Troy

After watching the trailer, I'm not all that anxious to see this documentary. It is like being a war vet suffering from PTSD, and watching a grisly war movie. Over the past decade Manhattan has become a much nicer city. The image below shows the old meat packing district which used to be a freaking disaster. Today it is home to some of the most expensive real estate in the country. I don't get it, because I would definitely not want to live in the area. It is far too noisy and busy for my taste, but even for those with a desire to live there, the real estate is WAY out of proportion (think $1 million+ for a 1 bedroom and you still have to pay for maintenance, taxes, parking, schools, and everything in the vicinity is expensive). The city is almost crippled with all the new construction, but virtually none of it is for people with moderate incomes. Instead much of the new housing stock belong to investors with no need or interest in living in these places--it is just a safe haven for rich folk's money to grow. Meanwhile poor people struggle for decent housing and schools. Here is a little anecdote: In most places in the country you can go to a municipal park and play tennis for free, assuming tennis courts are not already in your community. Forget about tennis courts in schools, the vast majority of schools in Manhattan don't have them (if any). In New York City you have to pay $200 a season to play tennis in a city run park--and there aren't that many places to play. But rich folks play in private clubs where the fees are often staggering. Suffice it to say the next Serena will not come from New York City I could go on all day with little anecdotes like this. Basically if you are rich New York City is great place to live, but even if you are middle class you can't truly appreciate all the City has to offer. If you are a wage earner and make less than $150K a year you will struggle to find a decent place to live in Manhattan and still have enough money to do some of the things people with salaries that high, anywhere else in the U.S., might expect to do like take vacations own a nice car or pay for private school for their kids. New York could truly be a great city if did something to accommodate anyone other than the rich.

For those of you interested the behind the scenes activities... I finally migrated all of my film reviews to my website's new format. Basically the web pages for the old film reviews, indeed all of AALBC.com web page were static web pages. They were essentially MS Word documents, so if anything needed to be changed I had to open the document up and edit it directly. This is cool for a handful of pages, but it is entirely impractical for large websites like AALBC.com. As I added new content the problem just became progressively worse. To make any site wide changes like converting to https, or optimizing for mobile devices, just became very labor intensive. Today changing the format of a film review is trivial. The design of the web pages and the content are completely separate. This ideal is not exactly a revelation in website design, but for a site started in 1997, keeping pace has not been trivial, but it is the only reason AALBC.com has survived and grown over the past two decades. Every Wordpress blog is designed the same way, to keep content separate from the design. This is why you can click a button and dramatically change the look of an entire Wordpress website. But a Wordpress site, as flexible and easy as they are to use, would be too limiting for AALBC.com. I employ very different designs for different types of content; the design of a film review page is completely different than a book club page, or an author page, or a book review page as an example The other trick is that I have not broken any of the old URLs. They all continue to work even through the pages now have new URLs. This is critically important so that I don't lose any of the benefits I've gained in SEO (search engine optimization) over the years. In fact with the site redesign and the changes I made in the page's meta tags (the stuff read by search engines) I should actually gain some benefits in SEO.

Agreed, but we already know, because of the hacking of the DNC's email server, some of the underhanded tactics HIllary folks used to harpoon Saunders. On the republican side, Trump represented the exact opposite of the status quo; which is another weakness of Hillary. America can be fixed but the people will need to do it by becoming organized and wresting control of the government from the control of 1% (1/10 of 1% more likely). Perhaps after the objective failure of the Clinton or the Trump presidency the American people might be primed to do what is really necessary to improve conditions for the majority of us.

Cynique, both the Urban League and the NAACP have Facebook pages; and like the vast majority of Facebook brand pages, these pages get very little traction. If these organizations expended the resources (i.e. money because Facebook is pay to play for brands) necessary to increase engagement on they would take them away from somewhere else which further diminishes the impact of the organization. Of course increased engagement of Facebook's does not necessarily translate into more constructive action or communication of important information. The stuff that gets the most traction is generally the "click-baity" stuff. Do you see the problem? Even for the stuff I post, maybe one out of 100 (I have not took the time to take an actual count), gains any real traction. For now, the time I invest and what I get in return is worth my effort. In 6 months it may not be. In a year Facebook could be replaced by the next shiny thing. When my Facebook posts gain traction, it does so because others have shared it in mass. So those of you who click the share button from time to time, thank you. Also lets be clear about the media; Kaepernick did not "use" the media. Time magazine used him, as Cynique wrote, to sell issues, or more precisely to make money. I don't buy into the notion that a constructive dialog will take place, or more importantly that anything will come of Kaepernick being on the cover of the magazine. Did any of us read the Time article, or was the cover basically a semi-viral-meme floating around the WWW which is how I discovered it? In order for Black folks to make any collective progress, as opposed to a handful of exceptions, we will have to work together. That is the only way we will make progress. Waiting around for the government to do the right thing is naive and obviously does not work. The government only helps when we are organized; and we have not been organized for more than 1/2 a century in this country.

