Troy

"create units that combine female and gay soldiers..." That sounds more like the setup for a reality TV show or sit-com. "using drones to survey gang territories and attack offenders." Just wait, that is what they want to do anyway... "social media has turned the younger generation into a bunch of idiots who NEVER seem to consider the consequences of their ridiculous behavior" I think social media just makes of all more aware of the fact. By doing so it also desensitizes us all to these situations, making them seem less outrageous and even fueling the behavior.

Yep Pioneer, we are back on the plantation. Our "success" in corporate America, as a people was really a myth. Prior to affirmative action we were missing, after affirmative action, our presence increased but was always cast with a shadow of doubt -- even though we had to really be twice was good to be considered half as good. The few that made it did not have sufficient power or a willingness to bring other Black people along. Post Affirmative Action not only are Black people missing in corporate America, we (Black men in particular) are now missing on college campuses as well.

NEWSFLASH: The mainstream media is biased against Black men! It is interesting however to notice the increased focus on Chicago gun violence. It is like a feeding frenzy, every tragic incident is national news. On a related note there has been increased attention on women in the US military. I heard a program on NPR this morning that said 1 in 4 women in the US Military has either been raped or sexually assaulted. This is astonishing to me. The sexual assaults of men in the military was reported to be the same as in the general population.

So the ability to multitask is predictor of success in a sales job. Being able to catch a ball, off guard, is an indicator of one's ability to multitask. Therefore the person with the ability to catch the ball would be a good salesperson. Is that your conclusion? Sure the brain controls all mental and physical reflexes -- everything we do, much of it unconsciously. How good were you at the sales job Pioneer?

My Road to Essence: Team Get Obsessed Movement Contact Information AAMBC National News www.aambookclub.com aambookclub@gmail.com, SAN ANTONIO, TX, 78245

Here are the top ten selling DVD's on my website: http://aalbc.it/dvds2012 I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to compile this list. As you might imagine, people not are buying as many DVD as they used to. I watched most of the Top Ten films but none of them on DVD.

Thanks Cynique for keeping the boards live and alive!

Lets be clear: The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King would not be able to do anything about this problem any of the many problems you have brought to our attention.

Maya Angelou's next memoir: Mom & Me & Mom (Random House, April 2, 2013). Angelou shares the deepest personal story of her life: her relationship with her mother.

Maya Angelou's next memoir: Mom & Me & Mom (Random House, April 2, 2013). Angelou shares the deepest personal story of her life: her relationship with her mother.

That is an interesting analysis Cynique. I suspect one is purely a physical attribute the other is mental. For the sake of Pioneers points we can probably lump instinct and intelligence in the same category and separate from physical reflexes.

