Troy

Written more than 15 years ago, “Can Black People Go 5 Minutes Without Music?” remains one of my most popular Blog posts. It is also one of my most popular conversations on AALBC that is not on this discussion forum: https://aalbc.com/blog/index.php/2006/07/09/can-black-people-go-5-minutes-without-music/#disqus_thread it got 31 comments in the past year. Which is more than I got when I first made the blog post. All of the traffic came from search and I'm not sure what is responsible for the increase. Are Black people increasingly blasting music? Id does seems like some of the respondents are racist, but what would you expects with the subject line I chose... I know here in Tulsa it is not uncommon for white folks to be blasting music from cars, in the park, on their bikes, or just walking down a trail. Usually it is a guy. Women rarely do this: I wonder why? I think the availability of these big-ass blue tooth speakers is part of the reason. Fortunately I'm not in a situation where I'm constantly being assaulted by someone blasting music.

From funny and fearless entertainment journalist Sesali Bowen, Bad Fat Black Girl combines rule-breaking feminist theory, witty and insightful personal memoir, and cutting cultural analysis for an unforgettable, genre-defining debut. Weaving together searing personal essay and cultural commentary, Bad Fat Black Girl interrogates sexism, fatphobia, and capitalism all within the context of race and hip-hop offering a new, inclusive feminism for the modern world. Buy Now ▶ Books by 2021 MacArthur “Genius” Fellows The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, each year, identifies talented individuals who have shown extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction. Awardees receive a no-strings-attached grant of $625,000, paid out over five years. Algorithms Of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism by Safiya Umoja Noble Algorithms Of Oppression is a revealing look at how negative biases against women of color are embedded in search engine results and algorithms. I noticed this problem more than a decade ago, when I observed Google’s search results highlighted the most negative aspects of Black women authors — so much one had to dig hard to discover their positive accomplishments. Recently, Facebook rejected the inclusion of Algorithms Of Oppression on my Facebook store. This bias is simply baked into the way the handful of companies, who control the World Wide Web, operate. Learn More ▶ Sing, Aretha, Sing!: Aretha Franklin, Respect, and the Civil Rights Movement by Hanif Abdurraqib A young Aretha Franklin captivates her community with the song “Respect” during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, in this striking picture book biography that will embolden today’s young readers to sing their own truth. With Hanif Abdurraqib’s poetic voice and Ashley Evans’s dynamic illustrations, Sing, Aretha, Sing! demonstrates how one brave voice can give new power to a nation, and how the legacy of Aretha Franklin lives on in a world still fighting for freedom (Preorder: Ships Dec 28, 2021). Felon: Poems by Reginald Dwayne Betts The AALBC bestselling book, Felon tells the story of the effects of incarceration in fierce, dazzling poems — canvassing a wide range of emotions and experiences through homelessness, underemployment, love, drug abuse, domestic violence, fatherhood, and grace — and, in doing so, creates a travelogue for an imagined life. Reginald Dwayne Betts confronts the funk of postincarceration existence and examines prison not as a static space, but as a force that enacts pressure throughout a person's life. Drawing inspiration from lawsuits filed on behalf of the incarcerated, the redaction poems focus on the ways we exploit and erase the poor and imprisoned from public consciousness. Traditionally, redaction erases what is top secret; in Felon, Betts redacts what is superfluous, bringing into focus the profound failures of the criminal justice system and the inadequacy of the labels it generates. Challenging the complexities of language, Betts animates what it means to be a felon. Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi Kendi is also the author of the bestselling book on AALBC.com for 2020, How to Be an Antiracist. But it his earlier work, Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, is his most critically acclaimed. AALBC captured video of Kendi, in 2016, when he won the National Book Award for nonfiction in 2016. In this deeply researched and fast-moving narrative, Kendi chronicles the entire story of anti-Black racist ideas and their staggering power over the course of American history. Stamped from the Beginning uses the life stories of five major American intellectuals to offer a window into the contentious debates between assimilationists and segregationists and between racists and antiracists. Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor Race for Profit uncovers how exploitative real estate practices continued well after housing discrimination was banned. The same racist structures and individuals remained intact after redlining’s end, and close relationships between regulators and the industry created incentives to ignore improprieties. Meanwhile, new policies meant to encourage low-income homeownership created new methods to exploit Black homeowners. The federal government guaranteed urban mortgages in an attempt to overcome resistance to lending to Black buyers — as if unprofitability, rather than racism, was the cause of housing segregation. Bankers, investors, and real estate agents took advantage of the perverse incentives, targeting the Black women most likely to fail to keep up their home payments and slip into foreclosure, multiplying their profits. As a result, by the end of the 1970s, the nation’s first programs to encourage Black homeownership ended with tens of thousands of foreclosures in Black communities across the country. AALBC Gift Certificates An AALBC gift certificate is a great way to share the joy of reading. Gift certificates can also be applied to all of AALBC’s services including advertising — a perfect gift for the author in your life. Literary Activist Lynda Johnson Passes Lynda Johnson was a renaissance woman. She was a professor, fashion stylist, and magazine journalist. She was also the President and Co-founder of Go On Girl! Book Club a national literary sisterhood, boasting more than 48 chapters, 500 members, across 16 states, supporting authors, in multiple genres, from the African diaspora. Lynda was an ardent supporter of AALBC. She helped make what I do possible. She encouraged and celebrated my efforts. I will always love her for that. Her loss will be profoundly felt across the Black book world. May she rest in peace. Dear Troy, As always, you are why we’ve been able to make AALBC the premier online platform for books by, or about, people of African descent. Your paid subscription, book purchases, suggestions, engagement on the site, commenting, social sharing, and advertisements helps support AALBC’s mission. Peace and Love, Troy Johnson Founder & Webmaster, AALBC.com This message is sponsored by sponsored by Amistad Books Consider sponsoring our eNewsletter or a dedicated email. ★ AALBC.com eNewsletter – October 5, 2021 - Issue #336 © 2021 AALBC.com, LLC | Tampa, FL ★ Tulsa, OK ★ Harlem, NY

