Troy

In a group text with some buddies one of them wrote: "At some level we have to act as spirit for our brothers and sisters [white people] .... some are trying to make amends, but they just don;t know how..." I agreed with the sentiment. There is also the realization that what we want is all over the map, so the inability to understand what will make Black folks happy is understandable confusing. The global reaction to what is happening here is America is also so telling isn't it?

Now Black people have always supported AALBC. Indeed, they have allowed the site to grow for over nearly a quarter of a century—despite ferocious competition from Amazon, social media, and the reckless behavior of Google's search algorithm. But starting in the end of May and continuing to this day White folks are buying books from AALBC and other Black booksellers at historical levels — I mean HISTORIC! I have never sold as many books, in any three month period, as I have sold in the top three days of the last three weeks. I have only taken off one day in the last three weeks and that is with an additional employee who has also worked every day save today, and last Sunday. The only bad part is that everyone wants to buy the same few books, like Ibram X. Kendi's How to Be an Antiracist. The combination of a spike in demand the pandemic have made replenishing inventory difficult. This impacts customer service and creates more shipping costs, as I've been breaking up orders into separate shipments. I have to raise the threshold for free shipping from $40 to $75 and spend a lot of time writing emails explaining why orders would be delayed or refunded. Despite it all my customers have be amazing understanding. The Hardcover version of So You Want to Talk about Race because unavailable so I offered people the paperback version and a $10 for the difference. Do you know that EVERYONE said something to the effect of , "No problem. Keep the $10 I just was want to support!" Imagine that! Libro.fm has pledged to share 100% of revenue on Juneteenth with their Black bookseller partners. That is over $1,600 to AALBC. I use Libro.fm to sell audiobooks here on AALBC. The outpouring of supportive email, purchases, sharing of AALBC content by folks customers, has been remarkable. I feel like, I'm finally getting my reparations. 🙂 Seriously, it made me think: what AALBC would have been like with this level of support over that last two decades. It also confirms that there is a vast number of potential customers who have can actually enrich all Black-owned bookstores. I hold no illusions that this level of support from white book buyers will last forever (I hope I'm proven wrong). The reality is that it will most likely be a temporary thing. I also wonder what it would be like to get 90% of the Black community to consistent support our stores — not just readers, but authors, and publishers. The potential is unlimited and even exciting to think about, because what we could do with those resources for our communities is virtually limitless. Far too many Black folks (I was one too) give our money to Jeff Bezos' company. It would not be so bad if Amazon returned a fair share — how much money does a company need to earn? How rich do a few people have to become before they share any of their wealth with their workers and contractors? I pay my employee more to sit behind a desk than Amazon pays a warehouse worker to bust their ass packing shipments . I boycott Amazon because Amazon has done everything in the power to control or impoverish Black-booksellers (indeed all online merchants) ...But this is not an Anti-amazon rank Why do you think white folks have been so supportive of Black-owned bookstores these last few weeks? Have you increased your support of our stores, or were you always on board? Could this simply be the collective reaction to the senseless murder of George Floyd by a sociopathic cop, in the context of a Trump presidency? I do know that social media influencers have issued a call to action to buy specific books and to buy those books from Black-owned bookstores. Both could be true, but I think it is deeper than either of these explanations. @Pioneer1 this is one reason my "white people" anecdotes, don't lead me to conclude that all white people are rabid racists — even the 45 supporters. I did not begin to really understand this until I left the racially segregated community of the Harlem of my youth Harlem and get to know some white people beyond the stereotypes shown on TV. Today I live in a racially diverse community and I find that people are people. They are dumb and smart, racist and colorblind, homophobic and gay. Some kiss dogs in the mouth and others can't stand them. We humans are a complicated mix, and stereotypes are a shortcut to understanding each other that does us a disservice, because they can never adequately describe any individual.

A MAGA hat is not a symbol of racism to many of the white who wear them. That is you projecting your sterotype. Had you even consudered that the old guy might have simply been trying to help you? Or is white skin and a red hat enough to set you off? Man you act like it is still the 19th century. Things are nit oerfect but they are FAR better than what they used to be. Indications are, given recent events, white people want to improve things for us too. Lol!

