Troy

I remember that "Tower Records" store... I brought the album and later the CD, but I was not really big fan of this album (sacrilege, I know) I was much more into rap at the time. This album was so big because of the marketing, promotion and more. Sure the music was fine (personally I never go back and listen to "BAD") but there was a tremendous marketing machine behind the music -- nothing like it before. or since really.

ABC's 60-second trailer previews the documentary film by award-winning director Spike Lee, celebrates the 25th anniversary of Michael Jackson's landmark "BAD" album and tour. "Michael Jackson: BAD25" will air Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 22 ( p.m., ET) on ABC.

Of course you are right Milton. But again this is why Black folks, as a "people", do not control very much here in the US. I'm also making a distinction between a "business" and an "institution". As you described a business is strictly concerned with generating profits for the owner. Noble causes are irrelevant to a business -- unless they generate profits. If a firmly middle class Black family wanted to live a in a Black middle class neighborhood where Black people ran the businesses, provided the professional services, ran and developed the curriculum at the schools and owned most of the homes. Where would they go? In a nation of 40 million plus people this should not be too far fetched, right? Can any one name 5 communities in the vast country of ours with the characteristics I've described? Typically middle class or upper middle class Black families live in white neighborhoods where their children attended predominately white schools where their children of usually 1, 2 or at most a few amount many. The story continues in the best colleges and the best corporate gigs. Of course this sounds like the American dream for most, and financially it works out quite well for some families, but the adverse consequences on a people are profound. To clarify one of your points which business(es) are Johnson children running?

Cool. I'll update the title of this post too. The title of the post is what gets captured by the search engines and make it much easier for people to share information with others via social media. There is no need to be low key here Hickson should give a course on how to work this discussion board. His posts get many views for a reason.

This just in... Apparently public outrage forced the cancellation of this years Marathon. Plus since many runners will not be able to make it into the city, hoteliers can continue gouging NY City residents, who were forced out of their homes and make much more money. Which I'm sure was the real motivation....

The lady, a Sister, who lost her kids is from a borough called Staten Island. Staten Island may as will be another state; it is as different from Manhattan as the rest of the country -- and is treated as such. I believe Staten Island's death toll as 1/2 of the total. People there are hungry, cold, without power, drinkable water, some literally homeless. But we have the resources to host the New York Marathon on Sunday which starts in Staten Island -- there will be plenty of water for the runners. I rode my bike to the Wall Street area yesterday there were pumps everywhere pulling water out of flooded basements, and subway stations. It was a ghost town when it would normally be teaming with people. The Hudson river reeked of raw sewage. Traffic to AALBC.com is down almost 70% from NY and 50% from NY. I have a part time gig helping folks pass the GED exam and I have no clue when I'll be able to work -- loosing money all the way around.

Writegirl. if I may... Uncle Catfish [Kindle Edition] by Chandra Borden http://bit.ly/unclecatfish I’m a daddy’s girl. But that wasn’t always the case. For years I used to run to my father’s arms, squealing “Daddy, Daddy,” with hopes of stealing his heart. In return, Len Earle Woods would greet me the way he greeted everyone, with a laid back demeanor and a cool-dude smile. I wasn’t a daddy’s girl at that point. I was just another kid. But it would take one visit from Uncle Catfish, the summer before my eighth grade year, to change all of that. Click to learn more or to download your copy today! Only 99 cents!

Aptaracorp has released its annual survey of ebook production trends Aptaracorp created the following Infographic in association with Publishers Weekly.

Hickson my most recent sales support your position that ebooks will take over: eBooks outsold physical books on my website (again) for the period of my most recent Bestsellers list September 1st to October 31st 2012. This is skewed by the sale of books that are only available in one format, but for books that were available in both formats the ratio was as high as 3 to 1 in favor of eBooks. I'm also agree that bookstores are indeed relevant but despite their relevance they are doomed to fail. I'm not however confident that the replacement is better. As a result, I'll continue to try to let people know what we are losing, collectively, as a culture. I feel bad for people who never knew a world with bookstores -- just like I feel bad for the kids who never really knew what it is like to play games like tag, jump rope of any of the physical things kids used to do outside. The idea of spending one's childhood connected to a screen, communicating with friends, watching TV, playing and game, or reading a book is, well...depressing.

