Troy

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Del there you go again answering questions with questions... The data is pretty clear, and stark. Better than 75% of marriages fail and an increasing number of women never get married. Again, Del, are you willing to say that the film will change the world, or even Black people, for the better? Please don't respond with another oblique question. Thanks.

@Delano was that a typo or do you really not know that the first universities predated the 1500 by several thousand years. @Pioneer1 I think part of the problem is that you too are tying science to Western civilization which is relatively new even the stuff Hippocrates knew was taken from Kemet. Science predates Christianity. Science does not start with Europeans climbing out of the Dark Ages. Part of the way you guys are talking seems to indicate a belief that it does. I guess your Western education makes this so.

So you perfer to motivate people by telling them they have no control over their lives and to think negative thoughts?

@Delano, I don't think you are wrong but about me, but I also believe people are inherently good. A small minority of people F things up for the rest of us by creating the conditions in which good people do desperate things -- like vote for 45. Pioneer I completely disagree with you Seriously, I think you are right to the extent that the current system has not served us very well and if you'd gave to be super optimistic or naive to believe that it ever will. I don't know about poligamy, most people can't handle one spouse...

No the solution is not Black book, it just the battle I and some others have taken up. It is just one battle in a much larger war. Sure there are plenty of charitable people, but these people don't control anything. How else could wealth inequality be so great, or how could so many people, be so impoverished, or go without health coverage, with all the charitable people we have?

OK @Delano, I guess I can see how you could take my statement, "I will say this unless we do everything for ourselves we will never be able to truly define a culture..." as a proposed solution. The reality is that it is a broad statement of a goal, not an action plan of how to get there (i.e a solution). It was not intended as anything more than that, because I don't know of a solution for Black folks to achieve independence in the context of this society. Maybe we can all just move to Wakanda Since we ain't going anywhere. My solution is to fight for independence in my corner of the world, books, which not only entertain and inform they define, record, and celebrate a culture. We can at least control our books can't we?

Sorry it appears my information was stale, while Cosby's show had been pulled by all the network many have brought it back: https://mic.com/articles/180325/networks-dropped-the-cosby-show-amid-assault-accusations-now-two-networks-have-brought-it-back I stand corrected. It will be interesting to see what they do when he is convicted, which seems pretty likely if they open the floodgates and let all the past victims provide evidence of Cosby predatory behavior.

The possibilities are unlimited.

Most of us hope you are right Brother! ---------- I sat in a meeting with Gary Cohn when I was at Goldman. He spoke to my department, explaining how much of the work was moving to Bangalore.

Where is the flaw in telling people they in control of the own lives and to think positively?

Pioneer if you don't understand my analogy, you may not understand the word "never." Del it is not clear to me why you insist the science could not exist without religion. I'd argue that science -- especially in the last several hundred years -- exists despite religion. The BC/AD strikes me as weak way to draw a relationship between the two, indeed some use BCE. In any case, the names are irrelevant to how science is practiced. This is like arguing that since the planets are named after Roman gods, that science is would not exist without to Roman mythology. Would you also make that argument too?

This seems to be the case...

@Mel Hopkins, I actually understand and agree with Guest Ben T. Mel comments. Of course I understand and agree with yours too. It is that elephant thing. You and Cynque were raised very differently than I was so your world views are different. I became an educated adult so my world view has changed. When I was a little kid, for example, I remember how excited and surprised I was to see the little Black boy in the book a Snowy Day. I had no idea a Jewish guy wrote the book -- I would not have even known what a Jew was. All I knew was that I was happy to see a little boy like me in a book. I learned to read on the lily white Dick and Jane books. Today I know that White supremacy was responsible for me not seeing Black images in books and TV. Now if you did not grow up the way I did the impact of white supremacy would be less (thought I'd still argue present). Similarly, I later discovered the great contribution of Black people and how white supremacy made it necessary for our history to be hidden. As a result I've been able to throw off the shackles of white supremacy... to a certain extent. Today, for me, the vistages of white supremacy have to do with access to networks, opportunities, and capital; which are limited as a direct result of racism. Among my peers I was one a few who went to college. Many of those that went were the first in out families to so. In many communities this is still the case in 2018!! People are more likely to have a family member in Jail than in college. The lack of access to quality education of a direct result of racism and the way we practice capitalism. I understand many successful Black are entirely unaware of communities in which these conditions exist, so it is hard for them to understand how anyone could still be adversely impacted by white supremacy. Cynique, Nat Turner's story did not get the same reaction from Black folks because white folks did not generate the same level of hype -- perhaps because a Black man would have stood to make too much money. We simply do not have the market might to make a "big" film. I just looked up the box office for Nate's film and see that it took in less than $16M. BIll Cosby show was so very important because it was both entertaining and there was a deliberate goal uplift Black people. Today this show has been pulled from syndication because of Cosby's personal life... or because another Black man stood to wield too much power.

