richardmurray

@Delano well remember the heritage of the usa, financially, is Genocie+ slavery. Many people in the usa think of genocide or slavery from the perspective of physical pain or violence but not the financial systems which are about a minority getting access to great fiscal wealth at the detriment to the lifetime of other peoples + control or abuse with the harshest penalty to those who fight against it or the most overwhelming power against those trying to do other. That financial heritage often gets lost when people talk of genocide or slavery in the usa. The financial heritage of the genocide to the native american and the enslavement to the blacks has never abetted or lessened.

It's funny, years ago i heard about the federal government program in some city northwest that gives money to people for living. That is the answer. If the usa can give money to people to live, absent worry , that will allow a constant flow of consumption. as the publicly traded markets will not be hindered but helped. this will mean, content creation will continue online for free , as people will be free. Just a guess to the future

@Troy Does the information resonate or not? Do you care about the subject, why or why not? Do I make a compelling case, or is it mostly boring My thoughts as I listened? 4:26 exactly, I was asked similarly by folks. All to often one of the earlier phases of the internet was advertised , falsely, as a auto revenue stream forgetting the truth behind, brands/customer outreach/internet markets 6:18 march 1998 aalbc's intro, i didn't know 7:50 you are not alone many leave nyc to lower overhead:) but the rent or food keep raising 9:36 truth, if the government under Clinton was ranked by those who were engineers who solve prolbems not lawyers who get commission no matter what, maybe the internet would had been guided to aid brick and mortar but instead it was guided to favor the highest financial powers who are far from brick and mortar 10:48 yes, searching in the largest library has to be selective and sequentially, positively or negatively biased to this or that 13:43 good history lesson for those who don't know about search engines ways 14:27 your correct about google but beyond that, the wealth of the internet, the wealth in its activity, has always been and will continue to be a place for financial manipulative activity. 18:53 it is funny how china has such a large populace and their entire internet is manicured highly. 19:47 thank you for saying that, I keep telling people the internet is not free but many, many don't seem to comprehend this, maybe especially in the usa. 21:11 well, I will say the design of the internet in itself is the problem. IT isn't the tool it is the engineering of it. The beetle is still a great car. Volkswagon , as a publicly traded firm has remade the beetle three times in worse forms than its original, but why? volkswagon is a publicly traded firm whose stockholders can't accept positive financial stability. The internet is poorly structured 27:09 clear history on aalbc's and black owned newspapers websites. I do wonder why you guys didn't attach to the non english internet. 29;15 yes, AALBC is a business but it has a personal or communal aspect you love. And I argue, the internet is full of people who have lesser spheres of influence that is surviving. 33:08 I disagree, I think some computer engineers predicted the internet had problems but I do concur about the silo aspect of the internet 36:08 Yeah, I have seen countless people in my personal life offline who are die hard users of computer programs that have the algorithmic finess/memory capacity/speed of calculation to aid in human activity, falsely called AI. The ability to do for another is not a sign of intelligence. 37:28 yes, the usa historically has always flooded technology into the marketplace and just let human imagination plus perserverance figure it out. I honestly don't feel frightened by the modern capability of computer systems 39:32 The questioner said something I find many black people say all the time to all technology, I Can hear the influence of frederick douglass. Learn how to use the tool better, faster. The funny thing about the entire culture of learning how to use faster, better is that culture is at its heart individual. It isn't communal. In all humanity, a minority , a one percent, always master some tool faster or better than the remaining ninety nine percent. But that has never truly made the community better and as troy said, which i always say, nothing is free. The modern capabilities of computers does not reach all in humanity, even in the usa itself. What people call AI does not reach everywhere in humanity, it simply is taking over the activity of many , maybe most, in the wealthier parts of humanity. The poorer parts of humanity will have to learn how to use the tools they already have, ala wisdom, what no computer has. 41:11 exactly, the computer programs make simulations which by default are approximations, not truly imaginative. 43:56 It is clear to me that many people clearly know people who are not using the modern computer systems. I find it interesting how many black people online keep saying, learn how to use it, ride the wave, like they either know many people not interested in using it or don't want to see any people who aren't using it. It is clear the population in the usa has an imbalance in its relationship to computer technology 46:54 well, in star trek between the enterprise computer side the holodeck side the borg the destination to the computer programs called AI was imagined. Humans were fine. Cutting out human desire to enslave other human beings seemed to help... 50:36 Good goal in being free from google or am*zon in advertisements or book sales 54:17 good point, other technologies are not dead. Humans still need hand wrenches, even though you have electric powered. And humanity has enough people not connected to the internet to allow little zones online 56:00 well monopolies are mandatory goals in a public traded company environment where no firm is ever accepted for consistent financial results. Public trading demands greater growth all the time which is financially untenable or unrealistic but the bind 59:15 I know of Zane, I should had known she is the top seller on aalbc, erotic always sell. 1:00:38 great history on Zane and wikipedia and its editing, ahh terry mcmillan too. I don't use wikipedia for biography, but then I don't care for biography anyway 1:02:50 yeah, the village voice is gone in nyc, amsterdam news in harlem is a weekly, tough time 1:04:11 yes support black online 1:06:21 exactly, am*zon is competing against all other bookstores, or in retail against all other retails, this is why the federal government has anti trust agains them. I Wish someone would had asked you what you will like to see in an am*zon break up? any analogies to the ATT or MA Bell breakup in the 80s. 1:08:21 great point on the illusion of the cheapest. I think how buyers in china are accustomed to getting cheaper than the usa, through sometimes illegal means or legally thin means but the point is, a buying culture of finding the cheapest exist in the world and those in the usa who are willing can do the same 1:09:12 that is diedre, dee, cool:) she is on aalbc right? Using computer programs to make a website is interesting cause I wonder if human lawyers can use the computer programs to check websites to make sure they are not skimming content. 1:11:12 i didn't know am*zon asked writers to disclose if they used computer programs to write a book 1:!2:03 oh wow, you got a review written by an computer... I wish you could tell us what human presented such a thing as their own , anyway 1:12:17 I told people teachers will not be challenged, as someone who has educated, it is very simple. students research your content tonight. Tomorrow 1/2 hour to write it in class. anyone pull out any technology, you are not allowed to submit anything and get a failing grade. I Don't think teaching is harmed, the problem with teachers is many of them don't want to challenge children as such because when children have failing grades, the systems dumps the problem on teachers even if the teacher's methodology is sound. It isn't a teaher's fault if a student doesn't study, if a student is disinterested, but the concept of no child left behind is... 1:12:47 her question is a challenge, why can't what successful black businesses did in the past work now? What is wrong? I think an answer of communalism is missing. The reality is, the usa has a large sense of individualism. I , me, mine. It isn't we, us, our. Kids get online, search their stream, have their content. It isn't communal activity, merely one in a field. 1:16:14 and in defense, the black populace in the usa, has more funding than ever before. We forget, our financial allowance in all industries in the usa started in the 1900s not 1492. I argue 1980s is the first decade in the usa where all sectors in the usa was actually open to black people, that is centuries blockaded and that is not easy to recover. 1:18:19 exactly, the individualism is rampant in the usa, communalism has it's advantages 1:18:56 This questioner is asking a way to determine truth in modern media absent any doubt, in the governmental sector, that doesn't exist outside door to door offline. The only way an elected official can reach people to give them the truth from their mouth, is town halls, door to door. To be historical , bill clinton told hillary clinton that she needed to do more groundwork, but she didn't feel it was needed. It isn't a problem, go door to door, be communal. it is time consuming, it isn't flashy. it isn't quick money but... 1:22:56 Nice talk , enjoyed your pulpit:) my thoughts in conclusion Does the information resonate or not? Do you care about the subject, why or why not? Do I make a compelling case, or is it mostly boring To anyone online, the issue of the algorithms online that dictate how the info flows should resonate, if it doesn't well, you are a true libertarian or maybe elibertarian. I care about all subjects, I grew up and still have a home where topics are discussed offline. I Care about this issue as an artist online trying to figure out how to gain more outreach or fiscal profit while still be myself. I have heard most of your points to be honest, but the points are warranted and to those who haven't heard hopefully will enlighten. Boring is a funny word. You do drill some of your points. But is that drilling excessive, where it nulls the mind. I don't think so. But to those minds already nulled welll:)

