Troy

I found the brawl too. Despite the violence everything I know about people (and the South) tells me that someone was armed. The fact that no one was shot or killed is a miracle and testament to restraint on the armed people who were there. But you know there was someone with a glock 9mm, laying in the cut, saying to themselves, "I wish a MFer would !" Hopefully the boater and all those who jumped homeboy will be appropriated punished to the fullest extent of the law

I agree. In American you gain power by “eating” others. If that means selling addictive cancer sticks for profit, it is just business; kill all the native inhabitants it’s manifest destiny; enslave Africans for hundreds of years, it’s God’s will. This is how white power this wealthy nation was created.

@Chevdove honestly so much hate speech has been posted on this site I honestly did not remember this particular incident until i started reviewing the conversation. The reason i even knew about it was because you quoted the racist. I looked for the original racist post and i could not find it. Maybe it was ultimately deleted i don’t recall. i will delete racist spam which i view differently than a racist reply or statement like many of the paid in this conversation. i do recall a situation where a poster called @Cynique a “nigger bitch” among other things. This poster was not a “spamer” or “racist troll,” or i did not think so. They just began to exhibit increasingly irrational behavior. I warned the poster and eventually removed that comment. Cynique felt i should have left it; it did not bother her as much as it bothered me. Eventually the poster left on their own deleting all of their previous comments. just a day in the life of forum moderation 🙂

I could be wrong, but I think places like ATL and PG County offer a great deal of hope for what a strong Black community can be. Now I said I'd be on the first thing smoking out of the South, but I'm using my 2023, 61-year-old, Harlem-ghetto-raised sensibility. I have no idea what I would have done if I was actually born and raised in the South during the height of Jim Crow. While I can't possibly know, it is interesting to contemplate. I imagine the pull of a cohesive community and family ties in the South is a strong bond, that kept many Black people (most I believe) firmly planted in the South and clearly some were willing to fight to stay. The people who left the South for the North severed, or weakened, those bonds. Both of my parents left the South for North, the only ones from their respective families who did. This weakened ties with the family they left behind and these ties were furthered weakened in subsequent generations. I The splintering is not just along class lines it was within communities and families. For some maintaining a cohesive family is hard enough, trying to do it across a so-called race is virtually impossible -- especially in the dog-eat-dog, winner-take-all culture American culture.

That is it in a nutshell. The nation's wealth is based upon exploitation. Since the goal is maximizing wealth, maximizing exploitation is a natural consequence. Occasionally the government well do something to stop the exploitation, but this is always after a tremendous amount of wealth has been created of the exploiters and damage has been done to the victims. I used to subscribe the print edition -- even here in FL. I'm not sure they are still in print. Years ago, Google published Black newspaper so low in search it made them undiscoverable. I actually reached to the NNPA to try to explain what was happening, but they did not do anything about it. One of the effected member newspapers said they would try to get me to speak at an upcoming convention, but that never happened and they last time I check none of the newspaper had recovered online. Despite the national organization newspapers are splintered. Black booksellers are splintered as well. Shoot, we don't even have a national organization. I dunno man, the South was so damn violent and hostile to Black people... I know I would have been on the first thing smoking and I like the American South. Medgar Evers loved the South too. Not everyone can be expected to make the sacrifice did made. Still Black folks are still marginalized in Jackson MS. the entire state's growth is stunted as result. Exactly. The Black Church, The NOI, the Panthers, Garvey were potentially far more effective at unifying Black people because anyone could join. Garvey's impact has been marginalized the point that today people can't truly appreciate what a unifying for he was in his day and it wasn't even that long ago! @zeke1234 Iu did not read the article yet, but Harlem gentrifiers would LOVE for the housing projects from Lenox avenue to the river and from 115th to 112th streets to be torn down, and they could care less where the people who live there end up. My understanding was that the projects in Chicago followed a similar trajectory to what happened in Harlem, but was able to complete the mission.