Algorithms Of Oppression speaks to the exact problem Facebook is demonstrating by rejecting my ability to sell the book on their website. The book's author, Safiya Umoja Noble, provides "a revealing look at how negative biases against women of color are embedded in search engine results and algorithms." Algorithms Of Oppression came out in 2018 but I noticed this problem more than decade ago, as Google's search results displayed a clear bias toward the most negative aspects of Black women authors in their search results. Read how Google search results focused upon Terry McMillan's scandals over the successes. See how Google's search results elevated the most negative aspects of the author Zane. It was not just Google, it was Wikipedia and Facebook as well. Below is a screen shot of an email I got from Facebook after adding the book to my store (an automated process). Facebook rejected the book saying. "...it doesn't comply with our Policies." I guess the capital "P" is for emphasis... Of course a policy that would reject this book is absurd. Facebook does give me the option to request a review of the case, but I sell so few books on Facebook it is not worth the effort. When I first started writing about this problem no one seemed to care, so I was really pleased to discover Noble's book on the subject. I was also very surprised I had not heard about the book previously, given the fact that I troll the internet, on a daily basis, for books and I have a keen interest in and knowledge of the subject. The failure to discover this book before now is not simply the publisher fault but a bias in with the hand full of companies who control the discoverability of things on the World Wide Web -- including this site A friend, who knows my position on this subject, texted me information about the book, which she discovered because Safiya Umoja Noble was awarded a MacArthur "Genius" Grant recently.

@Cynique it should not matter which device you are using to access the forums, as long as you credentials are valid. There should be a way for you to reset your password, if necessary. Of course no one is allowed to use your screen name, as a quest, to post -- not even you.

That response was not what I expected. You wrote, “Mandingo warrior types, 6 feet, 250+ lbs, and dark.“ At 5’4”, Most men are bigger that you. Your type would seemingly exclude the youthful Denzel Washington and Marvin Gaye. But as Cinque’s wrote, people have the types they like, and it all good to me, But I think I’m more along the line of Del’s response, “Woman.” Let’s start there then go to on to personality… Cause it don’t matter how fine a sister of she if is kray-kray.

So, heres the thing, the Internet can’t really go down, if the entire Internet “went down,” we’d have much more serious things to worry about. Sadly, the reporting equates Mark’s massive sites with the actual internet. Sadder still, for many people Facebook, and a handful of other sites IS the Internet. I was completely unaware of Facebook’s outrage until I read it here. I would have thought a multi-hour outage of these fault tolerant, highly secure, globally distributed website would be immune to such a thing. We do not have the entire story sports fans, and given the state of journalism today we may never learn it. All we’ll get are conspiracy theories and Facebook’s own propaganda.