I checked the forums, I didn't see anything about CBD products?

@Pioneer1 I oppose your position concerning the black populace in NYC, maybe other black populaces in the usa need law enforcement in their modern condition. But the black populace in nyc in modernity and i argue in the past as well never needed the NYPD. Outside the fact that the NYPD's own statistics have never suggested even close to one percent of the black populace in NYC is active in events https://aalbc.com/tc/profile/6477-richardmurray/?status=1805&type=status A floor count of the black population in nyc is one million and six hundred and i know it is larger but lets go with that. ten percent of 1.6 million is 160,000, one percent is 16,000. Now harlem is 206,000 ... approximately half is black today. that is 100,000 and ten percent is 10,000 around the one percent mark of the whole. And one percent in harlem is 1,000. Yes, the black populace in NYC is historically or commonly poor. The reasons why have nothing to do with the black populace in nyc. But , there has always been black people in NYC, like yourself, that suggested and today suggest a need of law enforcement which most black people in nyc know is 100% not true, even if they don't say it. White, the lawyer from the NAACP once said living in harlem, in the 1960s black people in harlem shouldn't riot as if black people rioting was common. Black people who talk like you pioneer exist in all black populaces. Every instance of murder or theft is turned into the rapture or some sort of apocalyptic scenario in need of attention. I repeat, NYC's black populace does not need and has never needed law enforcement. Black people selling drugs that people have to pay for was criminalized. Black people stealing in NYC was never as rampant as the white populace. Isn't as rampant as the non black people of color in NYC now. but the only populace in NYC that has a large percent of itself talking about needing the NYPD is the least criminal acting populace which is the black populace in NYC. From the experience of me , my bloodline, who have lived in nyc for a time over one hundred years, NYC's black populace has NEVER needed law enforcement, but the black people in NYC who did utter and do utter the lie of a populace plagued by negatives are all traitors whose damage to the black populace in NYC I wish I can undo. Yeah, lost your mother, lost your cousin, lost your grandpa, lost your friend, ok unfortunate, but in human allowance. I do not deny some black people have been harmed by other black people in every black populace in a city. But, in NYC over 95% of black people have experienced no criminal activity by other black people towards them and the five percent that have need to is acceptable. No human populace is ever going to be absent some percentage of internal criminalization. It is inhuman to not have crime amongst humans. I wish the black traitors in NYC, again other places are not what I am speaking of, would accept the bad hand of fate and stop judging the black populace in nyc based on their bad hand or their christian morals or their fortunate turns advantages.

@Dee Miller I am no photographer, all the photos in this post were stefans. I write and illustrate.

