Troy

I'm not so sure about his term, though I think he has a better than 50-50 chance -- the outcome of midterms will be a good indicator.

Mel all the men you mention re not just wealth but extremely wealthy -- shoot they have fw white peers. OK, name one novel that speaks to the Black male middle age black experience that is not driven by a celebrity, athlete, or some other entertainer.

For the upteenth time, no one doubts that 45 has engaged in criminal activity. This issue, and the basis for our wager, is whether 45 will be removed from office by December 31, 2018, 11:59:59 p.m. The blow-by-blow has not showed anything to suggest that this will happen.

@Mel Hopkins You realize you are the one who has introduced women, the wealthy and celebrities and now you are restricting me to just middle aged Black men when I talk about prison statistics? If would be easier if you stopped bringing up women, billionaires, celebrities and focused on the original demographic. Now keeping the conversation focused on middle aged Black men (the ages of say 40 to 65), we can continue. I'm sure that you'll also find that middle aged Black men are overrepresented in prison too. I'd have to try to find a source when I get a second. Again, I ask you, where are the books that speak to the lives of middle aged Black men? Do you believe we are equality represented in literature? How about TV or Film? Please don't say Black Panther.

Wait, what? Are you saying oprah is not the the richest black person in America? Who cares who is in second? Who was second behind Usain Bolt or Seymone Biles? Black men are over represented in the prison population when compared to the general population. Ask yourself what percentage of the population is made up of black men, then compare that to the percentage of those locked up, then you will understand my point. We are also more frequently incarcerated and more harshly sentenced when compared to any other group. 1 in 3 Bkack men can expect to be locked up at some time in their life. No other group has been so crippled. I guess all these Brother gotta do is "choose" to be seen... sort of like pulling oneself self up by one's own boostraps. Maybe having visited museums in Birmingham, Montgomery, and Jackson indeed just being in the deep south over the last few days has left me hyper sensitive to the plight of the Black man in America.

@Mel Hopkins as a percentage of the population Black men are the most incarcerated demographic -- no other demo comes close. Mel you wrote: But then you proceeded to write mostly about this comparison. Is the reason you disagree with me -- based on the belief that men are far more visible than women? I'd happy argue this point as well: Women out live Black men by a decade. Black women attend and graduate from college at higher rates. Black men are FAR more likely to be killed by police and other Black people. Of course I can go on, but you get the point. I can find female peers for all the men you mentioned. Indeed you might struggle to find male peers 😉 Last I looked Oprah was the richest Black person in America -- she has no male peer. But rather than go tit-for-tat lets keep the focus on the invisibility of the great masses of Black men. Mel, forget the celebrities for a moment. Do you think Black men are really "seen" by our society? How are we portrayed in the media, is it accurate? How many books are you aware of that include regular Brothers, not the drop dead gorgeous stud-muffins of romance novels, or the gangsters of the popular fiction, but the novels that speak to the lives of people like me, Pioneer or Del. Do these novels get reviewed, are they on the NY Times bestsellers list? And they wonder why Black men don't read...

HAPPY Belated Birthday Cynique! That was an interesting story.

My kid is O+ your memory was better than mine on this issue @Cynique 🙂

@Cynique what you expressed was my train of thought when I made the comment. @Mel Hopkins, two of the three men were entertainers, and their enormous wealth has certainly afforded them a great deal of visibility. It is interesting that you've only selected extremely wealthy people to picture. Is great wealth the key to achieving visibility? I bet if you asked any of the millions of Black men who make up 40% of the prison population if they felt visible, you'd get a different response. You can ask one of the Black professionals overlooked in favor of a less qualified white coworker, or the brothers struggling to find a job that pays a living wage. Sure Mel, we can both name high profile celebrities, but I'm talking about everyone else -- the VAST majority of Black men who no one sees. The ones who are no longer counted as unemployed because they have been out of work for so long. You know the ones who fell through the cracks in high school and no one noticed or cared. The ones who have done their time but because of a record can't take advantage of federally subsidized housing, find a job, or even vote. I'm talking about the brothers who commit suicide by homicide and whose only achievement is to contribute to stats recounted on the evening news. I'm talking about the Brothers who will never own a home, raise the children they have in the context of a loving relationship. The Brothers no one ever seems to see, save law enforcement who notice every minor transgression. Black men have the lowest life expectancy than any other group or gender. Is this cause for outrage or even concern, nope.

LOL! Blasphemy indeed. I'll respond in the other thread. Colin Powell is retired. Tavis was erased as part of the #metoo movement. Obama nullified West....

My blood type is B+ I don't recall my kid's blood type so I 'm not sure -- I just texted them when they get back to me I'll update you 😉

Jesse Lee Peterson will remain in relative obscurity. But if he were female, 25, and cute spouting the same nonsense he'd have a name we'd all know. What Black CEO of fortune 500 companies are you talking about @Mel Hopkins? I'm sure there are no more than 5 -- not exactly a powerful example to make a counter argument. As far as self help, I dunno; who are the self-help gurus? People like Steve Harvey come to mind but he is an entertainer. Sure Black men dominate the church's leadership, but that is like saying the leaders of local chapters of Black greek letter organizations are visible -- sure they are, but that visibility does not extend beyond the narrow spheres of influence. Skip gates would be an exception, but there are always exceptions. Skip is a unicorn, not exactly reflective of the educators at elite institutions and certainly not the norm.

@Thumper came up with the name. I believe he got it from April Sinclair's novel of the same name.

OK you go with the reasoning of a 5 year and I'll go with that of the 50 year old 🙂

@Mel Hopkins, absolutely, unless you are providing entertainment, the culture has no use for you (us). I'm open to discussion on the issue. 😉 @Pioneer1 perhaps. But, as Omarosa learned, that is not a long term solution.

While I was at the Mississippi Book Festival, I attended a panel of booksellers. One of the panelists ran a bookstore in what he described as a resort town in Florida, so I looked it up and saw that it was not far out of my way back home. The store, Sundog Books, is located in Seaside, Florida which is in the middle of the Florida panhandle. It is a fine bookstore. The beach in Seaside was the nicest beach I'd ever seen in the continental US -- the entire area was pristine. The water varied in color from deep blue to light green. The sand was cool and fine, almost like power -- simply beautiful. Seaside, FL was also almost exclusively white. I saw one other Black man who was older than I, with a white woman. I did not see any Black women. I was not made to feel uncomfortable, I'm sure a lone negro posted no immediate threat -- though I was asked more than once where I was from, but it is a resort town and not an unusual question. I could not help but think, man these folks have really kept this place all to themselves. There is no place that Black people can go to that is nearly as nice and be surrounded by other Black folks. Martha's Vineyard comes to mind, but the beaches there are terrible in comparison. There is a mural that tells the whole story:

... the legacy of slavery. The influence of social media and gerrymandering for good measure.

Yeah I initially ended to agree with what you have said Pioneer, but I don't any longer.

Again Pioneer, this is what I mean, you can't just look at someone and devine their ancestry. If someone has brown skin what does that tell you about them? My sisters complexion is completely different than mine and we have the same parents. When we were growing up she thought I was Black and that she was white, but she was 5 years old. I don't understand why adults continue to use the same reasoning as a 5 year old.

So if he is not dumb, then he is wicked. Maybe his is adopting his position to attract attention and make more money. If he were a younger, female, and attractive it might just work for him. Middle aged Black men are invisible.

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...