Skip to content
View in the app

A better way to browse. Learn more.

African American Literature Book Club

A full-screen app on your home screen with push notifications, badges and more.

To install this app on iOS and iPadOS
  1. Tap the Share icon in Safari
  2. Scroll the menu and tap Add to Home Screen.
  3. Tap Add in the top-right corner.
To install this app on Android
  1. Tap the 3-dot menu (⋮) in the top-right corner of the browser.
  2. Tap Add to Home screen or Install app.
  3. Confirm by tapping Install.

Troy

Administrators

Everything posted by Troy

  1. Just based upon appearance. She's not the sister in yellow, but I can't judge looking at her head shot. I'm not a fan of that straight-haired wig.
  2. Yep the article mirrors my experience. This may have been the first time I read any media coverage of this. It is interesting, and good that Graassrootz Book and Juice Bar were selected to be highlighted. I never heard of this store before. I just added Graassrootz Book and Juice Bar to AALBC list of Black-owned of bookstores. I first reported seeing a spike in sales of How to Be an Antiracst, on May 31st -- before I even realized what was coming. Within two days I getting a months worth of sales every day. I believe the surge this time spiked far higher than in any period before. Every store owner I talked to saw record levels of sales. Everyone was buying a handful of extremely popular "antiracism" books. This extreme demand for a small number of books actually hurt sales because many of us were unable to get enough copies to fulfill orders. Some Black booksellers believe that large white stores were given prior by distributors for these titles. This would not be surprising because larger bookstores, which are typically white owned, have long term relationships with distributors -- they are often personal friends, so they get preferential treatment. Is this preferential treatment racism? It makes little difference because this kind of thing will never go away, so Black booksellers will always be at a disadvantage. There are Black book sellers but they have to get the books from publishers, and then they have to contend with the same problem. White owned publishing companies providing priority service to the larger white owned-distributors. The privileged afforded white folks is built into the system -- it is institutionalized.
  3. They were not mentioned in the film (that I recall) but I'll add them just for kicks.
  4. Maybe, but in the states that are close voting really matters. Plus, I think knowing the results of the popular vote is useful.
  5. Not really her name is her brand. I would take Michelle Obama over Kamala any day of the weak. To put this into perspective, I find Kamala less appealing than Candice Owens.
  6. @daniellegfny I just posted a review of the documentary film Uncle Tom. Feel free to post your reaction in the comments section.
  7. The thing about the video is you don't have to watch it. You can listen to it while you drive. I completely disagree with not voting in a presidential election, but I don't think people should be forced to do it.
  8. Is that emaciated stick figure a celebrity? I "familiar" with 50ish women who are easily more physically attractive than Mrs. Obama. Michelle is average. Hey going back to the photo you started the conversation with who, as sexist as it this might sound, would you pick first? I'm liking the sister in the far right 😍
  9. I call it your plan cause you are the one who see all this crazy scenarios, that i don't see I don't believe any of your scenarios will come to pass, but you should write a book on your later scenario.
  10. @Pioneer1 you think all women have nice bodies. 😉 Obama does not strike me as shallow I'm sure he was attracted to her mind.
  11. what I mean is that whenever you argument gets weak you start making absolute statement that are impossible to disagree with because you start using AWAYS or NEVER. For example; My position would never assume such a thing. There are cases where a women get with abusive guys because of low self esteem and other issues. So when you make this move by emphasizing words like ALL, NEVER, and ALWAYS it is a desperation move to preempt disagreement.
  12. This newsletter was created by Gwyn Ridenhour, Founder of Matchbook. They cited AALBC, and other Black owned platforms as sources for the books they included in this printed Newsletter. You can obtain a pdf version here. I will be shipping copies with some AALBC Book orders. The most notable part of the effort, besides the spirit in which the newsletter was created, was the fact that Gyyn and her team produced this newsletter for free and arranged for to shipped to booksellers for the price of shipping. I received my batch of 250 copies this week. One indie bookstore even stepped up and volunteered to cover the cost of shipping for any store that needed the support! Again, companies like Amazon simply do not do this sort of thing. I learning over and over again that there still are a great number of business that understand the power of working together to better serve the reader -- which ultimately helps our businesses. Read more about Black Voices. This newsletter is reminiscent of the mailing Black expression sent year ago. I also worked on the similar publication called African American Books That Click which was targeted to book stores and business as a way to help publishers and indie authors expand their reach. Would anyone out there pay to receive a print version of this newsletter?
  13. Again I hear you and I recognize that many feel you can not use our masters tools for liberation. I'ma bit more pragmatic. Few have the stomach, energy, or wherewithal to plan and execute a full on revelation. This that will happen and be successful is magical thinking in my opinion, so we are are left with working the the cards we are given. Would would be the optimal outcome of your race war, revolution, whatever you call it @Pioneer1? @daniellegfny, I don't know what Boyce Watkins's political party is, but is positions, in the video above, pretty much mirror what you've been saying...
  14. Dude you are changing the argument as we go. Sexual harassment is bad. Expressing interest in someone that is reciprocated is good (though tricky in a professional work environment) Also you like to use the words ANY and NEVER when your argument is weak, simply because it is difficult to prove that any situation involving humans will ALWAYS be true or NEVER to true.
