Troy

Dr. Yosef “Dr. Ben” Ben-Jochannan Born in Gondar, Ethiopia, Dr. Yosef Alfredo Antonio ben-Jochannan, or “Dr. Ben”(December 31, 1918 - March 19, 2015), as he is affectionately known) has devoted the better part of his life to the illumination of the indigenous origins of African civilizations. By profession, he is a trained lawyer, engineer, historian and Egyptologist. Ben-Jochannan went to Egypt for the first time in 1939, and moved to Harlem, New York in 1945. Dr. Ben knew Malcolm X personally, and was a student and colleague of George G.M. James. He was exceptionally close to the late Dr. John Henrik Clarke. Since 1957, he has coordinated regular study tours and pilgrimages to the Nile Valley, directly exposing thousands of African people to the still visible splendors of ancient Egypt. Formerly adjunct professor at Cornell University's Africana Studies Department, Dr. ben-Jochannan has also been a professor-at-large at Al Azar University in Cairo. Learn more about this great man.

I'm reading Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind I'm about 20% of the way through the book but it is a fascinating read about the history of humanity. What we have been taught in school does not scratch the surface...

Brain Williams--Lynched, The Frat boys chanting nigger--Lynched. Jimmy The Greek--Lynched. There is no shortage of white people being lynched. But since I'm an advocate for Black people those are the cases I tend to bring up. The other problem is white folks don't always get lynched (Woodie Allen), Black always get lynched when the opportunity exists (indeed they can even manufacture a reason if necessary). I'm not suggesting anyone should be lynched. But I do find it very problematic when other Black people (including myself at times), fall for the media driven okie doke and lynch our own as we are manipulated into doing. Why don't we start lynching some people, like Woodie Allen. We don't because we simply don't have the power to do it. Why don't we STOP the lynching of Brothers like the Central Park Five? Again, the same is the same we don;t have the power. The Central Park five are now looking at a multimillion dollar settlement due largely in part to the effort of Ken Burns and his Daughter. Black folks have been fighting since day one, but I believe the Burn's family, film and book helped make the difference. I too have much more sympathy for the young defenseless Brothers, than I do for someone of Cosby's magnitude. I feel differently because Bill Cosby has lived a long and fantastically successful life (serial adultery aside), countless young Brothers lynched by the police, the media, and even our own people, never had, or will get a chance, at a descent life. It is very sad... OJ will be very fortunate if he gets out of prison alive.

Harry Brown here is a book right up your alley. Praedamus Let Us Prey Selling Heaven: It’s All An Illusion “Religion plays an important part in most people’s lives… Many of us have absolute and often blind faith in the churches we attend. But is such dedication and unconditional loyalty well-founded, or even smart? Is it good for people to live their fragile lives based on stories told to them by someone who is not an informed, trusted family member, or a loyal and devoted friend? Why have Christian churches kept their members in the dark for over 2,000 years? What did the church hierarchy actually know that wasn’t being shared? And why does the church continue to keep secrets, and will that always be the case? Let Us Prey takes a brief look at organized religion and its attendant, ominous consequences. It is an attempt to help you understand and appreciate how and why your secular world and spiritual world work, or do not work.” —Don Spears, Excerpted from the Preface (pages 11-12) Read Kam's Review

I'm not sure that someone with a lighter complexion is more susceptible to acne; it could be that it is just easier to see. Yeah I guess the issue of hair is a loaded one. As someone who is male, has never taken much interesting in styling his own hair, and currently sports a baldie-bean, I'm not sure how qualified I am to speak on the subject. Opinions aside, we clearly spend a lot of time and money on hair. I think we spend too much money, and most of what we spend is directed by market forces we don't take the time to consider. It would also be interesting to know what percentage of the Black hair care industry's profits goes into the pockets of Black people.

FYI: The National Book Awards entry form will be available exclusively online at nationalbook.org from April 1, 2015 to May 15, 2015.

Here is a video of the Is Bill Cosby Being Lynched, Yes or No? debate. This is not the entire program, so you will not hear all the arguments. After listening to the arguments. I would agree that Bill Cosby has been lynched, by the media and in reaction by many of us. Lynched, meaning being punished outside the judicial process. After Beverly Johnson came out with another allegation I condemned Bill myself. At the time I could not understand why someone like Whoopi Goldberg would fail to be unmoved. But now I understand why Whoopi has chosen to reserve judgement until these allegation have been proven and not hop on the Bill-Cosby-is-a-serial-rapist bandwagon, like most of us. I have a lot more respect for Whoopi because, for a Black woman, that can not be a popular stance. Yes, I appreciate Whoopi may be friends with Bill. Black people have a LONG history in the country to vilifying Black men. I remember quite well the Central Park Five case. I still see a couple of the young men who were crucified in the media around the neighborhood. I can only image what it would have been like if this incident happened in the social media age. Black people should know more than anyone how the media, for the sake a creating a revenue generating story will drag a Brother through the mud with mere rumors and allegations. The Black media, should know better, and should do more to squash these stories and put things into perspective. But too often they too are too busy chasing a buck too.