The results of this survey may be found here http://aalbc.com/blog/index.php/2012/11/01/bookstores-relevant/

Below are the result of the survey. The results are not all that surprising given the respondents are visitors to AALBC.com. I posted some of my comments and what I think people should do on my Blog http://aalbc.com/blo...tores-relevant/

This was a category 1 storm that brought the lower Manhattan it is knees. The subway system is still flooded with service only partially restored. A couple of week ago a read where NYC is quietly figuring out ways to shore up the subway system against rising water levels. If this storm is any indication -- they better hurry up!

Nice. I wish I knew the stories behind both of these photos. What year and when were they taken? What were the circumstances that brought each of them together? Eunice Kathleen Waymon, better known by her stage name Nina Simone, was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist widely associated with jazz music. James Arthur Baldwin was an American novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and social critic. Baldwin's essays, such as the collection Notes of a Native Son, explore palpable yet unspoken intricacies Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing. Ella Jane Fitzgerald, also known as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella", was an American jazz and song vocalist. (all short bios clipped from Wikipedia)

Black properties seem to follow this trajectory Black folks some up with an idea to address some unmet need in the Black community Black folks create a business to satisfy that need Black community embraces the business (unmet need satisfied -- Black ownership is a big plus) The Business becomes successful (ie profitable) The founder of the business sells business to white entity (for tidy profit) The white owners solely interested in increasing revenue pervert or abandon original idea which the original business was founded Repeat Whether the businesses are websites like Black Voices (now Huffington Post), Magazines (Essence), TV Networks (BET) or even Record Labels (Def Jam) the story is the same. The concept of institution building has been destroyed. We always sellout. As a consequence we don't have anything, not as individuals not as a people... As a child I was always impressed by what the Nation of Islam was accomplishing in the community. While the heady days of the Nation seem to be over, I now appreciate what they were accomplishing.

That last idea Cynique would be categorized as speculative fiction.

Hey is that a Brother, on the lower right left hand side, just left of the crease with a cap on?

I did not know about James Cameron. I see that he wrote a book called A Time of Terror: A Survivor's Story (Black Classic Press December, 1993) No many how many times I'm reminded it is still hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that so many white people could so cruel at the same time.