Why do you think that is? Old school Farrakhan. I wonder if he would be so harsh today? I think he got it wrong though. Women appreciated Prince’s music more than his looks. In fact, it did not matter what Prince looked like.

@nels as @Mzuri wrote there is no group think and filter bubbles here. The opinions are as varied as the number of participants. If you want your world view consistently supported go to Facebook. If you can tolerate differing opinions stick around. Sometimes someone will write something and give me reason to rethink and even change an previously held opinion. It is also cool when i can get a good laugh. yeah, but it is not so much the moderation that gets me. Is the algorithms that determine what you see which is the real problem. Purportedly they are used to serve you the contact you are most likely to appreciate, but the reality is they are designed to show you the content that is optimized to deliver the most advertisements. Any benefit or enjoyment we derive is purely incidental. Imagine if @Cynique never saw @Pioneer1’s posts and @Delano only saw @Mel Hopkins and cyniques’s posts, and no one ever saw mine, and we all saw everything Trump and his detractors posted. That is not ideal, but that is social media today.

I believe this to be true; our best and brightest typically play from the white American playbook, winner take all mentality — do what ever it takes to make money — enslave Africans, work children in sweatshops, go abroad and steal wealth and natural resources, etc. If they can’t emulate white business practices in their own businesses then they strive to work for white businesses. I’m working on a variety of projects involved in what I call, the “Black Wall Street” state of mind, in the spirit, of the Black community that was created in Tulsa Oklahoma before white folks destroyed it — twice. It is not a novel concept, but hopefully on more will embrace moving forward.

@Delano, it is called modesty, a characteristic that has been completely devalued in our current culture. I’m actually surprised you saw it that way; you have been around long enough. Cynique’s explanation stand on it is own so I won’t try to elaborate. There was this poster that named @Sara that called @Cynique a “nigger bitch.” It was the first time I pulled a post AND cautioned a poster. Cynique argued in Sara’s favor, but I pulled the post anyway. I probably would have let nigger or bitch, used separately slide, but both in the context Sara used them was simply beyond the pale and for no good reason. Sara, deleted all of her posts and never came back. Aside from spammers there only other person’s posts I deleted on occasion and that was Kola Boof. I did not caution Kola because I knew it would be a waste of time 🙂 I did give her her own forum, as she gave @Thumper fits. He wanted her gone, but I would not boot her. Now both of them are long gone… Both Kola and Thumper were great contributors to the forums, but for very different reasons, but they were like water and oil. As @Pioneer1 says…

That is deep if it is indeed related.

Don't ask me how this book escaped my discovery (Google's fault I guess). Algorithms Of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism by Safiya Umoja Noble ADD TO CART

