Troy

I image most of you all -- especially @Cynique will be pleased to know, your corporate savior, Nike's sales have increased 30%. Nike is brilliant, but we are so very easily manipulated 😞 It is interesting how many media outlets (including Time Magazine) are spinning the information from the source (linked below), by stating definitively that the Kaepernick campaign was the cause for the difference where the article itself makes no such claim. This is not journalism. Time Magazine is feeding to the social media driven click-baity-controversy-driven-social-media-driven news apparatus. Nike sales grew 31% from Sunday through Tuesday over the Labor Day holiday this year compared with the previous year, according to Edison Trends.

Someone just forwarded me this article on the Huffington Post in which the writer has a completely different perspective. She views the situation purely from a racial perspective the game of Tennis does not factor into her calculus at all. It is curious as the writer points out the Osaka is drawn as a lilly white women with blond hair! Why? I have to admit now that the cartoon is indeed a bit racist considering that the cartoonist is exaggerating Serena's tantrum by contrasting her with a blond opponent, as if the blond girl is the standard for behavior on the tennis court. Again, why not draw Osaka as the Black woman she is. Seems everything is distorted by "race" in the Western world The Whitewashing Of Naomi Osaka: The U.S. Open tennis champion’s biracial identity is inconvenient in a racist narrative that turns Serena Williams into a stereotype. "But there are actually two narratives at play here. There’s the one in which Osaka is reduced to a silent and silenced victim; tearful; not quite white, but not black either. Reporters ask her whether Williams’s “behavior” made Osaka lose respect for her, reinforcing coded stereotypes that have everything to do with colorism, model minority myths and the culture’s implicit hatred of black women like Serena Williams."

Hi @ESP welcome to our online book club. The club's moderator, @Tony Lindsay will be posting questions shortly. In the meantime, did you read the book? What did you think?

@Pioneer1 is the idea that Black men have been on the planet for millions or billions of years a product of your imagination or did you get this idea from somewhere else? I know you read my question. I can only assume you are deliberately ignoring it why?

@Delano I write this in all seriousness: The advertisements that YOU are served are a function of what Google knows about YOU.

I actually watched this match in its entirety. Serena looked heavy (thick around the middle) and the younger, more fit, Osaka had her running the court. It looked pretty clear to me that Serena would lose the match. In her prime, Serena would have beat Osaka. Now I don't watch enough tennis to know if Serena's outburst was unusual or how they compare to other female players. I know John McEnroe was famous for similar outbursts, but I don't recall or know how he was treated by the officials. Serena was given her first penalty for coaching. It was pretty clear that Serna was being coached; the commentator said it during the match, there was video of the coach giving signals, and Serna changed her play (approaching the net). The next day I heard a commentator say "every player" is coached from the sidelines, but rarely is a player given a violation -- usually it is a soft warning. They felt this should have been done to Serena, in this instance. This sound plausible but again I don't watch enough Tennis to know if this is that case. What I do know is that Serena's reaction was over the top. She was talking about never cheating and not wanting to set a bad example for here daughter?! She was literally having a tantrum. Surely, she must have know the official was not going to reverse his decision after it was made. She should have sucked it up and played her game. Destroying her racket, continuing the tantrum, should have resulted in a penalty -- that was clear. The 3rd violation for verbal abuse -- folks better informed than I can argue that. But again Serena should have played her game. I've been pulled over driving a number of times -- for no reason. Once a tropper made me get out of the car. I asked him why I was pulled over, and he proceeded to yell at me about it being "his road." I did not crack my lips, because obviously yelling back at the trooper would have made matters worse--perhaps much worse (Black people who know what I mean). Serena was penalized an entire game -- a harsh penalty which many argue was too much, which I can understand and tend to agree. I don't think Serena should have been treated with kid gloves either because she is the GOAT. Osaka deserved a fair match. Osaka gave Serena the next game by deliberately losing it. I have not heard anyone say this, but it seemed pretty obvious Osaka threw the very next game -- negating the impact of the penalty. I'm glad Serena did not play the "race" card. That would have been unreasonable given she was playing against a Black player. The sexism claim did not make sense to me because there are no men in her tournament. Still, she had to deal with the game she was playing. Her father prepared her to be mentally tough... seems she has forgotten that lesson. As far as the cartoon, is concerned, it is not racist, and kind of funny. Now if image if a cartoon, like the one of John McEnroe below, was done of Serena. One could argue whether is is racist or not, but it would not be funny in the least bit. You can't make cartoon's of a Black person being lynched and expect anyone (save some 45 supporters) to think it would be funny.

