Troy

@harry brown, this was indeed my Black History month update for the day: 32nd Day of ‪#‎BlackHistoryMonth‬: Black Men Built the Capitol http://aalbc.com/books/bookinfo.php?isbn13=9780762745364 Interestingly no one (on social media) has comments on the fact that my Black History month updates have extended beyond Black history month LOL! Many people are already tired of Black history month.

I hear you Pioneer1 but all culture are rife with example that contradict what you are saying. For example: Walter White, former head of the NAACP to you and I might be considered whit, but he said he was Black, and Black people embraced him as Black. If you can attend a Klan meeting without getting a beat down, you're white. Walter White was able to do this. . More famously Rachel Dolezal was able to rise to the presidency of a local chapter of the NAACP, all the while asserting her Blackness. Even Homer Plessy had 7 White great grand parents and was able to "pass" for white until someone who knew his background had him thrown out of the "whites" only car. Whites in the area had to reconsider the law, for they knew if you looked far enough into their ancestry, you'd likely find a negro lurking in there. Pioneer, I know a few blonde haired blue eyed of "Black" people who could pass for white, but don't. They consider themselves Black and so do I. They have Black ancestry and they choose to embrace it above all else. They are culturally Black. So what you are saying does not "seem" divisive. It is divisive by definition. According to America's presumptive definition of "Blackness," Barack is "Black." But again this is arbitrary, for Obama with the same reasoning could say he is white. Also I would actually consider Barack Obama more African than your garden variety African-American since his father was actually Kenyan. I don't even know how many generations I have to go back to find an African. But again being African does not mean you are racially "Black." I have another question for you @Pioneer1. What do we do will all this mixed "race" people running around here? What racial category do we put them in? Do you propose a 21st century Brown Bag test? What do you do with people like Tiger woods that want to embrace the full diversity of their backgrounds?

Well I think it is probably the later @CDBurns, she sees social media sapping her traffic. I monitor the entire online book environment and the impact has been devastating. Sure there are many reasons Black book websites struggle including, failure to keep up technically, dependence on a single stream of income, lack of new content, etc, but the impact of social media can't be ignored. Of course the impact is not limited to Bloggers, and Black book websites, the entire web is effected. Luvvie has an advantage in that she is a celebrity. AALBC.com has an advanatge in the it is big and has been around a while. But the real problem is social has put a real damper on the ability for new indie websites from succeeding. Which I always argued makes the Internet a less rich place and focuses control onto a few platforms. Another Luvvie or AALBC.com will be virtually impossible to start today. But the solutions are simple: (1) As Luvvie says, stop giving Facebook your content. (2) Take all of you energy devoted to social and actively support other platforms--including your own.

Someone tagged me on this comment, because they knew I would agree with this. Now the sister that wrote this is somewhat of a Blogging sensation. Here post was shared 1.6K times in a few hours. I scanned the comments in reaction and it is clear most people did not understand what she was saying. But some clearly got it, so maybe, just maybe we still have a chance.

I'm not sure Zoe considers herself "Black," many Dominicans do not. I guess when Zoe is given an Academy Award nomination for her performance that will placate the negro masses. Pioneer you realize there is no way to identify someone as Black based upon their genes. So sentences like the one below are confusing: "But the fact is, many of our people (AfroAmericans and AfroLatinos) are NOT actually Black (genetically speaking), despite having African ancestry." If an enslaved African has a son child with a native American is the child Black or Native American? If that son (1/2 Black 1/2 Indian) goes on to have a another son with a white woman is that child Black? If that son, the enslaved African's grandson has a son with a white woman, is that son Black? Now this son, as you can image probably looks 100% white, but if you tested his DNA his y chromosome would point directly balck the his African great grandfather.

Harry post a link to the site, or at least say what site it is. This conspiracy theory is a bit too much to believe, but hey I any government that would enslave a group for a few hundred years certainly would not be above loosing control of some designer virus.

