Troy

Absolutely not. Imagine a world in which Black people operated completely free of racism, oppression, and prejudice -- Even the world of Wakanda included crazy white people trying to steal technology or butt in... White people do it all the time, they tell their stories entirely free of, or influenced by, anyone else. We rarely do it. I think it would be the ultimate form of protest literature.

Thanks @Mel Hopkins the books on the site are just the ones I'm aware of, so your posting it here puts it on my "readar" and that of others reading this conversation.

Hi @Milton can you complete this form so that I can ad the book to AALBC: https://aalbc.com/content.php?title=Submitting+Your+Book+to+be+Listed+on+AALBC Who is the artist?

Well if there is no "struggle" @Milton, what would be the point of it? What story, Black speculative fiction or otherwise, does not have struggle or some form of conflict?

Word. Today it is, drive the lane and dish out for a 3. Lebron could have played in any era. I think the game would be much more interesting if players came from (or at least lived) the cities in which they played. I hear old timers talking about seeing players in the neighborhood. Shoot some of them even had jobs during the off season. Of course they should be paid. Few are even educated. The graduation rates at some schools are appalling. I guess you don't watch HBO and have not seen shows like Game of Thrones -- HBO is all is all violence and sex, Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire, The Wire, Westworld, and on. I treat HBO like a vice. I limit my drinking, eating of bad food, exposure to social media, and of course TV.

You "love" the Knicks -- wow! That is because you are old enough remember Willis Reed and Clyde play AND you must be from the NYC area. There has been nothing to love about them in decades. Me too. Which is why i look foward to the NCAA Tournament each year 🙂

@Stefan, please feel free to post whatever strikes your fancy. Don't let my paranoia hold you back 🙂 I'm essentially hands off when it comes to moderation, but I have zero tolerance for trolls.

Oh OK @Stefan I'm a little skittish when it comes to jokes like this. Over the years a troll periodically swings through here; he starts out normally, by posting a few jokes poking seemingly innocent fun at Black people. After I let my guard down he goes full on racist and pornographic. We've had a kind of wile e coyote road runner relationship. Today I can quickly clean this up, in the old days it was a real pain in the a-s. I can see where some people would not get the jokes. Americans are so lacking in Bkack history, we are liable to believe these stories.

Stefan you are working on the assumption the the different parties matter. The interests of the oligarchy were well served by the Obama presidency. Actually, we don't and the charts you presented would tell this story if your first graph also considered the 40% of the so called Black voter "block" who did not participate. How we be considered a block when fully half the eligible Black people did not vote for Obama. Do you think Black voter turnout will be higher or lower this year? The towel was thrown in 2016 with the decrease in votes for the Democrat, an increase in votes for the Republican, and a sharp decrease in votes overall. I'm sorry to read this.

Guest FAS, please consider creating an account so that I do not have to approve your posts.

I hung with the fellas playing poker during the game. Most of the guys were explayers, coaches, and avid sports fans. I didn't really pay attention to the game and am not an avid fan of the sport. I could give two-sh-ts about the half-time show or the commercials. I was there for the fellowship. I won at poker, won a bet on the coin toss, none of the boxes i brought hit, i drank more than is healthy, and stayed up way too late. All said it was a good evening 🙂

Let's not forget the fact of active voter manipulation through Facebook and other platforms designed to discourage voter turn out for Hillary by propagating targeted lies like pizzagate. Then of course there was the media's outsized coverage of 45's every utterance -- even his stupid tweets dominated the news cycle -- crowding out meaningful coverage of other candidates. Also Black don't vote in block. I know a few Brothers who voted for 45, because they are conservative and believe their self-interests are better served by Republicans. We also know the majority if white women didn't even support Hillary. Then, of course, is the electoral college that allows a candidate who received 3 million less votes win. The the points FAS mention regarding voting are on point. The electoral process is rigged and it has never really served the interests of Black people. As always we make due in a bad situation. Stefan I really can't understand this statement. I mean why shouldn't the wealthiest nation in recorded history not pool resources to treat sick people? Think about how much we spend on defense. Think about how much we spend subsiding corporations and the wealthy. You're a senior @Stefan do you collect social security or take advantage of medicare? Why should we give you those benefits?

By today's standards, men were indeed "evil dickheads" to their wives. My grandfather was born in 1885. He passed before I was born, but my mother knew her father and she said he treated his wife like she was another one of his children. My grandfather was 35 years old before the 19th ammendment, giving women the right to vote, was passed and not everyone agreed that it was a good idea. Women were 2nd class citizens and treated accordingly. My grandfather was a man of his time.