In a speech before the Scottish Anti-Slavery Society in Glasgow, Scotland on March 26, 1860, Frederick Douglass outlines his views on the American Constitution. I proceed to the discussion. And first a word about the question. Much will be gained at the outset if we fully and clearly understand the real question under discussion. Indeed, nothing is or can be understood. This are often confounded and treated as the same, for no better reason than that they resemble each other, even while they are in their nature and character totally distinct and even directly opposed to each other. This jumbling up things is a sort of dust-throwing which is often indulged in by small men who argue for victory rather than for truth. Thus, for instance, the American Government and the American Constitution are spoken of in a manner which would naturally lead the hearer to believe that one is identical with the other; when the truth is, they are distinct in character as is a ship and a compass. The one may point right and the other steer wrong. A chart is one thing, the course of the vessel is another. The Constitution may be right, the Government is wrong. If the Government has been governed by mean, sordid, and wicked passions, it does not follow that the Constitution is mean, sordid, and wicked. What, then, is the question? I will state it. But first let me state what is not the question. It is not whether slavery existed in the United States at the time of the adoption of the Constitution; it is not whether slaveholders took part in the framing of the Constitution; it is not whether those slaveholders, in their hearts, intended to secure certain advantages in that instrument for slavery; it is not whether the American Government has been wielded during seventy-two years in favour of the propagation and permanence of slavery; it is not whether a pro-slavery interpretation has been put upon the Constitution by the American Courts — all these points may be true or they may be false, they may be accepted or they may be rejected, without in any wise affecting the real question in debate. The real and exact question between myself and the class of persons represented by the speech at the City Hall may be fairly stated thus: — 1st, Does the United States Constitution guarantee to any class or description of people in that country the right to enslave, or hold as property, any other class or description of people in that country? 2nd, Is the dissolution of the union between the slave and free States required by fidelity to the slaves, or by the just demands of conscience? Or, in other words, is the refusal to exercise the elective franchise, and to hold office in America, the surest, wisest, and best way to abolish slavery in America? To these questions the Garrisonians say Yes. They hold the Constitution to be a slaveholding instrument, and will not cast a vote or hold office, and denounce all who vote or hold office, no matter how faithfully such persons labour to promote the abolition of slavery. I, on the other hand, deny that the Constitution guarantees the right to hold property in man, and believe that the way to abolish slavery in America is to vote such men into power as well use their powers for the abolition of slavery. This is the issue plainly stated, and you shall judge between us. Before we examine into the disposition, tendency, and character of the Constitution, I think we had better ascertain what the Constitution itself is. Before looking for what it means, let us see what it is. Here, too, there is much dust to be cleared away. What, then, is the Constitution? I will tell you. It is not even like the British Constitution, which is made up of enactments of Parliament, decisions of Courts, and the established usages of the Government. The American Constitution is a written instrument full and complete in itself. No Court in America, no Congress, no President, can add a single word thereto, or take a single word threreto. It is a great national enactment done by the people, and can only be altered, amended, or added to by the people. I am careful to make this statement here; in America it would not be necessary. It would not be necessary here if my assailant had shown the same desire to be set before you the simple truth, which he manifested to make out a good case for himself and friends. Again, it should be borne in mind that the mere text, and only the text, and not any commentaries or creeds written by those who wished to give the text a meaning apart from its plain reading, was adopted as the Constitution of the United States. It should also be borne in mind that the intentions of those who framed the Constitution, be they good or bad, for slavery or against slavery, are so respected so far, and so far only, as we find those intentions plainly stated in the Constitution. It would be the wildest of absurdities, and lead to endless confusion and mischiefs, if, instead of looking to the written paper itself, for its meaning, it were attempted to make us search it out, in the secret motives, and dishonest intentions, of some of the men who took part in writing it. It was what they said that was adopted by the people, not what they were ashamed or afraid to say, and really omitted to say. Bear in mind, also, and the fact is an important one, that the framers of the Constitution sat with doors closed, and that this was done purposely, that nothing but the result of their labours should be seen, and that that result should be judged of by the people free from any of the bias shown in the debates. It should also be borne in mind, and the fact is still more important, that the debates in the convention that framed the Constitution, and by means of which a pro-slavery interpretation is now attempted to be forced upon that instrument, were not published till more than a quarter of a century after the presentation and the adoption of the Constitution. These debates were purposely kept out of view, in order that the people should adopt, not the secret motives or unexpressed intentions of any body, but the simple text of the paper itself. Those debates form no part of the original agreement. I repeat, the paper itself, and only the paper itself, with its own plainly written purposes, is the Constitution. It must stand or fall, flourish or fade, on its own individual and self-declared character and objects. Again, where would be the advantage of a written Constitution, if, instead of seeking its meaning in its words, we had to seek them in the secret intentions of individuals who may have had something to do with writing the paper? What will the people of America a hundred years hence care about the intentions of the scriveners who wrote the Constitution? These men are already gone from us, and in the course of nature were expected to go from us. They were for a generation, but the Constitution is for ages. Whatever we may owe to them, we certainly owe it to ourselves, and to mankind, and to God, to maintain the truth of our own language, and to allow no villainy, not even the villainy of holding men as slaves — which Wesley says is the sum of all villainies — to shelter itself under a fair-seeming and virtuous language. We owe it to ourselves to compel the devil to wear his own garments, and to make wicked laws speak out their wicked intentions. Common sense, and common justice, and sound rules of interpretation all drive us to the words of the law for the meaning of the law. The practice of the Government is dwelt upon with much fervour and eloquence as conclusive as to the slaveholding character of the Constitution. This is really the strong point and the only strong point, made in the speech in the City Hall. But good as this argument is, it is not conclusive. A wise man has said that few people have been found better than their laws, but many have been found worse. To this last rule America is no exception. Her laws are one thing, her practice is another thing. We read that the Jews made void the law by their tradition, that Moses permitted men to put away their wives because of the hardness of their hearts, but that this was not so at the beginning. While good laws will always be found where good practice prevails, the reverse does not always hold true. Far from it. The very opposite is often the case. What then? Shall we condemn the righteous law because wicked men twist it to the support of wickedness? Is that the way to deal with good and evil? Shall we blot out all distinction between them, and hand over to slavery all that slavery may claim on the score of long practice? Such is the course commended to us in the City Hall speech. After all, the fact that men go out of the Constitution to prove it pro-slavery, whether that going out is to the practice of the