Troy

Yeah, Erza Jack Keats was one of the first children's book authors profiled on the website. I remember the first time I saw his book, the The Snowy Day, it was the first book I recall seeing with Black kids in the them ; this, I'm sure, was 50 years ago. Peter's race did not need to be mentioned; it was obvious. I learned to read with the Dick and Jane books you know, "See Spot Run." These characters are household names. These book would probably never been published with Black characters when they were introduced in the 1940's. By the time Keats book came out, a generation later, at the dawn of the civil right era, attitudes were beginning to change and white man creating a book with Black characters could get published and realize some commercial success. and recognition. @MAFOOMBAY, you definitely have a lot more optimism on this issue that I do. The prospect of a children's book featuring Black main characters achieving the commercial success of the Dork Diaries seems remote Critical acclaim yes, great commercial success I dunno. I appreciate the success of the Dork Diaries is atypical, and not a reasonable benchmark. Still are there any children's book written by Black writers and with Black characters that have achieved commercial success? My current bestselling children's books features critically acclaimed books, including Bright Eyes, Brown Skin which was published by Just Us Books and written by Cheryl Willis Hudson, Illustrated by George Ford, which was the first book published, written and illustrated by Black people to win a major award. Still do you really think a book like Bright Eyes, Brown Skin could achieve the same commercial success with a white audience the way Dick and Jane or The Dork Diaries have?

@MAFOOMBAY, can you think of any books to support your theory? It is funny, but it seems as soon as you have Black main characters that, in and of itself, is enough for the theme to become "racially charged." If I had the resources I would look at our most important children's books (the list includes YA and is by no means exhaustive) and see if any of them have been nearly as successful as the Dork diaries. I know many were marketed to a wide audience.

The purpose of this club is to provide a platform, with a variety of tools, to facilitate the exchange of information and ideas focused on organizing a boycott of Amazon’s Bookstore.

Hi Chanelle, the event has been added to our events calendar: https://aalbc.com/events/index.php?st=New+Jersey#North+Jersey+Literary+Festival if anything changes please. Post those changes here, and I'll update the page if necessary. Thanks Troy

@Pioneer1 I can never prove, to your satisfaction, that anything you say is false or ridiculous. Asking me to do so is a waste of my time. I've never observed you change your position on a subject even when presented with information to the contrary. Describing research, information, and facts as "academic." is an excuse for the not to facing the reality that your position is flawed. Indeed, your unwillingness to look up the most basic information about a subject you admit you have limited knowledge of tells everyone you are not really interested in the truth, but only concerned with defending your beliefs. Describing yourself as, "a straight shooter", and saying you "speak plainly, directly, and to the point." does not make what you say true. This is the same tactic used by "45," which only appeals to the uninformed and those moved more by emotion than reason.

So you believe white racist kill each other out of boredom? (why am I having this conversation?) Let's go back to my original question @Pioneer1 when did white supremacy start? I know you said you did not know. But you should look it up. It would help us have a more intelligent conversation on the subject.

@Pioneer1, I say you should research the subject because your personal experience is very limited. I know you like to rely mostly on your personal experiences I suspect most people do, but you have to appreciate by doing so you have an incomplete understanding. Not that I'm an expert. One of the reason I say that I understand is because I came from where you are and know many who understand the world they way you do. You asked for, and I gave you, an example of a system that has caused more harm to more people over a longer period of time, but you have ignored or rejected it. The transatlantic slave trade while horrific only lasted 200 years. Now the Black experience in America, over the past century and a half, has suffered as a direct consequence of the slave trade and the white racism used to justify it. Would you have rather been a white boy living in eastern europe where 10, 15% or more of the population was slaughtered during WW II? Why do you think white people spent so much time and energy killing each other?

@Pioneer1, it looks like @TSegal and you are on the same page on this issue.

Yes of course you are right about "turning" an asexual. Indeed as he suggested he'd be grossed out by the encounter. I was merely joking.

