Pioneer1

I'm not going to lie.... I'm VERY disappointed in the behavior of AfroAmericans these past 30 years. Too many have turned stupid, immoral, and savage. But my criticism comes from a position of love and caring. If you CARE about someone, their negative behavior and pitiful state of existance bothers you. The difference between MY critique of Black people and how we're portrayed in the media is that I try to investigate and get to the bottom of why so many of our people do what they do so we can solve the problem. The media just shows the end result of what 30 years of Reaganomics and right-wing domestic policies have produced in urban America. You want to show the video clip of the Black man robbing the liquor store and praise the cops for nabbing the "bad guy". But you don't want to do a story on how many times that same man applied for jobs around town and his applications were thrown in the garbage or "lost" effectively locking him out of the workforce so that he couldn't make a decent living for himself. There used to be a time that if a Black man graduated from highschool and didn't go to jail, he was almost guaranteed SOME sort of job to make a living for himself even if he didn't get rich. Now they're saying, "Yeah, we know you have a college degree and no criminal record, fuck you anyway...lol. We're not hiring ya. Whatcha gonna do about it....call Jesse Jackson?????"

Cynique Well if you're 80 and female then you should be more qualified than me to know if there has been any physical changed in Black women. So let me ask YOU...... If you compare young Black females today with the young Black females 50 years ago, do they seem more masculine to you? I'm not talking just in terms of attitude or how they dress but in terms of actual physical development such as: -deeper voices -wider shoulders -narrower hips -rougher skin and hands -more facial hair Generally speaking, have YOU noticed any increase in these masculine attribute among Black women over the years?

Yeah, you heard it from ME when I was discussing parallel universes a few months ago and how various decisions could theoretically produce different outcomes. The combinations are almost infinite. But, I guess now that you know Pioneer entertains such theories you'll probably refute and repudiate the entire concept....lol.

Part of me is glad that the media (CNN specifically because Fox News and others ain't saying shit about it) is focusing on this story so we can get to the bottom of what happened to the young brutha..... But another part of me is waiting for "the other shoe to drop"....so to speak. Meaning, WHY is the media reporting this? Certainly it deserves reporting, but knowing CNN and much of the mainstream media the way I do, I suspect they are holding back some key information that will be negative or embarassing to either Kendrick or his family or some other Black people involved in the case.

.....lol @ "optional oppression" I'm not sure if that concept is a matter of race or sexual expression, lol. Thanx for this info bro. I see scifi as an exercise in creativity. We need more Black scifi authors.

This is vey interesting... I was talking to a man years ago who told me that there were Black people in Arabia who had inhabited that land for generations before the current Arabs occupied it. He told me they had their own language and writing system in which Arabic is similar and that these people were driven down into Africa. For years I've heard that Africans had their own writing systems and letters. Like so many things, it's hard to believe unless you actually see it. Not to change the subject of the thread but........ If I had the money to do it, I'd support the brother and his efforts in Zimbabwe If only to help bring these discoveries further into the public light. You look at so many established universities like Yale, Harvard, Oxford, ect.... Not only do they get public funding but they get a lot of donations from weatlhy sponsors. I don't believe Black people support eachother enough in academia.

Cynique's "hysterical" rant about how far Black women have come just reminded me.....................lol. I forgot to mention the disproportionate amount of hysterectomies so many Black women have been getting now a days and how THAT is contributing to the the masculinization process. ((Pioneer beckons the audience with his hand to follow him......)) Now, you can take this as being offensive. Or you can take it as a man who CARES about his sistaz and want to get to the bottom of what's wrong. But I had been noticing how deep the voices so many Black women were getting for years. I'd be in a store or on a plane and would hear what sounded like a Black woman in wording....using terms like "girl" and "honeychild" but the voice would be deep and masculine and freakish sounding like a boy breaking into puberty. I'd turn around to look and see what man/boy is talking like that and it would often be a Black woman in her 40s or 50s!!! So I started asking other Black men and women have they noticed the same thing. Then a sista said it was the hysterectomies. I didn't know the details of a hysterectomy but she told me when a woman get's her reproductive parts taken out she has to take hormones to maintain her femininity or the testosterone will take over.....and then it made sense. But the next question for me would be why are so many more Black women having to have hysterectomies.

The guilt or innocence of the "Biker Boys" is not for me to decide. It seems that the driver...who was Asian....should be charged with something since he actually ran over a man and fled the scene of an accident. But as I said, none of that matters because the REAL story is actually about showing the public how violent Black people are. As I post on this site I'm watching CNN right now and 3 Black faces connected to the Biker attack has just flashed across the screen in a nation where people are presumed innocent BEFORE being proven guilty. And before that....another Black face of some Black man on video robbing a White man in Atlanta was highlighted. There is no doubt in my mind that there is a racist agenda in atleast some newsrooms around the United States today. Every news organization has an Editor. Like a Prosecutor decides which cases get tried in court, and Editor decides which stories get airtime. Nothing a professional does happens by accident. They have a method and they have reasons for doing what they do and picking the stories they pick. Most newsroom Editors are conservative White males and I believe many of them have an axe to grind.