Government, or to the secret intentions of the writers of the paper, the fact that they do go out is very significant. It is a powerful argument on my side. It is an admission that the thing for which they are looking is not to be found where only it ought to be found, and that is in the Constitution itself. If it is not there, it is nothing to the purpose, be it wheresoever else it may be. But I shall have no more to say on this point hereafter. The very eloquent lecturer at the City Hall doubtless felt some embarrassment from the fact that he had literally to give the Constitution a pro-slavery interpretation; because upon its face it of itself conveys no such meaning, but a very opposite meaning. He thus sums up what he calls the slaveholding provisions of the Constitution. I quote his own words: — “Article 1, section 9, provides for the continuance of the African slave trade for the 20 years, after the adoption of the Constitution. Art. 4, section 9, provides for the recovery from the other States of fugitive slaves. Art. 1, section 2, gives the slave States a representation of the three-fifths of all the slave population; and Art. 1, section 8, requires the President to use the military, naval, ordnance, and militia resources of the entire country for the suppression of slave insurrection, in the same manner as he would employ them to repel invasion.” Now any man reading this statement, or hearing it made with such a show of exactness, would unquestionably suppose that he speaker or writer had given the plain written text of the Constitution itself. I can hardly believe that the intended to make any such impression. It would be a scandalous imputation to say he did. Any yet what are we to make of it? How can we regard it? How can he be screened from the charge of having perpetrated a deliberate and point-blank misrepresentation? That individual has seen fit to place himself before the public as my opponent, and yet I would gladly find some excuse for him. I do not wish to think as badly of him as this trick of his would naturally lead me to think. Why did he not read the Constitution? Why did he read that which was not the Constitution? He pretended to be giving chapter and verse, section and clause, paragraph and provision. The words of the Constitution were before him. Why then did he not give you the plain words of the Constitution? Oh, sir, I fear that the gentleman knows too well why he did not. It so happens that no such words as “African slave trade,” no such words as “slave insurrections,” are anywhere used in that instrument. These are the words of that orator, and not the words of the Constitution of the United States. Now you shall see a slight difference between my manner of treating this subject and what which my opponent has seen fit, for reasons satisfactory to himself, to pursue. What he withheld, that I will spread before you: what he suppressed, I will bring to light: and what he passed over in silence, I will proclaim: that you may have the whole case before you, and not be left to depend upon either his, or upon my inferences or testimony. Here then are several provisions of the Constitution to which reference has been made. I read them word for word just as they stand in the paper, called the United States Constitution, Art. I, sec. 2. “Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included in this Union, according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other persons; Art. I, sec. 9. The migration or importation of such persons as any of the States now existing shall think fit to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, not exceeding tend dollars for each person; Art. 4, sec. 2. No person held to service or labour in one State, under the laws thereof, escaping into another shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from service or labour; but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labour may be due; Art. I, sec. 8. To provide for calling for the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions.” Here then, are those provisions of the Constitution, which the most extravagant defenders of slavery can claim to guarantee a right of property in man. These are the provisions which have been pressed into the service of the human fleshmongers of America. Let us look at them just as they stand, one by one. Let us grant, for the sake of the argument, that the first of these provisions, referring to the basis of representation and taxation, does refer to slaves. We are not compelled to make that admission, for it might fairly apply to aliens — persons living in the country, but not naturalized. But giving the provisions the very worse construction, what does it amount to? I answer — It is a downright disability laid upon the slaveholding States; one which deprives those States of two-fifths of their natural basis of representation. A black man in a free State is worth just two-fifths more than a black man in a slave State, as a basis of political power under the Constitution. Therefore, instead of encouraging slavery, the Constitution encourages freedom by giving an increase of “two-fifths” of political power to free over slave States. So much for the three-fifths clause; taking it at is worst, it still leans to freedom, not slavery; for, be it remembered that the Constitution nowhere forbids a coloured man to vote. I come to the next, that which it is said guaranteed the continuance of the African slave trade for twenty years. I will also take that for just what my opponent alleges it to have been, although the Constitution does not warrant any such conclusion. But, to be liberal, let us suppose it did, and what follows? Why, this — that this part of the Constitution, so far as the slave trade is concerned, became a dead letter more than 50 years ago, and now binds no man’s conscience for the continuance of any slave trade whatsoever. Mr. Thompson is just 52 years too late in dissolving the Union on account of this clause. He might as well dissolve the British Government, because Queen Elizabeth granted to Sir John Hawkins to import Africans into the West Indies 300 years ago! But there is still more to be said about this abolition of the slave trade. Men, at that time, both in England and in America, looked upon the slave trade as the life of slavery. The abolition of the slave trade was supposed to be the certain death of slavery. Cut off the stream, and the pond will dry up, was the common notion at the time. Wilberforce and Clarkson, clear-sighted as they were, took this view; and the American statesmen, in providing for the abolition of the slave trade, thought they were providing for the abolition of the slavery. This view is quite consistent with the history of the times. All regarded slavery as an expiring and doomed system, destined to speedily disappear from the country. But, again, it should be remembered that this very provision, if made to refer to the African slave trade at all, makes the Constitution anti-slavery rather than for slavery; for it says to the slave States, the price you will have to pay for coming into the American Union is, that the slave trade, which you would carry on indefinitely out of the Union, shall be put an end to in twenty years if you come into the Union. Secondly, if it does apply, it expired by its own limitation more than fifty years ago. Thirdly, it is anti-slavery, because it looked to the abolition of slavery rather than to its perpetuity. Fourthly, it showed that the intentions of the framers of the Constitution were good, not bad. I think this is quite enough for this point. I go to the “slave insurrection” clause, though, in truth, there is no such clause. The one which is called so has nothing whatever to do with slaves or slaveholders any more than your laws for suppression of popular outbreaks has to do with making slaves of you and your children. It is only a law for suppression of riots or insurrections. But I will be generous here, as well as elsewhere, and grant that it applies to slave insurrections. Let us suppose that an anti-slavery man is President of the United States (and the day that shall see this the case is not distant) and this very power of suppressing slave insurrections would put an end to slavery. The right to put down an insurrection carries with it the right to determine the means by which it shall be put down. If it should turn out that slavery is a source of insurrection, that there is no security from insurrection while slavery lasts, why, the Constitution would be best obeyed by putting an end to slavery, and an anti-slavery Congress would do the very same thing. Thus, you see, the so-called slave-holding provisions of the American Constitution, which a little while ago looked so formidable, are, after