Troy

What?! Are you kidding me? Where did you read that? I have avoided following this story, but if that is true, it is outrageous!

I always imaged what would happen if every Black person simply left the NFL and formed their own league. We would be open to letting anyone play for us, but we would be the owners. We would have the best tailgating, the best half time show, and obviously the best players. Sure, we would have to start small, but eventually we would grow and become very profitable. We also won't rape the consumer with overpriced tickets a sport paraphernalia. Sure, the NFL would continue without us, but ultimately their supe-bowl champion would have to play our championship team. When the NFL's Superbowl champion team is routed by the new Black league, the NFL would have to deal with increasing irrelevancy, is it would be obvious to the public that they have an inferior product. Again, our new league would not be a Black only league it would simply be owned by the people who are providing the most value. Even the fans who believe the NFL's "ice is colder," would have to recognize the superiority of our new league. Obviously, this will never happen, because no player making millions of dollars year will leave the NFL to gamble on generating more wealth in the future. In my lifetime, NFL players often worked other jobs in the off season to make ends meet. Those players, mostly white, were motivated to play for different reasons.... today the NFL is motivated by greed, but that is another story.

I remember too. do you also remember why crime got so bad in the first place?

I know….

all good questions.

The ads are targeted to the consumer

I agree much of the legislation that resulted in the hyper-incarceration of Black people was lead and passed by Democrats a party that we slavishly support. But what is the alternative?

When your goal is to be the place were literally everything the is purchased online is purchased from Amazon; you need Black businesses to supply them with products. Amazon wants their hands in everyone's pockets, and they are executing that strategy brilliantly.

@Cynique My concern was what does a new user think when they come here and the first thing they read is the lunacy that has been posted lately. I'm surprised no one has posted that we learned useful skills while enslaved. Now if someone's first introduction to the site was the commentary and musing of you or the good Professor D, that would be cool. Man, I did not know how good we had it back in the ABM and Thumper days. That was a long time ago... @ProfD I had no interest in watching the debates. I'm not a fan of Christie, but I think his tactic or opposing Trump could pay off if the rest of the GOP comes to its senses, he will have distinguished himself. I think the odds are against him.

Hey @Greg Thomas it was nice to meet you in Dallas last weekend. I just added your video to YouTube and to your AALBC page. Please post our bio here and I'll add it to your page too.

You know @Cynique I was just thinking I need to do something about the cesspool the forums have become. I’m thinking a reboot, starting from scratch… with the site upgrade. But what will stop it from happening again? Do I take a more active role in moderation, that will just create another echo chamber. I like the discord on some level, but it is not very constructive. For now I’m inclined to let it ride. Maybe it will work itself out.

While updating my list of the Hurston/Wright Award Winning books. I discovered that the 2002 Winner for Fiction Erasure wasn't on my site! I ran a search and discovered this discussion forum, post, "On Percival Everett," from almost 20 years ago*. It was such a good post I created an article out of it. While I do not recall the original poster what I do recall was that the book discussion forum was great back then. In fact, all the forums were popping back then. I attribute the fall off to the rise of social media. Which provided a much more compelling proposition to the end user. This signaled the beginning of a transition, on the web, to a "look at me mentality" and away from deeper conversations. *The discussion forums used to live on the Thumpercorner.com at least until Google banned advertising on the entire domain! The felt our conversations would be in appropriate for the fragile sensibilities of their advertisers. This is just one of the many ways Google hurt the Web by dictating to webmasters what content is appropriate for website. Now the content is really no different that what we have today and Google had the ability to ban ads on individual pages. Google is often heavy handed with their rules and I could argue they are more heavy handed with Black websites. There was one poster who had a penchant for posting photos of naked people which Google really disliked. That is the only type of content that I will delete if I see it -- thanks Google. Now, I could drop Google ads and do whatever I want, but Google is a monopoly (effectively) for online ad networks, so they call the shots.