As far as I can tell the following article was originally written around 2003, but perhaps several years earlier. I discovered it on the Talking Drum Website and they attribute the article to the afronet.com website, which appears to be defunct now (my browser warns me that the domain now hosts malware). As some of you know, I've been on a prolonged rant about the state of the Black internet for the last year or so. It was interesting to read Cinque's article and see mach of what he predicted has actually happened. The alarming thing is that so few people even notice. Of course, the reason is that there are not enough Black platforms to raise the issue or that are conscious enough to even care. It is also interesting, at least to me, that I believe the author is the same "Cinque" that used to contribute article to AALBC.com in the 1990's (http://aalbc.com/reviews/cinque.htm). Black Sites That Are White Owned by Cinque B. Sengbe The Internet is evolving so fast, everybody has a site. Every movie has a URL and nobody does any advertising without carving out a space in cyberspace. The Internet is so commonly used, that I predict that by 2005, 85% of the families living above the poverty level will have a presence in cyberspace. Family web pages will be commonplace. I can envision some sites headers now. "Coming in 2005, www.atterberry.com to a domain near you. Check the family tree and download relative's baby pictures. So just who is using the web? EVERYBODY IS. Every ethnic group in America is utilizing the Internet. All the people who don't want to be left out of the loop are making the adjustment. Don't believe any of the hype saying African - Americans are not flocking to the Internet. Don't believe one iota of it. I have observed the African American web presence more than double in a year. If you don't believe me just try to do a search under some of the Black or African American thematic topics that you used to. See how much more data comes up. There is just one catch. Many of the sites that you think are controlled by African Americans are not Black owned, controlled and conceived. I have an acronym for this. I ask is it a BOCC= B(lack) O(wned) C(ontrolled) C(onceived) ? Is this a problem? Heck yes. Herein lies another disappointing thing "happening" wherein we are not controlling our images and ideas. Yes, I know that there are those who think that "it is only important that the target audience be African American." Some say it is not relevant that popular African American sites be BOCC's. I just want to name some sites, which most people assume, are BOCC but have White ownership. Black Voices (www.blackvoices.com) is owned by the Tribune Media Corporation. Not Barry Cooper! Blackfamilies.com (www.blackfamilies.com) is owned by Cox Interactive Media. Not John Pembroke! Cybersoul (www.cybersoul.com) is owned by HBO. I have just one statement, to those who think that it is not important who owns the Black Image in cyberspace. "If it was not important to control the Black images in cyberspace White firms would not want to!" I am not saying that Blackvoices, Blackfamilies and Cybersoul are bad sites, they provide great information, but I am saying that this trend is detrimental to the potential African Americans on the Internet, especially from an economic vantage point. I remember when Afronet gave space to a White columnist. There were so many people who told me what an ill-conceived move they felt this was. I agreed then, but I ask, Where are your voices now!! These sites are well financed and whether they make money or not having that cushion allows the worker bees to not worry about if they are making money or not. But how do the sites make money? ADVERTISING!! Procter and Gamble advertises on Black Voices, but do you think CEO Barry Cooper gets any of that money ? Is he or his staff rewarded with a bonus? NO!! Does he have any control over the way the money is spent on the site. NO! The money goes straight into the coffers of the Tribune Media Corporation. Advertising is the lifeblood of television, newspaper, radio and the Internet. Yes, those sites may look great and have all the fancy bells and whistles, but do you really think Cox Interactive, Tribune and Time Warner love the African American way of life that much? What say do you have in supporting BOCC ? Or the question should be. Are you BUYING BLACK!! The Internet may be the last place the African Americans can control the destiny of their portrayal in the media. If we don’t support these sites now, by buying books, music or other gift items THROUGH these site, they eventually will go out of business. Next time you decide to buy something on the Internet, take the time to pull up a BOCC site and then buy the item or recommend to the site owner that he or she should carry that item, its not as hard as you might think. Anything you can buy at Yahoo!, you can buy on any BOCC site. My hypothesis is that in five years Whites will either own or become the significant contributors to the majority of the most popular "Black" web sites. These people realize that to be able to control access to data and what data people receive is critical to controlling them. Since the Internet is nothing more than a whole bunch of computers networked together, it has allowed Black folk to meet and express ideas without interference from Whites as you have with television, radio, and other media. During the days of chattel slavery it was a no-no for Blacks to meet up and discuss ideas. Even in Africa, colonial European efforts combined to prevent African People from communicating without their presence. Although many African countries have their independence now, the colonizing groups still exert a lot of influence over their radio and television programming. Nowadays Black people can legally congregate in most places on the globe. It is still discouraged like it is in my hometown of New York City, but it’s just more subtle. I remember some years ago I was home from college for winter break and I was accosted by police for simply walking with too many other African American males at night. We were on the sidewalk and they were riding in the street. They blared their sirens and rode their vehicles on the sidewalk blocking our path. They got out of the car with hands on their guns and told us to get up against the wall. We were orderly, quiet and had committed no crime, but we