all, no defence or guarantee for slavery whatever. But there is one other provision. This is called the “Fugitive Slave Provision.” It is called so by those who wish to make it subserve the interest of slavery in America, and the same by those who wish to uphold the views of a party in this country. It is put thus in the speech at the City Hall: — “Let us go back to 1787, and enter Liberty Hall, Philadelphia, where sat in convention the illustrious men who framed the Constitution — with George Washington in the chair. On the 27th of September, Mr. Butler and Mr. Pinckney, two delegates from the State of South Carolina, moved that the Constitution should require that fugitive slaves and servants should be delivered up like criminals, and after a discussion on the subject, the clause, as it stands in the Constitution, was adopted. After this, in the conventions held in the several States to ratify the Constitution, the same meaning was attached to the words. For example, Mr. Madison (afterwards President), when recommending the Constitution to his constituents, told them that the clause would secure them their property in slaves.” I must ask you to look well to this statement. Upon its face, it would seem a full and fair statement of the history of the transaction it professes to describe and yet I declare unto you, knowing as I do the facts in the case, my utter amazement at the downright untruth conveyed under the fair seeming words now quoted. The man who could make such a statement may have all the craftiness of a lawyer, but who can accord to him the candour of an honest debater? What could more completely destroy all confidence in his statements? Mark you, the orator had not allowed his audience to hear read the provision of the Constitution to which he referred. He merely characterized it as one to “deliver up fugitive slaves and servants like criminals,” and tells you that this was done “after discussion.” But he took good care not to tell you what was the nature of that discussion. He have would have spoiled the whole effect of his statement had he told you the whole truth. Now, what are the facts connected with this provision of the Constitution? You shall have them. It seems to take two men to tell the truth. It is quite true that Mr. Butler and Mr. Pinckney introduced a provision expressly with a view to the recapture of fugitive slaves: it is quite true also that there was some discussion on the subject — and just here the truth shall come out. These illustrious kidnappers were told promptly in that discussion that no such idea as property in man should be admitted into the Constitution. The speaker in question might have told you, and he would have told you but the simple truth, if he had told you that he proposition of Mr. Butler and Mr. Pinckney — which he leads you to infer was adopted by the convention that from the Constitution — was, in fact, promptly and indignantly rejected by that convention. He might have told you, had it suited his purpose to do so, that the words employed in the first draft of the fugitive slave clause were such as applied to the condition of slaves, and expressly declared that persons held to “servitude” should be given up; but that the word “servitude” was struck from the provision, for the very reason that it applied to slaves. He might have told you that the same Mr. Madison declared that the word was struck out because the convention would not consent that the idea of property in men should be admitted into the Constitution. The fact that Mr. Madison can be cited on both sides of this question is another evidence of the folly and absurdity of making the secret intentions of the framers the criterion by which the Constitution is to be construed. But it may be asked — if this clause does not apply to slaves, to whom does it apply? I answer, that when adopted, it applies to a very large class of persons — namely, redemptioners — persons who had come to America from Holland, from Ireland, and other quarters of the globe — like the Coolies to the West Indies — and had, for a consideration duly paid, become bound to “serve and labour” for the parties two whom their service and labour was due. It applies to indentured apprentices and others who have become bound for a consideration, under contract duly made, to serve and labour, to such persons this provision applies, and only to such persons. The plain reading of this provision shows that it applies, and that it can only properly and legally apply, to persons “bound to service.” Its object plainly is, to secure the fulfillment of contracts for “service and labour.” It applies to indentured apprentices, and any other persons from whom service and labour may be due. The legal condition of the slave puts him beyond the operation of this provision. He is not described in it. He is a simple article of property. He does not owe and cannot owe service. He cannot even make a contract. It is impossible for him to do so. He can no more make such a contract than a horse or an ox can make one. This provision, then, only respects persons who owe service, and they only can owe service who can receive an equivalent and make a bargain. The slave cannot do that, and is therefore exempted from the operation of this fugitive provision. In all matters where laws are taught to be made the means of oppression, cruelty, and wickedness, I am for strict construction. I will concede nothing. It must be shown that it is so nominated in the bond. The pound of flesh, but not one drop of blood. The very nature of law is opposed to all such wickedness, and makes it difficult to accomplish such objects under the forms of law. Law is not merely an arbitrary enactment with regard to justice, reason, or humanity. Blackstone defines it to be a rule prescribed by the supreme power of the State commanding what is right and forbidding what is wrong. The speaker at the City Hall laid down some rules of legal interpretation. These rules send us to the history of the law for its meaning. I have no objection to such a course in ordinary cases of doubt. But where human liberty and justice are at stake, the case falls under an entirely different class of rules. There must be something more than history — something more than tradition. The Supreme Court of the United States lays down this rule, and it meets the case exactly — “Where rights are infringed — where the fundamental principles of the law are overthrown — where the general system of the law is departed from, the legislative intention must be expressed with irresistible clearness.” The same court says that the language of the law must be construed strictly in favour of justice and liberty. Again, there is another rule of law. It is — Where a law is susceptible of two meanings, the one making it accomplish an innocent purpose, and the other making it accomplish a wicked purpose, we must in all cases adopt that which makes it accomplish an innocent purpose. Again, the details of a law are to be interpreted in the light of the declared objects sought by the law. I set these rules down against those employed at the City Hall. To me they seem just and rational. I only ask you to look at the American Constitution in the light of them, and you will see with me that no man is guaranteed a right of property in man, under the provisions of that instrument. If there are two ideas more distinct in their character and essence than another, those ideas are “persons” and “property,” “men” and “things.” Now, when it is proposed to transform persons into “property” and men into beasts of burden, I demand that the law that completes such a purpose shall be expressed with irresistible clearness. The thing must not be left to inference, but must be done in plain English. I know how this view of the subject is treated by the class represented at the City Hall. They are in the habit of treating the Negro as an exception to general rules. When their own liberty is in question they will avail themselves of all rules of law which protect and defend their freedom; but when the black man’s rights are in question they concede everything, admit everything for slavery, and put liberty to the proof. They reserve the common law usage, and presume the Negro a slave unless he can prove himself free. I, on the other hand, presume him free unless he is proved to be otherwise. Let us look at the objects for which the Constitution was framed and adopted, and see if slavery is one of them. Here are its own objects as set forth by itself: — “We, the people of these United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution of the United States of America.” The objects here set forth are six in number: union, defence, welfare, tranquility, justice, and liberty. These are all good