Delano Now, I knew someone was going to bring up inflation and devaluing of the dollar.... And I didn't have to be the "psychic" to know it...lol. I'm not the smartest person in the world, so can you (or someone) help me understand why the government is issuing bonds and borrowing money from Russia or China when the Constitution gives the United States the right....duty....to not only print it's own money but also assign VALUE to it??? The value of the dollar is whatever Congress says it is. The United States was $8 trillion in debt in 2005. It's now approaching $17 trillion in 2013. Has the price of food, real estate, cars, or anything else we buy in dollars DOUBLED? No. The value of the dollar has nothing to do with the debt, or the amount printed. The value of the dollar just like the value of any currency is directly associated with the military might of the nation printing it. As long as the United States remains a strong military superpower, the dollar will be good and the debt won't matter. That's why I say it's all a joke. The debt ceiling..... The national debt.... The gold standard..... These are all arbitrary concepts because ultimately none of it really matters.

Del Your concious awareness is the mind manifesting itself in this physical reality. It connects this world with the more spiritual/ethereal realms. Your memory, feelings, dreams, are all involved.....I believe. A good example of this would be what we refer to as "deja vu". You dream about so many things you don't remember, but many of those dreams are actually forecasts of future events. So when you actually experience/observe these events....they "come back" to you as having experienced/observed them before but don't remember when.

Troy It's not easy to describe these concepts in the English language because English tends to use the same word to describe several different concepts, but I'll try to clarify MY definitions...... What we commonly call the "spirit" is NOT the same as what we commonly call the "soul". The spirit is simply LIFE....or the "chi" energy force talked about in Eastern philosophy/medicine. Man, animals, plants....anything alive has it. But the SOUL....is different. It's conciousness, awareness, subconciousnesses as well.....it's the real you abscent from your physical body or bodies (if you believe in reincarnation) It's the "you" in your dreams. And just like the brain is part of the body, I think the mind is part of the soul. Troy and Cynique Trust me..... If it were bullshit, police departments around the country....even the world...wouldn't be using psychics. Regardless of what they're telling the public or the skeptics...psychics obviously work or police departments wouldn't be using them. Presidents and Prime Ministers around the world employ astrologers to help them make decisions, and have been for thousands of years. Hell, even Mr Conservative himself Ronald Reagan had a psychic/astrologer in the Whitehouse...lol. The Vatican uses psychics and astrology also. Like Cynique eluded to, there are many more senses besides the 5 we have in our physical body. Ever had a dream where there was no sight or sound but you were busy as hell getting and giving information? I've had dreams where I was very occupied doing something that involved no sight or sound but kept my "mind" very busy and focused.

Yes More so than for legal purposes, I think it should be properly regulated and standardized so that you know what you're getting in the drug. I personally think "trees" are better for Black people than alcohol anyway. Most Black folks I know start getting either angry or start crying after a few drinks. I actually think the herbal forms of heroin (the poppy seeds of opium) as well as the the herbal form of cocaine should be legal also. However I think the DRUG form ( the white powder or extract) of these plants should be under pharmacy control.

Del and Troy Perhaps it's a bit of both racism AND opportunism It's sad to say but I think that as with many things today, they KNOW there are a lot of Black people of low intelligence (I'm not talking just academic sense but actually intelligence/brain power) and they target them. I don't know how else to make sense of it. I don't have a college education nor am I a lawyer or mortage expert, yet STILL I knew better than to sign an "adjustable rate" mortage when one was offered to me. How could anyone with a measure of intelligence sign ANY contract where the lender has the right to change the rate of payment anytime they like? That's down right stupid. Yet there were friends and family members who did and sat right up in my living room laughing at me because I wouldn't go along with it. I still remember the gold teeth shining as they grinned at me for not taking advantage of the "opportunity". Now some of them are living in the basement of a friend's house....others I can't even find. At some point, I'm going to have to come to the conclusion that........oh never mind. Troy I was going to mention that there were communities like this in the past. Specifically in that 100 year time period after Reconstruction but before Integration. This was a time where Black people knew and saw CLEAR racism and knew they had to take up responsibility for themselves and make something happen. There was a time not too long ago when Black men felt the urge to maintain complete control over their neighborhoods. I remember my father helping to organize a neighborhood watch after some break-ins. But it seems that Integration did something to our people. Whenever I get Chinese food I marvel at how hard working and industrious the Chinese are. Often times it's only 1 man cooking the food and his wife serving it and taking the payments...and both are middle aged!!!! Yet you got this middle aged woman who doesn't weigh more than maybe 95 pounds working from 10 am to 10 pm carrying plates back and forth and still manages to keep a smile on her face and has no "smell" to her as she walks past you (...lol). Every 5 seconds the register is ringing and dinging as money is exchanged. The other day I went to the bank and I saw a young Asian dude carrying a DUFFLE BAG full of money to the teller door. I have to shake my head in amazement.