@cristy n'bkl, welcome to the forums. I'm trying to understand your statement. Would you care to elaborate? Thanks.

@Chevdove Yeah there is a grain of truth in Mooney's jokes...

@Pioneer1 I thought about you Paul MOoney talks about DNA and race.

Author Roland S. Jefferson, MD shared this with me a few moments ago. I have never seen this and the first few minutes look good: "In 1968 ABC filmed a 30 minute documentary on musical prodigy Aretha Franklin. It is notable for the rarely seen interviews with her father, her husband, and producers. Importantly it features candid peeks behind the scenes that reveal how Aretha conceived and developed her approach to songs. And of course to watch the mesmerizing impact of her voice on the teens of the day is priceless. At your leisure, I encourage you to take the time to watch this amazing icon at the height of her youth. Enjoy!" --Roland S. Jefferson

OK forget my example @Pioneer1. What is an example of a code you think should be implemented? I ask because your reaction to my example is basically stating behavior that needs no code.

It is a start 🙂 But remember, Chevdove is married admitting you are wrong won't get you anywhere with her 😉

Hi Meg, your request is not surprising at all. Here are a few list that you may find helpful. This is a list of books I've selected that I feel will meet you needs in that they are not all about diversity. Many of the titles celebrate diversity: https://aalbc.com/books/children.php Here are a list of our bestselling book for the year so far. The book on the list are generally quite good: https://aalbc.com/books/bestsellers-by-year.php?year=2018&genre=Children%26rsquo%3Bs Here is a list of books that were recently published: https://aalbc.com/books/newbooks.php?genre=Children%26rsquo%3Bs nd a list of books that will be upublished in up coming months: https://aalbc.com/books/comingsoon.php?genre=Children%26rsquo%3Bs both of these lists show books that are worth checking out especially if you are focused on new books. There are other lists like one for Black Girls Hair: https://aalbc.com/top10/index.php?category=Girl%26rsquo%3Bs+Hair+Books We do not have reviews of the books, but I trust you will be able to discover a variety of books. Of course if you find books you think are really good it will be helpful if you share that information on the books page or in this discussion forum. Finally if you do have need to order book please consider AALBC just email me troy@aalbc.com

@Pioneer1 here is a simple case. Some Black people believe Black people should patronize Black businesses whenever they have can, some black people believe all Black businesses are subpar and never patronize them, while others look for the best deal regardless of the ownership. What code should we adopt when it comes to creating and supporting our own businesses? How would we enforce compliance to any of the rules defined?

@Pioneer1 will you reveal the source of the following information?

Sounds like a good idea in theory @Pioneer1 but in practice I can't see how it will work -- especially here in America, were there is so much diversity and individuality is a prized characteristic. The other problem is we look outside our community for validation.

So @Pioneer1 what is the source of your information? What source are you referencing to that say the Black is millions of year old? If someone can along and said humanity is trillions if years old, they would be rejected, because the would require the scientific community to discard everything we know about not just man, but the entire universe. Our galaxy did not exist a trillion years ago. So, keep believing man walked the earth a billion years ago... just dont expect anyone to believe you.

Yes, he may be on short time, but his finishes the year. My rational thinking "trumps" your astrology 😉

@Delano when the conditions emerged that brought a 45 into power AND so many people, like @Cynique, dismiss these very conditions as inconsequential. That said, I'm not a grumpy person in general, just on issues that adversely impact our people.

Why should I? If everything else flows from the crazy statement that you made below. Where did you learn this information? Again there is nothing to debate here if you are operating on the premise that so called "Black" people roamed the Earth billions of years ago. The Earth's atmosphere was not even breathable 1/2 a million years ago... Again, I know you will never change your mind or God forbid retract a statement and admit you made a mistake, so I will not try to convince you otherwise. Do you understand now?

I rest my case.

Yes, because it is such a wildly inaccurate statement. Why would I invest my time reading more? Plus I don't know enough about the the subject you and CHevdove are talking about to participate in a meaningful way. Do really believe that humans are billions are years old!? I'm not going to debate facts with you, because you've demonstrated that facts don't mean anything when they conflict with the world view.

Obviously failing to understand the difference between the two words is what is muddling his reasoning. I've heard it often said that words don't have meaning; only people do. This is what is causing a great deal of strife in our political discourse; where there are no objective facts and the truth is purely subjective, open to interpretation, a matter of opinion. When the very definition of words are open to opinion, it is impossible to have a meaningful discourse because the participants are speaking a different language without an interpreter.

I don't appreciate it, because it is not true. 😉