Troy

Hey Judge welcome to the conversation. I'm not a Republican (or Democrat) either. I admire Ben for his medical prowess too, perhaps not as much as you do but his accomplishments are indeed noteworthy. Sure getting a medical degree takes time and work, but intellectually Ben was suited for the task. He was born that way. There are people who have to work just as hard, to get a High School diploma, as Ben did to get his MD. Both accomplishments are just as admirable, but I digress... I'd bet Ben is just as qualified as Obama was -- indeed one can make a reasonable argument that Ben is more qualified (I won't make it but a smart person easily could). I also don't recall Ben ever saying anything against Black people. Ben of has been critical of the behavior of some Black people which is a big distinction. In any event it would be interesting to see if Black people would support a Carson presidency in significant numbers. Probably not over Hillary.

To the Tigers of the world...

Oscar Grant's Shooting was recorded by witnesses and uploaded to Youtube: Grants story was captured in the new film Fruitvale Station, which we reviewed. What I don't understand is why I had never heard this story until I learned about this film. I did a search of Oscar Grants name on this website and there was nothing (other the information about this film) which is unusual -- especially back then -- because we usually hit on most of the topics of the day. This story, unlike Travon's was captured on film and has tons of eye witnesses. The shooting was inexplicable. The police officer who served just two years in prison say he was confused between his gun and his taser?!? Unbelievable.

I'm about 1/2 way through his book now. Again I went to the bookstore -- over $30 with the tax. Versus Amazon delivering it to my front door for $7 less. I actually order the book from Amazon while in the store. Now If that bookstore, my local Barnes & Noble superduper store, minutes from my house, closed I would not be happy. It is the only store for that sells new books for maybe 20 miles that I'm aware of. I often go there to buy food and chill on their patio. The the store is a bright, two stories and cavernous, but they don't have a lot of titles given the space. There are few books on the first floor which has; a cafe, stationery, games, nooks, music, magazines and cashiers. Most of the books are located on the top floor. But given most of the floor space, is literally space giving the store that cavernous feel, there is not much room for book. There is plenty of soft seating and plenty of space between shelves. The store does not host author events, but they have free WiFi. But all of this speaks to Jaron's book. I simply do not use the store to buy books because Amazon sells them for so much less. In reaction, the big stores have morphed into a spaces where books are not the primary focus and the Indy stores are closing. B&N is now Amazon's book showroom.

I don't know but if you follow the money you'll find your answer.

Now that might be interesting.... maybe I will.

What do the Librans and Taureans get out the relationship?