Hummm... It is hard to write this without coming across as disparaging Lupita. But how in the world can we even understand each other if we can not even agree on terms. Lupita has the stereotypical garden variety boyish build, flat chested and narrow hipped. If she does not have a boyish physique, then I do not know who does. This reminds me of the conversation with Nah'Sun who described some women as "thick" that clearly fit the textbook definition of morbidly obese ("thick" is a desirable, attractive quality) Now I appreciate every guy has different preferences, which is perfectly natural. It is great to find Lupita attractive (many do) but to suggest her build is anything but boyish, seems defy reasoning. Is this another one of those blue-dress-gold-dress type of things, where I see boyish while others see voluptuous?

I not holding my breath waiting for a more accurate visual representation on the world on maps. Besides, 90% of the world lives in the northern hemisphere; the folks in the south are too few to be concerned with.

Black History: Lost, Stolen or Strayed [1968] host Bill Cosby shares several accomplishments that have not always been fully or properly covered in the history books. The achievements of important historical figures are discussed. (54 minutes) “It’s 300 years we’ve been in this American melting pot, and we haven’t been able to melt in yet, and it’s a long wait. Listen, we’ve been trying all kinds of parts to make the American scene. We've been trying to play it straight and white, but it’s been just bit parts. Now from now on, we’re going to play it Black AND American, because we are proud of both, hubris.” —Bill Cosby Notice the subdued anger Cosby shows as he narrates this film. This flick would be powerful today, as I'm willing to wager many Black folks today are unaware of the information related in the film. I can only imagine the reaction back in 1968. What is most surprising to me as the I was completely unaware of this film until yesterday, when I learned about it during the debate about Bill Cosby being lynched in reaction to his numerous rape allegations. This DVD is available from Amazon.

Cynique--absolutely! Corporations target all women. I'm sure you've noticed all the hair extensions white women have been wearing lately. White, however, can more easily approach the gold standard of beauty than Black women, and I suspect are under much less stress as a result. Many Black women (of all classes) spend a great deal of time and money going through all the different hairstyles, like the characters in Empire. Of course the these fictional characters, on Empire, make it look make it look easy, cause they never show them spending 3 or 4 hours languishing in a salon on a Saturday afternoon. It is sad, to see more men headed down the same path. I'm glad I started shaving my head several years ago. Makes life really simple. I agree about Lupita, she makes me think of newer version of Alex Wek.

My wife rocks a natural style as does my sister. My adult daughters have their hair straightened (high heat or relaxer) by the Dominicans who appear to have lock on the hair straighten business, or braided by the west Africans who dominate that segment of Black hair care. The article you referenced said, "...in the past 12 months, nearly three-fourths (70%) of Black women say they currently wear or have worn their hair natural (no relaxer or perm)," It would be interesting to know the number and demographics of the women they asked.

Interesting points Chris. I don't have any data either, but the attention paid to Lupita is much more of an aberration, more of a function of white America's embrace. As far as I can tell (based upon a few internet queries), Lupita has never graced the cover of Ebony magazine, but she has been on the cover of many white magazines multiple times. Besides man, in your heart of hearts, despite her grace and beauty does Lupita's boyish frame really appeal to you? I agree there has been a lot more attention paid to natural hair styles lately. There has also been a spate of new books on the subject, but again, if you go to anywhere Black women are you will see for more extensions, weaves, wigs, and processed hair than you will see natural styles. In the early 70's many women rocked afros. How many sisters do you see rocking afros today? We can debate whether women process their hair because that is the way men want to see it, versus it being the way women want to see it themselves. In any case, Black men and women are indoctrinated to want to see Black women minic European standards of beauty. I think we can agree this is pretty obvious. Sadly much of this indoctrination comes from Black media. I'm glad you got the Michael Jackson joke

Seriously, this is the question Ebony magazine asked 50 years ago. Whatever the answer was, the imagery has not changed. It may have even become more extreme as long blond hair is common place and the use photoshop is mandatory. Women wear long blond wigs not so much because that is the way men want to see them, but because that is the way they want to see themselves. Of course this is the image that Black media promotes, as they work hard to conform to the white standard of beauty. When we see a Black woman with rocking a natural style, we "freak out," the way we do when we see a more accurate world map.

Here is an interview that we just published with Ben Crump, Attorney for the Brown Family. In it he talks about the shooting of in Ferguson and other instances of police killing unarmed Black citizens.