It could be both... we'll see how long the supports lasts.

No, I don't see the difference. Institutions are not autonomous or sentient entities. They reflect the will of the people who run them. Racist people run institutions that write antimesigenation laws.

Institutions are run by people. If those people believe in thqlstereotypes, like white supremacy.

Nope I have never heard white people celebrate or even acknowledge Juneteenth anywhere near the extent they have this year. Honestly, I think white folks were horrified by the cop murdering George Floyd -- such wonton disregard for life in broad daylight on camera. White folks largely uneffected and even benefiting from the pandemic probably feel really bad seeing all the Black suffering...

Of course personal experiences are important in making decisions. If you live in come urban ghetto, it might make sense to assume a young Black man may rob you. However it was be illogical to assume all young Black men will rob you. Do you see the difference? You choose to distrust all white people based upon all the bad shit some of them have done over the centuries. That is fine. I don't have the emotional and mental capacity to distrust the majority of the people who live in this country. Besides I'm don't think it is necessary. That said, while i think you overcreacted, I would have avoided the old guy too 🙂 True, but you are the one pushing stereotypes as fact, based uoon nothing more than personal observations. I try not to do that for the reasons stated. The only penis i'm interested is in my own. You obviously have a lot of interest and knowledge about other penises. Can you be more specific on how you've come to be so knowledgeable on the subject of penises? Does do you believe thst people with big feet have big ones too?

My point is the "rule" should not be based upon one's gender (or sexuality or skin color). The rule should be based upon who is best suited for the role - no matter what the role is. There have been far too many situations in which people have been excluded from particular roles because of characteristics that have nothing to do with the skills required for the role. Collectively we all lose out because of this.

Actually my initial reaction was that it has something to do with sexuality too. I think it is is a stupid term. I'm not a fan of People of Color either and don't use that term, because it is so broad as to be meaningless. If the term "POC" means non-white people just say that, because in my mind people of color should include white people right? POC does not exclude white or rather pink people. Adding "Black" to POC is superfluous and the "Indigenous" part just seems to come our of left field. Again the event was promoting a Junetheenth celebration which commemorates the end of slavery for Black people, or more appropriately the ADOS -- not BIPOC.

While your personal experience important to you it still can't not be used to judge broad swaths of people. Your personal observation are anecdotes. Knowing that a moving vehicle may kill you, if you step in front of it, is entirely different than knowing if the white Guy with the MAGA hat will. We have 100% knowledge of the car even before we see it. You can never truly know how the white guy will behave -- even if you know him. You can't possible know this. Again just because you believe it based upon your limited experience does not make it true for the whole. Do you also believe Jews are smarted than everyone, that Chinese people are good at math, and Black people are the best athletes? Stereotypes persist because people are lazy it is easier to hold onto preconceived ideas rather than actually treating people as individuals. Being based in truth and actually being true are too different things. As far as penis sizes, I actually have not seen too many, and I've never seen a Chinese penis. How did you come to see so many penises that you can, so confidently, draw conclusions about their relative lengths? 😲 ...that is unless you can show me the data.

@Pioneer1 you've made very broad generalizations about people based only on their skin color. This is sterotyping people and prejudicial. This is the exact same reasoning the white supremacist uses. All of the characteristics you've ascribed to white people are characteristics Black people have and vice versa. Again, you believe this because people perpetuate and internalize that stereotype. Because people hold on to stereotypes does not make them true, but i guess it does form their reality.

The following sentence was in an email I received this morning promoting a virtual Juneteenth celebration: "We are outraged by the legacy of racism in the United States and we actively protest the use of absurd and needless violence against BIPOC." I was like, "BIPOC," what heck is that? I had to look it up because presumably I'm one since it was used in an email addressed to me. After looking it up, I decided it is an acronym I will never use.

Today (June 19, 2020), in celebration of Juneteenth, when you make any á la carte audiobook purchases, including gifts, or start a new membership through Libro.fm, 100% of your payment will be shared equally between all Black-owned partner bookstores. Sign up here: https://libro.fm/aalbc Payment to partners are expected to be in the 4 figure range. Can you believe it!

