Troy

@Pioneer1, yes that might work, but lets consider solutions that are within the realm of possibility. 25% of students do need to drop out, we loose that many through attrition. I read a stat that more than 50% of students in New York City's, public schools do not graduate in 6 years. Besides you don't need all those folks. It seems the Bonner Bros in Atlanta have created a model that can be replicated. Why can;t other cities do what they have done? I dunno maybe they make all their money with the trade show and less with hair care (I don't know anything about their business). There used to be a store in Harlem called Carol's Daughter I believe it started in Brooklyn by a sister Essence Magazine covered them and the next thing you know they were in major departments stores. If memory serves, they sold out. The store in Harlem is closed. I shopped there each Xmas. The problem with the store was that it was very expensive. This is why the Koreans clean out clocks in Harlem, they have the lowest prices. The strategy is the same one Amazon uses. Money trumps race every day of the week. So unless we beat or at least become price competitive we stand little chance. This is the same battle we (booksellers) have with Amazon. Since Black booksellers will never be propped up by Wall Street to sell books at a loss like Amazon, we have to provide a service Amazon does not provide to earn the reader's business. It think this is something we can do for books. It can be done for hair care too.

@TSegal, I'm not sure how I missed this post. I just created an account and have uploaded a video: http://www.afroblock.com/social/user/aalbc I have also added this to the list of Black owned websites that I track: https://aalbc.com/top_black_websites/top_black_sites_list.php#Afro+Block

Thanks @richardmurray, the more people we have thinking along these lines the better. Our think must change before our behavior changes for our collective benefit

@Delano, I missed you mentioning The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. That has to be one of my all-time favorite books: https://aalbc.com/books/bookinfo.php I actually bought several copies of it to give away I still have one in my office wrapped up just to give to someone who I think may need/enjoy it.

Yes they're absolutely are reasons black folks don't corner the market on black hair care products. The real question is, what are we prepared to do about it? To date that appears to be very little.

@Pioneer1, everything you wrote in your last post illustrates my point about the absurdity of race. I understand you can't see that, but I have nothing to add that would make the case stronger.

Obama is fione, from a woman's perspective, I believe because of his power, intelligence, and how they perceive his personality. Obviously, he is it average looking guy not ugly or strikingly handsome. I do however think after seeing Hillary fail to command the female vote, that women simply prefer men to lead.

Thanks Wendy. Funny my daughter felt the music was corny :-) All my short video you did not think that showing the book on the stand and then showing a graphic of the book was not enough? (BTW, I forgot to acknowledge receipt of the additional edits I'll get to them tomorrow)

Okay I get it now. Thanks Mel @Mel Hopkins. @Kalexander2, welcome to the forum man!

@Mel Hopkins yeah I figured I'd answered my own question once I researched the book. This question probably should be a different conversations but there seems to be a thin line between being reckless and fearless. I'm the "I'll try anything once" kind of guy. Maybe I've lucky so far bungee jumping, skydiving, and the thousands of somersaults I've done have never hurt me :-) I dunno... You see, speaking from personal experience I quit a good paying job 10 years ago to run AALBC.com full and have been struggling ever since, but I have not stopped enjoying what I do despite the struggle (shoot maybe because of it ). I know people that work jobs they hate for the money or security. I have never done that. I'm not sure I'm capable of doing it. I do disagree with the author (Robert Greene), he said a number of times everyone has fear. I do believe there are people who have no fear, or the have so little of it they may as well have none. I believe I have met a couple of truly fearless people.

Hey Mel. I just adeed the 50th Law to the site. What was it about the book that struck you?

Hey @Kalexander2, thanks for that thoughtful post. You may be right about Black folks, in general pursuing, material wealth. But this is the American culture. Our peculiar brand of capitalism is dependent upon this. But from my vantage point, I find it difficult to see it that way. Most of the people I surround myself don't operate that way. Nobody I know, who sells books, does it to get rich. So I appreciate I may be in a bubble. I feel more people are starting to realize that the practice of acquiring of more and newer things is simply unfulfilling. I don't know who said this first, but you can never get enough of what you don't need. It seems to me people are becoming more interested in expanding their minds, than getting the newest iphone. But again that could be because I surround myself by readers...

The #readingblack Movement encourages readers, of all colors, to read books by Black writers and to buy those books from Black-owned bookstores and websites. If you are interested in helping to promote the movement by using the hashtag and encouraging others to join, please reply to this message and I'll invite you to the newly created platform http://readingblack.com (which is a club on this site). There we will share information and strategies to raise the profile of #readingblack and to help booksellers meet the needs of reader, authors, and publishers. To be added to the #readingblack club you must have an account. Once you've let me that you want to join I can send you an invitation. You may also invite others to join as well.