Group Calls on Black Community to Reclaim Black Economic Power by Bob Law From http://www.buyblackallyearlong.com New York, NY – A coalition of Black media owners, professional and political organizations are calling on African American consumers across the nation to begin immediately to redirect a minimum of $20.00 per week in spending to Black-owned businesses. The initiative being called “The Million Dollar Black Spending Power Campaign” is being organized by local groups in a number of key cities. It is projected that even with minimal support this effort may turn one million dollars per week back into predominantly Black communities throughout the country. The initiative is the brainchild of Bob Law, longtime radio personality, entrepreneur and community activist, who recently sent an open letter to the Congressional Black Caucus, highlighting the assault on Black-owned radio and requesting the CBC to bring the matter to the attention of the FCC and the full Congress. Karenga Bond According to the African-American Consumers: Still Vital, Still Growing 2012 Report released by Nielsen and the NNPA, Black consumers have a projected buying power of $1.1 trillion. The Million Dollar Black Spending Power Campaign raises the question “where is the money?” It is not reaching the Black community argue the organizers. Additionally, scholars who convened an African American Economic Summit at Howard University in early February sketched a very bleak economic future for Black Americans, noting that the wealth gap between Blacks and Whites has grown since “The Great Recession”. For every $1.00 in Black wealth, Whites now have $20.00. Further, Black communities suffer the highest unemployment rates, the lowest median family income, and the highest levels of consumer debt. “From the corporate community to other ethnic groups, every community seems to benefit from Black spending except the Black community. We fully intend to renegotiate the Black community’s financial relationship with corporate America and others doing business in the African American marketplace. We believe however that a significant starting point is for Black Americans to first take control of our own spending” said Law. Norm Bond added, “There was a time when African Americans controlled their own economy. If you look at the 1910 Census, there were more African American entrepreneurs than Whites. Today with all of the communication tools at our disposal, the tremendous consumer spending, and the urgent need to create jobs within the Black community, we must raise our collective consciousness and bring that entrepreneurial spirit forward again through massive action.” SaraLomaxReese_JimClingmanThrough ongoing nationwide activities we will begin to mobilize Black consumer dollars. These include Recycle Black Dollars Shopping Tours, e-commerce utilizing online business directories, websites, social media, Buy Black Meetup Groups, referral networks and educational events including community forums and local community based expos. In addition coalition media partners are going to call on their audiences to support the effort. Philadelphia, the 5th largest city in the nation is also a key market for the coalition members. Local radio station 900AM WURD, the only Black-owned radio station in Pennsylvania, has agreed to support “conscious consumerism” through their programming and additional activities. The cooperative effort also includes Dr. Maulana Karenga, Creator of Kwanzaa and Professor and Chair Department of Africana Studies California State University, Long Beach; Norm Bond, activist and Chairman of the National Alliance of Market Developers; Professor Jim Clingman of the University of Cincinnati, author and syndicated columnist; and Sara Lomax-Reese, President and General Manager of 900AM WURD in Philadelphia.

"No, Because Hugo Chavez was not Black." This is exactly why the term makes no sense. As far as we know, Chavez may have MORE African ancestry than Obama, but you would not hesitate to call Obama Black. Besides if Chavez were in America, his African Ancestry alone would make him Black. Although here we lump all Spanish speakers into one category latin/hispanic which are words means just as much as Black/white. The aljazeera.com article points our situations when President Chavez rose to the support and plight of several issues related to African descendants in other countries, including the United States [New Orleans, The Bronx, etc]. The pages of linked quotes is interesting: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-20712033 I had no idea Chavez was so young...

"The difference between those groups and us is culture, language and homeland." Exactly. This difference is tremendous and amazingly overlooked by people when they compare Black people in America to recent immigrants . Often the language boundary is enough to keep these group cohesive. Religion is also a glue that keeps people together. So called "race" is not enough to keep people working together -- obviously. Why we continue to think that, a completely made up idea like race, invented by some some white guy a few years ago, should keep all Black people in Kum Baya harmony regardless of economic background, religion, educations, etc is astonishing.

I read your answer but the relationship between catching a softball off guard and being prepared for a sales gig is still lost on me.. Physicist Stephen Hawkins, mentally, is about as sharp as they come. But if tossed a softball his way it might knock him unselfconscious. Leon Spinks had very fast reflexes but no one ever accused him of being a Carver (as in George Washington).

2013 NATIONAL BLACK WRITER’S CONFERENCE SYMPOSIUM TO HONOR AUTHOR, EDUCATOR AND ACTIVIST TONI CADE BAMBARA Writer, activist, educator, feminist and filmmaker Toni Cade Bambara, who died in 1995, will be the focus of the 2013 National Black Writer’s Conference Biennial Symposium on Saturday, March 30th from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. at Medgar Evers College, Founders Auditorium, 1650 Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn. In her keynote address, Farah Jasmine Griffin, professor of English and Comparative Literature and African-American Studies at Columbia University, will introduce attendees to the issues and themes in Bambara’s work and how they may be interpreted in view of current contemporary African-American literature today. In the early 1970s, Ms. Bambara was a major contributor to the emerging genre of contemporary black women’s literature, along with writers Toni Morrison and Alice Walker. Many of her stories focused on men and women living in black neighborhoods in big cities or small southern towns. She frequently wove black dialects into her prose, creating a unique, complex language that was widely admired by critics. Other presenters at the symposium include Malaika Adero, a personal friend of Ms. Bambara’s; Sonia Sanchez, the poet laureate of Philadelphia; and Eugene Redmond, the poet laureate of St. Louis. The event is open to the public and admission is $10; $5 for senior citizens, students and faculty (with ID). Free admission for MEC students. For more information, visit www.centerforblackliterature.org.

