wouldn't call it "everybody" but that's a lot of people around a vast geographical area who never met eachother but seemed to have arrived at similar beliefs and have maintained them for thousands of years.

Sara Yes, I know what autism is. Most autistic people are very literal minded and tend to take everything exactly as it is said and don't understand benign conversational exaggeration. If you tell them HALF the people driving around in traffic are crazy drivers, they'll try to google those stats and come back squealing at you about "making up facts"....lol. The fact is, Black males ARE targeted for sexual exploitation by teachers and other staff in our school system. I believe they're targeted more than boys of any other race. Speaking of autism, we're looking at some of the children of Flint to see if the lead contamination is also contributing to the rise of autism in children around the United States along with other environmental factors.