I just published Kam's review of this film He says it is an Oscar contender, but apparently folks have been making a stick about Parker being a rapist in college. I did bother to follow up on the hullabaloo. I figured if he was a rapist someone would have locked him up or he would have been charged... Otherwise I guess they are unsubstantiated accusations. Then again if Kam mentioned it in his review, there is probably more to it. I usually ask about these issues in reviews is it relevant, but in this case if it has the potential to prevent an Academy Award nomination, then it is an issue. This will be the next film I watch in the theater.

Book Review: Telling It Like It Is: The Remarkable Life Experiences of My Aunt Edna “We all deserve an Aunt Edna in our life and if you are not of of those lucky ones who has one, her biography is a good option.”—Carol Taylor I have 802 more book reviews to migrate to the website's new format, once that is done I plan to ramp up our publication of reviews. I hope to have that done this week. Look out for even more critical reviews of books written by Black writers!

Chris Pioneer has a point, sure parenting is important but if the parent themselves are under-educated and knows little about parenting, how are they supposed to help the next generation? Children spend most of their day in school, often eating two meals there with some programs going as late as 5 p.m., much of the rearing of these kids naturally falls into the hand of schools, this is why schools are so important. Now we can argue about which is more important, schools or parent, but at the end of the day both are important and for many Black children both are failing. We can't legislate good parenting, but we can fix the schools. We both agree in many in states, like Nevada, the graduation rates are atrocious. Now we also know not all high school diplomas are equivalent. Do you think that all of the students getting high school diplomas, in places like Nevada are prepared for college or meaningful employment? If not which students do you think are less prepared? Man there are kids coming out of college who are unemployable; certainly not for a job that requires a college education. How do you think the all those Black kids without a HS diploma, and a relatively useless HS diploma will fare? What do we do about them? These folks will have kids and while we can point the blame on on the likely poor outcomes of those kids on the parents, that will not improve a thing. Cynique, I dunno but Pioneer may be winning me over with his argument. When I was a kid many kids suffered brain damage or reduced mental function due to lead based paint that was common during the time. We also had to contend with food desserts; fresh produce and seafood was not widely available. We ate a lot of canned vegetables which is loaded with salt. Then we were targets but corporation at an early age with cigarettes, shitty processed food, and alcohol. I drank countless Colt 45's (thanks Billy Dee), smoked, and ate a ton of junk food. Eventually I left the environment, but it took even longer for the mentality to leave me. Today when I see people smoke I feel bad for them, I eat fresh produce every day and I don't eat much processed food or drink as much as I used to. But many of the kids I grew up still do, some already have heart disease or have even died; others look much older than their age. We also know that heart disease did not exist 100 years ago. We also know who is dying at higher rate from heart disease today, right? I'll tell you; Black folks are dying at higher rates for all of the reason I mentioned above. My father died when he was 44 years old. Do you think my family was better off with or without him? What about all the other families of Black men, in poor communities, dying prematurely? Think of all the added stress on these people. We have no compassion for these folks and we want to blame them, poor parenting, lazy, uneducated, for all their problems. This is the fundamental problem I have with Republicans. But the problem I have the the Dems is that they just pay lips service to these issues while things only get worse for us. More Black people will die in Chicago, Harlem, and the entire US from heart disease than all other causes combined. More than 22K people died of coronary heart or stroke in Chicago in 2006 to 2010. During the same period 2K people died from firearms--an order of magnitude less! All of these deaths are preventable. But where is all the attention going? Which should it go? Where will it go...

