Troy

Thanks @Maurice. @Pioneer1 the great outdoors is still open as are most businesses, at least last month. Let me quess you were in North Tulsa right? Hard to compare Tulsa against there entire state of Texas. Texas is a pretty diverse state. I would describe Tulsa as an emerging Austin, TX. But Austin is the state capital, has longhorns football, and those food yrucks everone loves 🙂 I've been in 10 states in the last four weeks and things are opening up, not shutting down. The only exception was the Navajo Nation. I was there a couple of days during a 50+ hour shut down and everything was closed except the pumps at gas stations. I don't know any place in the U.S. that has done that.

Yeah I know, when I started telling people this they all thought I was nuts or going through some crazy personal shit LOL! Well anyone who knows me would not be surprised at all. First, I'm not pulling up stakes here in FL and relocating to Florida (at least not right now), but what I have done is commit to moving to Tulsa for a year as part of a privately funded program, called Tulsa Remote to attract cool people like myself to move to Tulsa and infuse the city with some diversity and class LOL! The program includes a variety of incentives, free co-working space, $10K, deals on housing and more. They also covered a visit to the city (I visited last month), gave us a tour of the city, hosted networking events. I used the time to look at housing and learn more about Black Wall Street.

More voices are always better on a discussion forum FAS. Now if can only get Queenx to consider creating an account my job would be done.

You can stop after "God help us."

Guest FAS. I don't know. What do know is that if you created an account this would less likely to happen and it would one less thing to do. Please consider creating an account -- thanks.

OK we agree racism exists. We also agree that racism can be unlearned -- which is a big deal. If we disagree on the nature and underlying causes of racism then strategies for ending it will differ. I believe education is key tool in combating racism. It has helped me become much less racist and I believe I'm a better person as a result. What do you think we need to do to end racism?

I don't it is in anyone genetic makeup to be racist. Do you have kids that you've raised @Pioneer1? Have you spent time seeing a kids grow from childhood into adulthood? Have you been raised with white people from childhood? If so, then would would know from personal experience that this does not resonate. For example, I grew up in a racially segregated neighborhood, but they reality is that I grew up with people who you would describe as "white." They were Puerto Ricans of European ancestry. I also grew up with Puerto Ricans of African ancestry who are what you describe as "Black." I never had a racist attitude to any of the white Puerto Ricans. I never had a reason to, because they were not racist to me, they were just other kids. White racism MUST obviously be taught, as racism is a recent invention. Besides people can also learn NOT to be racist. Though, for some, old habits die hard. On the heels of George Floyd's brutal murder, compounded with 45's white nationalist rhetoric, white people have demonstrated an willingness not to be racist and they can use our help frankly. Running around claiming white racism is genetic does not help matters, besides not being true, it preempts the possibility of change.

One of the reason I advocate for OTHER Black-owned bookstores is because I recognize that with fewer booksellers pushing Black books there is LESS reason for Big-5 publishers to produce these books. Unfortunately, the vast majority of other booksellers to not take this position. This is self evident (more on this). Now indie Black publishers will produce important books, but if there are few stores willing to hand sell these books to readers, these publishers and their authors will continue to struggle with sales. As a result, readers, of Black literature, are left with the books that the publishers in NYC select for us. Sure some of these authors and books are excellent, but think about all the talented writers whose books will never be published because there are advocates in the big publishing houses and few platforms to showcase these titles. The readers -- of all colors -- are absolutely out there. Sure Amazon sells books, but they are not a "bookseller." Books to Amazon are no different than toilet paper or dog food -- just another product that can make money from. Books and the information contained in them is incidental to Amazon. I believe it always has been. Readers who only buy their books from Amazon are saying they want only want Amazon to decide which books are important.

I'm sure Kanye's mental illness is not a function of racism. Indeed, he married a white woman who presumably loved him, he was invited to the white house by a white president, is paid extremely well by white people, and the white masses love him.

@Pioneer1 if you don't expect people to be politically correct to save their livelihoods then you'll be upset all the time. You say what you want, because you hide your indentity. Would you be so honest if everyone knew who you were? I think it is stupid to mine the internet for 10 year old post and use them against people, especially ones who no longer express those opinions. Besides there is nothing wrong with a woman not being attracted to female presenting man. It might even be a biological adaptation. Now if the same female called(s) for the murder of these mem, then we should all have a problem with her. Troy Johnson He Him His

Right the son was cursed. Well the Ham story is pretty popular, I don't believe it any more than i believe in the Easter Bunny. People created the myth it to justify a belief in skin color based slavery. I dunno the Hasidum I see running around in Brooklyn look pretty creepy. Pale, bad vision, out of shape... There is this white guy (can't recall his name now) who says jews are better culturally than any other people bacause they have won a disproportionately high number of Nobel prizes other reasons. You should listen to the Martin video.

