Troy

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Umar's argument against the film is silly. Black Panther is a Marvel flick designed to make a bazillion dollars -- globally. Any conscious aspects are purely accidental, coincidental, and otherwise incidental. Obviously, Marvel was trying to appeal to Mexicans and women but they also had to do this without alienating the broader global audience. Marvel clearly succeeded at this -- they have this down pat. Now I disliked the way some Black people embraced Black Panther as if it were part of our cultural heritage -- when it is a story dreamt up by a couple of young white boys. But as a movie, designed to entertain a large number of people, I think Black Panther (I) did a great job while Black Panther II was adequate. Besides, whatever happened to Johnson's school and all the money he raised for it?

I hear you. Arguing, debating, or trying to convince someone to change their point of few is difficult. I used to think this was because I was lacking on some level; my argument was weak or I was not being persuasive enough. But I've learned there is often resistance to seeing things differently. If a so-called white person believes Black people are genetically inferior. Convincing them otherwise is very difficult especially if they were raised in a white racist society like America. Even when geneticists tell us that a Black person can have more in common, genetically, with any given white person, than another white person, people will still cling to white racist ideas. When you say "true of them," I'm sure you will acknowledge that this does not have to match objective truth otherwise known as reality. White superiority is a lie, a point I still think is worth arguing. 🙂

This is a false statement. Man white people -- even Republicans are completely against Trump's voter fraud conspiracy theory and others were convinced enough to store the Capitol -- not exactly a picture of unity. Alex Jones will almost certainly go to jail because of his false claims that the school was a hoax. White folks in the country have never been "unified," the blood bath known as the civil war demonstrated this quite plainly. The race-wide unity for Black folks you desire is a pipe dream. The social construct of "race" has nothing to do with the people themselves; expecting it to be some unifying factor is naïve. That said, we can certainly rally around the cause of defeating racism. The people unified around this cause can be of any so-called "race."

I could ask, but historically no one replies to my direct out reach. Maybe people who register but don’t post really don’t create accounts with the intention of posting… i dunno Maybe we can ask @Don who signed up this week.

@richardmurray I'd have to create a report to get the answer to your question. If I had to guess I'd say the number of new members was about the same or slightly down. I do know that the number of visits to the forums is higher in 2022 than it was in 2021. But the issue is not really new members -- we have plenty of those. It is the lack of posting those new members. Welcome @Rick, who signed up Xmas eve.

This is true only when the individual believes it is to be true. We determine when we are successful; the rest of the world can embrace it or not... but it is cool when the world does embrace your definition of success 🙂 Me too. I seek out judgment, but I find judgment, as you suggested, is more about the judger than the judged. @Cynique it is always a pleasure to read your words.

Interesting observation. Not all white folks will do this. Some white folks will go in and buy that house, in a red-lined location, for a Black friend undermining the racist whites. Other white folks will buy houses from white folks telling them that the Blacks are moving in, which depresses home values, These same people then buy those houses and sell them at inflated prices to Black people. Again, white folks undermine other white folks for profit, buy taking advantage of their racism. Race is a motivator in so far as it is profitable. I agree with this 100%. This is the only way anything can change in a country as heterogenous as America.

The comparison between Gangsta rap music industry and these two movies is a flawed analogy on several levels. First the the presumption that both are a deliberate schemes to undermine black peoples is flawed especially when applied to the marvel film and the woman king. i don’t think gangsta rap was good for the black community outside of the black people who were enriched by it. Any harm done to the black community was incidental. The only goal was to make money regardless of color. One could argue the white community was adversely effected by gangsta rap. One would have a great deal of difficulty reasonably arguing that the woman king and black Panther is harming the black community for showcasing women warriors. They also in real life there are female marines, professional mixed martial artists. Boxers, etc. there have aureus be female warriors. i think @Pioneer1 you have unconsciously assimilated the old short lived Victorian sensibility of the fair frail weak woman who must be protected by a man.

