Troy

Streaming the event was my opening post. 😉 But I did not invite anyone to visit the site

LOL! This forum has been called a lot of things, but "boring" was never one of them. Yes forum participation has slowed in recent years, but that is different than being boring. Yes but that takes some modicum of commitment from the participants. Discussion and content do not materialize out of thin air people have to create this. Far too often we, Black people, give wealthy white corporations all our information, time, engagement, and energy -- but can't find the time to join a conversations on a Black owned one. Then complain there is not enough participation ... or say it is boring. I used to have writers who would reject my payment for a book review -- only to give that same review away for free to the Huff Post, Amazon, or Goodreads?! The ideal is that more people will see the review on the corporate. Which is true at the time, but image if all those reviews came to an AALBC. Over the years AALBC would have grown and AALBC would pay those reviewers! AALBC still pays reviewers but we publish far fewer books reviews than we would have if we got a fraction of the free content. Huff Post was able to get from Black writers. I wrote about digital share cropping years ago. The same applies to Black people and where they choose to socialize. The choice is simply socialize on Jeff's, Mark, or Jack's sites and keep making those guys super-duper-wealthy or hang out on Black-owned platforms and keep the money your community see where we can go. We know Mark does not care about Black people -- shoot, he seemingly dose not really care about other white people.

No Del, that did not occur to me. Maybe I need to do more of that. Before this site’s heyday I did not need to do that. I guess times have changed.

Unregistered visitors get the same level of access to read content as registered visitors. Maybe they do not know that, so they create an account. You also can't "like" an unregistered guest's posts. @Delano have you ever shared your astrology forum information here?

Shoot what happened to Thumper himself? I dunno what happened to the rest of the old-timers. I do know after I transitioned the site from thumperscorner.com to aalbc.com, 11 years ago. and changed the software (a necessary change because of spammers) many regulars did not make the transition. This change also corresponded with the rise of social media, and we all know the data scientists and brain hackers have made these social media very addictive. Indie sites without these benefits really have a lot to contend with.

Here is the entire Agenda: https://blackblockchainsummit.com/pages/summit-agenda

How is social media any different than a drug pusher supply a addict with something that is both harmful and highly addictive? Sure it is the addict's "choice," but is it really a choice Remember when everyone was led to believe cigarettes were good for you -- even though the purveyors knew they were cancerous. I believe we will, in the future, view today's social media driven journalism they way we now look at big tabaco.

In a recent conversation started by a guest poster, @Pioneer1 chose provide a detailed response, because he did not want to waste time with someone who would likely never respond. Pioneer's reaction got me thinking. Plenty of people actually create accounts, but the vast majority of these folks never participate. I appreciate some of the new accounts many be spammers (and I ban some of these straight away it they look super suspicious), but there are still plenty, like most of the ones shown below, who have recently signed up, but never post. I've been trying to figure out why. There are thousand of people who have signed for these forums. A couple of years ago I emailed everyone to remind them about their accounts, but that had no impact on participation. Why would anyone take the time to create an account here and never post? I never could figure that one out. Anyone have ideas or suggestions?

@Delano, I have not previously commented, and I missed this whole conversation, so it will take me a minute to read and digest this topic.

True that.

The same thing that has happened to all the rest of our publications... I know... Imagine we have an entire generation of adults who never new anything different. Thank you so much for expressing the positive sentiments. @Mzuri you and other like you are the only reason AALBC can exist.

Is Ebony back?

Ebony has really not gone anywhere not gone anywhere. They are currently #19 on my list of the top Black owned websites: https://aalbc.com/top_black_websites/#Ebony The real question, to me, is will they ever publish a print version of the quality shown 50 years ago? I did skim the Carmelo Anthony articles and asked them to to send readers to a Black-owned bookstore like AALBC rather than Amazon: Hi Ebony Magazine, this is Troy Johnson, a long time Ebony supporter, and founder of the 24 year old website, dedicated to Black books, AALBC.com. I read your interview with Carmelo Anthony and could not help but notice Ebony is sending their readers to Amazon to buy his book. May I suggest that you consider sending readers to Black-owned bookstores like AALBC.com. Amazon has done a great deal to harm Black-owned bookstores, why not show solidarity with us by directing your readers to a Black-owned store t buy the book? Here is an AALBC link: https://aalbc.com/books/bookinfo.php?isbn13=9781982160593 (where we link to Ebony's Interview with Anthony) You can really spread the love by choosing a different store each time. We can provide a list if you like. Thanks for considering my request. @Mzuri it is sad. it is really a reflection of our culture's collective drive to appeal to are most base desires -- rather then elevating us; like giving us fast food rather than a healthy meal. Did you ever see my article in reaction to an Ebony article about Black Literature written by none other than John A. Williams? The article was published almost 60 years ago and I can not recall anything like it in a publication, that catered to a general audience. Can you image something like this in print today, or even online (save AALBC and less than a handful of other websites)?

So we should simply stop enforcing traffic laws? Is that really your argument?