I suppose there is some truth in that statement. I'll modify the title of my post Though I'm sure you'd me title the post, "Why Reading The Good Book Is Good for Your Health"

... and our major urban communities gutted in the process. I would not be surprised if we later learn that agent provocateurs, hired by the FBI, had a hand in the riots that took place all over the country in the 60's. The question is what are we, as a people, gonna do about it?

I got an email from a large Black-owned business with the subject line: "Buy Black with Amazon: Black is Remarkable" Amazon is so wealthy it is trivial for them to pay to co-opt the very concept of "Buying Black," as long as you are buying from or through them. I replied to the email saying that; as the owner of a Black-Owned bookstore I am sickened by this email and that the principle of "Buying Black" means buying from Black businesses. Now the company that sent the email does not need Amazon to promote Black-owned businesses. They have a large enough of a platform to do it themselves. Of course, each business would make more money per order selling products directly form their own ecommerce platforms instead of Amazon's. Some will say Amazon's offers a variety of benefits, but these are short-term benefits. The potential damage could put any of those businesses into serious jeopardy. Truth be told, if Amazon offer me enough money, I'd probably sell out too Of course, I'd use the money for good, but I doubt that good would compensate for the damage I'd be contributing to. I liken it to "blood money." After years of calling for the boycotting of Amazon. I'm sure I don't have to worry about them offering me money to promote their business. On the heels of the Georget Floyd murder Amazon started flying the Black Liberation flag in one of these offices, so Amazon has already told us they will co-opt any aspect of Black culture -- even the UNIA's flag -- for profit. What next Amazon FUBU?

Hi @R. Chapman Wesley I looked around your website and I did not see how one would buy your book. I know the book is not out yet, but you can take preorders. As a bookseller I also looked for the book's ISBN which will help me determine if the book is available from my distributor and to retrieve the book's metadata. I suggest that you add purchase options and the book's ISBN to the website. Thanks for sharing information about your new book here

@ProfD Every sentence is worth a book of discussion and analysis. For example, "The AfroAmerican community (ADOS/FBA) does not have enough leadership and coordination of resources to take on the fight." Is this actually true? If not, who are the leaders? The statement presumes that we had the leadership in the past to coordinate the Civil Rights movement, for example. Why did we lose this leadership? Why didn't they fight for reparations? I think we underestimate the amount of work that is going into reparations. Much of the effort is grassroots escaping media coverage. When the media does cover it is leads people to conclude that is it a waste of time, too hard to figure out, not worth the money, too long ago, penalizes people who had nothing to do with slavery while benefiting people who were never enslaved, and on... We are all victims of racist propaganda; Black people are not immune. Why any ADOS/FBA would be against reparations is mind boggling on one hand, but in the context of American racism completely understandable.

Yes to both. Readers include the professional book reviewers, few booksellers you can go to and get a decent recommendation, entitles that bestow awards, places like AALBC that curate a collection of books based upon a variety of sources etc. Of course, all of the above is in jeopardy as people strengthen Amazon's near monopoly by increasingly publishing with them and buying their books from them. Look, there will always be those like Amazon that will publish virtually anything they are paid to publish. As to your other comment on my use of the word "ban" to describe what Jane was calling for. I think it is valid description based upon what she wrote. I posed a couple of questions for her if she chooses to answer them, she can clarify. There will always be books that people don't want to see in print and that others will find ways to produce. I'm sure the word "ban" rubbed Jane the wrong way as she probably sees herself as strongly against the banning of books. However, when you call for restrictions to a category of books the way she did that is tantamount to calling for ban. Book banners see themselves as virtuous. I'm sure she believes the "restrictions" she is calling for is a good thing, albeit damaging to indie authors. Verbosity is something I try to avoid (I often fail) It the context of a comment to an article, I'm not going to take the time to write a verbose response. I make assumptions about what the person knows and assume that they believe my intentions are good. Plus, I have no idea if anyone will read my response or if it will be approved -- which is why I posted my response here. Thanks for sharing Janes article @richardmurray and sparking my interest in the subject.

