Troy

Hosted by Nicole Dennis-Benn and Jason Reynolds Date: Friday, December 16, 2016 Time: 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Location: Chaiwali (274 Lenox Ave., at 124 St, in New York City) Free and open to the public (Think Black Pack Party to kick off the Holiday Season!) RSVP Email: amistad30rsvp@harpercollins.com Host Committee: Lisa Lucas, Mitchell Jackson, Clarence Reynolds, Linda Villarosa, D Watkins, A. Van Jordan, Willie Perdomo , Terrance Hayes, Tracy Sherod, Angela Flournoy, Chris Jackson, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, and Todd Hunter In Honor of Brook Stephenson

Guest, I agree 100%. I'd even take it further and say we need to identify as Humans and behave as if we are all in the same tribe. But that is a tall order, just like trying to get all Americans to behave as if we are all on the same team. We can't even get people in the same community (west/south sides of Chicago) to work together long enough to stop shooting each other. Some of us can even get our own families to cooperate with each other How are we gonna get the majority of American to work together--even if it is against such a serious threat?

I know Chris I read your articles on your experiences with Amazon, so it made reading the report much more compelling. Chris, in the unlikely case that consumers do in fact wake up, there is nothing that they can do. Unless the government steps in and breaks up the company, the way they did with AT&T and Standard Oil nothing will change and we will continue to be at the mercy of Amazon I'm about to float the idea of boycotting Amazon in an effort to revive the Black Book Ecosystem. Honestly, I don't expect much support for the idea, because today the short-term benefits that individuals enjoy always override the long term benefits of our people. For example, Amazon has sent me a check every month for 15 years for commissions earned on the books I sell. I'm a member of Prime and like the benefit of being able to get books the next day without paying for shipping and while most of the book I buy are not discounted; they are not available in stores and are still less expensive than buying directly from the publisher or author. Today, if I sell books directly people will choose to transact with Amazon--even if they discovered the book on this site. Now imagine if the book was not available from Amazon, I could still earn a commission by generating the sale on behalf of the publisher and the publisher would make more money on the sale. Today I suspect the reader would simply not buy the book if it were not available via Amazon. So the boycott would must include readers as well. We would also need Black owned media (what is left of it) to get on board to help publicize the effort and help people understand why it is important. But since people consume news via Facebook and Bezos (Amazon CEO) owns the Washington Post, it will be hard for this effort to get the sustained traction (on the order of years) it will need to succeed. I would be willing to make the sacrifice because I know I would benefit much more in the long term. But without enough support those benefits will never manifest any of the folks who choose to Boycott would just be sacrificing themselves for no reason.

I agree. but the only distinction I would make is rather than say Republicans, I would say oligarchs simply because there are some very decent people who are republicans and who are under the same boot we are under. They just disagree with the tactics to improve the country. The notion that all republicans agree with the likes of a Trump or are all white racists just feeds into the hands of the Trumps and the other who exploit the country to enrich themselves

Of course, what you describe Pioneer is the mentality of the colonized people. They adopt the attitudes of the imperialist. They don't have to groom Asians, Blacks or anyone else our conditioning makes this automatic.

Many people do quit the game--they have no choice. They can't afford a college education assuming that their primary education even prepared them for one. there is no vocation training in high school, so many blue collar jobs are out of reach and low-level jobs are being replaced by robots and other forms of automation. Even "underground" opportunities are increasingly limited as corporations and governments aggressively move in on drugs (legalized marijuana) and gambling. Sex trades will be the next opportunity. We are simply fodder for the prison industrial complex. We have to take control of out own destinies, but as that research report I posted on Amazon mentions; the creation of new business is decreasing as it becomes more difficult for entrepreneurs to compete with legalized monopolies. We have to make a conscious decision to support our own, otherwise we will be increasingly at the mercy of some corporation, the way the Black Book Ecosystem is dependent upon Amazon today. Right now I see little evidence that we are willing to make the sacrifices required to support our own.