  15. I hear you @Pioneer1, but you make is sound like I'M out of touch. Remember I grew up in the inner city. Sure I know what a decent life in New York City is like, I have not had a reported income of more than $40K since I left Wall Street. That is why I got a nice $1,200 check with Donald Trump's signature on it. Sure this year it will be very difficult to report less than $40K, but it is not like I'm as out of touch as you make it seem. I live in the world man, so while I have never been to jail or prison. I know a lot of people you have several are family members. As you mentioned I recognized many of the problems with our culture and fight to remedy what is wrong in my little corner of it. However I do not think a complete revolution will result in a better outcome for us as a people. I think our best opportunities rest in improving the systems we have in place and getting rid of the pieces that don't server us. If all of use supported local indie business and stop using Amazon. Our communities would improve overnight -- no revolution necessary.
  16. OK can you explain, concisely, what this civil war looks like. The temporary protest in Seattle and other cities do rise to the level of a civil war. In my world white people are showning a great deal of support for Black folks supporting our businesses (including AALBC) and marching in the streets of Seattle and other cities (something I'm not doing). Of course there are racist white folks, but will they launch a race war, that they can not possibly win, I strongly doubt it.
  17. So why don't you cast a vote for 45 since that is who you want to win? You know your belief of an imminent civil war sounds like a paranoid delusion, right? Have you expressed these ideas to others you know you well, in the real world? What do they say about your beliefs. Based upon other things you've written i presume you believe it will be a race war? Is that right? The employees if facebook are gonna take arms against the NBA players that sort of thing, huh? It is really interesting that Google put this video in front of me. Looks like Dr. Boyce Watkins is not voting either. He does not think keeping 45 out of office is a good enough reason to vote for a ticket that has Kamala Harris on it. He also answered my question "What would you think if I married a white woman."
  18. @Pioneer1 who are you voting for?
  19. @Pioneer1 the scenarios you described are textbook sexual harassment, so yes my assumption is based upon the fact that mist women dislike this. "Flirting" is not defined as "[seeking] sexual favors from them quite openly calling them baby and staring them up and down..." It seems to me you don't know what flirting means. I'm sure women find husbands at work but i doubt many choice someone who sexually harrassed them.
  20. LOL, I will not judge all republicans or conservatives based upon Danielle's statements. I know many conservatives none of them share Danielle's perspective on this issue. A couple I know pretty well are in law enforcement and they told me early on that this was going to be serious and they were right. The media give these fringe perspectives too much coverage and it give people the impression that the are valid. The nuts running around talking about mandates to wear a mask go against their constitutional rights need help. At least Danielle will wear a mask. Yes I know people copy things from here and other places in the site. There are anomalies in my some of my lists I have not removed because it is a signature of sorts. That is how I can tell that my book store list, for example, was copied widely. People including those that write for major sites often don't attribute sources or even do a cursory check when they copy stuff from other sites. Sometimes people will here will cite a source but then you have to go 3 or more levels before you find the original source, but then the information share is usually a distortion of the original material. So @daniellegfny is 788,000 death enough for you to think the current precautionary actions are sufficient? How about 1 million dead. Do I hear 1.5 million. Still not an apocalypse, but pretty staggering considering most of these deaths and suffering could have been avoided.
  21. You are muddling a wide variety of things and it is cause for some, with all due respect, sloppy thinking. Sure our genetics gave rise to our ability to use language, but the language we use is a function of culture not genetics. Gender is a function of genetics. How we express our gender through behavior and dress is a function of culture. In a different culture you would be speaking a different language, wearing a dress (a kilt) and agruing how that behavior is genetically defined. Open your mind my brother humans are not as narrowly defined as you'd like them to be.
  22. @daniellegfny, the steps that have been taken so far have averted a great number of deaths. Only God knows how many more would have died it nothing was done. The pandemic is not yet over. Again, you use strong language like "apocalypse," but no one reasonable is saying this pandemic is an apocalypse. So I'm not gonna try to defend that. So far, in least then a year, 788K people have died and countless others are suffering long term illnesses. If everyone believed as you do Danielle, the deaths would have been much higher. All of the economic slowdown you lament because of lockdowns, would have been a moot point because the increased number of deaths would have crippled the economy even more. How many people have to die before you take this seriously?
  23. Sure it seems to me that people flirt more openly on blue collar jobs. That does not mean that people like it. They tolerate it. I'm not saying the behavior is not present in a corporate environment, but most of the employees know enough to behave professionally. Maybe because they are better educated or come from a culture where the behavior is frowned upon. Both environments (#1 and #2) sound like horrible environments for a woman (anyone) to work in. I have never worked a job where people behaved that way. But I've heard other describe this. People tolerate it because they need the job, other become quite adept of navigating these situation -- even taking advantage of them. Screwing a guy just to get ahead (pun not intended).
  24. True, but you're ascribing these difference to genetics and therefore race (as you understand it). I don't agree with that. I believe it is more a function of culture.
  25. Perhaps... I treat people as individuals.

Account

Navigation

Search

Search

Configure browser push notifications

Chrome (Android)
  1. Tap the lock icon next to the address bar.
  2. Tap Permissions → Notifications.
  3. Adjust your preference.
Chrome (Desktop)
  1. Click the padlock icon in the address bar.
  2. Select Site settings.
  3. Find Notifications and adjust your preference.