Well I'm glad you share your ideas here. So that we and others can benefit from them. I still think there is a book in your musing in this forum from over the years. I just wish I had the resources to compile it. Maybe one day, that is if Google-Amazon- Facebook (GAF) don't run me out of business first

@Pioneer1, you should research the subject of white supremacy. At least earn a bit more about it's origins, you then see many of your conclusions are baseless. I was not trying to make a point. I was just trying to discern how much you knew about White Supremacy. It is interesting given your admittedly limited knowledge on the subject that you feel perfectly comfortable making grandiose statements like, "White Supremacy took these evils which were rather local and isolated and MAGINFIED them into a world wide system of exploitation and misery previously unknown to humanity." This characteristic makes it difficult to have a reasonable dialogue about this subject with you, because you'll say anything with nothing to back it up. A cursory knowledge of history would give you ample examples to the contrary. Think about religion for example. Religion predates White Supremacy and has been the cause of a great deal more suffering which continues to this day. Wouldn't you agree? BTW regarding the video, people can have dual citizenship i.e. have two nationalities. For the upteenth time, there is only one race. You can't look at someone and determine what you understand to be their "race." As far as the brother is concerned; he struck me as perfectly normal. It is not surprising that he would get a little tongue tied when a stranger sticks a camera in his face and asks deeply personal questions in public.

I'd put Nat Turner's revolt in the "event" category rather than calling it a movement. Looks like I'm all alone in the believing Hip-hop is no longer a "movement." Right now is it is all about commerce as opposed to culture. A new rap artist has very little hope of living off royalties, indeed I suspect many of the old school legends can't either. One of the Furious Five was working as a security guard before he was arrested for murder (that Brother used to work out at he same gym I did back in the 80's). Most of the wealth is concentrated into the hands corporations and a few of us have become very wealthy while the vast majority of those in the culture/movement struggle. It was by us but it is no longer for us. it is, like so much else we create; FTBU "For Them By Us." Maybe I'm too close to it to see it the way you all do.

@Cynique, the paragraph that starts, "In the 1960s..." was brilliant IMHO. Do you get to express thoughts like this in the physical world?

Thanks for sharing your perspective aSexual. We hear so much about the transgender, gender non-conforming, gay, hetero, etc we never talk about asexuals. I'm sure there are more than a handful of you out there. I know many people have simply opted out of having sex for any number of good reasons and don't miss it. I suspect however if you engaged in the activity, with an open mind, with someone sufficiently skilled, you may change your mind

Agreed @Mel Hopkins and this reveals the problem with all of our collective strategizes to date and why they have all failed to eradicate racism. We are dealing with symptoms not the underlying cause. Black people fight racism, when the problem is our entire system; a system in which racism can actually grow--think about it: We have access to more information than EVER yet we have people who are stupid enough to believe racism makes sense. How is that possible in 2017? Of course corporate owned social media profits from misinformation so we have as much good information as bad and it is getting harder to figure out which is which. Of course we are left to do this on our own because we don't have enough journalists to help sort though this stuff, so false information propagates a easily as the truth. In fact false information propagates faster because it is so much easier to generate--no research or fact checking is necessary. Why aren't people, like 45, who fan the flames of racism laughed off the podium? The answer to that question will explain why there are still white and even Black supremacists.

I recently decided to limit my list of bestsellers to the top 10 books. Here are the Top 10 Bestselling Books for September/October - 2017, in the Fiction, Nonfiction, Children's, and Poetry categories. Except there are no books listed under the poetry section. In fact I have not been able to compile a poetry bestsellers list since the January/February Period--even then there were only two books with enough sales to warrant inclusion on a bestsellers list. I've sold poetry books in September and October but it was one of this title and one of that title. In the late 1990's, it was not unusual for poetry to be the top selling-genre period. But that was during the heyday of slam poetry, poetry cafes, and programming like Def Poetry Jam. Even this poetry forum (The Poetree) was poppin with an active moderator. Today there is no moderator and it average about a post a week. I understand social media may have stolen (ahem...attracted) some of the participation and books sales away from this platform. Still, poetry seems to be less popular across the board. Did it go through a phase like Black chick-lit and Urban Fiction? Please share any quality platforms (especially indie ones) that are celebrating Black poetry. Share any books that you really enjoyed, maybe I'll compile a list for the site and include them in my next newsletter. Here are the most critically acclaimed poetry books in my database; none are AALBC.com Bestsellers: Most Critically Acclaimed Poetry Books The Big Smoke by Adrian Matejka (2013) Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine (2014) The Essential Etheridge Knight by Etheridge Knight (1986) Carver: A Life in Poems by Marilyn Nelson (2001) Wild Hundreds by Nate Marshall (2015) Acolytes: Poems by Nikki Giovanni (2007) Head Off & Split: Poems by Nikky Finney (2011) Collected Poems: 1974–2004 by Rita Dove (2016) Thomas and Beulah by Rita Dove (1986) Voyage of the Sable Venus: and Other Poems by Robin Coste Lewis (2015) Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude by Ross Gay (2015) Cannibal by Safiya Sinclair (2016) Olio by Tyehimba Jess (2016)

