Troy

I attended the Mississippi Book Festival this past Saturday. It was held in Jackson, MS. Like most cities in the deep south it is a series of profound contradictions. You'll find both moving testaments to civil rights and blatant signs of racism and its legacy. The book fair had a terrific line up of authors: I got so see Charles Frazier, Rick Bragg, and Jon Meacham just to name a few. There were quite a few Black authors of note as well including Jabari Asim, Janet Dewart Bell, Don Tate, Angie Thomas, Nicola Yoon, Quvenzhané Wallis, and many more. The organizers of the festival commissioned the creation of a street marker dedicated to Ward's work as a writer. In accepting the honor she gave a very moving speech. Still, other than the authors, there were few Black attendees -- probably more black authors than Black attendees. This is remarkable considering the fact that Jackson Mississippi is virtually 80% Black! The most surreal moment was listening to a conversation between Jon Meacham and Karl Rove. They began talking about the Klan and it was then that I noticed virtually everyone in the room -- several hundred people -- were white, many elderly. I began to wonder how many of these people had attended a lynching, fought against segregation, or just believe people with brown skin as inferiors -- surely some have had to (or still do)... it was just a strange feeling.

I visited Africatown, in Mobile Alabama, a couple of days ago. The remains of some of the Africans who survived the middle passage, on the Clotilda, one of the last known (documented) slaves ships, are buried here.

I dont think you know the definition of greed.

Poorly worded statement. In other words, we are hypersensitive to photos of women who resemble the caricatures white people created to demean us. There is nothing wrong with by Viola's photograph. Being the victims of racism put us in a position where we reject our own image. Does that make more sense?

This is a perfect example of what I mean by sloppy thinking. So Bey is not Black, but "gentically European." Again, I'm at a loss...

The guy on the right is not very bright. What do think @Pioneer1

Del more opinions don't mean 45 will get the boot before the end if the year. Try watching Fox News or listening to right wing radio for a minute. That will temper your enthusiasm. I hear they want to make Australia great again too.

@Delano I would have thought Goolge paying me would would have been explanation enough. In fact, Google has paid me far more than Amazon -- some periods up to 10 times as much. I have to use Google to understand how my site ranks. As a monopoly, Google controls which sites are discoverable through organic search. If I ignore AALBC's relative positioning on their search engine I risk AALBC's viability as a revenue generating website. As far as queries unrelated to AALBC, it would be too cumbersome to have another search engine, say DuckDuckGo, as my default search engine, when the majority of queries I run are related to AALBC or Black books. Does that help?

Making money trumps (pardon the pun) serving the community everyday of the week. Johnson made it clear the "E" stood for "entertainment," not enlightenment or education. The reality is that it stood for enrichment, Johnson's personal enrichment, and that is the legacy of BET.

@Delano, you may re-read my response here.

OK we will see.

@Delano I thought we covered the Googl issue already? I still use Amazon and Facebook too...

@Delano What?

@Delano, do you use a Crystal Ball? I was in a place in ATL called Ponce de leon plaza (It think) and any rate it was a pretty cool place with trendy stores and eateries. It also had one of these new agey store you now see every where. They had all manner of crystals incense and related paraphernalia. What caught my eye thought were th tarot card they had. Some were quite beautiful. I almost purchased a set for this reason. The also have joke tarot cards too. (this stuff has become so commercialized) I listened to the sales woman described the different ones as if any lay person could use them. They also had the CBD oil which is like herb without the THC which seems like gin without the alcohol -- as in what is the point... I know that was a wide digressions from the subject... The store also had a real crystal ball (not glass).

Yeah Mary does not play She had been publishing books for years and was/is one of Kensington's most popular authors. here is another video of Mary, that was filmed in my home when I lived in Harlem. The video is at least 10 years old. The chaise lounge Abiola is sitting on in now in my bedroom in FL -- man so much has changed in my life since this video was shot. Mary (both women) continue to adapt over the years.

@Cynique I guess you remember went Aretha first emerged what was that like? I saw her perform once -- long past her prime, See was complaining about the audience not having white castle hamburgers, which she said she ordered for everyone. I think she was serious too

@Chevdove I would discourage you from using Christianity to understand science -- then you'll get really confused. I never heard of a Zorse either I see it is one of many different Zebroids. You learn something new everyday

Why, thank you Chevdove

I never hear of a Liger before. I assume they can not mate, like mules. @Chevdove, it is not like a have an degree in genetics. But the issues of race and genetics is of interest to me and I think I have a good understanding of the basics. [1] By your first question are you implying that Black and white people have different blood? [2] Sure science changes if they discover new information they update what they know. SOmetimes the new information is radical and people refuse to adopt it for some reason or another. There are people who believe man and dinosaurs roamed the earth together, but this is because they believe the earth was created 6,000 years ago. [3], [4], and [5] OK

Well @Delano one does not need exactly need a cyrstal ball to see the country is going down the drain. But you nailed this one:

Like I said I've eaten there. The food was reasonably priced tastes good. Leah is missing part of a finger... I kept thinking it might have ended up in someone's gumbo

Yes you did start the conversation @Pioneer1. Perhaps the reason we, as men, find the image unflattering is in reality our reaction to racism

I had a conversation with a woman today on a related issue: Basically, a book of photos came out and one of the shots rubbed me the wrong way. It was a photo of someone I've met once and have become friendly with online. Another friend help me understand my feelings and explained they were, in essence reacting to the women simply because of the way she looks. She pointed out that dark skinned Black women have the additional burden of having to worry about looking like a golliwog simply because of their physical features. This is something that a white woman, or even a light skinned Black woman, never has to worry about. Now I know some of you all have been trying to explain this to me in one way or another but sometimes you have to hear it, in real time, to understand. The sister I was talking to was not telling me I need to completely eliminate my thoughts that these photos might indeed be racist, and these issues are worth contemplating. She did not feel the Viola photo was racist and thought it was a nice photo. While I still can't get myself to like the photo, I have to pull back on my impression the ideal that it is racist.

This question does not make sense on multiple levels; Black and white people have the same blood. The notion that someone who white looks phenotypically "white" but is really "Black" because of a "One Drop" rule, illustrates just how ridiculously arbitrary the term "race." Again this is not founded in science. @Chevdove this is becoming exasperating; any combination of any two humans will produce the same species. If does not matter how you vary the question all of humanity belongs to the same species. Homo Sapiens. What? Same goes for question [4]. Chev, Neanderthals and all other human species (as far as anyone knows) migrated out of Africa. I've read your description explaining why scientist have contradicted themselves. I can't follow the reasoning. My knowledge on the subject of DNA is admittedly limited, but much of what I understand conflicts with some of what you have written. I don't understand how horse coats get their color and how that related to human skin color, but I doubt there is much of a relationship. If you want to believe that man is made up of multiple species and that these species related to the different humans races and that Neanderthal DNA plays a factor and this is all explained by cat hair color... it is a free country.