Troy

I have other reasons to believe she live in my building it is not like the place is exclusive.

Yeah I miss Cynique's stories as well. But home boy has more than a decade on even Cynique. The other interesting thing is that he grew up in Harlem and attended one of the three specialized high schools in NYC, Stuyvesant High School -- just like I did. But the Harlem of his youth was Heaven compared to the Harlem of my youth.

She is not a model. She is part of the program, as I've seen her on our Slack channel they setup for the spooks here in Tulsa. Tulsa actually exceeded my initial expectations, the food scene here is solid. I work in the old Black Wall Street section of Tulsa. trying to make some local connections but the pandemic has really put a damper on things here... though you can still sit down in restaurant and have a proper meal unlike the more population dense cities like NYC

Yep that is that is the program I'm in. There is a photo of a woman walking her dogs. I live in that apartment building. I have not met her, some people are more outgoing than others here. The cities do benefit because I'll spend far money here than the $10K they paid me to move. I've been here just over a month and am really enjoying it -- despite the pandemic.

The art work is inspired. AALBC.com 302 E. Reconciliation Way Tulsa, OK 74120

I've been involved in a coupe of projects which featured videos on Black books. The clicking the image below will take you to a video of the last project I was involved in. It was the best produced efforts I was personally involved in but it failed to gain any traction. Indeed one author -- not even a celebrity author -- ghosted us when it came time to film her -- a sista I've know years. Tayari Jones, which much better name recognition, whose book we covered here, was far more accommodating. Social sharing did no good. It was as if the social platforms rejected the content. @Pioneer1 this experience speaks to some of the things you were saying about operating in a racist society. If we controlled the narrative on social media, rather than some white boy's stupid algorithm we would see more content like and more and even better content like this would be created. Now we all know if this this program's focus was on Troy getting to chose between these four bachelorettes cat-fighting I get to bed with one throwing a cup of tea into the face of the other, it would have went viral on social media. One woman is actually married -- which would make the whole show better, right?

Heat flushed Natelegé Whaley’s body as she wrote a news article about the shooting by police that killed Breonna Taylor. Ms. Whaley, a journalist, figured she was tired. Then came the mental fog, digestive issues and blurred vision. When these seemingly separate issues snowballed into a panic attack and a trip to the emergency room in late May, Ms. Whaley, 31, who lives in Brooklyn, connected the dots. “I’m writing about the suffering of someone who looks like me,” she said. “We just keep going and going and going and going because we feel like that’s what we must do, and that’s not healthy.” Read the rest at the New York Times. -------------- No, it is not healthy. I've mentioned numerous times here that I simply will not subject myself to all the negativity spewed forth by our media. Now, I'm no wimpy shrinking violet, I just know we are better served by a balance or uplifting stores with the negative rather than a deluge of terrible ones the media loves to cover. I had not considered the adverse impact on the people who cover these stories. Personally, I have no idea what level of stress one must under for it to manifest in a panic attack and a visit to the emergency room -- but whatever that is, but that would be one activity I would never engage in more than once.

I believe this is mostly correct as a business owner this has been my observation. You know the old adage, "when white folks catch a cold Black folks die." We can't match to majority culture in terms of access to capital, education, networks, etc. Black folks support is often limited or non-existent.

I'm sure it has happened, but since we own few media platforms and the few that remain are dependent upon white advertising dollars you won't see any stories like that, just Van weeping like a sensitive little girl, modeling the desired behavior.

@Pioneer1 this is basically the same concept you assert regarding Black people. You say it is because we've adopted a Eurocentric life style. I say it is because we live in a culture dominated by greedy people ... Most of whom are white I suppose. At the end of the day the story is really that we, all Americans, eat too much an move to little. All the stuff about indigenous culture is superfluous window dressing. Just eat well and excerise. They are an attractive duo...

One of the first books to be published by Jay-Z is Shine Bright: A Personal History of Black Women in Pop by Danyel Smith

Makes me wanna holler and throw up both my hands... The crazy thing is that white men are the ones killing themselves increasing numbers, running around calling for walls to be built, expressing an overall sense of disenfranchisement, stocking up on guns, and embracing people like Donald Trump?!