The Harlem Book Fair, now in its 15 year, hosts a large street where you will find a variety of booksellers, food and other types of vendors. But the crown jewel of the fair -- indeed any fair like it -- is the schedule of seminars, panels and related activities. The list below is not exhaustive and is current as of the time I posted it. For the most current information please visit the Harlem Book Fair website. PHILLIS WHEATLEY BOOK AWARDS 2013 - FRIDAY, JULY 19, 2013 7:00p – 9:00p Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture Langston Hughes Auditorium 515 Lenox Avenue @ West 135th Street Music by Atiba Wilson and the Befo’ Quotet Sonia Sanchez will receive 1st Annual Sonia Sanchez ​Award in Poetry at 2013 Wheatley Award Program. This honor, named for Sonia Sanchez, which will be awarded annually to a Poet. Book Awards 2013 Wheatley Award Finalists First Fiction The Last Warner Woman by Kei Miller Antebellum by R. K. Thomas Sweet Lullaby by DaWitt The Magnificent Life of Gravvy Brown by DeVaughn Lilly The Garvey Protocol by Eric Christopher Webb Fiction Love In A Carry-on Bag by Sadeqa Johnson A Gathering of Water by Bernice L. McFadden The Warlord of Willow Ridge by Gary Phillips Silent Cry by Dywane Birch Sinners & Saints by ReShonda Tate Billingsley and Victoria Christopher Murray Nonfiction / Biography & Memoir Floyd Patterson: The Fighting Life of Boxing's Invisible Champion by W. K. Stratton The One: The Life and Music of James Brown by R L Smith The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo by Tom Reiss A Mission From God by James Meredith Gather at the Table by Sharon Leslie Morgan and Thomas Morgan DeWolf Nonfiction / History & Politics Guest of Honor: Booker T. Washington, Theodore Roosevelt, and the White House Dinner That Shocked a Nation by Deborah Davis Out from the Shadow: The Story of Charles L. Gittens Who Broke the Color Barrier in the United States Secret Service by Maurice A. Butler This Fragile Life: A Mother's Story of a Bipolar Son by Charlotte Pierce-Baker Power Concedes Nothing: One Woman's Quest for Social Justice in America, from the Courtroom to the Kill Zones by Connie Rice The Courage To Hope: How I Stood Up to the Politics of Fear by Shirley Sherrod Poetry Here I Throw Down My Heart by Coleen J. McElroy Shouda Been Jimi Savannah by Patricia Smith Thrall by Natasha Trethewey Hurrah’s Nest by Arisa White Speak Water by Truth Thomas QBR/THE BLACK BOOK REVIEW/HARLEM BOOK FAIR AUTHOR TALKS AT THE SCHOMBURG CENTER - SATURDAY, JULY 20 Presented by Columbia University School of the Arts, T-Mobile, and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture WELCOME: Max Rodriguez, Director, Harlem Book Fair; Khalil Gibran Muhammad, Director, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture; Marcia Sells, Associate VP, Program Development and Initiatives, and Associate Dean, Office of Community Outreach and Education, School of the Arts, Columbia University Time: 11:50a – 12:00p MYTHOLOGIES OF RACE, SCIENCE, AND HEALTH Time: 12:00p – 1:15p Moderator: Sheldon Krimsky, Genetic Justice: DNA Databanking, Criminal Investigations and Civil Liberties Panelists: Jonathan Metzl, The Protest Psychosis: How Schizophrenia Became a Black Disease; Alondra Nelson, Body and Soul: The Black Panther Party and the Fight Against Medical Discrimination; Samuel K. Roberts, Infectious Fear: Politics, Disease, and the Health Effects of Segregation; and Harriet Washington, Deadly Monopolies: The Shocking Corporate Takeover of Life Itself and the Consequences for Your Health and Our Medical Future. From the long history of medical experimentation on African Americans, the complex connection between race and DNA, to racial health disparities that present a national crisis, the panelists gathered for this discussion will trace how racial thinking and bias have been woven into our national dialogue on science and health. THE ROAD TO DISCOVERY: A CONVERSATION WITH E.R. SHIPP and CARL HART Time: 1:30p – 2:45p Participants: Carl Hart, High Price: A Neuroscientist's Journey of Self-Discovery That Challenges Everything You Know About Drugs and Society; E.R. Shipp, Outrage: The Story Behind the Tawana Brawley Hoax A recent brief on medicaldaily.com states that Europe is now the world’s leading drug market, with 280 new and dangerous “legal” highs replacing traditional drug use. A conversation between Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist, E.R. Shipp, and neuroscientist, Carl Hart, aims to shift the scientific and judicial communities’ focus away from tidy, racialized characterizations of drug abuse and illegality to more comprehensive approaches that address both the material conditions of marginalized Americans and mainstreamed “functional” users. FIFTY YEARS LATER: BLACKS AND THE 21ST CENTURY CITY Time: 3:00p – 4:15p Moderator: Tina Campt, Other Germans: Black Germans and the Politics of Race, Gender and Memory in the Third Reich Panelists: Farah Griffin, Harlem Nocturne: Women Artists and Progressive Politics During World War I; Kendall Thomas, Critical Race Theory: The Key Writings That Formed the Movement; Peniel Joseph, Dark Days, Bright Nights: From Black Power to Barack Obama Fifty years after the March On Washington how much progress have blacks made in American society? A half century after racial violence in Birmingham, Alabama elevated Dr. King to new heights of leadership and inspired President John F. Kennedy to deliver a historic televised "race speech" in support of civil rights, racial equality remains a contested notion in American society. That blacks have made progress in