"...when they go low we go high." In the streets, that advice does not work very well. Like "just say no," it sounds good, but in practice 'fighting fire with fire' is often the optimal strategy

Hey Mzuri good to see your contribution! While I agree with the spirit of your statement, your logic breaks down; if Hillary lost because she sucks as a human being, how would you explain Trump's win? Cynique, you realize your statement "... ridiculous the bloated, mop head, orange-skinned clown...the egocentric loose cannon lecher who has surrounded himself with white nationalists, religious zealots, incompetent campaign contributors and suck-up former rivals, the petulant Russian lover..." is the very definition of ad hominem attack. I think we can all agree both Hillary and Trump are liars, willing to say whatever they think will get them what they want power and money. Even though Hillary's lies resonated with more people, Trump won the election. We will really see, in 4 years, what the people think. Hopefully the democrats can come up with a suitable alternative....

Congrats! Just added the events to our events calendar.

@Pioneer1, there is no scenario in which conditions in this country improves for Black people that I would consider it a "lose" proposition--even if those improvements come from a Trump administration.

I too was making a comment, not a declaration or a prophecy. I doubted he become president--but never, for a second, had i ruled it out. As I moved around the country I saw that he had a lot of support outside the major cities. In any case, I don't think it is a laughing matter, but to each his own...

@Xeon, why do you say Welsing was a "joke?"

I truly believe the profit-seeking, corporate-controlled, emotion-driven, social media-fueled "news" we consume is the problem. Social media distorts the truth in such a way that we have no clue what our problems are or what the solutions could be; which is why 1/2 the country believes Donald Trump is the answer to ur prayers.

Man, I'm about half way through the report and it is brilliant! It substantiates all of our observations--in fact is if FAR worse than I imaged. Chris, you really should read it. If describes in great detail how Amazon is driving business to use marketplace. Amazon then mines the vendor's sales data for popular products which Amazon's promptly makes themselves--driving the original vendor out of business. If a company refuses to sell their products on Amazon, Amazon will allow knockoffs to be sold by third party vendors. Amazon will also sell products at a loss until competing vendors go out of business or join marketplace--where they will give up both a big chuck of revenue and business. The articles also relates how Amazon changes prices dynamically throughout the day, sometimes raising prices and much as 170 percent. Amazon, often charges more that other sites because people start their search for products on Amazon rather than Google or even the vendor's website! I discovered this myself once; I wanted to buy a coffee filter and was taken aback by the price. I went to the manufacturer's website and learned that Amazon was charging three times the price! I had to double check to make sure I was not seeing things or comparing different products (I wasn't). Amazon pays workers less than other companies for similar work, they exploit part-time worker to avoid providing benefits, and in many states they make billions or dollars without contributing a cent to the tax base. The don't pay their fair share of federal tax because of the loopholes. The only hope is that the government will still break up this monopoly before even more damage is done. Everyone really should read this research report.

We are all guilty of it. Several years ago I posted photos of myself as the world traveler, always doing fun things with interesting people, while selflessly advocating for Black people and literature. While that is is actually part of who I am, it is not a complete picture of myself. In fact, it was even a picture of myself I particularly care for... because "Facebook Troy" never struggled (unless it was for others) or made a bad decision. He wasn't human. Of course, there is Facebook's manipulation which is what actually motives us to contribute. I despise this aspect of Facebook, so I just opted out using Facebook for sharing personal stuff and only use it for sharing links back to AALBC.com. @Cynique, you hit on exactly how Facebook manipulates us: “…as I dutifully "like" what my relatives and friends say, even if I don't agree with or couldn't care less about what they have posted.” I've done exactly the same thing, and all this does is feed the monster that is making Facebook rich at our expense. As we “Like” the things we don't really like, we encourage people to share even more because of the ego boost the get from receiving likes. People feed off of these likes, and we might even feel bad or guilty if we don't click the like buttons ourselves. The only reason I care about any of this is that as people spend more and more time on Facebook the rest of the internet is crumbling around us. News sites are struggling, as fake news goes viral on Facebook. As far as content important to Black people goes, I've already beat that horse to death... Sadly, trying to explain any of this to most people is people is a waste of time...

Yeah, the Echo is a trip and I don't believe for a split second that it is not listening to you when you don't think it is. Who knows maybe our cells phone are transmitting our conversations when we are making a call as well. We already know corporations monitor our physical locations. Why wouldn't they listen in and call it a bug or a hack if they get busted. If they are Amazon, they can just say. "Go fuck yourself; we've Amazon Dammit!" When I found out Facebook monitors what you type--even if you decide to change your mind and never hit the send key, I changed my behavior on the platform.

Merry Christmas.

