Troy

That would be nice, but won't get him booted by the end of the year.

@Mel Hopkins Ebony article, cover story, ad subject are great. I'm leaving my office right now heading to my local B&N and with fingers crossed hoping I can pick up this issue. I'm also going to subscribe -- congratulations! Now back to the subject at hand... First Mel you should get to NYC more often you'll have no problem finding Black women with Blond hair. Second, lets not get carried away here: I'm not saying that all Black women who dye their hair Blond are self hating. My ex dyed her hair Blond, but her hair texture was natural and I don't think she was a trying to look white or be like Bey. You might also try visiting the 'hood, in any major city, and you'll have no trouble finding sisters with blond hair. Mel the "#blackgirlmagic movement," (news to me), by passed me because I simply do not use Twitter. I post stuff and react to stuff that I post. Occasionally, I react to stuff that the few people I follow (like you and Chris) post, but that is it. I think the vast majority of Black men. like me, are completely obvious to the stuff that goes on on twitter -- save 45s tweets that are shoved down our throats by the media. Also, I don't see how the covers support you point? One woman is bald the other hair straight hair. How does this reflect Black empowerment -- save Ebony (which is not a fashion magazine) The point that you ladies are ignoring is the fact (I assume this is not in dispute) that Black women are continually subjected to images of beauty that reflect european standards and this adversely impacts their self-image -- why is this even up for debate? Of course I'm not saying that YOU and your educated, urbane ,and sophisticated pals are impacted. But why you can't see that a great many of your sisters are escapes me. I'm beginning to think it is simply denial. I said that Black children still prefer white dolls. @Cynique immediately rejected this accused me be of being stuck in the past, When I showed her recent evidence to support my statement she ignored it -- even when I directly asked about it.... denial. I too have travelled the world and the most stricking thing that I discovered in Nigeria was that most women wore extensions or wigs with bone straight hair. Skin bleaching creams were prominently displayed in stores! Why on earth would a Nigerian sister need to bleach her skin?! @Cynique, @Mel Hopkins I'd be happy to read your explanation for this phenomenon. @Chevdove what is TWA hair style? Yeah the video was very sad to watch...

LOL! @Pioneer1 yes! Our conversation about race readily comes to mind.

OK let me listen to the entire thing and get back to you.

@Delano you know very well that there is no scientific basis for race, but that the social construct of "race" is alive and well. You know there is a difference right? Seriously, why waste our time playing games, while Cynique and I are engaged in a serious discussion? Sure @Cynique, in the infinite scheme of things what an individual woman chooses to do with the stuff on the top of her head means nothing. However this is just one manifestation of the multifaceted, relentless, and multi-generational assault against Black culture, people, and institutions. As a result, I'm not a proponent of trying the solve the problem of racism by going after the symptoms of the problem. Snatching the Blond extensions out of every woman head won't do a damn thing to eliminate white racism and the marketers who exploit it. You did not express your feelings on, or explain, why Black kids still see white dolls as smarter, nicer, and just damn better. I'm curious to read what you think given you did not think it was still true. Breaking down racial barriers is overrated. Bey being on the cover of Vogue will not save a single Black owned magazine nor enrich anyone other than Queen Bey and her photographer.

I'm sorry @Cynique, but you may be unaware of the fact that the white/black doll tests were repeated as recently as 2010 with the similar results -- and the stereotypes persist clearly into adulthood. "We are still living in a society where dark things are devalued and light things are valued." I, of course, don't have to tell you what white children believe... And don't get me started on the adverse impact of Barbie on Black women and their body image. I'm not generalizing or exaggerating. I'm also not saying that all women are running around in straight Blond wigs or that even all of these hate their Blackness -- but surely you must see that some women are and that the impact is real and worthy of being addressed. Fortunately it is being addressed, as more Black women embrace hair styles and are "glamorizing" themselves in ways that are not based on eurocentric standards of beauty. But we are clearly not out of the woods. You tout Beyonce's control of Vogue's cover as if it was the pinnacle of Black achievement... and this is my point. Would you (or the media) be making as big a deal of this if Bey had taken artistic control of Ebony's cover or whatever Black owned magazines are left? Personally I'm not impressed that Bey is taking control of Vogue or that she got a Black man an assignment. I'll celebrate when we react the same way when it is a Black owned magazine getting that shine -- that is what Black empowerment really means.

@Pioneer1 what was the point of posting this? it is almost 30 minutes in length and I only listened to the first 2 minutes? While I was listening I checked Willie D's Youtube account is still up: https://www.youtube.com/user/RelentlessMV/about with 73 million views -- not too shabby. 72 times the number of views my channel has... If there is a part that is important for us to hear please let us know the timestamp -- thanks As you know, Google rules with an iron fist in America. They have never demonstrated any affinity for Black people. They are all about the paper as in, Slap! "bitch where's mah money!"

Of course @Cynique falling prey to marketers is not a Black male or female thing -- it is both. The idea that Black men pay hundreds of dollars for a pair of sneakers that cost a few dollars to make is ridiculous. But this too is a subject that has been beaten to death since Air Jordans topped $100 a pair a generation ago. Today sneakers are selling on the secondary market for hundreds of dollars a pair. Our own @CD Burns has made quite a bit of money in this space. I've previously lamented the fact that men are now getting their eyebrows arched and sitting in the salons longer than women getting their hair "did." It is not about criticizing women it's about criticizing the whole system. However, in this case, the topic of discussion that @Delano raised was "Queen Bey and empowerment." which is why we are talking about women. If you want to start a conversation about how men are manipulated into behaviors that don't serve us have at it, indeed I'll join in the fun. But the idea I find it hard to believe is that you would completely reject the notion that Black women are influenced by eurocentric standards of beauty to their detriment. This is tantamount to putting your head in the sand. We all know little Black girls still see the Blond haired blued eyed doll as being prettier! So if Black women want to run around in Blond wigs and call it empowerment fine, but be prepared for our people to see their nappy black hair in ugly and inferior.

