Troy

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 🙂

First, Issa Trae is talented; second, she emerged during a point in our history where people were streaming platforms and other content providers need content -- this has been a boon period for good content producers who know how to market themselves. Issa used the platform(s) where the most people aggregated and she used them well. In a world before social media she could have used Black Planet equally well. Zane, a very popular writer, did the same thing -- in a world before social media. She posted on her own site, earned a following, and got her own imprint, publishing company (imprint) and movies deals. I went to one of her premier in times square she was also large. Today a Zane would not have emerged on her own platform. Today, she would have to use one of the handful of social media sites. When Zane built an audience the World Wide Web was MUCH more fair and rational. Search engines actually returned search results -- not advertisements posing as search results.

I just read the article. Amazon is indeed forcing people to use credit cards rather than Library cards. The author also noted that Amazon owns the paper in which the article was being published, but said his viewer were his own. This may be true today, but the writers has completely missed the point. because Jeff can change this ant anytime.

You know what is cool about this list is that these are mostly books that are not widely known. John A. Williams and Richard Wright are perhaps two of the most important writers of the 20th Century, but they are not going to go viral on social media. We have created a cultural bias such much of the information that is most widely shared and defined as important is driven by an algorithms created by young white men, who know nothing about us. We have to continue to promote and define what is important to us. Bestselling Books by, or About, Black People for April 2021 #readingblack

Dude there’s more than one definition to the word look it up. I trust he is a good one. Has he read our reactions?

The article has a paywall, but I recall Trevor Noah's ebook was (apparently still is) exclusive to Amazon. Amazon is the only one who can sell the ebook. So naturally they can restrict the ability of people to access it from a library. The WP article has a paywall, so I could not read it. But thanks for sharing it anyway.

@Mel Hopkins I agree: Yes we marginalize ourselves. I recall quite clearly the fact that Black writers are balk at my paying them $100 for a book review -- while they would boast and promote that they were Blogging (writing for free) on the Huffington Post site! The Huffington post benefited from a great deal of free and exclusive content that I could not even pay for! Social media has just taken it to a while 'nother level. Today many reviewers STILL give Goodreads (an Amazon site) free book reviews! Why? I'm not aware of a single reviewer who has given Amazon free books review who has "blown up." Indeed, the number of platforms paying for reviews have been greatly diminished during the past 20 years when writers have been writing for free for the massively wealthy properties, from Facebook to Amazon. I wrote about this 8 years ago warning writers about Digital Sharecropping. As far as being targeting by the FBI; the FBI's job is done. When was the last time a Black person did anything impactful enough that our enemies felt the need to assassinate them?

Since when are these things intangible? Your argument fails actually weakens you position, for race is based purely upon subjective and inconsistent dimensions.

11 years later... Why?

Maybe the video was celebrating the "differently-abled," and it went "viral" because the video resonated with folks.

Race is really no different. Probably.