I listened to all of Fullers opening remarks and to his responses to a few of the questions. It was interesting but I was surprised by how much I disagreed with him. @Pioneer1 if you like to select a few of his points I'll explain why. I'll ask you one. Fuller says there is nothing about Black culture today that anyone would want to adopt. Do you agree with that Conversely, the presumption based upon Fuller's observations above is that everything about white culture is worth emulating. Do you agree with that? If so, what those characteristics be?

Pioneer there is nothing that science that will change the "natural" role of men and women when it comes to procreation. As far as defenders you and I both know there are some women who would be much better defenders than some men. Natural defenders has as much to do with characteristics that go beyond one's gender. Didn't you watch Black Panther 😉? The neighborhood I live in, indeed the ones many, if not most, American's live in do not have "thugs, gangsters, and savages" in them. So what you are saying will not resonate with a lot of people -- even Black ones. Sure, I've seen the characters you describe on TV, on programs like The Wire, but most people don't live in those conditions -- in fact, most people in Baltimore don't live in those conditions. ...But the civil war you speak of is already underway. Look at our political system and how fractured it is. Look at the alternative universes of Fox News and MS NBC. Maybe you are right about a 2nd civil war, but the 2nd war will be fought with technology manipulating minds and behavior not with guns.

Reading the dialect, the way it was written, is perfectly acceptable. Indeed, it is encouraged. Enjoy!

By the way what are the "NATURAL" roles that you speak of for men and women. Are my roles as educatore, webmaster, bookseller, and nice guy natural for a man? I thought he hacked your account for a second LOL! Prophecized by whom, Nostradamus? What will be the factions of white people who will fight each other? It is not like the slave states taking up arms against the federal government. Will it be the Alt-right against the LGBTQIA+, the Republicans against the Democrats, or some other groups?

Oh, OK, you had be worried there. I thought you were talking genocide or something else crazy. Seriously stress has different effects on people and some are under more stress than others. I've observed some really strange behaviors from people I'm aquainted with.

Wait, what? Are you talking about removing white people from America, Earth? What are you talking about? Whatever it is lets try to keep it within the universe of possibilities.

Yep that is pretty much what I mean.... Pioneer the America you seek does not exist. Women can vote and we may even see one as POTUS or Vice President in our life time. Today women can serve in the armed forces and drop bombs from drones on innocent people, or stand idly by, as police officers, while another Black man is murdered. Today, men are just women who are missing vaginas. Get used to it buddy. I'm sure the non-binary movement has you shacking in your boots huh 😉

I was sitting on a beach with a friend who once told me that the beach we were sitting on, before the casinos came, was called "Chicken Bone" beach. I thought she was joking. Many years later Atlantic City was a place we discussed reverse gentrifying now that is it not nearly as popular (expensive) as it once since casinos are everywhere now.

@Pioneer1 I think you need to leave Detroit. The Black men you are apparently being exposed to are not representative of the Black men I most frequently encounter. Here is the south, I'm pretty confident most Black men own a gun and would have no problem hunting down a pack of wild dogs terrorizing local children. Some men are raised by single women, but most go on a do fine -- perhaps not optimal, but a far cry from the blubbering whims you've describe in great detail. Lets focus on the positive brothers doing the right thing for the women, families, and communities. 🙂

Authors have compiled a public spreadsheet detailing the advances. According to Publishers Weekly, National Book Award-winner Jesmyn Ward, wrote: "Even after Salvage the Bones won the NBA [National Book Award], my publishing company did not want to give me 100k for my next novel. My agent and I fought and fought before we wrestled our way to that number." That is remarkable.

Well @Pioneer1 as Black men, of a certain age, it is a shared experience, so I'm not surprised by the 100% agreement. As we get older we, as a group, despite our numbers will be marginalized even more. Is respect your elders even a thing any more? Who is writing novels that speak to the middle-aged, or senior Black male experience? I'll wait ...