Troy

If you are trying to change the mind of a Christian you are wasting your time.

Cary are you tryin' to suggest Michael did not have an inappropriate relationship with minor boys? The cat from Penn State said he was just "rough housing"... Would you let your son spend the night at Neverland with Michael Jackson?

Carey a sight for sore eyes. The Huria site is very new -- less than two weeks old, but off to a great start -- it has a LOT of potential of a seemingly simple idea. I've discovered a great number of interesting sites usinlg it myself. Post your favorite Black sites here (including your blog and I'll add them to the search engine's index). If really is a shame regarding the conversations every group on facebook that I've joined or been added to people just post stuff to promote themselves or or something, but rarely interact -- even if you engage them. And the quickest way to piss someone off is to disagree with them. People who share a lot online can be surprisingly thin skinned and sensitive. I guess we are off topic... maybe not.

Cynique I read this on my phone. (yes there is a mobile ap for this discussion board). I was gonna comment right away btut I wanted to think about if for a second. Actually I think G90 make a good point. This is something that has been bugging me lately. Most "news" is crap and it has to adversely impact the way we view the world. Today the so called Black sites (run by majority owned corps) feed us nonsense. The troubling part is that positive and needed content is being generated -- folks just don;t see it. This again is the reason I created Huria Search http://huria.org I think at least in a small way it can help folks find the content of substance that we generate. This country need help -- a lot of help, but it is not nearly as bad as you would be led to believe with the top search results, headline news, or lead stories.

Hey giseph90 read the actually blog post: http://aalbc.it/100bestsites then come back and let me know what you think. Suffice it to say the majority of those site no longer exist, are woefully our of date or have sold out to corporations.

Watch Nikky Finney, 2011 National Book Awards acceptance speech. http://aalbc.it/nikkyspeech "Black people were the only people in the United States ever explicitly, forbidden, to become literate." One industry icon said it best, "I was moved and speechless by Finny's acceptance speech... the woman spoke the truth with such grace and elegance....She done herself, and all of us Damn proud!

http://aalbc.it/nikkyspeech "Black people were the only people in the United States ever explicitly, forbidden, to become literate." If you don't do anything else today, listen Nikky Finney, 2011 National Book Awards acceptance speech. One industry icon said it best, "I was moved and speechless by Finny's acceptance speech... the woman spoke the truth with such grace and elegance....She done herself, and all of us Damn proud!

http://aalbc.it/nikkyspeech "Black people were the only people in the United States ever explicitly, forbidden, to become literate." If you don't do anything else today, listen Nikky Finney, 2011 National Book Awards acceptance speech. One industry icon said it best, "I was moved and speechless by Finny's acceptance speech... the woman spoke the truth with such grace and elegance....She done herself, and all of us Damn proud!

Jesmyn Ward, Salvage the Bones and Nikky Finney, Head Off & Split win national Book awards!

Jesmyn Ward, Salvage the Bones and Nikky Finney, Head Off & Split win national Book awards!

Watch a live webcast of the National Book Awards tonight http://aalbc.it/nationalbookawards2011

Watch the 2011 National Book Award Finalists via a live Webcast. http://www.nationalbook.org In the fiction category, only Tea Obreht's wonderful debut, The Tiger's Wife, hit bestseller lists. The other four nominees — Julie Otsuka's Buddha in the Attic, Andrew Krivak's The Sojourn, Jesmyn Ward's Salvage the Bones, and Edith Pearlman's Binocular Vision — are beautiful pieces of work, but not strong sellers or even part of the mainstream literary conversation. (read full article) Also read Laura Miller's Salon piece, "How the National Book Awards Made Themselves Irrelevant." See how many of the authors AALBC.com tracks: win tonight:

"The 100 best Web Sites for African Americans" http://aalbc.it/100bestsites On April 4, 2003, Earthlink partnered with MOBE (Marketing Opportunities in Business and Entertainment) to present The 100 Best Web Sites for African Americans. I recently reviewed all of these sites to see how they were making out: http://aalbc.it/100bestsites This was really part of much larger effort I've taken on to identify independent Black websites to add to Huria Search http://huria.org I came across this list while looking for sites to add to the the Huria Search index.

boitumelo, I know you like to hit and run with all the controversial Black stuff, but do you believe all the allegations? Do you think this is relevant. Do you ever get tired of the media focusing on all the negative attributes of Black people. Do you think if more attention was payed to the positive things Black people did Black folks and the country would be better off?

New Logo: Still need your support. Test out some queries, suggest sites to be added to the index, and provide feedback. I guarantee you'll discover a new website that you actually like.

Cynique, I'm often confronted with the challenge of not believing most people are just plain stupid. We are even willing to overlook the sexual abuse of a child for reasons I will never understand. Is our over looking Michael Jackson any different, really? Apparently it is diffcult to expose the powerful and famous for the degenerates they are. The victimized children must have felt completely helpless, betrayed, alone...

Cute. Yes, I preffer the 2nd one -- not to imlpy that the first image offended me.

That's messed up Cynqiue

I'm not surprised at all Kola. I've seen you and Johnny work together. I've seen you praise Johnny in his absence and I've seen Johnny praise you in your absence. I did not mean to suggest that the folks at Akashic had any difficulty with you -- only that you certainly had the reputation prior to being signed. Here is to continued success.