objects, and slavery, so far from being among them, is a foe of them all. But it has been said that Negroes are not included within the benefits sought under this declaration. This is said by the slaveholders in America — it is said by the City Hall orator — but it is not said by the Constitution itself. Its language is “we the people;” not we the white people, not even we the citizens, not we the privileged class, not we the high, not we the low, but we the people; not we the horses, sheep, and swine, and wheel-barrows, but we the people, we the human inhabitants; and, if Negroes are people, they are included in the benefits for which the Constitution of America was ordained and established. But how dare any man who pretends to be a friend to the Negro thus gratuitously concede away what the Negro has a right to claim under the Constitution? Why should such friends invent new arguments to increase the hopelessness of his bondage? This, I undertake to say, as the conclusion of the whole matter, that the constitutionality of slavery can be made out only by disregarding the plain and common-sense reading of the Constitution itself; by discrediting and casting away as worthless the most beneficent rules of legal interpretation; by ruling the Negro outside of these beneficent rules; by claiming that the Constitution does not mean what it says, and that it says what it does not mean; by disregarding the written Constitution, and interpreting it in the light of a secret understanding. It is in this mean, contemptible, and underhand method that the American Constitution is pressed into the service of slavery. They go everywhere else for proof that the Constitution declares that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; it secures to every man the right of trial by jury, the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus — the great writ that put an end to slavery and slave-hunting in England — and it secures to every State a republican form of government. Anyone of these provisions in the hands of abolition statesmen, and backed up by a right moral sentiment, would put an end to slavery in America. The Constitution forbids the passing of a bill of attainder: that is, a law entailing upon the child the disabilities and hardships imposed upon the parent. Every slave law in America might be repealed on this very ground. The slave is made a slave because his mother is a slave. But to all this it is said that the practice of the American people is against my view. I admit it. They have given the Constitution a slaveholding interpretation. I admit it. Thy have committed innumerable wrongs against the Negro in the name of the Constitution. Yes, I admit it all; and I go with him who goes farthest in denouncing these wrongs. But it does not follow that the Constitution is in favour of these wrongs because the slaveholders have given it that interpretation. To be consistent in his logic, the City Hall speaker must follow the example of some of his brothers in America — he must not only fling away the Constitution, but the Bible. The Bible must follow the Constitution, for that, too, has been interpreted for slavery by American divines. Nay, more, he must not stop with the Constitution of America, but make war with the British Constitution, for, if I mistake not, the gentleman is opposed to the union of Church and State. In America he called himself a Republican. Yet he does not go for breaking down the British Constitution, although you have a Queen on the throne, and bishops in the House of Lords. My argument against the dissolution of the American Union is this: It would place the slave system more exclusively under the control of the slaveholding States, and withdraw it from the power in the Northern States which is opposed to slavery. Slavery is essentially barbarous in its character. It, above all things else, dreads the presence of an advanced civilization. It flourishes best where it meets no reproving frowns, and hears no condemning voices. While in the Union it will meet with both. Its hope of life, in the last resort, is to get out of the Union. I am, therefore, for drawing the bond of the Union more completely under the power of the Free States. What they most dread, that I most desire. I have much confidence in the instincts of the slaveholders. They see that the Constitution will afford slavery no protection when it shall cease to be administered by slaveholders. They see, moreover, that if there is once a will in the people of America to abolish slavery, this is no word, no syllable in the Constitution to forbid that result. They see that the Constitution has not saved slavery in Rhode Island, in Connecticut, in New York, or Pennsylvania; that the Free States have only added three to their original number. There were twelve Slave States at the beginning of the Government: there are fifteen now. They dissolution of the Union would not give the North a single advantage over slavery, but would take from it many. Within the Union we have a firm basis of opposition to slavery. It is opposed to all the great objects of the Constitution. The dissolution of the Union is not only an unwise but a cowardly measure — 15 millions running away from three hundred and fifty thousand slaveholders. Mr. Garrison and his friends tell us that while in the Union we are responsible for slavery. He and they sing out “No Union with slaveholders,” and refuse to vote. I admit our responsibility for slavery while in the Union but I deny that going out of the Union would free us from that responsibility. There now clearly is no freedom from responsibility for slavery to any American citizen short to the abolition of slavery. The American people have gone quite too far in this slaveholding business now to sum up their whole business of slavery by singing out the cant phrase, “No union with slaveholders.” To desert the family hearth may place the recreant husband out of the presence of his starving children, but this does not free him from responsibility. If a man were on board of a pirate ship, and in company with others had robbed and plundered, his whole duty would not be preformed simply by taking the longboat and singing out, “No union with pirates.” His duty would be to restore the stolen property. The American people in the Northern States have helped to enslave the black people. Their duty will not have been done till they give them back their plundered rights. Reference was made at the City Hall to my having once held other opinions, and very different opinions to those I have now expressed. An old speech of mine delivered fourteen years ago was read to show — I know not what. Perhaps it was to show that I am not infallible. If so, I have to say in defence, that I never pretended to be. Although I cannot accuse myself of being remarkably unstable, I do not pretend that I have never altered my opinion both in respect to men and things. Indeed, I have been very much modified both in feeling and opinion within the last fourteen years. When I escaped from slavery, and was introduced to the Garrisonians, I adopted very many of their opinions, and defended them just as long as I deemed them true. I was young, had read but little, and naturally took some things on trust. Subsequent experience and reading have led me to examine for myself. This had brought me to other conclusions. When I was a child, I thought and spoke as a child. But the question is not as to what were my opinions fourteen years ago, but what they are now. If I am right now, it really does not matter what I was fourteen years ago. My position now is one of reform, not of revolution. I would act for the abolition of slavery through the Government — not over its ruins. If slaveholders have ruled the American Government for the last fifty years, let the anti-slavery men rule the nation for the next fifty years. If the South has made the Constitution bend to the purposes of slavery, let the North now make that instrument bend to the cause of freedom and justice. If 350,000 slaveholders have, by devoting their energies to that single end, been able to make slavery the vital and animating spirit of the American Confederacy for the last 72 years, now let the freemen of the North, who have the power in their own hands, and who can make the American Government just what they think fit, resolve to blot out for ever the foul and haggard crime, which is the blight and mildew, the curse and the disgrace of the whole United States. REFERRAL https://www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/1860-frederick-douglass-constitution-united-states-it-pro-slavery-or-anti-slavery/ Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787 from James MAdison https://avalon.law.yale.edu/subject_menus/debcont.asp