were Black, all male and there was 20 of us. There was only two of them initially, but by the time it was all over, there was a 1 to 1 ratio of Black males to police officers. Nobody got arrested, although due to my outrage over being stopped, I came close. Their mission was to give us the "subtle" message, "this is what happens when we see too many of you people together." The sergeant who arrived on the scene said we were stopped because we were reported being disorderly by a 911 caller. Likely story. Twenty Black people were together doing nothing but "shooting the breeze," but for this white woman, it was a frightening scene. Just think about the fear that the Internet represents when you have millions of people who come together in web site chat rooms, post to message boards, read the ideas of other people who look like them. It gets even scarier if some of these people aim to do more than "shoot the breeze" but instead talk about legitimate social issues like the murder of unarmed African emigrant Ahmed Diallo at the hands of the New York City Cops. Eventually this sort of linkage could spill over into "activism." There has to be a medium to dilute or control the way people interpret national, global or local events. These types of questions posed by the site administrators on the message boards and the site survey questionnaire, which downplay race as a factor are examples of the little things which a White controlled site is more likely to do. To those who feel the need to monitor us, the Internet is no exception. The best way to do this is to use a "Black Face/person" as the visible site person. Another example might be in the case of a movie, or T.V. series that Blacks feel is worthy of boycott. The white site is not likely to endorse a boycott and takes the route of "let's all watch the show before we judge it prematurely, lets see how it represents "us," as one White owned Black series did with the short-lived television sitcom "The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfieffer," which burlesqued slavery and virtually made a joke of the horrible life that African people enslaved in the Western Hemisphere experienced. You would never see that sort of nonsense done with other human tragedies like the Jewish Holocaust. Thank God we were smart enough to recognize that this show could not continue to air with our economic support. I could draw thousands of analogies of ways, in which these web sites are likely to subtly use subversive methods to control black frustration and rage, but I feel that portion of my conveyance should be left to your own imagination. I am sure that you have experiences which would allow you to recall or draw your own examples. Although there is a small upside. I think the phenomenon of Black web sites controlled by whites can actually wind up being very educational. There is a lot of information being circulated which passes itself off as legitimate data simply because it was done by a Black person without careful attention being paid to the actual content of that data. More so I believe that regardless of the race of the author, the work the individual does should be viewed on its scholastic merit. Scholarship can not be quantified simply by race; cyber-browsers should go further with information they receive on the web even when Blacks control the web site. If Black people realize that the data they are receiving may be an interpretation from a White controlled perspective (as are 95% of the other media and communication outlets) they may dig deeper and go further with the data and discover that the data they received is erroneous. If the ambiguity of web site ownership causes cyber-browsers to do a double take at the information they receive, then in my opinion it is a good thing. Many Black people too easily accept information on the basis that the author is Black or has a cultural or ethnic sounding name. I have seen information appear on BOCC sites which was more detrimental in its propaganda than stuff that normally receives a red flag on White media outlets. Take for example the recently released "Encarta Africana" Encyclopedia released by Microsoft. This double CD package has been billed as the first comprehensive work on African culture and history throughout the Diaspora and Africa. The brain children behind this project are Henry Louis "Skip" Gates Jr., Chairman of Afro-American Studies and Kwame Anthony Appiah, professor of Afro-American Studies and Philosophy. Both of these men are Black and have a following among various groups in the Black community. I have read interviews with them and about them which makes me worry what they have done with the original efforts of W.E.B. Dubois to produce this Encyclopedia. Dubois moved to Ghana in 1961 to establish the Secretariat of the Encyclopedia Africana, but he died before it was completed. There is a lot of criticism from sources regarding the efforts by Gates and Appiah. I do know that the Secretariat in Ghana totally disassociated Dubois’ original project from their effort. The teacher in me forced me to go through the lesson plans for educators at www.encarta.msn.com/schoolhouse. In our efforts to learn more about other white sites we spoke to John Pembroke of Black Families.com which is owned by Cox Interactive. He was quite evasive about providing information about the staff, page views and amount of money Cox invested. John’s official position is Brand Manager (now what’s that) ? He is not the CEO, CFO, COO or even the founder. So you know he answers to someone else. Are all of these H.N.I.C. executives selling us out? Even the recent BET venture is still partially white owned. Why? The bottom line is that you should know which sites are created by Black efforts or White efforts. You should check it out for yourself. You might be surprised by what you will find. Just remember when you spend your money, are you handing it over to the white man or are you buying black? With the Internet, believe me folks, WE HAVE A CHOICE!! Black Web Sites That Are Not 100% Black Owned www.blackfamilies.com - Owner: Cox Interactive www.blackvoices.com - Owner: Tribune Media www.cybersoul.com - Owner: HBO www.blackplanet.com - Owner: Asian Avenue www.peeps.com - Owner: BMG www.defjam.com - Owner: Polygram www.netnoir.com - Owner: AOL (20%) www.bet.com - Owner: Microsoft/USA Network (50%) Permission granted by afronet.com