This conversation celebrated it one year anniversary about two weeks ago. During that time 150K unique visitors visited this page -- most of those visitors came after March of this year. @Art this this page ranks very high on that and related queries on Google. As a result, this page is one of the most popular pages on the entire site and has visited well over 600 times a day, everyday this year. Why do you think so many people were running searches similar to yours? What prompted your query? The person who started the conversation was probably a sincere, but unfortunately, they were completely duped by the racist narrative. Someone else joined in and suggested that it was Black IQ that was the problem. That comment was just asinine and that poster was clearly racist. The crazy thing was that the data they shared, from a legit source, simply did not support their argument -- which called into question their intelligence Our neighborhood racist-troll-slayer @frankster destroyed each racist remark point by point from time to time -- hopefully benefiting readers. Frank shared a video about mass incarceration the referenced an article from The Atlantic worth reading. Of course the racist trolls really began coming out of the woodwork. @Chevdove called for these vile posters to be removed. I was of the mind, like Mamie Till, folks needed to see how racist trolls operate. At any rate, I think the conversation is valuable for a variety of reasons -- even the troll traffic helps as this conversation alone generates about $1 a day in ad revenue.

Read the article "THE BLACK FAMILY IN THE AGE OF MASS INCARCERATION" by Ta-Nehisi Coates published in The Atlantic

I don't recall ever writing anything to oppose this statement I believe the first line regarding our population being predominantly concentrated is the south is a fact. The idea that our splintering began then seems plausible and I would not take issue with that. I have only read the first four chapters and do not know if the author addresses our splintering going back to the late 19th century. Still, in my short life time. I've seen the idea of a Black leader and a strong Black institution vaporize, along with our media. I believe part of the problem is how our economy works; we favor the creation of monopolies and a winner takes all mentality. This hurts the entire country, but in when folks catch a cold Black folks get pneumonia... I heard a stat that the New York Times has a online subscriber base larger than all other newspapers combined -- including the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, LA Times etc. If the LA Times can't compete with the New York Times online what does that say for a Black-owned independent newspaper online? The New York Times, increasingly controls the online narrative. We deem ourselves unworthy unless the Times mentions us. The Times defines who our leaders are by virtue of their coverage. The times raised the profile of Donald Trump ushering him into the white house. Yes, there are a variety of things that have resulted in a splintered Black community. I quess the one thing we can agree on is that the Black community is indeed splintered. Are Black Greek letter organizations, Masons, Boule, etc, a unifying or splintering force in the Black community?

Disintegration: The Splintering of Black America by Eugene Robinson Read chapter 3 which describes the history of great Black communities and how they declined, @Pioneer1 and the good @ProfD you'll be familiar with this story. Chapter Three I have not gotten to the part where Robinson discusses when we had agreed upon Black leaders. Chapter 4 talks about Black women and how they have crafted a happy lifestyle devoid of men where they travel freely and all sorts of things alone.

We welcome to forums @Art and thanks for sharing your thoughts. On its face, “Blacks Commit 60% off all violent crime,” is a lie. Keep in mind the crime stats you shared are arrests, not convictions. The data is biased because we know Black people are more likely to be wrongly convicted of violent crime. While we can’t know the percentage of people wrongly arrested the number is not trivial and surely impacts Black people more.

Yep. Some of them critters are pretty robust. I saw one go through the turnstile in front of me to go into the subway. It clearly ate well it was huge and it's coat was thick and luxurious! Man, if shit goes really south New Yorkers could hunt rats for their fur and meat. Yeah, Chuck Brown was an icon.

OK, sorry @Pioneer1. I'm not trying to obnoxious; I'm just trying to make a point in terms that are crystal clear to you (didn't the smiley face help?). Again, if you believe there is a genetic test for the social construct of race, then explain how a "mulatto" who looks like a white person could be tested to determine their 50% blackness?