It is me, or does Zoe look like an actress performing in Blackface? Why does EVERY single film trailer about a Black musician show them wielding a gun? Whether it is the NWA film Straight Outta Compton or Miles Davis bio-pic, one would think Hollyweird believes this is the only way to attract an audience. Zoe is a fine (in both senses of the word) actress, but her being cast in this role is distracting, particularly where there are so many dark skinned actresses who could have pulled this role one off brilliantly. @Chasitie, this will be another flick I'll wait to see when it is available for streaming online

On March 2nd 1997, I registered the domain AALBC.com. I had already been working on the website for the previous 5 months, and could never have imagined that I would still be working on it over 18 years later. Over the years I’ve worked a variety of jobs in a bunch of locations, and nothing has ever motivated me more than the work I put into AALBC.com. I work hard on the website and have sacrificed a great deal to keep it going, but it never felt like work, and the sacrifices pale in comparison with what I receive in return. AALBC.com can’t survive in a vacuum. It only has value when others see value in it. So I must say, “THANK YOU” to all the readers, visitors, writers, customers, and financial supporters who continue to make this website possible. Hopefully it does not come across as too presumptuous of me to make the launch of my website, AALBC.com, a Black History month update. But hey, like our literature, if we don't celebrate our accomplishments one else will

This is a good pick man. I'm going to make Black Men Built the Capitol: Discovering African-American History In and Around Washington, D.C. by Jesse Holland my Black history month update tomorrow. I would use it today, but today marks the 18th anniversary of AALBC.com :-)

I assumed it was not personal and said as much @Chasitie. My rant was not directed solely at you. Sorry if it came across that way. At the end of the day, I see us going, en mass to see SOC, as the antithesis of what we need to do as Black people to support Black film. I think we really need to support indie filmmakers much more. But if we are gonna support Hollywood, lets pick a better film, or at least a movie that does not glorify and sanitize a crew of misogynistic gangster rappers--despite what the AAFCA thinks. If anyone asks me should they go to see SOC in the theater I would still say, "no."

30th Day of ‪#‎BlackHistoryMonth: Ernest J. Gaines author of The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman and A Lesson Before Dying.

Hi Chastie, I hear you Sis, and I appreciate you many not be speaking about me specifically, and are addressing people in general. But I will tell you something about my support of Black film. For well over 15 years I have paid reviewers to review 100's of Black films. I have published interviews of actors, producers and other film industry professionals. When people like Ava Duvernay ask for support I jump through hoops to support their efforts. This is far more valuable than the purchase of one ticket to watch a film in the theater. So while I did not go see SOC in the theater I did pay for a film review. Even this conversation I posted sharing the AAFCA press release announcing that SOC was the best film for 2015 promotes and supports the film. It is also worth mentioning that I do this despite any form or reciprocation, acknowledgement or gratitude from those who benefit. Writers are much more gracious in this regard :-) As far as borrowing films from the library. For people like me going to see a film is a luxury in both time and expense, so I will only go to see a film I think is worth seeing on the big screen. Nowadays, not many films fit the bill. Straight Outta Compton, does not come close to meeting my criteria to a film I would want to see on the big screen. Cinematographically there was nothing about SOC that would compel me to see it on the big screen. I would go see Mad Max in the theater given a choice between the two films. Finally, the notion that Blacks failing to go to the theater to see every Black film made, is the only thing preventing more Black films from being made ignores so many other factors from racism, to ownership, and the economic conditions of our demographic.

Yeah race is a very sloppy term and it is true Sara phenotype is insufficient to define who is in which group, despite what I think of what the Oxford dictionary says. I remember my little sister explaining to my mother that she was white white and that I was Black. At the time I was about 7 or 8 and I remember thinking I never considered that, but my little sister who was about 4 or 5 years old at the time, had a point, and I awaited my mother's response. I don't recall what my mom said in response, and I don't recall feeling hurt, but I do remember feeling different from them. Over 30 years later I heard my youngest daughters was crying in (Kindergarten or 1st grade), because a little white girl in her class asked if she was adopted. My daughter is my complexion, and my wife who picked her up that day is lighter. Our course young children don't come by these ideas naturally. We live in a color conscious society and it leads to all kinds of problems.

29th Day of #BlackHistoryMonth Independent Black-Owned Newspapers in the United States. SUBSCRIBE to one!

I would say they are all Black, except the Indian woman from The Office. Using the "one drop rule," which is not universally applied in the U.S.

No worries Chris, that is the nature of these things, it is not all that serious ;-). Though I agree forcing you to vote in every category gives people votes they would not have otherwise received. Thanks Mel for the social sharing as well.

As race as race is concerned I would have no problem with it if people did not insist on attributing more to it that simple physical characteristics. Which is already a slippery slope since the "mongrel mixing of the races" created all these hybrids that defy objective racial categorization. No wonder racists fought so hard to prevent "mixed marriages." Too bad they could not stop themselves from raping Black women. Pioneer, man you articulated something about Beyonce's show that I thought from the minute I saw her during the Superbowl that I have not heard anyone else say. That big Blonde wig leading the black haired sisters kinda bugged me. The positioning was such that she was the leader because she was the fairest, and had that blond wig. She was what the other aspired too, she was unique from the rest, even better. It did not initially occur to me that they represented Black Panthers because all of the imagery of the sisters in the Black Panther That I ever saw, never looked like Beyonce and her crew. I see now the sisters were wearing beret, though it is curious Beyonce did not wear one.