s Angeles, CA ) Melvin Van Peebles “The Godfather of Black Cinema” documentary film Sweet Black continues with production in ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ Melvin Van Peebles “God Father of Black Cinema” Documentary Sweet Black Production Continues In The wake of His Death (Los Angeles, CA ) Melvin Van Peebles “The Godfather of Black Cinema” documentary film Sweet Black continues with production in light of the famed filmmaker’s unexpected death. The iconic filmmaker was 89. The legendary director who brought us films that illuminated the black experience, including Sweet Sweetback’s Badaass Song, considered to be the movie that pioneered the blaxploitation sub-genre, passed away September 21 at his New York City home surrounded by his family. His son, acclaimed director/actor Mario Van Peebles made the announcement of his father’s death the next day via Instagram. Los Angeles based Tanya and Philip Hart of Flying Free Films are co-producers of the documentary Sweet Black along with Sylvie Gautier of Pop Films located in Paris, France. Sweet Black is a feature documentary about the director, writer, actor and playwright Melvin Van Peebles, and it celebrates the 50th Anniversary of his industry game-changing film Sweet Sweetback’s Badass Song which debuted in 1971. Catherine Bernstein and Martine Delumeau are the writers and directors. Jerome Colin is director of photography for the film. Phil and Tanya Hart were in the middle of producing Sweet Black when they received word of Melvin Van Peebles’ passing. They had completed an interview with famed director Reggie Hudlin and were preparing to interview with actor/director Bill Duke. Phil Hart recounts, “I was in the midst of being interviewed by our crew from Paris about my experience of attending the March 31, 1971, premiere of Sweet Sweetback’s Baadaaasss Song at the Grand Circus movie theater in Detroit. At the time I was a graduate student and activist at Michigan State University. On September 16 our crew was at Melvin’s apartment in Manhattan where we interviewed his sons Mario and Max and his grandchildren Mandela and Marguerite. Each read an excerpt from Melvin’s diary. Phil and Tanya Hart are both excited and saddened as they enter post-production on Sweet Black, “We are so pleased to be on the team that is telling the story of The Godfather of Black Cinema” Melvin Van Peebles with permission from and participation by the Van Peebles family. Rest In Peace and Power Melvin Van Peebles.” Sweet Black will air in March 2022 on ARTE TV in France, Germany and the EU. Soon thereafter it will air in the US. For more information or interviews contact: Media Contact, Edna Sims, Owner ESP Public Relations (310) 770-8117 E-mail: esppr@icloud.com About Tanya and Philip Hart The Harts are both included in The HistoryMakers Digital Archives and are co-producers of Sweet Black, a documentary film about Melvin Van Peebles and the making of Sweet Sweetback’s Badaasss Song to air on ARTE TV in March 2022 in France, Germany and the EU and soon thereafter in the US. Tanya Hart has a long relationship with both PBS and BET which began during her years on the air in the Boston television market. Tanya Hart has won four Emmy Awards, a Peabody Award, and other recognition for her television, radio, and film content over the years. Philip Hart has been recognized with a Notable Non-Fiction Children's Trade Book Award, and other awards for his films, books, and urban development projects Together the Harts have numerous types of content available via distributors and online such as Ray Charles: The Music Lives On and Tanya Hart Sings both on Spotify and other streaming services. Whether through films, books, music or documentaries the Harts continue to spotlight African American achievements. The Harts are recipients of the Diversity in Media Award from The Caucus for Producers, Writers & Directors and the 2019 Bessie Coleman Aerospace Legacy Award. Social Media – Phil and Tanya Hart Twitter and Instagram @TanyaHollywood Facebook Tanya Hart Media Contact: Edna Sims, Owner ESP Public Relations (310) 770-8117 E-mail: esppr@icloud.com  

I think the current theory was that a catastrophic meteor event wiped out the dinosaurs, but still this may be part of the "grand design," God's way of rebooting the planet.

I could make the same pronouncement but no one in the media would pay attention to me. The media gives them a platform. I doubt any man want the masses to know another man is banging his wife, which may be why Will seems salty @Delano. I’m any event I have no idea as i don’t consume the information. Social media keeps thrusting photos of the “son,” who seems to be an effeminate cross dresser, but i never click the images.

It is not the Smith's fault. The media pays a great deal of attention to this family. Largely because we've been trained to lap up this drivel. The media's focus on this family and their world view probably gives them the impression that what they think matters more than what the rest might think or the standard we believe of worthy of holding.

Lynda was a friend and super-supportive of AALBC. Her loss will be profoundly felt. The following is from the Go On Girl! Book Club: With a sorrowful heart we regret to announce the sudden passing of our beloved National Chair, President, and Co-Founder Lynda M. Johnson. Go On Girl! Book Club is Lynda's legacy. She was a visionary and a true leader. The world has lost an amazing human being. Anyone fortunate enough to come into contact with Lynda M. Johnson was left feeling loved and inspired. Lynda leaves behind a literary sisterhood that will forever embody her spirit. Words cannot adequately express our sadness at this time. We ask that you respect the family’s privacy during their bereavement. We will provide additional information in the days to follow. The GOG Executive Board members will honor Lynda’s memory by dedicating ourselves to the continued fulfillment of the mission of our organization and as a tribute to this amazing woman whose passing we mourn. The Executive Board Go On Girl! Book Club