@Delano I'm just offering observations. I did not propose any solutions. But I will say this unless we do everything for ourselves we will never be able to truly define a culture, for we will always be at the mercy of another culture. Del, If you can make good deeds profitable you could indeed change the world. The problem is I don't think this is possible in our current system. I'm open to examples to the contrary. Please don't say the Black Panther movie for I think you will discover that it will not change the world and make it better for Black people -- despite all the hype to the contrary. Indeed when ever you see massive profits generated it is always exploitative and the real wealth accrues to only a few. Of course you'd have not trouble coming up with plenty of examples of this on your own. Virtually all criminal activities, by their very nature, drugs, extortion, gambling, prostitution, loan sharking, protection, etc. The white boys on Wall Street get away with their crimes, but the Brothers in the 'hood get thrown under the jail. The illegal activities for the very wealthy are less rigged, but for us they are the very definition of rigged.

Books are just one way to relate our culture, it may not even be the best way. Art, poetry, film, song, and the spoken word are other ways of defining and relating what is important a culture. I enjoyed Black Panther film for the entertainment that it was, but I refuse to allow my culture to defined by a film created solely to enrich Disney and that was made up by some young white boys for a comic book. Is the made up world of Wakanda how we communicate Black cultural values today? Has it really come to this? There have been other films with powerful Black people and evil white folks -- the entire Blaxploitation era was full of them. Why is Black Panther regarded as so highly? Is it because it was so profitable. Is it because it was such a great film? I suspect it was because were were told to embrace it. Now I only use social media to post links to my website, but I could not avoid all the hype surround this film. Lerone Bennett's passing went completely unnoticed (assuming anyone knows who he is). I shared information about his transition but Facebook did not show it to anyone. I posted something mentioning Black Panther and that got engagement not as much as my posted used to get and hardly anyone click the link to visit the site but you see my point. The hype surrounding Black Panther was carefully crafted and we all fell in line.

I think the American culture is one defined by consumption which is directed by the marketers of massive multinational corporations. "Needs" are created then exploited in order to drive profits for the owners of these companies. Do you believe the owners of Disney, the ones writing Couglar's check, care about uplifting Black people or making money? @Delano if you can you, and everyone, should watch this program on Netflix called Dirty Money, It really illustrates just how screwed up we are as a nation. I watched the first two episodes. The second one talks about Pay Day loans scandals. This is our culture. The only need Black Panther filled was the need of Disney to maximize revenues. Disney simply exploited our wretchedness on the way to the bank.

Nationwide — In selecting An American Marriage, Oprah said: “It’s the perfect book to read along with a friend or a family member… you’ll want to talk about it with somebody. It’s one of those books I could not put down!” Every month, The Tea selects and spotlights a new book. For its February “Romance” theme, they chose An American Marriage. Tea co-host Janelle Clayton describes Tayari Jones’ fourth novel as “Juicy, full of heartache and relevant to our experience.” The cast of The Tea are professional women who share their own stories, inspired by themes in the books they choose. They hope to grow a global Book Club by inviting viewers to join the online conversation and keep it going and growing. Shows are posted every Thursday at 7pm on their Facebook page and YouTube channel at www.Facebook.com/JoinTheTea and www.youtube.com/JoinTheTea The Tea’s Monthly Video Release Schedule Week 1 – The Book Selection Week 2 – Get2Know (the Authors) Week 3 – The Book Discussion Week 4 – Beyond the Book In 2017, Burke and Kate Wood set out to create a book club show that would be entertaining and empowering, targeted to people who love books and talking about them. Troy Johnson of the AALBC assists with book selections, and much of the studio shooting is done at Harlem School of the Arts. PRESS CONTACT: Kate Wood Bcreative Digital Media kate@bcreative.media (609) 213-9072 ### I'm actually not a regular member of The Tea's cast, but I joined them as a guest for the American Marriage discussion which you may watch here. I think what The Tea is doing with Black books is some of the best stuff out there. If you agree subscribe to The Tea's youtube channel, while you are on YouTube subscribe to my channel too; I still push out videos from time to time ;-)

Hey @Delano if it wasn't you who posted that link, I would have immediately deleted it and banned your account (seriously, I do this regularly). Can you tell us what one would encounter by clicking the link? @Mel Hopkins I always assumed all on my ancestors were enslaved. This is what ever taught to assume, that I had not history beside or beyond slavery. As an adult I learned on my maternal grandmother's side there is no evidence of any of those folks being enslaved and my maternal grandfather side I find my grand grandparents on the 1850 census, so they obviously were not enslaved then. I think much of my own slave mentality as introduced early on through our culture. It was only once I was well into adulthood that I became conscious of the brainwashing and have been trying to shed it ever since. So, I understand why Black people are sensitive if you critique the Black Panther phenomenon...