even points @Pioneer1 @ProfD tethers:) truth

I thought about donald trump owing eighty three million to a woman already getting money from him for defamation over years. It occurs to me, black men of nyc who have been in the prison system are settling for too low. IF defamation over ten years can get eighty three million then seven million is too little to someone falsely imprisoned for over two decades. CANNABIS NEW YORK – New York City Mayor Eric Adams today celebrated the opening of Matawana Dispensary, the first Black woman-owned legal cannabis dispensary in Brooklyn. Building on an announcement in his State of the City address last month, Mayor Adams recommitted to supporting the equitable growth of the legal cannabis market and ensuring justice-impacted individuals are not undermined through an illegal market by working with Albany to grant local authorities the power to inspect and shutdown illegal smoke shops. “For too long, Black and Brown communities have faced high rates of drug-related incarceration and have been denied opportunities to build wealth. As we close out Black History Month, New York City is taking steps to right the wrongs of the past by supporting equitable growth in the legal cannabis industry,” said Mayor Adams. “But it’s not enough to support the opening of new legal cannabis shops — we must also close down the illegal operators that threaten the success of legal shops and put the safety of our communities at risk. We have been clear in our call to state lawmakers to give us the power to shut down illegal smoke shops, and we will continue to work with Governor Hochul and all our partners in Albany who are fighting to give us this authority.” “I am encouraged to see the quickening pace of legal retail dispensary openings in the city and thank our colleagues at Cannabis NYC and the Office of Cannabis Management for all that they are doing to support the growth of the local market,” said Deputy Mayor for Housing, Economic Development, and Workforce Maria Torres-Springer. “To fulfill our promise to trailblazers like Leeann and to the communities most impacted by drug-related criminalization policies of the past, we have to pursue two priorities in tandem — developing services and supports for cannabis entrepreneurs and businesses while working with the state to close down illegal operators.” “As a Brooklyn native who left New York due to denied access to medical cannabis, this is a full-circle moment,” said Cannabis NYC Founding Director Dasheeda Dawson. “Not only do I have the honor of leading the city’s efforts in developing an equitable, sustainable legal cannabis industry, but we are bearing witness to history with the first Black, woman-owned cannabis dispensary opening in my home borough. This opening reflects the Adams administration's commitment to building economic opportunity in communities most impacted by prohibition-era policies, transitioning legacy to legal, and becoming the ‘City of Yes’ for the multibillion-dollar global cannabis industry.” “The Sheriff’s Office will continue to work with our partner agencies at the direction of Mayor Adams to conduct inspections of unlicensed smoke shops so the legal market can thrive,” said New York City Sheriff Anthony Miranda. “The New York City Sheriff’s Office Joint Compliance Task Force to Address Illegal Smoke Shops has seized over $29 million in illicit products that were being sold in illegal shops in close reach of our children and houses of worship, and found 92 percent of the locations inspected to be in violation of the law. As we protect our children and families from these unregulated products, we encourage those that do participate in this market to shop at a licensed location where the products are regulated and safe.” “I'm proud of Matawana Dispensary, not just as an emerging small business, but as a symbol of equity in New York City’s legal cannabis industry,” said New York City Department of Small Businesses Commissioner Kevin D. Kim. “Businesses like this propel New York City as the global capital for legal cannabis and boost our city’s overall economic resilience.” “Draconian prohibition laws cost my family almost everything, but the plant itself is a healing herb,” said Matawana Dispensary Founder Leeann Mata. “When it became legal, I used it to treat my anxiety and created formulations that helped my mother with pain and helped her conquer an opioid addiction. I have been able to support elders with homemade CBD creams.” The legalization of cannabis has allowed a new economy to emerge in New York state while addressing the harmful impact of the ‘War on Drugs’ on Black and Brown New Yorkers. Leeann Mata, owner of Matawana Dispensary, is an East New York native who previously taught at a New York City Department of Education public school. A first-generation New Yorker with family originally from Trinidad, Mata and her family members were justice-impacted through the previous criminalization of cannabis, but now are part of a new legal, cannabis economy. However, for New York City’s new cannabis economy and businesses like Mata’s to thrive, the city and state need to protect the legal market from illegal actors. The Adams administration is working with Albany to secure the authority for local municipalities to have explicit control over cannabis enforcement to finally end this public health and safety issue. New York City is using every tool available to protect young people from dangerous, illegal cannabis and tobacco products, while sending a clear message that anyone helping these illegal, unlicensed shops to spread throughout the five boroughs will be held accountable. Coordinating with both city and state authorities, the Adams administration formed the New York City Sheriff’s Office Joint Compliance Task Force to Address Illegal Smoke Shops. This task force is dedicated to conducting enforcement against unlicensed establishments selling cannabis, cannabis-infused edibles, illegal vaping products, illegal cigarettes, and other illegal tobacco products. Since forming, the task force has imposed almost $90 million in penalties — including an estimated $29 million in illegal products seized and over $61 million in civil penalties issued. Since the start of the Adams administration, the city has closed 160 illegal businesses, conducted over 46,000 inspections, collected over $18 million in fines, and issued 17,000 summonses. Additionally, the city has sent letters to over 408 landlords and owners of buildings across the five boroughs warning that they could be legally liable for the continued unlicensed sale of cannabis or tobacco products by their tenants, resulting in 15 evictions. https://www.nyc.gov/assets/finance/downloads/pdf/23pdf/landlord-illegal-smokeshop-notice.pdf Last year, the city also filed a federal lawsuit against four major distributors of flavored disposable e-cigarettes for unlawfully distributing exotically flavored disposable e-cigarettes to retail vape and smoke shops, convenience stores, and directly to consumers in New York City through online sales. Two distributors have agreed to stop selling e-cigarettes in New York City while the remaining two are facing a preliminary injunction from the New York City Department of Law. “I'm proud to see Brooklyn's first Black woman-owned dispensary open in the heart of my district,” said U.S. Representative Dan Goldman. “With the opening of Matawana, Leeann Mata is making history. Her advocacy to improve the criminal justice system and example of restorative justice are truly admirable. As more licensed dispensaries open their doors, I look forward to more community advocates like Leann becoming small business owners.” “Congratulations to Leeann Mata on the opening of her new small business. I am a champion for small businesses and M/WBEs, and I am especially proud that this is the first Black woman-owned business of its kind,” said New York State Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar. “Matawana will provide economic empowerment to those disproportionately affected by Draconian drug laws and generate tax revenue that will be invested in communities historically targeted for enforcement, including Ms. Mata’s home of East New York. In Albany, I will support her by passing my SMOKEOUT Act, which will shutter all the unlicensed shops that unfairly compete with legal dispensaries like hers.” Media Contact pressoffice@cityhall.nyc.gov (212) 788-2958 https://www.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/150-24/mayor-adams-fights-legal-cannabis-industry-celebrating-opening-first-black-woman-owned

He is being honored with a showcase on FLickr https://blog.flickr.net/en/2024/02/27/visual-storytelling-with-photographer-and-archivist-elvert-barnes/ The following are my favorites for more images concerning Black people captured by Elvert, utilize the following https://exbphoto.com/blackheritage

Best line up ever, looks good to be honest:) is this the largest lineup in terms of quantity? I don't see your name or your box?

congrats!:) did they have a little party? maybe make a book of memories?

@ProfD fair enough, I admit , it is the black populace in nyc that I thought about with this post more than any other in the usa. In the last 24 hours, , a black elder, called law enforcement constantly on a mattress store. The mattress store was found out to have been allowing migrants whose thirty day stay is up to be in their basement. illegal of course, the basement has no windows, no ventilation, and they had 75 people in there rotating sleep sessions, they paid 300 dollars. But, law enforcement didn't discover anything, a black elder who wasn't hurt, wasn't interacted with, simply opened their damn mouth for no reason but to be a damn snitch. I am tired of all this. maybe everywhere else in the usa this is warranted or needed and you know what, fair enough. but in nyc i tired of this, and i call traitors on any black person in nyc who acts like this. If you are afraid of living around homeless people, just leave nyc, please. If you can't stand having neighbors who don't act the way you want, then leave nyc please. Too many black church folk , black elders, black one percent seem more interested in making something out of nothing with other black people. I admit my irritation is in the black populace in nyc. I admit i should had let out that truth from the very beginning. @Troy well said, fair enough to education . To the black community in tulsa, in cheap retrospect, isn't it clear the whole enterprise was false. Enterprise meaning what? When we talk of Tulsa so few of us, we or us meaning Black folk, ever focus on the faulty strategy of making a strong black populace in a white city in the first place. Again NYC is the proof. When you consider how much effort so many black people put to making successful black communities in nyc, i argue it is a waste of time regardless of whatever communal straegies you have in mind. The city is white, and even though black people are not being hanged in 2024, the city is harmful to black people.

@ProfD but what about new orleans mardi gras? I know DOSers from new orleans... they are not ADOS to you then?