Anika the guy in the video did a lot of bitching :-) But I was waiting an alternative, something we do differently. Let say we stopped supporting Obama what should we do then?

I have not read the articles yet. But I would say absolutely. . In fact I would not consider Obama a Black leader he, as so many of his rabid supporters say, is a leader of ALL Americans -- not just the Black ones. Obama is a leader who happens to be Black as it is defined here in the US.

Del all your kids are describing are skin colors -- which is fine. I don't have a problem with this. What I have a problem is when people start to make judgements based upon skin color; as in the lighter people are smarter than the darker people. This is scientifically proven nonsense, which I wish we could dispense with yesterday. Pioneer, sure, I have a lot of friends who are have college educations and others who do not. Their relatively intelligences (subjectively assessed by me) are uncorrelated with their degree of educational attainment. Their opportunities, without a doubt, are correlated with their level of education. But most of my friends, like most people in general, have no interest in coming here (or anywhere else for that matter) to discussing things of substance, devise strategies, and take direct action as a result to make things better for all of us. I spend a LOT of time tying to do get people involved with independent media to work in our collective self interest and it is VERY difficult. Basically people are concerned with themselves or their own businesses with work collectively. Any negro intelligent enough to earn a degree and achieve success should be intelligent enough to know the importance of protecting the success they achieved. Surely the wealthiest and most educated AfroAmericans can't feel too secure living in a bubble to themselves while they see the bottom dropping out from so many other upper income Black households. Pioneer, I agree with both statements. The issues is the strategies these people engage in to protect what they have. Those strategies are purely selfish. They protect what THEY have - as in the every man for themselves model. I believe we are better served by protecting not only what we have but what we ALL have. My growth does not come at your expense. I don't "win" by beating you into the ground. My self worth is not measured by how much more I have than you. This is how we operate today. Classic crabs in the barrel... So until the 1% or the talented 10% start thinking about someone else other than themselves we are all headed for much more pain. The "race" issue is a distraction that only hurts the so called "Black" people. I discovered recently part of my lineage goes back to a 15th century English merchant (which is also supported by my DNA), whose descendant impregnated one his slaves. That enslaved woman was ultimately freed and became my 5X great-grand mother. At the end of the day this means nothing. I can no more embrace my English ancestry than I can my African Ancestry. What I do know is that we are all related, family. I think the actual figure is that all of humanity is at least 50th cousins. Perhaps we should simply embrace our humanity.

Sure, Pioneer I believe in scientific advancement to improve humanity. Hitler was motivated by racism, not improving humanity -- although he may have seen it that way. Much of the progress here in the US is motivated by money not improving the human condition. The two motivations are very, very different we couple them in our society because of capitalism and assume them mean the same thing. They do not.

Doing well financially and intelligence may not have as high a correlation as you think. On average, do you think a smart Black woman does as well financially as the an white guy, with average intelligence? Besides some of the brightest people eschew material wealth altogether. The very definition of intelligence is the ability to apply knowledge in not just practical, but more importantly creative ways. I know plenty of guys who can analyze defense strategies, memorize team roosters, player positions, discuss this in a historical context and form insightful opinions on game outcomes. Unfortunately, all of this mental ability is wasted on skills for which there no demand for in the employment market. We used to call it "snapping" on each other. Being quick witted, or clever and coming up with a unique and funny perspective plus good delivery probably has a intelligence component, but the smartest people were not the best snappers. You also had to be willing to publicly degrade someone else, often saying hurtful things -- just for fun. The willing to do that usually goes down as intelligence goes up. Maybe that guy tossing you the softball unexpectedly was looking for a 1st baseman for the corporate team. :-) What was the logic for testing you physical reflects for a seemingly unrelated job?