You know I sat and listened to the whole video yesterday, and see that I must have said "ummm" 30 times. I thought I got rid of this habit years. When I shot the video I was actually quite tired (and shows on my face), but it is funny I did not pick up on this when I was editing the video. If I did I would have edited the ummms our or reshoot the whole thing. It seems editing your own video is like editing your own writing; You have to step away from your work for a period of time. If you try to edit immediately, you'll miss errors that you would have easily picked up after some time has elapsed--and never writer or shoot video when you're beat. Your time would be better spent getting some rest :-)

I need your vote. Pick Troy Johnson as "Literary Activist of the Year." Please try to do it now, today is the last day to cast a vote--I know I've been lackadaisical in promoting this.

Elizabeth Nunez and W. Ralph Eubanks Lead Summer Workshops JOIN HURSTON/WRIGHT FOR WRITERS WEEK 2016! Creative Nonfiction: W. Ralph Eubanks, workshop leader The Art of Fiction: Elizabeth Nunez, workshop leader Dates: August 6-12, 2016 Location: Howard University, Washington, D.C. Hurston/Wright workshops are open to Black writers published and unpublished. Spend 7 days sharpening your writing during intensive workshops and craft talks led by acclaimed authors. Creative Nonfiction This workshop explores the challenges of memoir, biography and nonfiction narratives. Photo: Stacey Vaeth W. Ralph Eubanks W. Ralph Eubanks W. Ralph Eubanks is the author of the critically acclaimed memoir Ever Is a Long Time: A Journey Into Mississippi's Dark Past and The House at the End of the Road: The Story of Three Generations of an Interracial Family in the American South. He is the former editor of the Virginia Quarterly Review and the former director of publishing at the Library of Congress. A 2007 Guggenheim Fellow, he is the Eudora Welty Visiting Scholar in Southern Studies at Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi, for the Spring 2016 semester. Click here for more information on Ralph Eubanks. The Art of Fiction This workshop for writers of short stories and long fictional narratives focuses on the essentials of skillful storytelling. Photo: Leonid Knizhnik Elizabeth Nunez Elizabeth Nunez Elizabeth Nunez is the award-winning author of nine novels and a memoir, Not for Everyday Use, which won the 2015 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for Nonfiction. Novels Boundaries and Anna In-Between were New York Times Editors' Choices. Anna In-Between won the 2010 PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Award. Nunez also is a recipient of the 2011 Writers for Writers Award from Poets & Writers and Barnes & Noble, an American Book Award, and a NALIS Lifetime Literary Award from the Trinidad & Tobago National Library. She is a Distinguished Professor at Hunter College, CUNY. Click here for more information on Elizabeth Nunez. CLICK FOR GUIDELINES AND TO APPLY Founded in 1990, the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation is a nonprofit committed to developing, mentoring, and honoring Black writers with workshops, awards and community. Learn more at Hurston/Wright Foundation Hurston/Wright Foundation | 202.248.5051| Email | Website

Of course, post your email address.

The fact that race is an artificial construct does not mean there are no differences between humans. Pioneer would you provide a definition of the word "race." I ask because you are using it as if it you are quite clear what it means. If would help if I knew what definition you are working from and were you pulled it from--Thanks It is difficult to judge what Beyonce looks like, given the makeup and fake hair. But now that you juxtapose the two images. It seems like they were shooting for the "Shakira look" for Bey.

Well I finally saw Straight Outta Compton It actually was a decent movie as far as films go, and I enjoyed it. But it's basis in reality was pretty thin. As far as best picture, I dunno. They really need to make a film about Suge Knight, that Brother.... I also watched Black Mass last night and I thought Johnny Depp deserved an academy award nomination and I enjoyed that film more than I did Straight Outta Compton.

@Pioneer1, Absolutely. Breeds, by definition come from, artificial selection. There are no "breeds" of humans, any more than there are "races" of humans. Sure all three people pictured here have different phenotypes, but generically they are virtually identical. So much so that there may be more genetic similarities between two people of different "races" than there are of two people of the same race.

28th Day of ‪#‎BlackHistoryMonth‬ - Haki Madhubuti - Poet, Activist, Educator, Publisher