Wow! A true renaissance man! I remember the first time I heard Go-Go like it was yesterday, the fall of 1980. A football player, from the DMV was blasting this music in the locker room. I was like dude what is that?! They were jamming! He said "it is Go-Go cous" I was like what? what did you say? I was like damn how could I know have heard this music before. See I was from Harlem and we thought we were really the center of the universe. People would ask me where I was from and I'd say "the city." Until someone pointed out to me that there were other cities besides New York 🙂 In college I discovered, Go-Go, Jazz, Classic Rock, Bob Marley. I realized I did not know anything about music. DC was one of the cities I wanted to move to, but just never did it. I still may one day, but I'm not feeling the traffic or the weather (DC can't handle snow at all). I visited Sankofa Books (NW) a few weeks ago, and road a scooter to Bus Boys & Poets, the one off U street. I like the city, but it is clearly gentrifying. I'll post an interesting chapter form a book I started reading. @Pioneer1 yeah I lived in a townhouse in Harlem it is not as bad as the picture you shared but yeah you step out you place and you are almost in the street. Plus we put are trash right on the street in garbage bags! That seems perfectly normal until you live someone else 😉

Wind 'em up Chuck! You ever visit Mahogany Books?

Again @Pioneer1 how do you measure that? Consider the scenario: A child has parent described as follows (1) Black Parent, descendant from an enslaved African who was raped by an overseer, and a white parent. Their child presents as white. The child was reared in a white neighborhood and did the things that white kids do. Based upon everything you have written you would call this child "white" and take offense if they called themselves to be Black, simply because of the way that they looked. Should this child get reparations? Of course, your mythical genetic test would fail to pick up on the child's "blackness," because there is obviously no genetic test for a social construct -- despite the fact your "flat-earther" mentality rejects this fact. 🙂

What?! Stop it. @Pioneer1 someone in another conversation mentioned that reparations should be given to people are at 50% Black. Since you believe in a genetic basis for race would you describe how we measure the degree of one’s Blackness? What is your percentage of blackness and how did you make that determination?

Thanks @harry brown! The milestone year went largely uncelebrated, so i appreciate you!

There are more books featuring Black children than any time in history. I'm talking about new books and backlist titles still in print. The books shown in the video below is just the tip of the iceberg. Learn more about this list. I can remember a time when it was possible to know not every new Black children's book, but all of the Black children's books still in print! Right now I try to make sure all of the "good" ones are on the site. In the near future I'd like to have an exhaustive list of all the Black books ever published by a major house, whether they are in print or not. While my list does include indie books, I have no plans to collect all of these books. There are just too many, and there are technical and business challenges to gathering this information as well.

@Chevdove doing what the good professor suggested will clear up most problems. Let know how you make out.

@Delano I guess on some level, and on somethings, we all have a little "flat earther" in us. I'm sure there is nothing Neil Degrass Tyson could say to dissuade you in your belief in Astrology. Yes. What is the difference? Both people reject the observable facts, manufacture their own perspectives, seek like-minded people to reinforce the false beliefs, and reject anything that might undermine their perspective. People who believe there is a genetic basis for race are no different than Flat Earthers or antivaxxers same mentality, different subject. As I suggested earlier, our minds working this way is part of the human condition... natural.

At the risk of stating the obvious, so do I. But I also recognize when we raise our fists an exclaim "I'm Black and I'm proud!" it is as much as a reaction to white racism as it is anything else. Running this website is a reaction to white supremacy.

@Pioneer1 there is a lot to unpack here and if I thought it would make a difference, I might take more time... We already know darker skinned people in northern climates are more prone to vitamin D deficiency than lighter skinned people. It has to do with difference in exposure to the sun. We also know that people descent from farming cultures are less likely to be lactose intolerant -- it is a function of having the enzyme to break lactose down not skin color. Anecdotally, growing up I did not know a single kid who was allergic to peanuts. Peanut butter and jelly was a childhood staple. I don't know what changed. I think it is behavoral/environmental. When my kids were small it was the rich white kids suffering from peanut allergies. At one point some kid was so allergic we were asked not to send out kids to school with peanut products. Maybe this will help: You think about people in very rigid terms (i.e. Black or not Black), when in reality we are all on a spectrum when it comes to all the characteristic from lip thickness, hair texture, skin color, eye color, or any other attribute that you want to use determine race. You believe there must be some binary rule to define Blackness as if there was a Black gene, or combination of genes, that makes one Black. There isn't. Humans are far more complex and nuanced. Race exists as a social construct. The geneticists tell us there is no genetic basis for race. Why do you think you know better? None of my ancestors or descendants are allergic to peanuts, suffer from vitamin d deficiency, or are lactose intolerant. I guess we are not Black in your book.