How can a retailer flourish in such a daunting environment? By providing “emotional fulfillment,” which is one of Mr. Freeman’s favorite phrases. He means the joy customers take in seeing, touching, sniffing and testing the product before they pull out the credit card. A computer can’t match that experience, Mr. Freeman insists: “We are social animals. We aren’t robots who are going to make all our purchases from robots.” Read the rest of the article By Stephen Moore in the Dec. 15, 2017, Wall Street Journal

Yes Guest showing some of the photos would have been a great idea. Cynique well that is good to hear. My blurbs could have been a but tighter I think. I also said Toni Medina's book was appropriate for kids of all ages. That was a sip up the book deal with police brutality, and may not be appropriate for really young children (thought some may disagree).

Hi Dr. J. Aleem, it seems unlikely that I would have missed you sharing you book stores information here, but you have my attention now. Please post a website, a photo of the front of your store (preferably), or the inside if there is no store front. Also post the year you opened, the store's hours, and contact information (email, phone). If you have a video please share the URL.

Simply paste the code below where you would like to display the book websites. Updates to the book sites are made automatically. Once you paste the code there is nothing more you need to do. This code is optimized for mobile and can be run on a secure (https) website. The bookstore listing below uses the code provided below. Please send question to report bugs to me at troy@aalbc.com Thanks for helping to promote independent book websites! <!-- BEGIN AALBC.com CODE --> <script> if (!document.cookie || document.cookie.indexOf('AVPDCAP=') == -1) { document.write('<scr'+'ipt src="https://aalbc.advertserve.com/advertpro/servlet/view/dynamic/javascript/media?mid=3213&pid=0&resolution='+(window.innerWidth||screen.width)+'x'+(window.innerHeight||screen.height)+'&random='+Math.floor(89999999*Math.random()+10000000)+'&millis='+new Date().getTime()+'&referrer='+encodeURIComponent((window!=top&&window.location.ancestorOrigins)?window.location.ancestorOrigins[window.location.ancestorOrigins.length-1]:document.location)+'" type="text/javascript"></scr'+'ipt>'); } </script> <!-- END AALBC.com CODE -->

You are encouraged to share these memes to promote the #readingblack movement. Feel free to create and share your own

I guess technically it is alleged because Tavis has vehemently denied all allegations. These photos was taken during the launch of Tavis Smiley's publishing company Smiley Books. As the numbers of sexual predators continue to rise and the careers and reputations of seemingly reputable people are deservedly destroyed, it really makes you wonder do all people with an ounce of power abuse it to the determinant of others? It has been my experience that many successful people will stop at nothing for more money and the power it brings; enslaving people for hundreds of years--cool; commit genocide--where do do I sign up; take people's homes--no problem; give people cancer, you got it. Taking advantage of others sexually, as bad as that is, pales in comparison. It comes as no surprise that anyone willing to do anything for power will abuse it once it has been obtained. It was interesting to hear the comedian turned Congressman Al Franken, complain, while he was getting the boot, that 45 gets to remain in the Whitehouse for doing more or less the same thing. Franken reminded me of a child who rats out another kid, who did the same thing, but escaped punishment; not at all concerned with the problem of his own behavior.

Do you mean to say that it will be common knowledge that we will not finish his term? I ask for clarification, because some pundits have already said he is on his way out.

Please provide some constructive feedback on this video. Let me know what was good and what could be done better. Y'all know I have thick skin so don't worry about being perceived as hypercritical. I'm working with a book club called called The Tea, and am hoping to use videos like this to promote the best of Black literature, and I want to make them better. No matter what you think please subscribe to The Tea's and AALBC.com's Youtube Channels to keep this videos like this coming. The books highlighted in the video include: Unseen: Unpublished Black History from the New York Times Photo Archives by Dana Canedy, Darcy Eveleigh, Damien Cave, and Rachel L. Swarns I Am Alfonso Jones by Tony Medina I Am Loved by Nikki Giovanni, Illustrated by Ashley Bryan Defining Moments in Black History: Reading Between the Lies by Dick Gregory Ballerina Body: Dancing and Eating Your Way to a Leaner, Stronger, and More Graceful You by Misty Copeland Keep #readingblack

THIS CODE IS NO LONGER SUPPORTED A list of Black-Owned bookstores to share for those in the #readingblack movement (a commitment to read books by Black writers and to buy those books from Black-owned bookstores). The list of bookstores, shown below may be shared on your website by adding the line of HTML code to your website. As we update our database your website will be automatically updated. You may adjust the style parameters to suit your website. <iframe src="https://aalbc.com/bookstores/readingblack_stores_share.php" padding=0 width=90% height=1000 style="border-style:none"></iframe> The code above produces this the list of bookstores below. Sharing is easy!

Of course thanks for the opportunity Chris!