@Mel Hopkins, I'm a prime member myself right now, so I completely understand the appeal and benefits (ignoring the long term disadvantages). I don't even use it for the movies or music. It is just that I order enough books from them that the free shipping works out in my favor. I guess by this point everyone knows you can easily hack your Amazon Fire to watch any movie even bootlegged movies that are still in the theaters for free. Obviously, Amazon knows this too and no one is doing anything about it. I'm sure sales for this device will go through the roof. Again this is just another way Amazon makes money that no one seems to ever talk about--let alone even challenge Amazon. I just printed out the report (79 pages) and plan to start reading it tonight. I'll comment later.

OK, Cynique, maybe you are right. Perhaps I'm giving the American people too much credit. Maybe the non-racist folks, who would select a president based upon our collective benefit, rather than only their own self-interest, is so small as to be insignificant. As a side note: I always take what I read, people write about themselves, on social media with a grain of salt. People are crafting an image, the very same was a company crafts their brand's image. People, they say things the want people to read--often to elicit praise, compassion, and maybe even envy. In any case, the people we see on Facebook are incomplete, perhaps caricatures of themselves. So when someone says they cut off a white friend, they had no idea was racist, until they voted for Trump. I question the motivation for making the statement, and therefore the statement itself. Did they write that to make themselves look strongly principled? If so, why? Strongly principled people do need to broadcast the information... I would question the depth of their "friendship" with their white friend. Do you mean to tell me they did not have a clue their so called friend was racist until they voted for Trump? Again I look at what people say about themselves online with a grain of salt, and definitely would not use it bolster an argument.

I have not read the entire report yet. But I did not want to wait to read it before sharing it. Anyone who has been reading these forums, for more than five minutes, knows how I feel about how these massive corporations exert their power and how terribly Black businesses, in particular, are adversely impacted as a result. I'm surprised to read that 1/2 of all households have a prime membership--that is a staggering figure. Most businesses have to give customers and incentive to return, but Amazon has turned that into a revenue stream. Amazon may be a greedy monopolist, but they are so brilliant, one can't help but admire their gangsta! Preventing Amazon from dominating the market, and gaining a collective long term benefit is simple; all we have to do is stop using them. But that is not likely to happen until Amazon has extracted as much wealth out of the economy as possible. They won't stop until they have all the wealth and right now there is nothing in their way.

“Today, half of all U.S. households are subscribed to the membership program Amazon Prime, half of all online shopping searches start directly on Amazon, and Amazon captures nearly one in every two dollars that Americans spend online. Amazon sells more books, toys, and by next year, apparel and consumer electronics than any retailer online or off, and is investing heavily in its grocery business. Its market power now rivals or exceeds that of Walmart, and it stands only to grow: Within five years, one-fifth of the U.S.’s $3.6 trillion retail market will have shifted online, and Amazon is on track to capture two-thirds of that share.” —Institute for Local Self-Reliance You can download the entire report here.

OK speaking only about white voters; how would you classify a white 2012 Obama voter, who voted for Trump? Did they just turn into a racist, or are they just stupid? Again, I'm quite willing to concede that some very stupid and racist people (both Black and white) supported Trump; I do not think Trump's success can be explained away so simply. It is believing that simple explanation which is what shocked so many people... If you seriously believe only stupid people and racists voted for Trump, then you believe that accurately describes 1/2 the country's population. Rather, I think we are simply a population uneducated and ill-informed people--but not stupid people. Today Trump appointed another ex-Goldman Sachs billionaire to run Treasury... here we go!

There is some discussion that the electors may not actually vote for Trump. I've been listening to NPR, so I'm not sure if this is just hopefully liberal echo chamber stuff or something that is actually likely to happen... I don't think the masses will turn on Trump. While I've been playing down the racist element of his support, but they are not insignificant. Rather than turn on Trump they will be convinced that the problems were caused by the Blacks, the Mexicans, the Muslims... The masses will be pitted against each other; this is the way it always goes in America. While we fight amongst ourselves, Trump and his boys will get fatter.

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Cynique I know a Black man, who voted for Trump. He chose Trump because of Trump's promise to lower taxes. Of course, this brother was not unique, because 8% of Black people who voted chose Trump. So unless there is 4th category of racist the Trump-supporters-are-all-racist narrative does not wash. As far as giving Trump a chance, that point is moot because the man won what else can be done? I'm stockpiling weapon and building a bomb shelter.