James McIntosh will be debating his position this Sunday: http://aalbc.com/events/bepaa-debate-is-bill-cosby-being-lynched.html I'll be there

I'm going to be regularly sharing information about the organization who hosted this event, The Board for the Education of People of African Ancestry (“BEPAA”) here http://aalbc.com/events/bepaa.html

Harry there are some who suggest that the Iron Age religions need to be updated. But Mormonism started less than 200 years and Scientology is not much older than I am, so it does not appear the newer religions are getting any better. Many people consider themselves "spiritual," but that is a highly individual thing and is more a reflection of the person's nature than anything else. By that I mean, some people are just cut out to be devoted followers of a religion, others are not. The connection between religious people and the police shooting in Ferguson is lost on me. Perhaps you were not attempting to draw one. As long as there is someone willing to lead, there will always be people willing to follow, and of course there will be others who stand around wondering what the heck is wrong the them.

Yeah it does freak people out when they are forced to view something from different perspective--even if that perspective is true and the previously held one is false. The idea of flipping the map flipped me out too. I know the orientation we are accustomed to seeing is arbitrary, or rather designed to highlight America, but still, I know it would be hard for me to get used to the opposite orientation. There is an interest show on Freakonomics which discusses getting rid of bad ideas: http://freakonomics.com/2015/03/05/this-idea-must-die-full-transcript/ you can download the pod cast from itunes. For example, the idea that people are "left-brained" or "right brained" is scientifically false. However the misconception persists and we even come up with educational techniques based upon the falsehood. But bad ideas, like the idea of race and the apparent inferiority of so the so called "Black Race" die hard.

I imagine most of us are accustomed to seeing a maps of the world that look, more or less, like the one below. I was well into my adult years before I realized just how much larger Africa is than the United States (more than 3 times the size, including Alaska). Africa is almost 14 times the size of Greenland! Russia is little more than 1/2 the size of African. Mexico is bigger than Alaska. Obviously none of these facts could be discerned from the maps we normally see. Anthony T. Browder in his documentary film, Nile Valley Contributions to Civilization (at the 7:30 mark), based upon his book of the same name, offers reasons for the distorted world map, as well as why Egypt, is in the "Middle East." The so called third world is entirely, diminished in relative size, for no apparent reason, other than perhaps to diminish them in significance. Here is a better representation: Gall–Peters projection According to Wikipedia is is commonly used in British schools The African continent can encompass all of the continental US, India, Western Europe, and China with room to spare! Here is a funny video that illustrates the point Notice the center of this map is the intersection of the Prime Meridian (another arbitrary point favoring the British who created it) and the equator.

Yeah the blood is thicker than water is important and it should be--if you can't depend upon support from your family who can you depend upon. But this responsibility between family natural does not come naturally. It has to be instilled into the individuals from an early age. Unfortunately, our culture undermines this in so many ways.

Del it appeared that you put community subordinate, indeed everything to your own knowledge. You can't have knowledge without freedom. When you want cripple a person what is the first thing that you take away? You take away their access to knowledge. The enslaved African was forbidden to read, and governments burn books and deny internet access, to keep people in the dark. Governments also put out propaganda to misinform people. It is why the government has little interest in educating poor people. Even though Neo who was "the one" he would have never have been freed, nor would he have been able to help anyone else, without the knowledge that Morpheus provided.

Del, now that you mention it. I see what you are saying. I'm not sure that is a deliberately delivered subliminal message. If it is it is done quote well.

Yes Cynique, that was the name of the movie, HER I thought the film was really good. Specially when the relationship began to fall apart. GIve it another shot. I agree Chris and maybe that is why I have little interest in the popular Black movies and TV shows. I'm not holding my breathe waiting for this to happen on screen, fortunately there is the world of books.

Well Del next time you get to a PC, please take the time to elaborate on what you mean. It sounds rather misanthropic, but you never struck me as one., so I know I'm misinterpreting what you wrote. Whenever older people, who have much more life behind them than ahead, describe what they find most important in life, I'm all ears. The thing about siblings from my much less experienced life, is that they are truly individuals. I only have two children and my experience tells me that if they come out liking each other that is the result of the luck of the draw. Siblings seemingly have as much a likelihood of liking each other as two complete strangers. Of course we all have friends that we like more than our own family. This is not a bad thing, but the virtually infinite combination of genes, create such a wide variety of personalities, I can't image producing 5 children and having them all get along, and support each other, throughout their lives. There is always a Black sheep or two or three... The most important thing to me is freedom. But freedom is hard though. We have to fight to maintain it. When you do have it your actions result in with consequences, which may not always be desired. You also need freedom to not just acquire knowledge, but to produce knowledge.