That's easy, because these types of stories attract people and drive ad revenue. How did ya'll come to hear about this story? Unfortunately, we have already done it. By relinquishing our Black-owned media platforms we are at the mercy of "mainstream" media.

@AJ Sam would you be willing to tell us more about your Church and ministry, or share a to the Church's site?

This popped up in my email box today; the Authors Guild's Open Letter to Generative AI Leaders wants OpenAI, Alphabet, Meta, Stability AI, IBM, and Microsoft to obtain consent, credit, and fairly compensate writers for the use of copyrighted materials in training AI. Good luck with that. As long as these companies have been around, they have exploited people for their content. Meta would not exist were it not for the free user generated content they exploit and monetize. Meta has never paid writers or journalists for content -- indeed many of these folks pay Meta to get people to read the content that they post on their platforms. Don't even get me started on Alphabet, Google's Parent. Over a decade ago I wrote about how these super-wealthy companies exploited Wikipedia's content without compensating any of Wikipedia's editors. Generative AI is no different. AI just makes it far easier to take content and more difficult to attribute it. There is a better chance that the descendants of enslaved Africans will be compensated monetarily by the U.S. government than any of these companies will pay any of the 10K writers who signed the petition for the content they wrote. I like the Author's Guild, and I commend them for their intent, but this horse has been out of the barn for a loooong time. On a side note: I got an article I commissioned from a writer that I know was written by AI. There are too many tells with AI generated content (at least right now), so I sent it back to be rewritten, but I was shocked and disheartened. Here is the letter To: Sam Altman, CEO, OpenAI; Sundar Pichai, CEO, Alphabet; Mark Zuckerberg, CEO, Meta; Emad Mostaque, CEO, Stability AI; Arvind Krishna, CEO, IBM; Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft From: [Your Name] We, the undersigned, call your attention to the inherent injustice in exploiting our works as part of your AI systems without our consent, credit, or compensation. Generative AI technologies built on large language models owe their existence to our writings. These technologies mimic and regurgitate our language, stories, style, and ideas. Millions of copyrighted books, articles, essays, and poetry provide the “food” for AI systems, endless meals for which there has been no bill. You’re spending billions of dollars to develop AI technology. It is only fair that you compensate us for using our writings, without which AI would be banal and extremely limited. We understand that many of the books used to develop AI systems originated from notorious piracy websites. Not only does the recent Supreme Court decision in Warhol v. Goldsmith make clear that the high commerciality of your use argues against fair use, but no court would excuse copying illegally sourced works as fair use. As a result of embedding our writings in your systems, generative AI threatens to damage our profession by flooding the market with mediocre, machine-written books, stories, and journalism based on our work. In the past decade or so, authors have experienced a forty percent decline in income, and the current median income for full-time writers in 2022 was only $23,000. The introduction of AI threatens to tip the scale to make it even more difficult, if not impossible, for writers—especially young writers and voices from under-represented communities—to earn a living from their profession. We ask you, the leaders of AI, to mitigate the damage to our profession by taking the following steps: 1. Obtain permission for use of our copyrighted material in your generative AI programs. 2. Compensate writers fairly for the past and ongoing use of our works in your generative AI programs. 3. Compensate writers fairly for the use of our works in AI output, whether or not the outputs are infringing under current law. We hope you will appreciate the gravity of our concerns and that you will work with us to ensure, in the years to come, a healthy ecosystem for authors and journalists. Sincerely, The Authors Guild and the Undersigned Writers Click here to view the letter with signatures (PDF).