Of course the social aspect of the school system is it biggest flaw and benefit :-) I've met people who live a very insular life; no TV for the kids, they attend religious services and go to school often run by the very same religious institutions. They try very hard to shield their children from the world at large. I can understand why they would do that, and you really need a community of like minded people to make that work. Sometime I admire their diligence. While I understand why people may want to live this way I would not want to live in a world like that, nor would I want to prepare my kids to live a would like that. People are better off with more freedom than those environments, shut off from the rest of the world, can offer. I'm not a big fan of asking young children what they want. They simply don't have enough information to make as good a decision as I can. As the get older they get to make more decisions until they are living on their own and can make all the decisions for themselves and their children.

I know very people people are can communicate with everyone without judgment/prejudice and not be afraid of anyone (including myself) People often often need a life time to learn when not to prejudge people and how to communicate with almost anyone; some people you really need to be afraid of... That said, I think I know what you mean. I'll take a good education over pretty much anything else for a kid -- I don't care what color the other kids are. I'm not sure that perfect educational environment even exists. Kids will always have challenges -- learning to deal with them is part of growing up. However those challenges should not include bad teachers and a shitty school. Some people home school.

Cynique, I think I understand what you are saying. What I'm saying is that the behavior you are describing as the cause of the problem is really a symptom of structural, and cultural problems of which those who exhibit the behavior are victims. Sure some people, like myself, make it out of the ghetto. But doing so today is much more difficult. The system is rigged. We under educate our kids, then when they commit crimes, because of a lack of options, we lock them up. The prisons are bursting at the seams we lock up more of our people than any industrialized nation. Black on Black crime is a terrible thing, kids acting up in school is a serious problem, the breakdown of the family is indeed tragic. One would think all you have to do is tell people to stop making babies before they get married, finish school high school, stay out of jail, use protection to prevent the spread of STD's, "Say No to Drugs", try not to kill anyone, and read a book every once and a while. Simple, right? That kind of thinking (and I'm not accusing you thinking this way Cynique) is what has made Obama's presidency a disappointment to many and may actually cost him the election next month. Again, if we lived in a more just society many of these ills would simply go away. But we will not have a just society as long as greedy corporations completely control our government and are solely interested in enriching themselves. I think this can be fixed. Today I don't see us going in the right direction. The big banks that were too big to fail are even bigger than before the crisis and still doing whatever they want to do.

This book is right up biotumelo's alley. The Black Church: Where Women Pray and Men Prey by Deborrah Cooper - Book Review

The idea that an Ann Coulter gets coverage for calling Obama a retard is mind boggling. If anything that should be a reason to any respectable news outlet to stop giving her a platform. Obama's joke about Bayonets caused some backlash as the military still uses bayonets, but since neither for those cats were ever in the military what would they know. The line of the night to be can from someone on a Frontline broadcast with followed the debate on PBS; "Obama is the only Nobel Peace Prize winner with a kill list", I don't know if Obama is the only winner with a kill list, but I do know awarding Obama a Nobel Peace Prize was extraordinary premature. With the surge in Afghanistan, Gitmo, and the large number of murders of innocent people with unmanned drones, I doubt anyone believes Obama is exactly a model of peace.

The crooked preachers and politicians of a reflection of our sick culture. You can't blame the the poor -- that is simply blaming the victims of the crime. We live in an incredibly and increasingly unjust society. The state of our education system, relative to the rest of the world, is a proof. These chickens (millions of uneducated, unskilled, stressed, people) WILL come home to roost and it will be a freaking nightmare. Organized sports are a panacea to help placate the masses. Our largest universities are little more than minor league training facilities for professional basketball and football. At every level we heap more attention and praise on the athlete than the student. Many guys are more passionate and knowledgeable about their local sports team that they are about almost anything else. Unless the very fundamental problems of this nation are addressed -- in a hurry. We will be headed straight for 3rd world status (many of us live under these conditions now, invisible, under the radar, ignored). But this will never ever happen until we really recognize there is a problem -- that even Obama (or Romney) can not solve. No one is interested in Black men -- the data make this plain. The numbers unlike, "BLACK LEADERS, NAACP, CHURCH PREACHERS, BLACK POLITICIANS", do not lie. Extinction seems like a plausible outcome...

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