political participation but endure alarming rates of income inequity is profoundly disconcerting. But this is not a new history. What historical and contemporary factors drive these persistent issues and what new knowledge can be harnessed to address the specific demands of the new century? CONVERSATIONS IN BLACK FREEDOM: CELEBRATING THE LEGACIES OF ROSA PARKS AND ESLANDA ROBESON Time: 4:30p – 5:45p Participants: Mary Frances Berry, the former Chair of the US Commission on Civil Rights, Power in Words: The Stories behind Barack Obama's Speeches, from the State House to the White House, will join Barbara Ransby, Eslanda: The Large and Unconventional Life of Mrs. Paul Robeson, and Jeanne Theoharis, The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks, to honor these two freedom fighters and discuss their new books. February 4, 2013 marks the centennial of the birth of Rosa Parks. Two decades before Parks' historic arrival, Eslanda Cardozo Goode Robeson was born on December 15, 1895 in Washington DC. Both women were indomitable activists and long distance runners “hidden in plain sight” in the Black Freedom Struggle: Rosa Parks played a foundational role laying the groundwork, galvanizing and maintaining the Montgomery movement and subsequently advising Civil Rights and Black Power organizations in Detroit; Eslanda Robeson — chemist, author, actress and journalist—as a leader in the Progressive Party and the anti-colonial Council on African Affairs. HE NEW JERUSALEM: BLACK LIFE, THE CHURCH, AND THE STRUGGLE FOR AMERICAN DEMOCRACY Time: 6:00p – 7:15p Moderator: Josef Sorret, Spirit in the Dark: A Religious History of Racial Aesthetics Panelists: Anthea Butler, Women in the Church of God in Christ, Making A Sanctified World; Rev. James Forbes, Who's Gospel: A Concise Guide to Progressive Protestantism; Eddie S. Glaude, Jr., In a Shade of Blue: Pragmatism and the Politics of Black America; Obery Hendricks, The Politics of Jesus: Rediscovering the True Revolutionary Nature of Jesus’ Teachings The fact that religious belief, religious institutions, and religious people came to be seen as essential to social freedom remains the central paradox in African American life and political history. This discussion examines the overlapping challenges of creating a basis for black collective political activism, building independent black institutions, and determining the place of men, women, politics and religion in leadership. QBR/THE BLACK BOOK REVIEW/HARLEM BOOK FAIR PROGRAMS AT THE SCHOMBURG AMERICAN NEGRO THEATER (THE ANT) - SATURDAY, JULY 20 Presented by QBR/The Black Book Review and T-Mobile GETTING RELUCTANT BOYS OF COLOR TO READ Moderator: Jerry Craft, Syndicated Cartoonist / Middle Grade Author / Illustrator Panelists: Ty Jackson, Middle Grade Author; Torrey Maldonado, Veteran Teacher/ Middle Grade and Young Adult Author; Alex Simmons: Writer children's novels / Comic books such as Batman and Archie; Eric Velasquez, Children's book Illustrator, Author, College Professor Time: 12:30 p - 1:30p Why aren't our boys reading? How can we get them to read more? Our panel is made up of veteran educators / artists who work with youth who read everything from comic books and comic strips to picture books to Middle Grade and Young Adult novels. They will comment on their own experiences with reading and addressing this persistent problem. Explore the realities, challenges, and rewards of reaching reluctant readers. FROM PRINT TO SCREEN: A SCREENING & DISCUSSION OF BUTTERFLY RISING, A BOOK TO FILM ADAPTATION Presenter: Tanya Wright, Author & Actress, Butterfly Rising Time: 1:30p – 3:30p When her brother dies, singer Lilah Belle sets out to escape her grief and embarks on a road trip, but not before coaxing the new-to-town, most scandalous woman in Artesia, Rose Johnson, to go with her. These two broken souls steal a vintage truck and head out on the open road to a fated encounter with the mythical, magical 'Lazarus of the Butterflies'. What occurs with the strange Butterfly Man transforms their destinies and binds the women together - forever. Join Author, Screenwriter, Actress, and Producer Tanya Wright (Deputy Kenya Jones of HBO's TRUE BLOOD) in a discussion on what it takes to be successful as a multi-platform author. Tanya will next appear as an actress on Orange Is the New Black, the new Netflix original series that debuts July 11. The author will autograph books following the screening and discussion. AN UNPANEL: TECHNOLOGY'S IMPACT ON WRITERS (REGISTER HERE) Presented by Troy Johnson, Founder & Publisher, AALBC.com, and Ron Kavanaugh, Founder of Mosaic Literary Magazine TIME: 3:30p – 6:00p When it comes to race and ethnicity and social media engagement, African Americans vastly outpace their counterparts. African-American Internet users spent the most time on social networking sites compared to all other ethnic groups, according to a Social Media 2012 report from Nielsen and NM Incite. Join an unpanel discussion led by Troy Johnson, Founder & Publisher, of AALBC.com, and Ron Kavanaugh, Founder of Mosaic Literary Magazine, on how to harness the impact of Social Media. What is an Unpanel? In contrast to a tradition panel discussion the questions are chosen, posed and answered by the participants. The Unpanel format favors group discussion, debate and interaction over listening to the ideas of just a few individuals. To participate, you will be required to register by providing your name, affiliation and brief (a sentence or two), explaination of your expertise or experience with the topic, “Technology’s Impact On Writers”. You will also be asked