Troy

The NAACP, The Urban League, The Black Panthers, and more were around. I'm not sure we are more divided, but we are certainly less organized. It is incontrovertible that our ancestors deserved reparations. However, I doubt our descendants will get them. The more time that goes by the more difficult it will be to determine who qualifies for payment. Shoot, I suspect @Pioneer1 does not think I deserve a check given his unwillingness to confirm my Blackness. Unity is perhaps pur best hope.

@Pioneer1 interestingly many people pick up that I'm from New York, but few ever peg me to Harlem.

The conversation took place last in November and pretty much covers my thoughts on the state of the world wide web. At 1 hour and 24 minutes, this is probably the longest video I have even posted. It will be interesting to see how YouTube's algorithm treats this video. If you have time to watch I'm looking for feedback. Does the information resonate or not? Do you care about the subject, why or why not? Do I make a compelling case, or is it mostly boring

@richardmurray This type of advertising is not exactly what I had in mind for the particular forum.

Dr. Joe Louis Dudley, Sr. (May 9, 1937 – February 8, 2024) was a prominent entrepreneur Dudley Products, Inc., a prominent Black haircare brand.

Not if they don't have a position, or are looking to expand what they know. I'm not saying these people are in the majority, but they exist. I believe I'm one of these people.

I had zero interest in attending the MMM, but would have been down to do something constructive as a result. I started a Black book website. @Pioneer1 did you go to the MMM? Where did you get the 2 million number. I was not there, but 2 million is a BIG number, an order of magnitude more than the 250K who are estimated to have attended the March on Washington. If 2 million Black people decided to do something together that would be powerful and unprecedented, there would need to be an umbrella organization to coordinate all the other organizations. 2 Million Black people could seed the organization with an initial $500 contribution and easily raise a billion dollars. What would we do? Fight for reparations?

I believe anyone who posts here could be described this way. Those who seeks validation from social media definitely are not one who marches to their own drum. I would say it is impossible, for the reasons @ProfD mentioned and more, so one must choose their poison or live as a hermit. I avoid social media, but I watch streaming TV where I can exercise more control over what I consume, although YouTube and other platforms has made great strides in pushing videos to you to watch -- even going as far as to automatically paying them. @Delano people can benefit from being told what to consider. In the world of books, for example, there is just so many being published critics and help identify the ones worth reading. However, today the things that are advertised to us are rarely ever thing the thing we need the most or would best serve us. This is because feeds, advertising, algorithms are dominated by what generates the most revenue. Where it is an opiods, mentholated cigarettes, poorly made branded clothing, fast food, weight lost and beauty products, whatever... No one is immune. Fashion is probably the best example Del. In 2024 functional good looking clothing could be easily made to last decades, but there is no money in that. So we have trendy throw-away clothing that keeps us constantly spending. We are sold on this idea of keeping up with fashion trends. But this idea is a purely commercial construct. Indeed, the notion that anything we can purchase that makes us part of a group is simply a function of commerce. Younger people fall more prey to this, as they have a stronger need to belong. They are as more easily manipulated into buying into an identity defined by some marketer.

@Pioneer1 I grew up on 113th street and was 10 when the film was made. There were many films that were shot in my old 'hood during the Black exploitation era. While I enjoyed seeing familiar places on the big screen as a kid, it created a distorted perspective. "Hollywood Hype" as you called it. In the video I shot about 16 years ago, you'll see Mayme, Bumpy's widow. I walked by the building they used to live last week. Karen, the lady speaking in the video, wrote a book about Bumpy. Karen was Bumpy's Goddaughter and grew up a few blocks from me. She told me Bumpy used to pass out money to the kids to buy school supplies. Meeting Mayme long after Bumpy died as about as close as I got to the man myself. Mayme, passed less than a year after I shot this video. I saw Shaft a few times but never caught the "Bumpy Jonas" reference

Understanding that is key. Similalrly, Africans are not as dysfunctional as have led us to believe. Finally white folks are not superior as they have led us to believe. Whether we are working with Africans or African Americans any difficultly is a function of our greed fueled system.

Perhaps, but that is certainly not true today. That is like saying you have to pass the brown paper bag test to become an AKA. It may have been partially true in the past but that is no longer true today. And today is what I'm talking about. The Boule may still be an elite organization, but the organization is irrelevant from my perspective, as I haven't a clue what they are about or what they do today. @Pioneer1 it is curious you dodged my direct query about my Blackness from your perspective. Don't worry about offending me

WHAT??! Seriously ask a few of your Black friends about the game and let me know what you learn. Hey @Pioneer1 am I Black in your book {drum roll} Jack and Jill is a national organization dude it’s not just East Coast elites. If Jack and Jill was ever about colorism, which I doubt it no longer is it is more about networking with other black families. Any connection with the Boulé is lost on me. I don’t know anything about the Boulé other than when I’ve read from Lawrence Otis Graham’s our kind of people.