Pioneer as soon as that Black person who is intelligent, articulate, and angry gets enough people behind them who are activity doing something they are murdered. This is why Malcolm, Martin, Hampton, and others were murdered. This is also why Obama has nothing to fear. If Quanell X's organization becomes effective, we'll need to protect him, or he'll be gunned down too. Pioneer EVERYONE is giving up--not just poor Black people. White people who lost their homes and who can't afford college have lost hope. The BS in the news about lower unemployment is propaganda, to make people think everything is OK; and that they must be the exception and are doing something wrong, when in reality most people are struggling! I'm struggling to make a web based business thrive, something that is becoming increasingly more difficult over the years. Rather than many indie websites being able to thrive and provide jobs and revenue for others; we have mega-corporation concentrating the wealth and opportunities in the hand of a few. Oh and before you tell me how many jobs they provide, you better look at the numbers of Black people they employ and the communities they serve.

This looks like a a very interesting story. Nice cover and well presented. The book trailer is well produced, short, and sweet. I noticed you are using an Squarespace Affiliate code on your Amazon buy links, which means SquareSpace is earning the commissions. Is this an arrangement that you have with them?

Rice & Rocks by Sandra L. Richards, Illustrated by Megan Kayleigh Sullivan a “Top 100 Recommended African-American Children’s Book”

@Pioneer1, while researching my families history we lost a two of my mothers siblings were lost to whooping cough. They would be around Cyniques age if they were alive today. Sickle Cell is a lethal affliction, far less desireable than the chance of contracting malaria. Carrying the trait of Sickle, I understand offers some protection... but to your point you might be correct contact with Europeans and there communicable diseases has indeed wrecked havoc across the globe including the Americas. Still live expectancy is higher today due in part to the eradication of diseases; a benefit which folks who refuse to get vaccinations put at risk. @CDBurns, man I looked at the stats and I find them depressing Basically only 12 states can manage to graduate 3/4 of their Black students; while virtually all the other states graduate there white students at rates exceeding this. Just looking at this data you can't help but be struck by the differences between Black performance and the performance of white students and Asian students. Particularly in places like DC. Now if you believe there are at no inherent natural disadvantage in intellectual ability and potential, what else can explain the differences? I'm sure in DC it is social-economic, as it is in New York City. People with money send their kids to private school in these cities, and public schools that are segregated by both race and class. I'll let you guess where the best teachers and resources go. Unfortunately for too many bright Black children, their life opportunities are stunted, if not altogether destroyed by the systems we have in place. 545 murders in Chicago.

The only thing that came out of this is that white folks, like the guy Quannell was debating just dig their heels even more. The notion that dissatisfied Black people should just live basically says; yeah the situation for ya'll is jacked up, don't look to us to help make things better, you might have better luck finding justice in another country... Maybe he is right.

Hi Darlene please share your website's address.

First, the idea that mainstream/social media is needed to spread the word about what we do is the problem that I'm pointing out--and let's be clear this is a serious it is a problem. You see the mainstream/social media can never be an instrument of our empowerment, indeed it is most efficient at doing the exact opposite; which it is currently accomplishing very well. If Black folks ran the media, or even a portion of it reflective our our population, that does not mean they will behave any differently than the mainstream media. BET was a perfect example of this. What we do know however is that if Black people are to be properly served Black people will need to do it. We are the only ones who have ever done it. Cynique, I know you are not equating the March on Washington with Colin's kneeling on the sidelines. But given the media's reaction I could see why one might perceive the two as equivalent. If I had the resources I would see just how much coverage each event got during it's time. I strongly suspect Colin's kneeling is getting far more coverage than the MOW. Cynique do you know the name of the president of the NAACP? Do you think any Black person not working for the organization does? Do you think it matters? Are we better off not knowing anything about the NAACP and it's activities, and knowing all about some ultimately meaningless gesture of a 2nd string quarterback? Time Magazine are not going to put the president of the NAACP on the cover its magazine, indeed we'd be lucky to read anything about the NAACP in Time. Our lack of a Black media is one reason organizations, like the NAACP, are not nearly as effective as they could be. Chris I know you are joking but you do more for our empowerment than most. I'm sure you won't allow yourself to be completely exploited by Facebook. ;-)

I see it differently; Kaepernicks gesture has legs because the media choose to give it legs. They decide what is appropriate for us to know and what is important. This decision has nothing to do with what will be most effective, or what best services our community, It has to do with was is easiest capture and likely to draw the most attention. Pledging a million is a good gesture, but actually giving a million dollars to an entity that will accomplish something of consequence is an entirely different thing--let me know when there something substantive has been accomplished. I'm sure the media will not cover that ... they have a 5 minute attention span, Colin will be out of the league, and all of this will have been forgotten in a season. Black people accomplish things, but the media don't tend to cover these accomplisments. Again they are fixed on covering the empty efforts, comments and activities of celebrities.