to submit a question, related to the subject. The subject of ths Unpanel is deliberately broad to allow for the potential for a vareity of questions. We will review the questions, and indentify the most popular ones. These questions will serve as the focus of our discussion. Participants will be asked to select the questions which they would like to respond to during the Unpanel. The number of questions you will be able to answer will depend upon the number of participants. Participation will be limited to 20 people. Keep in mind this is an unpanel. You will be an active participant, not a passive observer. We are looking forward to hearing what you have to say. The Unpanel is free to all but advanced registration is required. This will be an engaged and opinionated conversation. Participation is limited to the first 20 registrants. To reserve, click to Eventbrite or click the link above. QBR/THE BLACK BOOK REVIEW/HARLEM BOOK FAIR WORKSHOPS & SEMINARS AT COUNTEE CULLEN LIBRARY - SATURDAY, JULY 20 Presented by QBR/The Black Book Review and T-Mobile BABY & WEE: THE FIRST 2000 DAYS Time: 11:00am - 12:00pm Facilitator: Daseta Gray, MEd, Certified Infant/Toddler Specialist; blogger; President, Sabree Education Services This class will teach parents how to work with their infants and toddlers to develop the cognitive, social and emotional skills before they start school. We will also give them tips on activities they can do at home with their baby. This will not be your ordinary parenting class. We answer the "why" these activities are being done, which component also known as domain of the brain is being developed. Do you wonder why some children require occupational or speech therapy when they arrive at school? It is because their fine motor and speech were not developed prior to starting school. These are just a few things we assist with during the various classes. AFRICAN INSPIRED FEEL GOOD SPACES Time: 1:15 pm – 2:30 pm Presenter: Sherry Burton Ways, Feel Good Spaces: A Guide to Decorating Your Home for the Body, Mind and Spirit Inspired by her African roots, author and designer Sherry Burton Ways created a home using colors resonating on the continent of Africa---reds, neutrals, and yellows. Sherry discovered that her home environment was a peaceful refuge that was bringing out a positive change in her. Participants in this discussion will recall African inspired interior design concepts to create sacred personal space; discuss how colors, fabrics, scents, and tastes that will appeal to their feelings about home; and discover how to personally how your interior color preferences are enhanced by your cultural experience. E-BOOK PUBLISHING & MARKETING: REACH YOUR AUDIENCE, BUILD YOUR PROFIT Time: 1:15 pm – 2:30 pm Presenter: Max Rodriguez, Founder & Publisher, Harlem Book Fair, QBR Books The retail mantra of the 60s was 'access, access, access'. Today's marketing mantra is ‘mobile, mobile, mobile’. 74% of adults age 25 to 34 in the U.S. own a smartphone; an additional 19% also own an e-reader - up 10% from just last year, and a first-time double-digit increase in ownership. This workshop is for self-published, or soon to be published, authors who want to profit by placing their titles on the leading edge of the e-book, mobile market wave. In this workshop you will learn what is required to properly convert your manuscript into commercial e-book format (Kindle, Nook, Sony, ePub). This workshop will also be devoted to learning best and effective practices for generating maximum exposure and profit from your e-book. Post-event support will be available. A CONSCIOUS CONVERSATION FOR THE MIND, BODY, AND SPIRIT Time: 2:45 pm – 3:45 pm Presenter: Alphonso McGriff, A Conscious Conversation for the Mind, Body, and Spirit This is an interactive seminar designed for those who are interested in having a Conscious Conversation, or simply want to acquire tools for becoming a more productive and positive effective communicator. A Conscious Conversation is an informed, reasoned, and progressive approach to Effective Communication. This approach promotes skill enhancement in the areas of Emotional Intelligence, Conflict Resolution, and Critical Thinking. Such skills are essential for navigating and negotiating one’s place in an increasingly global society. Participants will learn to recognize when personal feelings shut down the opportunity to learn from others; learn how to manage Emotional Interference; think about taking responsibility for self, including emotions; receive specific goals for achieving Effective Communication; receive the 5 Key McGriff Principles for Effective Communication. SCARCITY VS ABUNDANCE: HOW TO CREATE A WEALTH AND PROSPERITY MINDSET Time: 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm PRESENTER: Monica Davis, founder and publisher of Exceptional People Magazine; author, Welcome to The Top and Start Your Business Right Before you can attract wealth and prosperity, you must transform a scarcity mindset into a mindset of abundance. You need to equip yourself with the physical, emotional, and spiritual tools necessary to stay on course and one way to boost your chances of achieving unlimited success is to have a mindset that is geared toward prosperity. Why? Because the actions you take on a daily basis, right down to the amount of effort you put toward your goals are directly related to your state of mind and your perspective of life and yourself. This workshop will help participants identify key elements necessary to change their scarcity mindset into one of abundance and overcome limits they place on themselves.