I was talking to a lady just this weekend. She sounded just like Pioneer. Again I understand him because I encounter many people like him. The Sister, who like Cynique, is old enough to be my mothers, was going on about White racism and how that Black man is genetically superior. She absolutely did not want to hear anything about the fiction of race. She was firm in her beliefs and was not interested in hearing the science or facts--nothing. I gave up. Fundamentalism is a scary thing. Now earlier in the conversation we agreed about the need for Black owned media and she was well versed on how the lack of it had misinformed our community; so we have some common ground. But when you disagree on the cause of a problem the solutions will naturally be different.

Sure I'd agree Del. Music can be a motivator and an inspiration and have worked in tandem with movements. Of course we are familiar with the music from the civil rights movement and all of our wars. I'm not familiar with the music from Garvey's movement. It is interesting that we don't hear much about Garvey that today given his impact impact and historical significance. I guess after KIng and X that is all we get since we don't control our media or educate our people...

Interestingly Black folks in the midwest present similarly to people from the south.

@Pioneer1, please answer this simple question without a long winded diatribe. When did white supremacy begin?

Pioneer have ever been to any of these places? Do you understand the natural resources that they have? Think about it this way; New York State is 10 times the size of Jamaica with 10 times the population. PR is smaller than Jamaica. You expect these tiny island nations to produce all of the heavy machinery locally? These countries depend upon international commerce (think Cuba). There is nothing wrong with depending upon tourism many places in the US do this same thing. But when New Orleans, Key West, The Outer Banks, New York City's oceanfront, and the Jersey Shore gets pummeled the rest of the country comes to their aid. That is how it works. PR is tapped out--there is no other pace in PR to come to the aid--it has to come from outside (think Detroit) The entire island of PR was wiped they need international assistance. If you've been there you'll know there are plenty of what you'd call white people in PR. Racism did not destroy the island and, racism is not keeping help from coming quickly. It is an unfortunate combination is terrible luck, lack of compassion, ineptitude, and jingoism of 45's part...

@Pioneer1, you believe the white people in control like Bezos, Zuckerberg, et al, are motivated by racism. I believe they are motivated by power and greed. People motivated by racism are either stupid or ignorant. I don't think Jeff Bezos is either. Now the 45-voting white boys you are likely to encounter on a daily basis probably are more likely to be racist. This might explain your world view. This site was created in reaction to racism. Obviously I believe racism is a problem which needs to be addressed. But, Jeff Bezos adversely impact more white people than Black. Indeed many Black people don't even appreciate what is happening. It is white folks who are trying to stop him. They are not reacting to Jeff's racism, they are reacting to his greed and overwhelming control.

@Delano, I don't understand this statement; “Music is and is accompanied by music. I mean that literally and figuratively.”

And that went over my head Del No big deal.

@Delano, why are you going so hard at the young Brother? (nevermind, you answered my question here) @Pioneer1, you know you really can say a lot more with fewer words. Sure, virtually all of the people you mentioned are white. Do you think, then Billionaire, Bob Johnson did Black folks a service with BET? You do realize most of the people robbed of their homes, locked up in jails, ODing on opioids, and now killing each other in mass shooting every other week are all white. No my brother, the problem is not white supremacy, it is just plain ol fashioned greed. The Bezos fellow will never be satisfied with $90 billion and control over everything. As the saying goes you can never get enough of what you don't need...