European colonization was a relative flash in the pan over the course of human history. Even if what you wrote is true, I'm not gonna judge all people with the same skin color, across all time based upon the behaviors of a few during a specific period. That would be racist.

Sorry i did not nean to focus on the video It is the song's lyrics and this type of music in general that im surprised is still popular. The video below has the music with the regular lyrics. Still, regarding the video, who is the target audience and what are they trying to communicate?

Recently @Pioneer1 and @Chevdove indicated that white racism goes back thousands of years and that Africans were enslaved by white people because they were racist white supremacists. This was an idea that I rejected because there is a great deal of evidence to shows that white racism really emerged, in the west, in an effort to justify race based slavery. Christianity and science were perverted in order to justify race-based slavery. We know Africans moved throughout Europe and were not not discriminated against based upon race There are African Popes and the Greeks went to African to learn from African's was acknowledged as being Black indeed the concept of race is only a few hundred years old. That said I was recently looking a the work of Professor Tony Martin. I found a video (new to me) in which he describes the curse of Ham, which appears in the Babylonian Talmud which was written in the 6th century AD. I was previously aware of the Ham myth, but I can see where one would take this as the the start of white racism. Still it does not predate slavery and there is no indication that very many people, other than the handful of Jews running around, were aware of or practiced white racism because of it. Indeed white racists hate Jews as much as they Black people.

We are very quickly headed there. The gig economy is an example of this. Wages just barely enough for you to get by if you bust your hump -- no room for growth, no opportunity to save, stuck, bound to the employer like a serf to the lord.

Again, I don't buy into the premise of the question you are asking. I don't distinguish humans based upon their skin color. People are people and as such are capable of great violence and good. Hitler was pretty evil, but that does not mean the people who share his complexion, regardless of when and where they were born, are evil too. That is preposterous.

... and I've always said it is because we no longer have the platform to show intelligent Black people. They still exist they are just not lucrative enough to make a ton of money, so only a handful are trotted out at one time. Shows like Tony Brown's journal are a thing of the past. But don't let that make you think we don't have brilliant people out there who have not also let they bodies go completely...

Now I know from previous posts on the subject, that many women think these sort of videos are examples of female empowerment. I still see it as exploitation, but I recognize this old fashioned sis gender mansplaining. That said, how long can can this music remain popular? The lyrics in this video are are the "clean" version. Of course I know they will persist until they stop making money, but when are they gonna go out style -- sheesh! "Make that pull out game weak," was a good line though LOL!

Hi LaCour, You can try running a google image search or use an app like google Lens. I actually don't recall posting this image. If you can send me a link to the post I can at least confirm if I did, in fact, post it.

Ok, point taken...

This line up brings to mind Tavis Smiley's State of Black America which in comparison to this was a circus. Culturally you can see the change in how we communicate. I have not watched the whole video yet but no one has insulted anyone, hogged the mike, gone on a rant or even raised their voice...

Imagine the first female president can realistically be a sister from Howard University. Shoot, if they win this year then win a second term she will almost certainly take over. Mentally I don't think Biden has 8 solid years in him. Then again they managed to get Regan through as senile as he was...

True they've taken torture and violence to new levels, they gave meaning to the phrase "going medieval." You were right about the numbers if WW I dead. Still that was a conflict involving the entire planet. Sudan is just one country. But we are only discussing degrees of violence. Humans are capable of great violence, it is not a function of one's skin color.

Well I'm older and was a phase was used back in the day. I'm familiar with Smalls, but i don't think I've ever seen him speak in person. 45 has a good chance to win reelection especially if he keeps giving out $1,200 checks.

Perhaps but this was only for the last few centuries. The people of Asia and Africa had advanced civilizations a millenia before the people in Europe, that you call white, emerged from the dark ages. That said it is obvious just by observing our behavior today that white folks do not corner the market on violence. Have you considered Rwanda, Biafra, the Sudan. lets not overlook the 2nd Congo war, more than 5,000,000 dead as a direct result of the war -- far more deadly than WWW I