Yeah The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois was just longlisted for a National Book Award. By Veronica Chambers Aug. 24, 2021, New York Times The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers THE LOVE SONGS OF W.E.B. DU BOIS By Honorée Fanonne Jeffers W.E.B. Du Bois has been a part of my intellectual life for as long as I can remember. At 16, I moved to Great Barrington, Mass., to attend Bard College at Simon’s Rock. Great Barrington was the birthplace of Du Bois, and as I learned when I was named a Du Bois scholar, the great man was so many things: an elder statesman of African American life, a distinguished historian, a sociologist, a civil-rights leader and an early model of what it might mean to be a public intellectual. He is, many would argue, the founding father of modern Black America. His writing, his ambitions, his failings and his accomplishments are the bass line of Honorée Fanonne Jeffers’s sweeping, masterly debut novel, “The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois.” Read the entire review ▶

No, "Guest Purple Crow" hasn't even created an account. Perhaps. I hope you are "write." 🙂

@Cynique I'm glad you got a chance to actually meet some of the participants in real life. @Pioneer1 you are probably correct about women and moderation style. The vast majority of time it was a woman asking me to moderate some else another woman wrote. I would always advise that they simply not take something the person said personally and if they could not do that to simply ignore them. They usually could never do this and they always left. People love the idea of taking the action of "Blocking" or "unfriending" someone. It is usually women who boast about this; "Yeah I had to unfriend her, she keeps getting on my nerves." You don't hear guys talk like this. I'm sure the pinheads at Facebook completely understand this psychology and have exploited it. As far as our collective intelligence. I always pushed back against this idea, but I think you may be right one some level. The evidence of the information contained in Ebony is prime example. I also know people are more attracted with optics over substance. This is killing us... She has a crack mind. Please Cynique, your contributions were, and are, invaluable here. The site is useless without people like you -- period. My motivation for the book was to capture some of the exchanges and bring it to a new and difference audience. I still think it is a good idea, I just never really truly had the time to manage the project. It would be easier to get off the ground today. You can always @Mel Hopkins she comes through periodically and would be happy to hear from you I'm sure. I think you two would get along ITRW too 🙂 That is a good question, but outside the scope of this conversation. I have started a new conversation on the Black Literature forum.

This was a question posed by @daniellegfny in another conversation. I thought it was important so I decided to post it here.

I'm assuming your are referring to Donny Hathaway (almost certainly) and Phyllis Hyman (my best guest). Who were the performer and writer?

That is an uncharacteristically egocentric viewpoint. What about the other creatures on the Earth, don't they count? Sure but this is not a novel experience. It has happened repeatedly throughout recorded history. Whenever people are able to witness change they see the end of the world. I guess from their perspective the world is indeed "ending." Alas, the world is not ending it is just changing, evolving. We will probably take some giants steps backwards. A few hundred thousand years from now some evolved Bonobos will look back on this time and wonder how such a privative people could have created all this technology -- they will assume it must have been aliens who gave the privative homo sapiens technology.

The world my friend will be here for a couple billion more years at least. If you meant that it is curtains for humanity, the end may be nigh, but surely it will extend beyond a couple years. I'm thinking at least a couple of centuries.

Yeah I saw that. She/He/They were one of two from the list I shared who went on to actually post. @Cynique you may recall we lost a lot of folks after I had to move the site and change the software. What do you think the reason was, was it really just a prefect storm of change in software and the rise of social? Thumper stopped participating as well. He provided the spark needed for the book forum, but the book forum, even at it's height, was never as popular as this "Culture, Race, and Economy" forum. Which I only created because people always strayed away from discussing books. Tody the only posters are me a the drive-by authors who post ads for the books or who ae looking for a review. They don't take the time to appreciate that I give regular posters the "hook up." Chris Hayden is a published author I'll look out for him. Interestingly I've met most of the old timers in the real world but a few other I know nothing about. Thumper had not posted on his account in years the last time I looked. Kola and Linda Watkins I've seen most often in the real world, as they are both writers and encounter them at events I both in different cities. Kola even came to one of my Black Pack Parties (Cynique you came to one too -- I wish I took more time to sit down and talk to you -- it seems so long ago now), Sorry to read you fell of with Deesha, she is probably the most critically acclaimed author to have regularly post here. She won a National Book Award (the Academy Award of the book world. You should feel honored for her to taken the time to unfriend you Cynique 😉 While Deesha moved on to Facebook. She did donate several autographed books to the website 🙂 I miss all the others, but you know who was one of my faves, that Cynique did not mention, from the old days: @ABM. He had a really keen and playful wit. @Pioneer1 I'm curious, do any of the names Cynique shared mean anything to you ... I mean do you recall ever engaging with them or are they all before your time?