Troy

If homey want to be a woman that is fine with me. I'm not sleeping with him, but I'm sure there is someone who would. Genetics play a MAJOR role in determining one's gender (if you have a Y chromosome you are very likely gonna be a dude). While race, as has been demonstrated abundantly here, is PURELY arbitrary. The problem with your reasoning is that you treat race the same way you treat gender.

🙂 Oh I intend to watch the series, so I'll see Cicely soon enough. As far as Google search, no I don't care for how you run their search engine. I only use it now to see how I rank on certain search terms. But I've probably put in at least 100 hours with Google's Gemni AI product over that past two weeks. Eventually Gemini will be used against people that may likely be the beginning of the web of the web as we know it--for the worse.

So, you are likening the US with a university PhD program? Colleges have limited number of seats the US has plenty of room and resources. Our problem is how our resources are utilized and allocated.

Factually correct. Opinion based upon a flawed foundation of racial stereotype (sounds like more of your big penis belief).

@aka Contrarian I thought about Mr. Universe and the like, but that is different, a body building competition which women also participate in. It is not a "beauty" pageant, though I'm sure some observers may see it as one. 1963 CBS TV series, East Side, West Side James Earl Jones was 31 or 32 in this scene and looks so young -- I guess I'm only used to seeing the barrel chested gray-breaded man. I have not watched it long enough to see Cicely yet

Ditto. @Delano that is an interesting subject

Sure there is! @Pioneer1 since you are willing to let some groups in and nothing others that is inconsistent with your statement above. Either you believe we have the resources or we don't. You can't have it both ways.

Sure, if they identify as such. You can keep them out the Black club. I choose not to and welcome them with open arms. Again, I assert rejecting, embracing, or assigning characteristics to people based upon how they look is simply dumb.

Why do you say that? Now you can get you grass cut for damn near free and your strawberries cost a lot less too. meanwhile YOU get to sit in an air-conditioned lounge on your job hitting up on the ladies 😉

You know the answer; we live in a society founded and steeped in white racism. Racists have their hands full now. huh? Too busy worrying about Latinos while their medical insurance, student loans, jobs, and social security is being taken away...

Yeah my list was focused on primarily on the literary folks who had some form of presence on the site but the three you mentioned are icons.

Everytime a new and different group comes to the country in significant numbers it is the same thing, the Jews, the Irish, the Italians were all a stain on the country until they weren't.

Y'all can't know what the majority think why they don't actively support us. Do you think the majority of Black people actively participated in the civil right movement? Even the majority of other group were actively against us why throw the minority who support us under the bus? You base this opinion on what? Does this opinion extend to our Brothers and Sisters from African and the Diaspora? I did not hear about the latest ICE murder in MN. Was the victim yet another white person who scarified their life fighting for the rights of Immigrants?

Here again, your love for this arbitrary term leads to nonsensical conclusions. There is no meaningful difference between Black American, African American. Afro American, Colored American, or Negro American the terms change over time and to white people we are still all spooks LOL! Being "Black" is about how and where you were raised our shared cultural experiences and here in American the legacy of enslavement is part of the culture. Booting people out of the ethnicity because you think their lips are too thin makes no sense.

Yes, always. Yes, the choice of death, though not ideal in my books, is an example of exerting one's freedom.

There is a myriad of reason why Black social sites don't succeed. No funding No media coverage The algorithms are against Black social sites -- other sites period Search marginalizes Black social sites In ability to garner a critical mass (people even Black people want to be where everyone else is) Governments allow monopolies to emerge That said I'd argue any Black social site can be very successful - even this one if folks posed (versus lurking).

I think they should disappear 🙂 but we clearly disagree on this. What do you think about the idea of a beauty pageant for men. We'd get to prance around on a stage in our speedos being judged by a bunch of women. I never heard of this show and I'm surprised by that. I'll have to look it up.

Neely Fuller, Jr. (October 6, 1929 – February 1, 2025) Roberta Flack (February 10, 1937 – February 24, 2025) Jawanza Kunjufu (1953 – April 25, 2025) Tony Rose (October 11, 1950 – May 27, 2025) Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o (January 5, 1938 – May 28, 2025) Thomas Sayers Ellis (d. July 17, 2025) Vivian Elizabeth Ayers Allen (July 29, 1923 - August 18, 2025) Larry Ward (d. August 19, 2025) Quintard Taylor (December 11, 1948 to September 21, 2025) Assata Shakur (July 16, 1947 to September 25, 2025) Malcolm Jamal Warner (August 18, 1970 – July 20, 2025) Michael I. Days (August 2, 1953 - October 18, 2025) Keturah A. Bobo (d. October 2025) DéLana R. A. Dameron (January 30, 1985 – November 29, 2025) Elle Simone Scott (November 28, 1976 – January 5, 2026) Charles S. Finch III (February 25, 1948 – January 17, 2026) Eric Huntley (September 25, 1929 – January 21, 2026) Addendum (to be edited) Sly Stone (March 15, 1943 - ) D'Angelo () Angie Stone () Some of these folks I knew, some I admired from afar, and others I was unfamiliar with. Quintard was a Brother whose work I really admired at https://blackpast.org/ He built his site into an institution. I spaced on our last meeting and missed it. I called him back and was wondering why he did not return my call... Keturah was a shocking loss because she was just so young and had such a bright future. Vivan Allen was Debbie and Felicia's mom who was force in her own right I did not know until she was gone. Eric Huntley, they don't make men, publishers, or booksellers like him (and his wife) any more! We are all soft, weak, and asleep compared to him. Of course, I don't have to tell anyone here who Kunjufu, Fuller, Shakur, and Finch are any why they were important. R.I.P.

I was expressing an opinion @richardmurray describing it as "wrong" is wrong 🙂 That is like saying I'm wrong because my favorite color is brown. Yeah, pretty much.

(1) This is untrue most abolitionists were not Black. Many of the civil rights, some of whom lost there lives, activist were not Black. (2) Even if that was true that is no reason not to support other oppressed groups I'm not a fan of giving a characteristic to an entire group of people. For example, can you name on group of people, where every person in that group don't give a f8ck about us?

@ProfD and @Pioneer1 I guess you Brothers don't buy into the notion: First, they came for the immigrants, and I did not speak out… Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me. As you know, most people sit on the sidelines and do nothing when another group -- or even their own group -- is being harmed. I don't think it is a good idea to tell others that they should stop supporting oppressed groups simply because they don't share the same ethnicity.

Yeah "capitalism" the way we practice it, which isn't true capitalism. As you mentioned bail out undermine capitalism and artificially bolster companies as well as tax incentives, tariffs against foreign competition not to forget laws that stifle competition suppress worker rights, etc. Speaking of cars why are we leading the work in electric vehicles. All we really have is tesla and while China has superior vehicles that cost less our EV charging infrastructure is paltry compared to the rest of the world.

A true renaissance man! It is interesting the boys moved as far away as possible in opposite directions. Craig consider our commissioned book review.

We are all free if we choose to be @Delano

For the umpteenth time: The concept of "race" exists, the presence of this website demonstrates that. Race is purely an arbitrary social construct with no basis in genetics. A person's skin color tells you nothing about their intelligence or the size of the penis @Pioneer1 @richardmurray won't come to your rescue on this issue any sooner than he'd come to the rescue of someone who believe the Earth is flat or that vaccines are bad for us.