The socalled government shut down is a joke, lol. First of all the government is not "shut down". Only SOME things managed by the federal government are shut down, the government itself is still up and running. Congress is still working. The President is still working. And the Supreme Court is still doing whatever the hell it was doing a couple months ago. The military is still operating. And with the promise of getting all the money they lost while on furlough reimbursed back to them....this is nothing but a vacation for most government workers. In other words, they're still collecting taxes and making laws but just aren't doing anything for the people. And this is just what the Tea Party and other right-wing hardliners want. A society with very little government involvement in the lives of most citizens. This allows the corporations and private firms take the reins of power and do what they will The so-called "debt ceiling" is another joke. A ceiling means just that.....a limit you can't go beyond. Hell, if they can raise it anytime they like then it's not a real ceiling is it? I have a credt card with a limit. Once I hit that limit....that's it! I can't buy more things with that card and then just call the bank for them to RAISE the limit. I think this entire thing is just a big game between both Democrats and Republicans being played on the American population to further corporate agendas. Why is America even in "debt" in the first place? The Constitution actually gave the government the right to literally print up as much money as they need and assign value to it.

I've been watching the media coverage of the SUV driver vs Bikers incident and it seems that the media is going out of their way to make sure the public knows that the bikers were Black and Afro-Latino. First of all, I don't understand why in a society where people are PRESUMED innocent before being proven guilty in a court of law....why the media is allowed to post people's faces and names on television, in news papers, and on the computer even before they've offcially been charged and tried. It certainly is unethical but it should be illegal. But there have been hundreds of instances of road-rage in America and I'm sure dozens have happened since this one..... Yet they keep talking about this "non-story" day after day after day. I call it a non-story because it's not necessary news on a national level, nor is there any "new" information about what has happened already. Basically what they've been doing is rehashing and recycling old information over and over again daily just to keep the story alive and making sure you KNOW who these men were and what they look like. But this is just one example in a long list of negative stories the national media seems to have focused on while making sure the the viewers know the villian of the story is a Black person. -You also have the terrorist incident in Kenya -The Navy Yard shooter -The female motorist who was killed at the Capital -Even the little boy who boarded a plane by himself. It may have been in a predominately White Minneapolis, but I KNEW he was a Black boy just by the way the media kept telling this "non-story". They would have shown him but he was a minor so by law they couldn't. And they wanted to show his father, but he insisted on his identity being kept secret. So what do they do? How do they get it over to the public that the boy was Black? They play his father's "voice" as well as show a Black friend of his as an indirect way of letting the public know...yep...another negro acting a fool. I don't know what concerns me more..... 1. The increase in the OPEN racism on America's news media today or 2. The seeming lack of concern or indignation from the Black community.

Delano Are you talking about Carl Jung's theory on the "higher self" remaining in the spirit realm? Clearly there is part of our mind that exists on Earth. It may not be physical, but it's definately there. It's called the "ego" and it's what keeps us grounded. Now I believe that there are OTHER parts of our mind that dwell in other realm(s) but unless you are in a coma, some of your mind is in this Earthly/physical realm. Troy I don't have hard proof to back this up but my belief that we as humans (and animals) are made up of 3 distinct substances combined. 1. Soul (our real selves) 2. Spirit (that which gives us life and animation) 3. Body (the physical body) Just like the brain is PART of the body.... The mind is PART of the soul. As part of our souls...I believe our minds are distinct, however I do believe in a "collective conciousness" that connects us on some level.

Del Just because it's financially motivated, doesn't mean it's not a conspiracy. People can conspire for monetary purposes as well. Look at the credit/mortgage defaults that caused the financial crisis of 2008. There was a conspiracy among lenders to provide home loans to people they KNEW couldn't pay them back so they could take their money and still reclaim the houses after forclosure. It's pretty much the same in AfroAmerican neighborhoods across America. I've been all over the continental United States and I have yet to see an "ideal" AfroAmerican community where most things are operating as they should. I've seen vibrant African communities where Africans own most of the businesses, most of their housing, and the streets are safe....but few if any AfroAmerican communities like that. I haven't spent much time on the East Coast but I know in parts of Chicago, Detroit, and Atlanta there still Black neighborhoods where most of the folks own their own homes and have good jobs....but most of the businesses are still owned by other races. I attribute this to the fact that more so than women of other races like Asians, Arabs, and even White women....Black women have to work and don't have time to cook healthy meals for their children so more Black kids tend to eat out and eat fast foods.