July is over. The year will be over before you know it, and I'll be $50 richer.

Just embedding the video:

Yeah Jesse, had his mind made up and simply was not interested in listening to or understanding what Michelle had to say. @Pioneer1 I've actually felt this way with you on a number of occasions. But I'm sure you'll say the feeling is mutual

"...help get their bills paid..." Is seems to me there are more men struggling to pay their own bills, let alone help pay the bills of a women -- or multiple female lovers. Prostitution, Tinder, sex clubs abound to grease the wheels of the hook up, quickie, and uncommitted sexual encounter culture. However mature adults (men and women) are looking for more than just sex from a partner -- they are looking for a friend and supporter. This may just be me talking, but as a dude in my mid 50's the prospect of having sex with a bunch of different women is not as appealing as it may have been 30 years ago... The prospect of people only having sex with one person, that they are married to, for the entire life seems unnatural -- this is almost common sense; given actual human behavior. I'm not saying polygamy is natural, but it is surely more natural than monogamy. But given that there are slightly more women than men both men and women would need to be polygamous for this to work out -- otherwise someone is being exploited. Since we were raised, in this culture, to aspire to lifelong monogamy with someone you are actually in love with, we are not culturally or psychologically prepared to deal with polygamous behavior... but this is changing. There has been a lot of discussion about this subject recently, particularly as if becomes obvious that one person can not possibly provide all the emotional and physical needs another may need. Because Black women were raped by their owners Black Americans now come in every shade of the human spectrum -- we are unique in this regard and are susceptible to colorism that marketers take advantage of. When light skinned Black women with blonde hair are is elevated it causes self esteem issues for many of your young women. The reality is that Bey does not even look like her public persona, but young women don't see that... She is a product of our system -- which has never served Black people. It is it not Bey it would be some other sister... The notion that Bey should be tied with "empowerment" is problematic, from my perspective, for these and many other reasons. Our biggest problem is that we have been programed, by marketers, to look to entertainers as our role models.

@Delano that huffpo article stems from a Sun article from 2016 https://www.thesun.co.uk/archives/news/1176905/exposed-sweatshop-slaves-earning-just-44p-an-hour-making-empowering-beyonce-clobber/ The Sun a British equivalent of the New York Post, is a step above the Inquirer (barely). It is fascinating just how many outlets have written articles on the Sun's article -- quoting sources 2nd hand even huffpo failed to link directly to the source article. In other words this is all gossip. Do I think Bey would use slave labor for her clothing line. Sure, but I don't think she is involved in that level of decision making. While I don't agree with judging people based upon their looks. I agree more with @Pioneer1's assessment of Bey setting the a eurocentric standard for beauty that does not serve Black people... but I would not be surprised if she were not involved in the decision making for her own look.

yeah poor, often innocent, people languish in jail sometimes for years awaiting trial. uffer the most dehumanizing aspects if jail including beatings and rape raped because they don't have a few hundred dollars for bail... @Chevdove i'm beginning to think this fire wall was more of a headache than a benefit. I don't know why trying to edit post you already made would trigger this. Would you mind just leaving the file unedited?

@Delano, the quote you copied in @Chevdove post was actually her quoting me. The quoted statement you agreed with belongs to me not Chevdove. Since everyone seems to agree with I've turn it into a meme

@Chevdove that sounds like the sites overly aggressive firewall. Were you attempted to edit the post using a device on a network different from the one which it was originally posted? Please try again and send me a screen shot of the message yiou are getting. You can use this service:https://snag.gy/ to send the screen shot. Thanks

@Neale Sourna, I'm not sure what you mean by, "...a percentage of some shade of brown?"

Agreed race has nothing to do with it. I think however success comes to those who are the greediest and most evil. Strength and smarts, while commendable, don't stand a chance against a man with a gun who is willing to use it

"Fitness" is power which, in the real world, is derived from wealth. I argue any relationship to race is contrived.

Del July was not "uneventful." Fact of the matter is, uneventful would be the last adjective one would use to characterize 45's entire presidency. Again I agree with your indictment of 45 I just dont see him begin held accountable -- certainly not before the end of the year. And if you turn out to be right, then it is a 50 bucks well spent. Plus I'll have whole 'nother level of respect for you predictions.

I guess the real answer as @Chevdove has revealed is that we simply can't rely on one browser if we are serious about discovering all the web has to offer. Due to Google's de facto monopoly, our laziness and convenience, or plain ignorance, most of us are happy to use Google as our default search engine for all the reason described and more. This is a mistake. I'm guilty of this myself. If more web users used other search engines, more sites would be discovered, those site would be in a better position to grow and the web would be a better place. Thanks for helping me to see that it does not have to be about using just one search engine over another but taking advantage of the uniqueness that they all provide.

Yeah, but 45 is a new version and will never end up in a federal supermax prison -- no matter what he does. July is almost over my friend and the year is already more than half over.

I hope you are right, but don't under estimate the teflon Don.

@Delano Shoot it would be great for traffic to the site too! I posted an answer to your question @Pioneer1 but I don't see it now.... usually posts you start are saved in the editor... maybe I was dreaming anywho... Nah man I'm not related to any Johnson in NYC (thought relatives in NYC keep popping up in Ancestry-- another story). I did meet Mayme Johnson (Bumpy Johnson's wife). I shot video of her 10 years ago when she was 93. A friend of mine wrote a book about Bumpy's life. You can read a Book Review: Harlem Godfather: The Rap On My Husband, Ellsworth “Bumpy” Johnson and watch a video I shot of her here.