There is an popular indie press bases in New York City called Akashic Books. Researching the meaning of their name was how I learned of the Akashic records. Now seems like a good time for me to revisit the subject ;-) Thanks everyone!

Yes @Delano I've heard that argument, and again I'm simply reacting to that realization. The sad and pathetic truth is that in 2018 despite access to great technology, a trillion dollars in buying power, the availability of a great deal of information on our history, and all of our collective intellect, Black people are still so needy of strong powerful images! Yes, I agree we need to see strong positive images of ourselves, but I guess running AALBC.com I get a heavy dose of powerful, brilliant, and successful Black people on a daily basis. But I know most people have no clue who Imhotep or Mansa Musa -- let alone the great things we've done in the country, beyond MLK, Malcolm X and a handful or others. We have no clue Black people travelled the globe long before Columbus "discovered" America. I share these stories almost daily, but social media all but stopped showing my posts instead the share the fictional world made up by some cats at a comic book company 50 years ago. We have no agency, we do not drive the narrative. We are seemingly at Disney's mercy for images of strong Black images, huh? Guest just watching thanks for contributing. The thoughts of others are always welcomed. It remains to be seen how much Black unity this Disney flick generates in the Black community. I'm not holding my breath.

@D.E. Eliot, we all make mistakes. I'm glad you took the feedback as it was intended. There are many options for indie publishers to get books into the hands of readers without using Amazon. At the end of the month, I'll be giving a workshop for indie authors and publishers at the National Black Writers Conference in NYC, with Paul Coates, founder of Black Classic Press and BCP Digital Printing. We will help writers with every aspect of producing a book from editing, design, printing, distribution, and marketing. For example, I provide book printing through AALBC Prints Books and manuscript editing through Edit 1st. There are many other professionals out there, but we tend to give one big corporation all our business. Amazon's ability to secure the exclusive right to sell an author's book was just brilliant on their part, but hurts authors collectively. In fact, last year I was considering organizing a boycott of Amazon -- only then did I realize just how dependent so many authors were on Amazon -- their books could not be purchased anywhere else! That realization gave rise to #readingblack. Yes, @Mel Hopkins is absolutely right. The #readingblack platform is a place where we can share mistakes so others can avoid them, and good ideas so that they don't have to reinvent the wheel. I hope you will consider participating. BTW, if you made $10K in profit selling one book you are doing GREAT. Maybe you'll share some of your successful strategies at #readingblack.

@D.E. Eliot I don't take your not understanding my point as a form of disrespect. I'm only going by the information you presented here and the information you've shared. Now that you elaborated on the nature of your company, I see now that you are indeed a publishing company. However, I've been in this industry a long time and you present like an indie author, not a publishing company. I'll take the time to explain why and I hope you receive it the information as helpful advice. In your "not so perfect" intro you provided a link to Amazon. Now there is absolutely nothing wrong with doing this, but this is how indie authors open up, not publishing companies. When you said your book was published by a Black own publishing company I was anxious to learn more, because I actively promote these businesses. But when I could not find a website or a single book in distribution (outside Amazon), I was confused because this is not characteristic of a publishing company. You said you are locked into selling through Amazon so I can only assume to are using a service like KDP Select when you are locked into 90 exclusive arrangement with Amazon. No publishing company would lock themselves into an exclusive arrangement with a single online bookseller -- even if it is Amazon. I could go on but I think you see my point. Now you might not be concerned about how you are perceived by others, but if you are selling books (indeed any business) you have to be aware of how you are perceived an why you are perceived why you are perceived this way... this is just an aspect of marketing. @Mel Hopkins, I'm sure there is an audience for your character. The main difference between you story and Black Panther is that Black Panther had the full marketing might of The Walt Disney Company behind it... and that is a very big deal.

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Yeah it is nice to consider the possibility that all I've learned is tucked away somewhere in my brain, 'cause I'm sure I have no conscious recollection of 95% of the stuff I learned in school :-) The possibility of being able to tap into our collective knowledge is exciting to consider isn't it? The scenario you describe @Mel Hopkins seems far more plausible. But it is fun to dream about a collective consciousness that we could potentially access :-)