@nels sadly given the history of this country and the emerging political climate I agree it is highly unlikely. Highly unlikely is not impossible and as I said I support the fight. I’m sure in 1800 those fighting to end slavery thought that was highlyy unlikely too.

@richardmurray Jane replied to my comment saying that she did not call for a “ban” of AI generated books. That stuck me as being disingenuous as she applauded those who took the book down. Basically Jane wants more barriers to entry to getting a book published and distributed to prevent AI books this is why she feels it will adversely impact self- published authors. of course she can’t see how these limitations would hurt black books disproportionately. Well my reply follows… Jane Friedman Guest Contributor Reply to Troy Johnson 22 hours ago Nowhere in this post did I suggest banning AI books or that banning books was a workable strategy. I called for better systems to avoid distributing low-quality work. The book in question was taken down from Amazon long before it disappeared from B&N. That’s why it was out of stock. You can no longer purchase it anywhere. 0 Reply Troy Johnson Reply to Jane Friedman 2 minutes ago “ …stem this tide of garbage in the US market?” “…prevent the worst material from reaching the market outside of Amazon.” Do you want AI generated books in the market or not? Do you feel low quality work is synonymous with AI generated work? Why conflate “low quality work” with self-published authors in the context of AI generated books? In an environment where virtually anyone can publish anything and have it sold by the Earth’s biggest bookseller, low quality work (however you are define it) work will emerge. The publication and distribution of low quality work is nothing new or even the core problem. In the right hands AI can actually help improve the quality of books being published. The real problem is how it is becoming increasingly difficult for readers to discover the books they will most likely enjoy and minimize wasted time and money. 0 Reply

Well we've been exchanging thoughts on these forums for a couple decades now and that time has really flown by. @Cynique I remember once referring to you as an octogenarian and you quickly corrected me saying you were not that old yet. Older people who still have their wits have always fascinated me. I know how much the world has changed in my lifetime, but you were already an adult when I was born, so I can't imagine your perspective. I think love is indeed the answer, too bad our society is not structured in a way fosters love.

Heck if I know what to do about the rest of the WWW @richardmurray it is already jacked up. On this site, I'm going to focus on creating quality content and completely eliminate intrusive advertising. The ads that I sell directly are great as they relate directly to the website demographics and people often appreciate them, but the main thing is they are not so intrusive. I removed the network ads from the discussion forum, and it is much better experience. There was one video ad that kept popping up that you could not make go away. I would refresh the page ot make it go away, but it kept coming back -- very frustrating. My mid-range goal focus on direct selling of advertising and perhaps asking more visitors to pay to support the mission of the site. Right now I'm focused on the website upgrade.

It was affirmation of "capitalism." However in an, environment, like the one we have now, where a monopoly like Amazon can dominate the book industry free of government regulation is not what I'm affirming, What I am affirming is that if people don't like Amazon promoting AI generated books -- then they should stop buying book from Amazon. There are plenty of great alternatives at least for now, but if we keep plowing our money into Amazon those alternatives will become far fewer. The read does. Readers have a wide variety of tools to help them find good books. A good bookseller can made recommendations and sites like AALBC do a lot of curation to help readers more easily find good books. My "how did this happen" question was an inquiry into how the AI book became a B&N bestseller. Presumably it sold a lot of copies. How was the book discovered by readers, was it B&N's algorithm, did the publisher buy advertising? Amazon also showed the book ranked highly. This does not happen by magic.

@richardmurray no problem

yeah I thought that too, but our collective behavior makes it impossible to maintain that belief. @nels that quote you shared of mine , taken out of context and misrepresents what I wrote. Was that deliberate? Man, that comment is so hyperbolic it sounds crazy. how many people did the Sackler family kill? These people maintained their billions and spent no time in jail. We are so fixated on the hyper-incarcerated demonized black man that we can’t see the terrible crimes committed by anyone else. Sad.