Need2ritefaster, the author of the 2nd article, Sabella Abidde, is an atheist. At least that is what her Facebook page says. Image a Black pope. While they would certainly gain more converts in African they would probably loose all the Germans, Irish and most of the Europeans :-) I guess they don't have any mulatto Cardinals to consider to ease the transition in an Obamain fashion

Edited by Robert Fleming Robert has been a professional writer longer than most people have been alive. I've been fortunate to have been able to utilize his talents as a frequent AALBC.com Book Reviewer. I rediscovered this book the other day and had the same initial reaction Thumper had over a decade ago who when here viewed it. "I flipped the cover to the table of contents, read the list of authors and got excited. The authors are among the finest ever assembled in one book. Instantly After Hours became a must-read." Check the list of contributors: Charles Johnson, Colin Channer, Cole Riley, Brian Peterson, Kalamu Ya Salaam, Tracy Grant, Earl Sewell, John A. Williams, Kenji Jasper, Eric E. Pete, Alexs D. Pate, Brian Egleston, Clarence Major, Curtis Bunn, Gary Phillips, Brandon Massey, Robert Scott Adams, Jervey Tervalon, Arthur Flowers. Here is a message from Robert about this book From: Robert Fleming Sent: Thu 3/7/2013 9:38 AM "Thanks for the re-appraisal of After Hours. Wow, time flies. I remember taking this idea of all-male anthology of erotic stories to Gary Brozek, then an editor at Penguin. We had worked together under the editorial guidance of Cheryl Woodruff, when she helmed the One World imprint at Ballantine in the 1990s. When I issued the call for submissions, I was surprised by the response of some of the biggest names in AA literature. I'd always wanted to work with some of these guys, namely Charles Johnson, Kalamu Ya Salaam, Arthur Flowers, Gary Phillips, and Jervey Tervalon. However, I've remained friends with some of them over the years, including Clarence Major, Colin Channer, Earl Sewell, and Brandon Massey. It was a honor to befriend John A. Williams, one of my favorite writers, to whom I presented an award at one of the earlier Harlem Book Fair ceremonies. For years, we corresponded until he went into ill health and I miss him terribly. This book, After Hours, was selected by the Black Expressions book club and published in hardcover. It won several awards as well as it made the Erotic Book Club list, which took it to a larger audience. It has a companion piece, Intimacy, which was a collection of leading black male writers penning tales of love, committment, and marriage. That book was also selected by the Black Expressions book club. Both of these books are highpoints in my career, which has lasted from the 1970s and continues today. In fact, I have a new novel, Gift of Faith, which has been selected by the Black Expressions book club." The book is out of print but is still available on Amazon from 3rd party sellers including the hardcover published by Black Expressions.

Edited by Robert Fleming Robert has been a professional writer longer than most people have been alive. I've been fortunate to have been able to utilize his talents as a frequent AALBC.com Book Reviewer. I rediscovered this book the other day and had the same initial reaction Thumper had over a decade ago who when here viewed it. "I flipped the cover to the table of contents, read the list of authors and got excited. The authors are among the finest ever assembled in one book. Instantly After Hours became a must-read." Check the list of contributors: Charles Johnson, Colin Channer, Cole Riley, Brian Peterson, Kalamu Ya Salaam, Tracy Grant, Earl Sewell, John A. Williams, Kenji Jasper, Eric E. Pete, Alexs D. Pate, Brian Egleston, Clarence Major, Curtis Bunn, Gary Phillips, Brandon Massey, Robert Scott Adams, Jervey Tervalon, Arthur Flowers. Here is a message from Robert about this book From: Robert Fleming Sent: Thu 3/7/2013 9:38 AM "Thanks for the re-appraisal of After Hours. Wow, time flies. I remember taking this idea of all-male anthology of erotic stories to Gary Brozek, then an editor at Penguin. We had worked together under the editorial guidance of Cheryl Woodruff, when she helmed the One World imprint at Ballantine in the 1990s. When I issued the call for submissions, I was surprised by the response of some of the biggest names in AA literature. I'd always wanted to work with some of these guys, namely Charles Johnson, Kalamu Ya Salaam, Arthur Flowers, Gary Phillips, and Jervey Tervalon. However, I've remained friends with some of them over the years, including Clarence Major, Colin Channer, Earl Sewell, and Brandon Massey. It was a honor to befriend John A. Williams, one of my favorite writers, to whom I presented an award at one of the earlier Harlem Book Fair ceremonies. For years, we corresponded until he went into ill health and I miss him terribly. This book, After Hours, was selected by the Black Expressions book club and published in hardcover. It won several awards as well as it made the Erotic Book Club list, which took it to a larger audience. It has a companion piece, Intimacy, which was a collection of leading black male writers penning tales of love, committment, and marriage. That book was also selected by the Black Expressions book club. Both of these books are highpoints in my career, which has lasted from the 1970s and continues today. In fact, I have a new novel, Gift of Faith, which has been selected by the Black Expressions book club." The book is out of print but is still available on Amazon from 3rd party sellers including the hardcover published by Black Expressions.