Here is a listing of the panels and seminars taking place at this year's Harlem Book Fair: Wheatly Awards: Sonia Sanchez to Receive 1st Annual Sonia Sanchez ​Award in Poetry Panel Discussions which will be simulcast on CSpan 2's BookTV - look out for me introducing one of the panels Countee Cullen Library Panels: Seminars at the American Negro Theater: (I will be facilitating a Unpanel on Technology's Impact on Black Writers)

Hi Del, I'm not sure why you are not seeing the Google Ads. Maybe your browser or cell phone is setup to block banner advertisements.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 3, 2013 CONTACT: D. Amari Jackson, Book Look Media Svcs. amari@thebooklook.com www.thebooklook.com Atlanta, GA The Book Look begins airing on Maryland’s PGCC-TV ― New partnership will provide quality literary programming to viewing audience of 800,000 ― Prince George’s County, MD ― The Book Look, the popular online review show commonly regarded as the industry’s video hub for African American literature, will begin airing on Maryland cable network, PGCC-TV. Operated by Prince George’s Community College in Largo, MD, PGCC-TV serves a viewing audience of 800,000 people. The Book Look will provide ongoing interstitial programming and longer segments to the PGCC-TV network, which recently unveiled one of the newest and largest high-definition facilities in the Washington metropolitan area. “I feel The Book Look will be an excellent way to discover exciting new authors and books for the Prince George’s County community,” says Marshall Johnson, PGCC-TV Cable Station Coordinator. “I look forward to the episodes and authors this new relationship will showcase.” The Book Look is a literary variety show hosted by Monda Webb with on-air contributions by Kwame Alexander, Jessica Ann Mitchell, Najee Dorsey, Alexandra Morton and Charisse Carney-Nunes. It will be seen on PGCC-TV at Verizon FIOS channel 44 and Comcast channel 75 in Prince George’s County starting in July. About The Book Look The Book Look is an online TV source for celebrating books, authors, celebrities and events relevant to the African American community. Monthly episodes include original content, industry information and engaging interviews with notables including Hill Harper, Octavia Spencer, Walter Mosley, Brenda Jackson, Common, Stephen Carter, Victoria Christopher Murray, Roland Martin, Zane, Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Omar Tyree, Angie Stone, Prodigy, Michael Beckwith, Ledisi, Eric Jerome Dickey, Keli Goff, Scandal’s Judy Smith, Michael Baisden, Cornel West and Newark Mayor Cory Booker. www.thebooklook.com. ### The Book Look is also featured on AALBC.com