Guest anonymous first thanks for posting! You sound relatively young I'd guess late 20s early 30s. The reason I say this is based on comments like this one: I can understand why you might say this given the number of high profile Black men who marry "light skinned/mixed women," but to assume all men desire this based upon that is flawed. I suspect more Black men marry women because of a variety of other characteristics like compatibility. My main reason for saying this your opening statement about Black people "holding on" to the one-drop rule. We don't hold on to anything we do not define this rule. It was a rule white people created and imposed upon the rest of us to ensure white "racial" purity and to keep all Black people down -- no matter what they looked like. I suspect most people, whose ancestors have been in this country for more than a couple hundred years, have some Black ancestry. We know most the the so called Black people who have been here that long have some white (European ancestry), which would make most us "mixed race." @Pioneer1 this is yet another reason we need to dispense with the artificial construct of "race." The ideas of a "mixed race" category and the "one-drop" rule are simply dumb at best and malicious at worse. Nothing about the European's creation of racial hierarchies based upon phenotypical characteristics, and America ingraining it into our culture, has ever benefited anyone -- other than white people -- and only a minority of them benefit.

Exactly. Quite bi*ching about what white people won't do for us. Maybe the people Reid works for will not let her cover missing Black women. I'd image other white women go missing all the time. Why was THIS white women the center of so much media attention? As far as the guy being pulled over -- I did not listen to the whole video, but I know media is now very biased in the way these interactions are reported. It is not unreasonable to be expected to be pulled over driving around without tags on a car and it does not matter what you are wearing. I'm not going to try to assess the racial motivations of the officers involves based upon either biased account. The best thing one can do when pulled over is to comply; the vast majority of officer and civilian interactions do not go viral on social and make national news for that reason. The ones that do make national news usually involves a civilian not complying with the officer's requests.

Written like a true cynic. I believe we can be better than this and I think ultimately we will be. Yeah we did not get to where we were over night. Yellow journalism is not new. Even 60 Minutes used to roll up on people the way Catch a Predator does (or did). Today they are a much better news organization, but I doubt they have very many viewers as people opt for John Oliver, Bill Maher, or Trevor Noah when they want substance. Today news is entertainment.

The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America by Carol Anderson From the seventeenth century, when it was encoded into law that the enslaved could not own, carry, or use a firearm whatsoever, until today, with measures to expand and curtail gun ownership aimed disproportionately at the African American population, the right to bear arms has been consistently used as a weapon to keep African Americans powerless—revealing that armed or unarmed, Blackness, it would seem, is the threat that must be neutralized and punished.

I knew Amazon plays a big role in the sale of bootlegged books, but it seems the platform is indispensable to criminal networks. The reality is that Amazon itself is a criminal enterprise. https://www.wsj.com/articles/cvs-home-depot-theft-organized-crime-11630505851

Good. The article was irritating to read. When did we become so powerless?

Black content “creators” on social media are driven by the algorithm too. So if mark and jack are not interested in elevating this content those on social we not push it. Instead we’ll talk about Minaj’s views on vaccinations… There is outrage it is being expressed here. But unless Mark decides it is important the issue will not be raised… and since we won’t use our platforms we are at Mark’s mercy. Besides, I think white folks are getting tired of Black people and our problems… 😉

In my case that is not the problem. My problem is the media trolling social media for information to report on. But the bigger problem, and it is not a new one, Is focusing on the sensational rather than actually informing us. “If it bleeds it leads.” Journalism fueled solely by profit has not served us. Social media algorithms and brain hackers have made things worse than ever.

Yeah, again Joy Ann beefing with Minaj is just silly and made worse because it is for the entertainment of white folks. Joy Ann proclaims she is a fan, which comes across as disingenuous given the other words coming out of her mouth -- a true fan would not slam Minaj in such a fashion particularly without having done even a cursory research of her tweets. I wish I could have asked Joy Ann name five Minaj songs. What is that on top of Joy Ann's -- Sorry, I'm only human 😉

Hi Jared, I noticed your comment and updated the website accordingly -- thanks again for your diligence in ensuring the oversite was corrected! The Hundred Penny Box by Sharon Bell Mathis, Illustrated by Leo & Diane Dillon Newbery Medal Winner or Honor 1976 Book Description:Michael loves his great-great-aunt Dew, even if she can’t always remember his name. He especially loves to spend time with her and her beloved hundred penny box, listening to stories about each of the hundred years of her life. Michael’s mother wants to throw out the battered old box that holds the pennies, but Michael understands that the box itself is as important to Aunt Dew as the memories it contains. Winner of a Newbery Honor, this beautiful story will be available in a collector’s edition featuring heavy interior stock embossing and silver ink on the cover, and a thread-sewn binding for added durability. A timeless story of the relationship between a boy and his elderly relative, this new edition is one that families young and old will treasure for years to come.

All but forgotten victim of the bombing... The 5th Little Girl: Soul Survivor of the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing by Tracy Snipe with Sarah Collins Rudolph