Has my old online nemesis, the troll to top all trolls, returned? I know I should be insulted by this, but "Quentin DiGiorno," son of Hannibal, caught me off guard and made laugh. These stories are just so ridiculous to get mad over.

"Happy?" No, but I'm not losing any sleep over his presidency. Yeah, I heard most of these points before. Any of them that start with, "He tried..." can be ignored. @Chevdove'Chevdove's explaination of affordable health care hopefully helps you understand the impact of it. The reality is that the mandate and lack of a public option proved to be a windfall for private insurers. The deep depression you give Obama credit for averting was just another windfall for banks as they destroyed a tremendous amount of wealth for poor and middle class people with crooked schemes. These same banks were then bailed out while millions of home owners lost their homes. In any case, the accomplishments you attribute to Obama don't explain the pain many Black Americans are experiencing. The current president can boast even better accomplishments including a booming economy and record unemployment. This is all spin and rhetoric which hides profound problems with this country particularly as it pertains to Black people. @Stefan everything you after and in including "1) Cure the insipid hatred of inner city gangs who relish gunning each other down?" is callus, nonsensical, sterotypical, victim blaming. Blaming the treatment of Black Americans themselves ignores centuries of oppression. Guest FAS adequately addressed those points. Obviously you are doing well, and I'm glad for you. Thanks for sharing you ideas here. The perspective is illuminating. Hopefully you'll get something out of the exchange that will inform your position.

Sorry I missed your emails @Maurice I probably did not recognize it as coming from you. All of the stores in NYC are small. The Schomburg's store is park of the iconic research library. It would be good if you catch an event there. Revolution is just down the street so both can be easily visited together. Revolution is focused on Markist and or communist literature (don't quote me on the focus but they are a niche bookstore) they have hosted events featuring Walter Mosley and Cornel west. Sisters Uptown is across town. You can walk, but is a hike: a ride sharing service is probably the easiest way to get there. If Janfer is there tell her Troy from AALBC sent ya 🙂

LOL! Yo I done tole y'all I don't put anything pass a group of people that would go someplace, kill all the people they found there, bring other people they kidnapped from another place and enslaved them for generation, and kill over 600 thousand each other over the spoils -- and that does not get us out of the 19th century... Greedy, evil people will do anything for more money and the power it brings over others.

The next person who explicitly recommends buying a book from Amazon on this site will be drawn and quartered; I don't care if the is available on AALBC.com or not ]😉

Relationship is new. Basically I'm committed to one person now we will see how it goes 🙂

Furious Flower: Seeding the Future of African American Poetry Edited by Joanne V. Gabbin and Lauren K. Alleyne (Jan 17, 2020, TriQuarterly Books) The seminal poetry collection of this generation. If you are new to poetry here is a excellent sampling of terrific wordsmiths:

@I love black forums, when you make a declarative statement like "Alek Wek is not pretty," It sounds like a universal truth which it clearly is not; it is just your opinion. Standards for beauty are not universal across cultures or even within a culture across time. Do you think other people from the Sudan think Alek is not pretty? How do you think her parents or her lovers feel about her attractiveness? Welcome to the forum!

That right there is the beauty of life and interacting with others. We all have difference intelligences, knowledge, and experiences. I believe everone is smarter than someone else in some aspect in life. That is what makes the forums so interesting to me. For example the conversation on Vodun @Azacotogan, @Kareem, @Pioneer1, @Delano and the others are having is one I can only read for it is way over my head -- they are all far more knowledgeable than I -- but I'm learning.

My only probkem with Dyson is that he was not nearly as vocal when Obama was in office. Cornel West was consistently critical once Obama revealed he was not going do anything specifically for Black people would contnue the war mongering, and uplift the wealthy at the expense of the poor. West was crucified by Black people for this. Obama was beyond sacrosanct; it was like the imagery of his presidency as the first Black (or half Black man) was more important than than any of the issues plaguing Black people in America. No, I'm not aware of anything he did specifically for Black people other than allow us to tick the box to saying Black president... check. Obama was the president of "all people;" this is the most common refrain of his uncritical supporters. Obama, like every other president, save Kennedy and Lincoln who both got their heads blown off, was the president of the plutocracy. It is not Obama's fault he, like 45, is a product of American's "peculiar" form of government.

@Ken yes check the URL and repost it. Also consider registering your own domain: https://www.domainsforauthors.com/ I can help you redirect it to your Blog.

Yes on my phone Google is serving ads that appear between page views -- which I hate. I recently set an option to reduce the ads by 50% I think Google is revealing something with the dating ads you see. I use to see them too until I became serious with someone, then they disappeared. I wish Google was not a primary revenue source.