The comparison between Gangsta rap music industry and these two movies is a flawed analogy on several levels. First the the presumption that both are a deliberate schemes to undermine black peoples is flawed especially when applied to the marvel film and the woman king. i don’t think gangsta rap was good for the black community outside of the black people who were enriched by it. Any harm done to the black community was incidental. The only goal was to make money regardless of color. One could argue the white community was adversely effected by gangsta rap. One would have a great deal of difficulty reasonably arguing that the woman king and black Panther is harming the black community for showcasing women warriors. They also in real life there are female marines, professional mixed martial artists. Boxers, etc. there have aureus be female warriors. i think @Pioneer1 you have unconsciously assimilated the old short lived Victorian sensibility of the fair frail weak woman who must be protected by a man.

@Pioneer1 If I had the time I would welcome all new members: Hi @Don, @Michaelallen, @emilyhkeough, @Timothy Watson, @FedUp, @bbracks2, @bays, and @mat welcome to the forums! Please share your thoughts 🙂 There are 8,500 accounts of those 6,000 were banned as spammers -- most before they even posted. Still that leaves 2,500 valid and active accounts. Many added profile images but never posted or posted very little like; @A.L. Gibson , @B.L. Brown, @C.L.Swayzer, @D. Haynes The Author, @Eclectuals, @Fatima Shaik, @Gail Diamond, @Hassahn, @Icomeinpeace1, @J. Wells, @Kahlil Crawford, @ladiechat, @M. Ann Machen Pritchard, @nadivyah hargrove, @ocartman1, @P. Allen Jones, @Queen melanin, @Rae, @S. Denice Newton, @TableFables, @Uniquelymade7, @Valorena, @Walkman93, @Xavier Rudduck, @Yao, @Zig Zag

People are here reading, and I approve new accounts every day, folks don't post. 😞

No, I'm not kidding. Now I freely admit I have not read everything posted on these forums. But I don't recall reading a number of posts that would justify your statement: "Many Black men, and I suspect this of some in this forum, remain insanely jealous of Barack Obama." Please share a single post from this forum that you think would characterize the poster as "insanely jealous" of Obama. I've posted quite a few things critical of Obama on these forums, but I would not characterize myself as jealous of Obama. Were you aware that a full two years into his presidency Obama would not give a Black-owned newspaper an interview? Why do you think Obama chose not to speak with the Black press? George E. Curry editor of the NNPA News Service, complained last week that President Obama was disrespecting the black media, too. “There is a disrespect for the black press that we have not seen in recent years. For example, we have requested — every year — an interview with the president. He can ignore 200 black newspapers and 19 million viewers but he can give one to every stupid white comedian there is on TV, the black ones and the white ones, and has time for all types of buffoonery but they will not respect the black press enough to give us an interview,” Curry said on TVOne’s NewsOneNow with Roland Martin. —from Richard Prince’s Journal-isms™ I think Obama avoided the Black press because they would have attempted to hold him accountable to Black people. White media is not inclined, or even able, to do this. They harped on him being the first Black President and being "so articulate." We HAVE to support our own platforms to be unified. If the first so-called Black president refuses to grant the Black press an interview, that is a SERIOUS problem for Black unity. Am I wrong about this?

"Insanely Jealous" I'm not sure which Black men said what to prompt this conclusion. When people point out that Obama, who has a white mother, is not a descendant of enslaved Africans, was raised quite differently than most Black people and simply is very different than most Black Americans. Acknowledging that difference is not jealousy. Similarly, when people point out that Obama bailed out the crooks in the banking industry, his financial backers, while millions lost homes without getting any relief; that is not jealousy it is calling out inequity that has contributed to accelerating the wealth gap in the country. @frankster The New York Times has a paywall so I read this article regarding the achievement gap Obama closed after his inauguration. To me to give Obama that much credit seems extreme. The study admittedly used a small sample set and has not been peer-reviewed. What are the long-term effects since the study was conducted? Presumably, Black people do not get immediately smarter after Obama was sworn into office. Are we to believe that Obama's election had the immediate effect of reducing test-taking anxiety because of Black people's increased sense of competence among African-Americans after Obama was sworn in -- immediately and completely eliminated differences in test scores? As far as Obama's impact on reducing violence in the Black community, to attribute any declines to one man, even President Obama, is a stretch -- on it's face. Violent crime was on a decline nationwide before Obama was elected. It is like Giuliani taking credit for a decline in crime in NYC because of his "broken windows" policy. Changes in crime are complex and usually not attributable solely to one person. That is like blaming the increase in violent crime, in Chicago, on Lightfoot. Obama is clearly a person who can "think rationally," is great "at public speaking" and, can galvanize "others to be inspired by him." These are fine qualities but there are many Black people with these characteristics, Obama will always be great as he was the first Black president. Now some might be a little jealous of the privilege, riches, and other benefits that come from this 😉 In fact that is probably normal... But "Insane" jealousy against Obama, as demonstrated by what anyone has written here, is hyperbolic.