You and I share that characteristic. Tom and his 90+ year old wife presented like lively 80-year-olds. The house was decorated like someone who still had kids at home. Check out the video I posted and judge for yourself: https://aalbc.com/authors/author.php?author_name=Tom+Wood#video I sat with Tom by his pool and he wife made us a tasty lunch. He had a ton of stories. A professional videographer and editor could have created something really nice. i would love to visit people this and record their stories. I asked him about the Boule, he said it used to be secret, but you can find everything about it on the web now. That is the reason he listed his membership. There are a number of clubs where business leaders and the wealthy network with each other.

Black Men Have the Shortest Lifespans of Any Americans. This Theory Helps Explain Why. The unrelenting stress of fighting systemic racism can alter a body’s normal functioning until it starts to wear down. The theory, known as “John Henryism,” helps explain racial health disparities. Read More ▶

Video: 94 year-old Tom Wood, the first Black person to take their company public and the first be a on a major U.S. bank’s board of directors. I had the pleasure of meeting Tom a couple of weeks ago. The video I created really does not do the man and his accomplishments justice, but people like Tom have to be recognized more and this video is my small part. Tom also published his memoir, Anna’s Boy, this year.

I'm not up the Chicago shooting, nor am I really interested. Hearing so much bad news and so little good news makes one think unecessiasrily poorly of ones fellow human.

In some cases perhaps, but in most cases I suspect there is a net benefit. Absolutely. Only on with little knowledge and experience would refute this.

Me neither. Seriously, schools were bad for Black children before the pandemic... Large numbers of our youth will lose a full year of education, likely more. There was no simple solution, for the problems started when we were dragged upon these shores in chains.

Another bookseller I spoke to got one copy and raffled it off. They got 300 people to buy a raffle tickets.

Well, again, I don't buy into the idea that white people are behind the creation of videos like this. But even if they were behind the video our reaction would still need to be the same we cannot support the type of content that is divisive. For example, I do not think that Amazon's stated goal is to destroy all black-owned bookstores, web-based and brick-and-mortar. But Amazon's behavior is indistinguishable from a company who's goal it is to destroy black on book stores. As a result, I behave as if that is Amazon's goal. Part of my strategy is ignoring, boycotting, Amazon. That is not the same thing as doing "absolutely nothing." Boycotting Amazon actually takes effort. But again the real problem are the people who use Amazon. If they do not understand why Amazon's Monopoly is so problematic for Black books then Amazon's ability to hurt our stores they strengthened especially the web-based stores. So not only do I boycott Amazon I also try to help people understand why they are so bad. So we have to do both @Pioneer1 we can't feed the trolls (ignore, boycott) and we have to help people understand what trolls are and why they are bad.

Again I have not seen the video but it is hard for me to wrap my head around anyone who think what happened was justified on any level. Sure some will say the Floyd was a career criminal but no one reasonable even right wingers say that the policeman should have murdered Floyd in that manner -- no one. That police officer's actions are not reflective of America as a whole, or even police officers in general. A very small percentage of humanity is that evil. Biden does not appeal to me on any level, other than my presumption that he will be a better president than the one in office now.

Amazon is not playing y'all...

This is not true very smart people are be easily manipulated, fooled. and mislead. Particularly in emotional charged situations. Pioneer we live in a global community what you suggest is not possible in the 21st century and has not been for centuries.

I think this stuff is created because a lot of people watch it and it generates revenue as a result. Sure, if some diabolical white boys hatched a plan where they funded unscrupulous Brothers to demean Black women we would see little difference. The question really is why videos of Black people dissing each other be so lucrative. I think the only thing we can do is ignore this type of content and share the things we think are positive.

I regularly visit Black-owned books stores, not so much in the past year for obvious reasons, but in one store I noticed this book; an autographed copy of Obama's memoir, Promised Land. This version retails for $350 but I doubt you'll find a copy selling for that much. I've seen the book priced at $1,000 or more. Copies with the signature page removed are selling for $150. The crazy thing is that I was not aware of the book prior too seeing it in the store. The bookseller of the store I saw it in (I'm deliberately not naming the store) told me the publisher only offered him two copies. I don't how many were produced or what book stores got copies and how many they got. Any bookseller lucky enough to get a few copies was given a gift from the publisher.