Troy

It seems the prospect of alien visitations are likely given the variety of sightings that have been reported. It does not seem like anyone cares very much. It is like the country uttered a collective, “meh.” Why should I be surprised; 600,000 dead Americans from COVID doesn’t invoke alarm, why would little green men?

Well they may be so far advanced than us, they would be considered "God-like" to us.

If they learned, and accepted, the truth they'd get over it...

I doubt this is factually accurate. Most of the Jews in Israel are not “Caucasian.” Like Lin Manuel Maranda’s view of Washington Heights, the media portrays many places as more white than they really are. You would think no Black people lived in Brazil, Cuba, or Israel based upon the white run media.

Maybe “the Supreme being” is flying around and all those UFOs everyone is talking about lately…

I was not aware of Juneteenth until I was an adult. The celebrations in and around New York City were not very big; It was sort of like Kwanzaa. You had to be really Afrocentric to be into it. One of my cousins started a parade in White Plains I believe it’s 30 years old now I never did make it I always have something else to do that weekend. Here in Tulsa Oklahoma the celebration was humongous there were at least 10 times the number of people here for Juneteenth than were here to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the race massacre—And that drew a lot of people. Some suggest the Juneteenth celebration in Tulsa is the biggest in the country. Everyone I talk to, who is from Texas, rejects that notion. All I know is I have not seen so many black people in one place, outside of an arena, in a long time. Sure they should have a Juneteenth national holiday. It is long overdue. What they should do is get rid of that stupid Columbus Day.

This was my initial reaction to the question 🙂

Wow, @Wendy Jones this is a treasure trove of information! Thanks so much for sharing it! I will share it in my next newsletter.

@Delano, @wespe78’s party is what one would consider spam. There is an outside chance they did not know how to imitate a new post, so I have not yet banned them from the site.

Just week I sent a number of emails to the leadership of the American Booksellers Association, telling them that needed to be more nuanced in how they describe Bookshop.org’s support of independent booksellers, for they were not supportive of booksellers like AALBC. This ultimately lead to a conference call with Bookshop.org’s leadership. They ultimately addressed my concerns. They asked me to join their advisory board to insure the issues of sites like AALBC are addresses. The issue of Ingram’s virtual monopoly on distribution is another issue. I continue to strategize on this and it is perhaps more challenging.

Yeah, this term has been popping up in conversations I've been having too. I don't know what it means either. All I know is that we, as a nation, need to teach history; like the African's role in ancient history and stop teaching myths like Columbus discovered America. If we taught actual history and taught people how to think; subject like "Critical Race Theory" and "Anti-racism" would be unnecessary.

Attention

Winner, History, Marcia Chatelain; Winner, Biography; the late Les Payne and Tamara Payne; Finalist, Fiction, Percival Everett #Pulitzer #reradingblack

Good answer! But appropriation is not limited to anyone. Who was first? Whose image was is most known? , I don't know if any of these men are Free Masons, or if that is what it signals, though it would be interesting if that is that case. I guess, as more people strike this pose it will become a cliché; like the woman, in a red dress, with her arms folded across her chest; or a black teen in the B-Boy stance 🙂

The image of Barack Obama (by himself) was sent to me a few moments ago. I do not believe that Obama struck this pose accidentally; I'm curious why he did it. Surely Obama does not fancy himself as modern day El Haji Malik Shabazz X, or does he? Maybe is was just a coincidence...

Pioneer, see the issues with race? Again race is an artificial construct and a relatively new one to boot. Even America’s definition is inconsistent. Irish people weren’t even considered equal to the whites man.

Well I wish I could sympathize with you Danielle but the fact of the matter is I could two shits about any corporate social media platform. That said, I agree you were banned for two relatively innocuous statements and one taken out of context. You would not have been banned here 🙂

Me too! Were you a lurker or a poster?

Good thing you live in the good ole USA, because you might get yourself killed debating someone else’s religious beliefs in another country.

I'm featured in this article: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/anti-racist-reading-drove-business-to-black-bookstores-owners-hope-thats-not-the-end-of-the-story Basically white folks decided that they were gonna support Black owned independent bookstores (including AALBC) they infused many struggling stores with much needed capital. My biggest take-away from the whole affair is that Black people really need to consider doing this -- permanently.

I'm a "Pillar" of the Black Book world y'all! Normally this award would be presented during GOG's annual celebration which is held in different cities all over the country! This year it was held on Zoom ... man I long for real world events.

Guest Alice, do you see Black women wringing their hands over wearing straight hair blonde wigs? Be you, and wear your hair the way you want. Haters gonna hate ...

Hi Karen, it is not so much that the reviewer was white it is more a function of Kirkus' business model. Now most writers would simply run with the quote; “A richly textured, affecting tale of a family’s resilience in the face of injustice.” —Kirkus ... and be very happy. It is the service Kirkus sells. You are buying the "white co-sign," otherwise know as credibility. Which indie authors believe will lead to media coverage and sales. Of course, that is not the way book reviews work, but that is an entirely different conversation. Now Kirkus reviews start at $450 for 250 words. AALBC reviews are $299 (most of the cost goes to the reviewer and editor). Even it we review a book at no cost to the author, AALBC still incurs the expense to pay the reviewer and editor. As a result, we do not review may book for "free." I did not use Kirkus reviews to discover books, the reviews are basically 200 words rehashing the book's plot followed by something quotable (like the one above). The closest a consumer will get to a kirkus review is on the book's jacket or marketing materials. I do however use Kirkus Awards for book discovery, but that is a different thing. Bottom line, if we (readers, authors, and publishers) want to have critical book reviews written by professional writers and published platforms with an audience we HAVE to support the platforms that write these book reviews! We have to share the reviews, print the quotes on book covers and promotional materials; We have to act like these reviews matter. Because if we don't, all we will be left with is the likes of Kirkus.

@Delano any updates for my love life 🙂