@Pioneer1 would Steph Curry, Lisa, Bonet and Prince qualify for reparations in your opinion? Last night I was engaging in it typically black activity; playing Bid Whist. if you’re unfamiliar with the game, you ain’t black Seriously, one of the brothers mentioned Jack and Jill, as part of a joke, and no one else knew what Jack and Jill was — even a woman who considered herself bougie. Now, if you would’ve asked me if someone who was aged 60 or more and Bkack And never heard of Jack and Jill I would’ve said you’re crazy and here I am in a room full of black folks like this. I would be willing to bet my life that Steph Curry and Lisa, Bonet have heard of Jack and Jill. Black people come in all shapes, sizes and colors. We also come from different cultures. some play pinochle, some play spades, and others even play bridge.

I don’t know anyone near 90 active on the Internet. So I always find “@aka Contrarian” (the poster formerly known as Cynique) to be remarkable. If I can make it to 90 AND still be running the site that would be a prodigious feat. I’m in my early 60s now and in my mind’s eye I cannot imagine myself an old man. I guess that is a relative perception, as someone in their early 20s may look at me and see if an old man. Well I thank you all for creating a special place. I know it does not have the cache of social media, but it is ours.

@richardmurrayBlack Girl You are Atlas, the image is hyperlinked to the book.

Well in America they’d just be Black. Though lately they’d be bipoc or something along those lines. Blackness is more than skin color it is about culture. Of the kid was born and raised as a Black person, in the US by Black parents they’d be African American. If the kid was raised in Mongolia by Mongolian parents they’d likely be Mongolian.

Discover February’s best Black books and more in our latest newsletter. If you happen to discover a good book here let us know.

@ModestoGarr thanks for sharing the advice. I reread the entire conversation and it is hard to believe that it is almost 2 1/2 years since I initiated it. Google has actually gotten worse. I do use there dashboard there are a number of pages on my website, including the homepage that I don’t allow any Google ads to appear on. I’ve completely removed the interstitial ads (ads that appear in between page views). The net result is that Google ad revenue is way down. In an ideal world I would not have any Google ads appearing, however, I would not put it past Google to depreciate websites that do not serve their ads meaning, all things being equal, Google would rank a website serving their ads higher than a website that does not.

This is a free share to the New York Times article. By Anna Kodé Anna Kodé reported from Carter G. Woodson’s office home in Washington. Published Feb. 1, 2024Updated Feb. 6, 2024 The origins of Black History Month can be traced back nearly a hundred years to an unassuming, three-story brick rowhouse in Washington. In 1922, Carter G. Woodson, known as “the father of Black history,” bought the home at 1538 Ninth Street NW for $8,000. The home served as the headquarters for the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (which is now known as the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, or A.S.A.L.H.). It was where he ran the Associated Publishers, the publishing house focused on African American culture and history at a time when many other publishers wouldn’t accept works on the topic. It’s where The Journal of Negro History and The Negro History Bulletin were based, and it’s where he initiated the first Negro History Week — the precursor to Black History Month — in 1926. Read the rest of the article.

BTW: I blocked Jeromex's posts some time ago. This post and your reactions with the supporting information pretty much exhausted Jeromex's usefulness here. All of his posts were just repeats of the same racist talking points, making him indistinguishable from a spammer. I did warn him, but I knew that would have no impact. he was not interested in dialog...

I think the brother in the video made a really good argument for the size and distribution of reparations payments. of course, the poor white people out there will fight tooth and nail to make sure this doesn’t happen. Despite all the advantages afforded white people in this nation, some still come up extremely short similarly, despite the oppression, the legacy of racism, a centuries, of slavery, there are Black people who do exceedingly well. This discrepancy will need to be reconciled. when I was a kid, I saw white boys coming to college with new cars, getting married and having lavish weddings paid for by their parents, having their parents give them a down payment on a nice house or buying it out right for them. I’ve always wondered how they were able to pull that off? When you hear about how white folks were given 160 acres of land, and how wealth has transferred through the generations. The opportunity for the generational wealth that was denied Black people is really what this is all about. They should’ve just given us those damn 40 acres and we wouldn’t be having to deal with this today. this needs to be federal legislation.

Thanks for sharing Mel.

I keep saying, if a black man does half the crap Trump did they would be locked up. This is just another example. It is not just Trump That has been treated with kid gloves, Black people have always been treated more harshly by the criminal justice system.

better than average. I’m sure Black people are disproportionally represented in the military, particularly roles that are most dangerous. The number of women growing in these roles are increasing as well but I don’t know, that’s just my guess.