Yeah I would have certainly commented. I believe they close comments simply because it is a maintenance hassle. The vast majority of commenters are spammers--at least that is the case on my site. In the old days, the doors to homes did not need locks. Today you need lock, a security system, and insurance. Rather than taking the appropriate precautions, Black Enterprise simply got rid of the house.

@Pioneer1, you are probably right about BLM usurping the media attention from local activists. Again if you have no media platforms you don't control the narrative. Which means you can't control who represents you. Cynique, I'm not belittling Colin, I'm belittling his gesture, for it is empty and will be of no consequence when all is said and done. Are far has risking his career, I think it has helped it and the NFL, by busting rating. I even tuned into the start of the game to see what all the fuss was about

I've begin, in earnest, the migration of AALBC.com's old content to the new format; in the process I'm rediscovering content that I really enjoyed. You know this is a really cool site, if I do say so myself At any rate, I think you'll enjoy this video. Daniel Black is reminiscent of J. California Cooper, was was also a brilliant story teller. Both writers resonate with me because they tell stories about Black people in rural southern environments. The kind of individuals who most African Americans come from. Enjoy.

It seems Black Enterprise has finally gotten a clue regarding social media. 5 Reasons Your Business Shouldn’t Be on Facebook From a limited reach to a lack of results, here’s why your brand is better off without Facebook in its marketing strategy Now I don't agree with the article entirely, because you can still derive benefits from Facebook to benefit your business. But this article is a step in the right direction.

I think you answered the question. The differences in the demographics in Charlotte and Tulsa probably explain the different reactions.

Pioneer, I agree with Cynique. The fact supports everything she wrote. I would also emphasize that you can't generalize your observations to the whole. There are more plausible emplainations to many of your observations. For example, very old women today usually grew up in the south because the vast majority of Black people lived in the south then. 50 years from now the oldest Black people will have been raised in cities, because that is where the vast majority of us live today. You can't look at African immigrants and assume they have the same characteristics as the ones still in Africa. The ones in our universities are the best and the brightest Africa has to offer. Even the ones starting out as cab drivers are the most motivated people and are not representative of everyone still on the continent. Also, in cities like NY the entire environment was far more polluted 100 years ago. They dumped raw sewage into the the rivers, horses shat all over the street and the air reeked from burning of trash, factories, etc. It is definitely cleaner today If a 50 year old is not thinking as quickly it is because everyone's mental capacity declines over time, that is normal. I'm not arguing with you about what we may have lost spiritually, because i think we have lost something. Over my short life seeing everyone connecting to devices 24X7 is unnatural. Our complete separation from nature as seen in our massive urban centers is unnatural as well. I assume neither is beneficial, but I can't really say how bad it is relative to the beneficial tradeoffs. I would be willing to bet that the loss of spirituality due to our disassociation from nature and slavish devotion to corporate controlled technology has had more of an adverse impact on the brothers on Chicago's west and south side than vaccines. They could be dying from diphtheria or typhoid fever. Wouldn't you agree?

@Pioneer1 did you see this Time cover? They wrote "Perilous Fight" and "fueling a debate," gimme a break! We were debating this before he was born, and their is nothing perilous about this "fight." To me it diminishes the efforts of others, working in total obscurity, actually doing the work necessary to make change. Besides grabbing headlines, what is he really doing? If he organizes a boycott of the the NFL, now we are talking and he'll have my support and utmost respect. I don't know why Colin is the media golden child. Were the sisters who founded Black lives matter on the cover of Time? Maybe colorism is a factor too. Again, this is the media deciding for us whose efforts matter, deserves attention, and are acceptable. "Plantation" was the right word William Rhoden made this analogy appropriate in his book Forty Million Dollar Slaves.

Hey @Dr T, how does this look:

Thats right! I forgot about that book (it has been 12 years). Kola's old publisher, Door of Kush, published Chris' book as well as another contributor to these forums Diane Dorce. If these titles were published today I would be in a much better position to help promote these books. When they were published I actually had a full time job, young kids, and making updates to AALBC.com requiured a LOT more work. I just created a page for Chris.

Rereading these conversation is really motivating. I have work to do and the struggle continues...