Kola, your reputation as a writer is not disputed. Your off the top of your head contributions to these discussion boards attest to your writing ability and passion. You know, of course, you are can be more than a handful. But that is no reason for you not to have gotten a deal from a "big" house. Trust me they publish other authors who are a "handful"; you have not cornered the market on that -- not by a long shot. Also I personally know at least one high level NY editor who has read your work and said you can write. Johnny T. with ownership of his publishing company can do what he wants. Black folks in big publishing houses (as much as I love them) ain't got it like that. The incentives are completely different as you described. Don't even get me started about Eso Won. I have a story that would probably astonish you. I will always support Wanda Coleman. Also don't forget to contribute some websites to Huria Search -- especially non-American websites -- thanks

...dropping authors and cutting advances. Joyce Carol Oates, Edwidge Danticat, OK Johnny T. is officially 'da man! Now I know this gonna sound racist as all get out, and perhaps it is, but I can't help but wonder if a Brother could have secured the Black talent Johnny has and have been as successful. I know Kola will check me if she feels I'm off base here. It is also worth noting that I think Johnny is a terrific person. I like everything I've seen or heard about him. My point has nothing to do with Johnny personally but with the nature of our culture and Black people in general.

Anika99, thanks for the encouragement. I think this a bigger issue than your typically web surfer can appreciate. I have been tracking Black sites since the Internet has been a commercial entity. I remember terrific sites like Netnoir and Melanet and one of the first Black book websites Drumandspear.com I remember the promise and opportunity Black folks had to really do something powerful as our voiced were no longer controlled by big corporations. The Barriers are back up and Big coporations have control over our images again. Independent websites have little chance without the collective support of visitors, writers, and other sites. The problem Black independent sites are muti-faceted and profound. Consider the fact that there is no way I could start and AALBC.com today and have it be as successful as it is now. Here is a thoughtful article written about Huria Search: aalbc.it/harticle1 The site has only been up two days but the support and reaction to it has been quite good so far, but there will need to be continuous support for the effort to have the greatest long term impact. That support however has to come from people; because big corporations have no incentive to support Huria Search's goals. The people truly do have the most to benefit.

Kola I hear you about your concern regarding sales. But you are developing a readership beyond Black folks and you got the promotion thing down. So things bode well for you regarding commercial success.

EDITORS NOTE (June 2017): As of March 2016, after a 5 year run, Huria Search’s run as a standalone site ended. I could not longer justify the additional expense. I found the search engine useful so transferred it here: https://aalbc.com/huria/ so that I and a few others could continue to use it. About a year ago Google announced that they are discontinuing the underlying service which drives Hura Search, so i'm note sure how much longer it will continue to operate. Check out Huria Search: http://huria.org Hey everyone If you have not already noticed all the big Black websites have sold out to corporate concerns who more interested in money than the Black community. The pursuit of money explains why the big "Black" site cover Kim Kardasian, or any celebrity scandal they can dig up and help exacerbate. Because of their might these corporations have dominated search results, not because of "better" content, but because of their ability to game search results and purchase advertising. As a result, you are more likely to learn more about the sorted details of Terry McMillan's divorce than her accomplishments as a writer when you Google her name. To give folks search results that skew toward independent Black owned websites, I created Huria Search. Huria Search will introduce you to websites you probably never knew existed because they were buried so deeply in regular search results. Check it out I think you will enjoy what you find. The sites are not limited to independent Black websites. You'll find sites like libraries (Schomburg), publishers (Akashic), not for profits (poets.org), any entity that has positively contributed to the global Black community should be included. Non-US sites are part of the mix as well. If you believe in the spirit of what I'm trying to accomplish please help spread the word, post links on your Blog and websites and support Huria Search, and by extension, the global Black community. Read a recent Blog posts about Huria Search.

Author and Publishers you should post your book information; AALBC.com Facebook wall: http://www.facebook.com/aalbcfanpage AALBC.com Events calendar: http://aalbc.com/tc/index.php?/calendar/ AALBC.com Literary Discussion board (Thumper’s Corner): http://aalbc.it/aalbctc If you are into SEO, AALBC.com has a Google page rank of 6, has been on line since 1998, has an Alexa ranking ranging from 75K to 200K, has hundreds of other indexed sites linked to us, and is the the largest site of it's kind. This discussion board is published via an RSS feed whose posts are automatically tweeted. I also use these sources to discover information to add to my eNewsletter and to share via social media. AALBC.com will require you to create an account to post, but if you have a Facebook or Twitter account you can logon to AALBC.com using it. Read more about promoting your book for free: http://aalbc.it/aalbcforfree Taking an out an ad on AALBC.com take all of this to another level. We are perhaps the only site that can give an advertiser half a million ad impressions a month to such a targeted demographic (dominated by adult, educated, women). Our click through rates for banners ads are typically in the single digit percent range (compare that to Google or Facebook click through rates). Visit http://aalbc.com/advertise_on_aalbc.html to learn more about advertising on AALBC.com -- customized packages are available. Finally have your website added to the New Huria Search search engine: http://huria.org Remember books do not sell themselves