For all the reasons Deion Sanders took a role at Jackson State then left for Colorado pretty much sums our unification predicament up.

“Black films which make an impact on our minds and hearts are also making a sizable impact at the box office. Our top film, The Woman King, bridges the gap between telling important, heartfelt stories, and providing an entertaining experience for movie-going audiences.” —AAFCA president and co-founder Gil Robertson As previously expressed on these forums I would agree with the African American Film Critics Association's (AAFCA) assessment of The Woman King. Now I have only seen three of the films on the list, but The Woman King was one of the best films I've seen in a long time. If Davis does not earn an Academy Award nomination it will be a travesty. Interestingly, but not really surprising, is Nope's failure to make the AAFCA's top 10. Now if you look at the way white folks rank The Woman King and Nope you get a completely different picture. I heard an interview on NPR which discussed the top films of 2022 The Woman King was completely overlooked and Nope was touted as one of the best films of the year. One white film critic solidified Peele's place as a great filmmaker -- wow! Nope's critical acclaim relative to The Woman King in white circles is fascinating. This demonstrates why it is important for Black platforms to exist and for them to celebrate Black art. Here are the rest of the African American Film Critics Association's top 10 films: 1. “The Woman King” 2. “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” 3. “Till” 4. “Sidney” 5. “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” & “Emancipation” 6. “Inspection” 7. “Causeway” 8. “Everything Everywhere All at Once” 9. “Wendell & Wild” 10. “Devotion”

Perhaps @richardmurray, or it could just be a weak film starting an actor who assaulted a brother, in public, for no good reason. 😉

This is why I stopped watching the "news" I don't need knowledge of senseless murders in my life... Tell me about it after it has been adjudicated. I don't know how you prevent this? Savages will always be amongst us. They are not always raised, they are born that way.

No, I wasn't. But they are probably getting the arms from guys like the one we just sent back to Russia...

Well, thanks for the feedback. Since your opinions are the only ones that matter (those expressed right here). I plan on keeping this forum exactly the way it is. But people can also engage on all the content pages on this site. For example, on the review of Kamala Harris's memoir we have these comments. I would like there to be more comments, but right now they are mostly troll-like or self-promotion; no real attempt to dialog... but this is not unique to AALBC.

The summary of a review of Emancipation from The Atlantic: “Some viewers may be inclined to avoid Emancipation because of Smith’s and McFarland’s actions. But the mediocre film offers plenty of its own reasons for people to not watch.”

Yes, I’m sure Octavia would have loved to see her work on TV. I always thought Kindred would make a good film. I’m looking forward to seeing the series.

I'm looking around for some software that will make comments on this site's web pages and maybe even replace the discussion forum software. The account creation really discourages people from participating. The video was on one of those vendors' websites. I liked the spirit of the video.

Such a terrible situation... Where are these gangs getting all of these weapons and ammunition? We just gave Russia back an arms dealer in exchange for a sister they jammed to use as a bargaining chip (or so it seems). Interestingly, the media pay so much attention to Kyrie's tweet that the situation in Haiti isn't even part of the daily discourse. Thanks for bringing this to the fore @Chevdove.

Also check out “The Visions of Octavia Butler” article in the New York Times.