I know I'm busy, but I was really curious how I just now learned about the publication of this book 6 weeks after it came out. If anyone posted it on my social media I did not see it. So I decided to run a Google search on the term: "A Deeper Love Inside book review" (without the quotes) to see what reviews I could find on this book [i also ran the same search on duckduckgo.com a search engine I've been touting lately, but in this case I preferred Google results] Most of the top results were the big websites. Their pages were pages where the main purpose of the pages was to sell the book. There was a large image of the book cover, followed by places where the book could be purchased and the marketing copy provided by the publisher. The user reviews were all user generated by amateurs and were all over the place in terms of assessing the book from the terrible "I can say that I was very disappointed in this book" and "I am done with anything SS writes. Don't waste your money.", to the great; "I loved this book and was so glad I got to read it." and "I would give this book 10 stars if I could." After reading a few of these I still had no idea what to think. I'll just abbreviate the site as the same old, same old or "SOSO" for short. #1 Goodreads SOSO #2 & #3 Amazon 337 user generated reviews: still SOSO More confusing, inconsistent, amature reviews are not better -- even if you average them out (shit in shit out) #4 Barnes&Noble No user generated reviews. They provide an editorial review that read like marketing copy. They also pubish the kirkus review with is a description of the book. Better than a SOSO site but still not a source of a the tyoe of review I'm looking for. Sourcing Kirkus is better than user generated review. Overall B&N site really is a better than Amazons, but Amazon is running circles around B&N technologically. #5 Bookspans Blackexpressions Oddly the URL Google provided was broken. Maybe Google indexed a page behind a paywall. At any rate it was a useless result. #6 Itunes: SOSO #7 Literary Marie: The first decent critical assessment of this novel written by someone who apparently writes a lot of reviews. I was previously unaware of this website. For some classes a queries Google is like it's old self and will still turn up small independent websites #8 Blackliterature Magazine.net Includes a synopsis but no review. That said it is a nice site overall though Michelle Cuttino" is her column featured through AAMBC (www.aambookclub.com). Have to add it to my list of Black book sites #9 -- Googlebooks SOSO I noticed however that the reviews looked familiar -- Google is pulling the Goodreads book reviews! Google is so slick. They are brilliant at monetizing freely provided or copied content and information. #10 Urbanreviews A rave review 5 "books" out of 5 "A Deeper Love Inside: The Porsche Santiaga Story is a thought provoking coming-of-age story that was definitely worth the wait." --Radiah Hubbert. Hurbert also9 who wrote the review also has an interview with Souljah: #11 - Kirkus Reviews A not committal, luke warm 226 word review. The same review used in the B&N website. After reading the review I feel no differently about investing the time an energy in reading the book #12 - The angel experience A review of the book delivered through a video. Which I've shared below The next results #13 to #27 were more SOSO pages including additional results from amazon no actual book reviews. Normally I, as well as the vast majority of web surfers would have given up at this point. But I was desperate. Next we have: #28 - The Prissy Book Snob This was also a decent critical review of the book -- should have been returned higher in this search #29 Chrystal's Corner BOOK REVIEWS This was also a decent critical review of the book -- should have been returned higher in this search #30 N'digo A Magapaper for the Urbane This was also a decent critical review of the book -- should have been returned higher in this search. In fact I would argue this was the should have been one ot the top search results. The take away from all of this is when running a Google search you should probably just start at the bottom of the third page of result to find something decent.