I'm an Aries. I know I get along with other Arians. I also tend to get along with Taurians and Scorpians as well. My wife is a Libra and she has a lot of Scorpian friends. _____________ As an aside are you all seeing the astrology ads, served by Google, at the bottom of the page. Those cats at Google are so clever (in this case I mean it in a good way)

Cynique are you saying he is wearing hair extensions? Anywho no matter how you slice it the guy is a utter physical mess, mentally however he is brilliant. One of his quotes from the talk was every time we complain about the 1% on social media we enrich the 1%. After thinking about this for a few I'm going to boycott social media. I'm going to completely stop using it for personal reasons. No more liking anything (my last like was liking something Del posted this morning), or sharing personal photos. I'll keep my profiles active but only so people can find me on my website. On the business side I will limit my participation to just providing links back to AALBC.com I'm not going to post any excerpts, no opinions nothing. I'll let me bots continue tweeting and posting on Facebook but that is it. I'll keep all the social sharing icons on AALBC.com and continue to encourage people to use their social platforms to promote AALBC.com but I'm going to stop making it part of my daily routine. I can not, knowing what I know, continue to actively use social media. Pioneer, we absolutely need a new industrial revolution.

Of course I can't speak for anyone but myself, but I do not see Jeantel as "stupid, thuggish, low quality". Even If I did I would not use that to help justify Zimmerman's murder of Trayvon -- at least I hope I would not. Of course you may be right Pioneer. I would not put anything past people. Unfortunately nothing can bring Trayvon, back so real justice is not possible, but hopefully something close to it will be achieved. If Zimmerman is found completely innocent, it will not be because of Jeantel.

Jaron Lanier really articulates, in an accessible way, everything I've been complaining about for the last two years. It is hopeful that someone is actually talking about these issues in the mainstream media. While I complain about losing the Black voice on the net from the perspectives of journalism and artists, Lanier talks about it in much broader societal perspective. Of course the Black community, as with all that ails America, is more adversely impacted. Unfortunately, any entities with a broad reach are not raising this issues. which garnered, deservedly, a lot of attention in the Black media a decade ago. Today there is no one in the Black community is talking about this because we no longer have the journalists and platforms in place with the ability to do it. Again, this is another result of the problem; the power of corporations through social media, search, etc has made reporting on these issues economically impossible as a sustainable business. We posted of Review of Jaron's book: Who Owns the Future? I'd also encourage everyone to watch this video Check out this video where Jaron Lanier talked about his book, Who Owns the Future, in which he argues that the rise of digital networks contributed to our economic recession and weakened our middle class. He said that while many millions of people contribute to and create value for the internet, largely for free, the technology companies that own the central computers are the ones making all the money from it. In his book, he argues that a more equitable sharing of the wealth, based on user contributions, would improve the middle class and our economy. Mr. Lanier spoke at Kepler’s Books in Menlo Park, California. For example, I do not know a single Black writer being paid to Blog on the Huffington Post website. Ariana has made many millions and we have good Black writers Blogging for free enriching Ariana and now AOL. I remember Black writers complaining about how little they were being paid to write for, the now defunct, Black Issues Book Review Magazine. They they were being paid. They were also supporting an important business that could have grown into something much more!

@ Pioneer LOL! ...Good night!

But the average 14 year old would not have had the same life experiences this young lady has had. If Jeantel was a slim, blonde white girl with perfect diction, people would probably find something to say about that too. The bottom line is that this trial is not about Jeantel's English language skill and demeanor. It is about why Zimmerman felt he had to provoke and ultimately kill an unarmed teenager. Jeantel should not be able to hurt this case..