@Troy if your favorite game is pinball and you are black from nyc, you are not a ghetto boy?:) @ProfD the curriculum must change, pi-no-chle!:)

@Troy Ok, i miscomprehended. I thought it was directed to me. to the statistics, fair enough. I hold true that statistics are always in the gathering details. I have no proof nor the resources to count myself but I do now the white jewish population in nyc recently were discovered to have a over 90% failing rate among a collection of hasidic schools in nyc. https://aalbc.com/tc/profile/6477-richardmurray/?status=2064&type=status But the key is that these schools students aren't treated as failures in the past with the same grades. Somethings flawed in the numbers in nyc at least when you have so many students who are failures, but not considered failing, and I don't deny my negative bias, but I can say that while maybe everywhere else in the usa is correct to the numbers emitted by the federal government, nyc is not. fair enough point to intrarace give and go's. @ProfD What kept black people from getting on the action? do you know that black people had to march and march and march to get white busineses to accept black labor in harlem? what kept? Prod, do you know black people were enslaved in the usa? Do you know what jim crow was after the war between the states? Do you know that jim crow was applied everywhere in the usa? You may feel i am insulting yu but I don't see it that way, i think my questions are valid because you seem to not know that whites are the enemies of blacks in the usa historically. And NYC white populace is more anti black than in the deep south. Yes, hangings aren't as common in nyc as in the south. yes but this city'entire government is anti black historically. yes in the year 2024, the government of nyc seems to be able to embrace all, but this is a recent occurence. During dinkin's administration it was so anti black . Proffd, black history in the usa has proven that codification + cooperation have limits to bringing success, if what you said was true, tulsa'a black community wouldn't had been murdered. What black populace in a city was more codifyng or cooperating than the black populace in tulsa... what happened? did they build a golden city in the sky?

but @ProfD the question at the poll was Does every black populace under each government in the american continent have a mardi gras/carnaval? What black populace under a government in the american continent(canada to the usa) doesn't have a carnaval? i will like to know. I didn't ask does a carnaval unite all continental black americans. None do. A day of freedom, is universal among the continental black americans from canada to argentina, but I don't think those days can be used to unite the DOSers continentally cause black people in the american continent have correctly while historically, always had variance among their definition of freedom or their goals.

@ProfD I paraphrase the great james baldwin, how much time? one hundred years from now, five hundred? if by matter of time you mean one thusand years, well yeah. I quote myself intentionally any answer will require a significant sacrifice of time. I always give the caste parallel in india, the second most multiracial populace i humanity. The caste can't go casue the caste allows for the multiracial populace to exist. In the same way the usa's individualism allows the multiracial populace to exist. yes, the individualism kills communal strength which is why all populaces are suffering to be better communally now in some way or form in the USA. But, to undo the system and build a new one better suited from within the usa while not having drastic financial or militaristic changes to the usa is really a task. The USA had a sixties generation of leaders who were willing but the rich white europans murdered them so... The current system is dysfunctional in many ways but where it does serve best is the individual mandate which allows for latinos who came into the usa illegally in modernity to vote for greater measures against illegal immigrants. It has always allowed for blacks led by the black church folk or black one percent to speak of all sorts of lies or falsities or half truths concerning the majority of the black populace in the usa which has always been fiscally nihil and only had illegal activity to provide financial opportunity. I know you see the usa in the context of two sides of the same coin but I a complex uneven many sided polygon that can't find balance on any one group with ever changing sides, far more than two, and is only held together by an individual allowance, which is rare under most governments in humanity, for positive reason.

@Pioneer1 @ProfD @harry brown who among you answered no in the poll above and t ot he one who did, please speak of the black populace in a government in the american continent that doesn't have a mardi gras/carnival?

@ProfD I am not saying black people are our own worst enemy. I am saying the black populace has a large percent of people , at least in NYC whose position isn't the majority outside their group but was used by whites to aid in justifying false situations. And it matters cause the black populace in the usa today is built on those lies not just from the white man but black people themselves. the black drug dealers was never in control, the NYPD always controlled them. You have to comprehend how illegality works in every city in the usa. TO be blunt, the NYPD have usually controlled the entire illegal financial operation in nyc since their creation. Yes, a few phases had true mob control but those are rare. The NYPD tells you where you can operate you know. Anyone who knows anything about the street in nyc knows this already . No the NYPD never take the majority cut because to take the majority cut will expose the nypd to internal affairs plus federal revue. The goal is to get a sweet cut, control where the illegal activity operates and let the illegal operators have the rest. So no one, white black or other in NYC's illegal fiscal market can do what they please as you suggested black drug dealers should had. Anyone tell you that can commonly happen is a liar. And those who want to go against the nypd or a larger mob will need serious arms, ok. this is not a simple thing. And as the nypd has grown in number this is even more of a challenge. But to talking about growing black wealth. well, what do you mean? Remember, most of NYC's buildings were originally owned by whites or were through bankruptcy owned by the city government which for most of its history is over 95% white in terms of employees. I argue,in cheap retrospect the better argument is to grow black wealth outside nyc by said black drug dealers. Cause NYC, Chicago, Los aNgeles, or similar are all silly places when it comes to black empowerment. For black individuals they are fine but for the black populace they are never fine. @Troy I admit I was so concerned with the topic of black people's false positions in the black populace in the usa to search my own posts in this community, AALBC, where i cite. But I link something below for the staticticphiles. Now listen I can't verify anything. As I tell people elsewhere online, the only way to truly know the validity of any statistics is to do it all yourself. but anyway https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2022/educational-attainment.html They say the following The high school completion rate in the United States for people age 25 and older increased from 87.6% in 2011 to 91.1% in 2021. The percentage of the population age 25 and older with associate degrees rose from 9.5% to 10.5% between 2011 and 2021. So I will retract my statement and say Most people in the usa don't have a college diploma near 70% But the statistics do not matter. The point is black people speaking false to other black people. Which no one seems to be interesting talking about who commented on this post. Why support false things? And I will even be as public to my personal life as i can stomach and say, there are those in my bloodline who concur to you Troy, about the condition of the black populace or NYC themselves, while they actually knew the white hand. But I have to add , there are those in my bloodline who concur to me as well, about my position in opposition to yours. And the people I am speaking about are older than you and lived in NYC their entire lives. Now I am not going to go any further and if anyone doesn't believe well ok. But, I am not going to provide some valdiation or quotations or names. Crooked cops, in my view , crooked NYPD, it isn't cops for me, it is the entire organization. Every single law enforcer in NYC knows a fellow law enforcer who is committing a crime and sequentially they are aiding and abetting said crime plus breaking the oath they utter. I never said Drug dealers were traitors to the race Troy. I was speaking of black church people. I apologize for confusing you plus the people i call the black one percent. They in my view were and still are the traitors cause their positions are false to the situation of the larger populace. but I comprehend why , as i said in my comment if I said black drug dealers were traitors to the black race please quote me and I will retract that.