I see things a little differently..... Just like I don't have a problem accepting money from people if I'm doing them a favor. There's nothing wrong with giving money as long as you're getting something of value in return. Look at it as an investment. I didn't mind paying local radio talk shows money or taking them to lunch in exchange for some airtime or promotion....it was an investment. As long as both parties understand eachother. This is a CAPITALIST based society, money is important and to pretend otherwise is disingenuous.

Like Del was eluding to, I believe the brain and mind are 2 separate entities. However I believe BOTH can be influenced and even manipulated (to a certain extent) through outside forces.

Troy Lol...... I see she's inherited your smile. She seems to be politically astute for her age also. I notice her first name., Not sure if you or her mother decided on that name but in the same spirit of our discussion of "Black" and "White" names in another thread....I think her name probably contributes to her success in some way. Not to take away from her talent, but I doubt that a young lady named Nee'quanda "Nee Nee" Jenkins would have followed the same path.

You forgot to add a 4th..... CONTENT A lot of the content of Black authors today is just straight up "booty"...literally. The vast majority of Black authors and their subjects can be divided into 2 categories: 1. Political authors who write about racism and/or the legacy of slavery 2. Fiction writers who write novels about erotica in it's varous forms That's it..... Where is the Black sci-fi? Where are the Black books on psychology? Where are the Black medical or do-it-yourself home repair books? There's not enough creative and diverse thinking among Black authors. We can't use the lame excuse that Black people "just aren't into" those other subjects because plenty of Black people read science and even sci-fi material from White authors. I see them in the bookstore doing it and I do it myself. I'd love to read some good Black sci-fi. When you only stick to 2 subjects to write about, ofcourse you're going to run into challenges because you're going to run out of material to write about.

Troy The scenario you just described as to why you thought it would be a BETTER idea not to go around the hood with a camera is the very reason why I think it's a bigger act of courage for US than for any White woman. Ofcourse some White people are victims in Black neighborhoods like some Black people are victims when they go into White neighborhoods, but for the most part people tend to commit crimes within their own race. But this also points out how naive and trusting so many of our people are.... Why would you let some strange woman who obviously isn't from your community take your picture and ask you a bunch of questions in the first place? This unconditional "trust" of White people I see so much among our young people is a reason so many end up in so much trouble. It seems that centuries of slavery and being tricked and fool still hasn't taught some Black folks not to be so trusting of every White person who smiles at them. How long would a Black man with a camera going from door to door asking White women questions and asking them to pose in pictures with him last? He won't make it half way down the block before little kids on tricycles start looking at him funny and the dogs start barking....lol.

Stop being so modest..... Guuuurl, you know you EARNED that position...lol.

Troy Lol, you're disputing me while supporting my point at the same time. It's like that scene in Saving Private Ryan: "Are you Private James Francis Ryan?" "No, no, no.....I'm James FRANCIS Ryan!!" You're arguing against conspiracies and people spraying chemicals in the hood to affect Black people, yet at the same time agreeing that our youth are more obese and that chemicals in the environment (of which the food supply is just one branch) are probably to blame. Who in the hell is PUTTING the chemicals in the food? They aren't getting in there by themselves. And for what reason? Every effect has a cause. Every action has a motive. When I go into the city of Detroit around 3 pm I see thousands of fat Black school kids standing around and leaning on telephone poles and mail boxes as they wait on the bus (the citybus, because there are no more schools busses for them) to take them home from school. In many cases you can't even tell the boys from the girls. A lot of the boys have breasts. If you drive 2 miles outside the city into the suburbs you'll see skinny White kids.... The boys with their shirts off and the girls in short-shorts, jogging and skipping along, getting in shape with the exercise programs offered by their schools. This can be seen in many other urban/suburban areas across the country. In one or 2 urban areas could be a coincidence, but when you find the same scenes being played out all over the nation....this means it's orchestrated. In Chicago they're closing damn near half the schools in Black neighborhoods. Del I think much of the "hatred" among Black men comes from the pain of not having a father in the home while growing up. I was blessed to have a good father who took care of me, most of the Black boys I grew up with didn't and many were angry and upset about it and told me later as we became adults how jealous and resentful they were at not having someone to teach and protect them as young boys coming up. Often times when a Black man sees another Black man, he subconciously sees the father who abandoned him. ?????? Lol, I'm not sure where you live where you're not seeing Black teenage girls. I've been all over America and Black youth are everywhere. Even in Montana, lol.

Where is the documented evidence of White women walking around Black neighborhoods with cameras being assaulted? In other words, what is the threat? In order to confront your "fears" their must be a viable threat in the first place.