Pioneer does the fact this teenager speaks multiple languages change your impression?

Cynique, sure Paula is loaded, but she is absolutely unsophisticated when it comes to communicatiing in public. Just because someone has generated at lot of money does not make them sophisticated or smart. Paula's interview with the NY Times made that plain.

I actually managed to catch with with Mr. Fraser. Nice gentleman, to time to speak patiently with anyone who approached him.

Hi Our Legaci, Thanks for sharing your video here. Why do you think the dark girls deserve the special attention? Clearly dark boy are impacted, arguably more so. When I was a kid dark kids were teased just as bad as the very skinned kids. I have no recollection of being teased for my complexion (other than being ashy). But I was teased about a wide variety of things being short (I'm 5" 7'), being smart (I wore glasses as a kid and was a better than average student), having a big butt (I have naturally big glutes and tend to be more muscular than most), and so on. I don't expect or think there is a need for a documentary film to address any of these issues. I'm also not trying to say my being teased for being short is better is worse than being teased for being dark skinned. The point is that people are made fun of for a variety of reasons for which they have no control including, height, complexion, sexual orientation or even having a mental handicap. The real issue is that we live in a culture where childhood teasing is the norm and too many adults say stupid things about other people. I absolutely believe the teacher in that school in Syracuse should have stopped those kids from talking to the dark kid they way they did. Maybe it would help discourage the practice. But if those kids in the 'Cuse were anything like the kids I grew up with, I doubt it would make a difference. We did not just tease each other, we made it an actual activity called "snapping". We would sit in a group and just make jokes about each other -- just for kicks. We also fought each other pretty regularly. Today kids shoot each other (but I digress). But at the end of the day raising awareness of things other find hurtful is usually a good thing. Perhaps some people by be moved and consider how their words about skin color could be hurtful to others. However I suspect most will not. Dark skinned people already know the deal and I suspect most others really don't care that much or are too rigid in their opinions to change. Despite helping to spread the words about the film Dark Girls, which you can learn more about here (for free). I have little interesting the seeing the film myself. Also from a critique side your video: It felt long. When I originally checked it out (Amari sent it to me). I did not watch it all the way through. Now that you posted it hear I listened to in it the background while making breakfast this morning. I think a duration about 1/2 the current length would be better. You can look at your Youtube stats and see how long the average view time is to check if my suggestion makes sense.

Pioneer your assessment of the relative friendliness of the south mirrors my own. The NY City I grew up in was very segregated as well. I just did not know white people my age until I got into a specialized high school far from my neighborhood. I doubt very many white kids went to my zoned high school (Earl "The Goat" Manigault who Kareem said was the great BBall player ever actually went there), which many thought of as a prison preparatory. Me and a girlfriend were chased out of a white neighborhood in Brooklyn -- just for walking through. Country music is Black music too. I hear the word Nigger used every single day in my neighborhood. Young people use the word all the time, as did my peers and I at the same age 40 years prior. Fat Joe when asked about the use of "nigger" in rap said when Don King asked Al Shaprton if he knew Fat Joe, while introducing the two, Al Shapton replied (I paraphase), How am I not going know the "realest nigger" in New York city rap! Al has led campaigns against the use of the word. People are often hypocrites which it comes to the use of the word when and how they use it or when and how they perceived it is acceptable to use. I also agree the Paula Dean fiasco is created by the media to generate money. Paula is getting all this grief because she was not sophisticated or bright enough, like to know what not to say in public. Actual people use this language and feel this way. You can't kill people for being dumb, young, or parochial.

Hi Karlicia, do you think there are enough "good" Black men? Do women settle for "toxic" men because that is all the is available?

Itisme -- welcome to the boards. I spend a lot of time in the south -- all of my family is in the south. Paula is representative of low class, less-than-average intelligence, still-not-over-the-civil-war, folks. Fortunately they make up a small percentage of the southern population. Also I don't think Paula she is a bad person with bad intentions. She is just... Paula.