Troy

It depends, plenty of nerds sell-out. Sell-out meaning: taking money from the other man to hurt the brotherman.

We have been over the before. Sure, skin color has a basis in genetics, but it is a complex trait influenced by environmental factors as well. Skin color is the result of evolutionary adaptations to different environments over time. You trace any so-called white person back far enough you'll end up with what you understand as Black person. The human genetic variation is a continuum and as a result you can not use genetics to categorized people into distinct racial groups based upon skin color, lip thickness, hair color, whatever. This is why there is no such thing as a genetic test for race. It is because people use the same flawed reasoning you are using, you just can't see it.

Is it similar to an X that you might see to close an advertisement? What happens when you click the X? I'm experimenting with a new advertising partner it could be an ad unit, missing an ad? I dunno I'll keep my eyes open for it.

Deep sigh... Astrogle.com? What is that? Are you scouring the web to find the most outlandish things imaginable to just to make a point? The Bible’s teaching seems pretty simple: the earth was created on the first of the six twenty-four-hour days of Genesis, which culminated with the creation of Adam, the first human. Adding up the genealogies in Genesis puts the age of the earth at about six thousand years. --https://realfaith.com/what-christians-believe/old-earth/ What makes your source better than the one I just shared? You reject all science because white people, in the past, perverted it with their racism to ideology justify the persecution of Black people. In the age of information we are astoundingly misinformed. Collectively, we are probably worse off that we were before the dawn of the information age. The only saving grace is that you are free to believe whatever you want. In an earlier time, you could have been burned at the sake for expressing a belief not held by those in charge. Progress I guess...

The guy said the people were "Black" like the color, he did not say like a so-called "Black" person. Who is that guy anyway and why should we care what he is saying for even believe it? When you say that Black people have been around for trillions are years, two orders of magnitude longer than the best estimate of the age of the universe, that sounds crazier than what flat earthers believe. What ancient Dravidian scriptures make this claim? Obviously the "Black" people you are talking about are extra-terrestrials, right? The best estimate of Earth's age is about 4 billion years and most of the time the environment would not have supported human life. I assume you believe that these ancient life forms deposited Black people on Earth. Is that rght?

OK now I see what y'all are talking about I never noticed this before today. If this is the "x" you are talking about @Chevdove it is a feature of the software. If you like a post by giving it a heart, trophy, or smiley face, you can later remove it by clicking the little X. The little X then goes away.

@Pioneer1 you are still playing games. You know very well my point of contention with you is your assertion that the social construct of race is based in our genetics. Of course, racism exists; this website exists in direct reaction to racism. The idea that race is determined by our genes has been disproven. Still, you would deny Rock Newman reparations simply because, in your estimation, he is white.

Really? Then again why should I be surprised, this is America. Follow the links and check out their work 🙂 Then I know with absolute certainty that you are not from NYC. In the late 70's Rap had not really gone beyond New York. I remember bringing my Spoonie Gee 12 inch to Raleigh NC and they had never hear it before. @Pioneer1 I hear you. Hip-hop did not invent anything new. The difference it popularized the type of lyrics @zeke1234 shared, (which are relatively mild) and stamped it with a Black face, like the Black Exploitation films featuring pimps and drug leaders. White people invented drug dealing and pimping but you'd think we are the only ones doing it. We are 13% of the population but are essentially 100% of gangster rappers! Why? White people, who have been the most notorious gangsters ever, protect their brand. Black people do not protect our brand, so we are at the mercy of people who are more than happy to abuse it for profit and handsomely pay the sell-outs willing to help.

@Wide awake I glanced at all the videos you shared. The very first one is directly embedded below to make it easier to see what you are sharing. The title of the video says "Africa Never Built Nothin'" Whoever posted the video also wrote: “Pastor James David Manning delivers a sermon (from a few years ago)... Questions why is it, on every place in the World there are still standing structures built from the 11th, 12th 13th Century...everywhere except for Africa.“ The person who posted the video, and apparently the pastor (I did not listen the watch the video), are alarmingly ignorant about Africa. I'm afraid you been misled, led stray, bamboozled... Now this is a MUCH MORE interesting question! I'd be willing to host a series of Book Club meetings to discuss Martin's book The Jewish Onslaught, a book I have previously mentioned on these forums. If a few of you were willing to break down and read the book I'd be willing to discuss it with you it would make an interesting conversation and we'd all be ion the page as it were 😉 Let me know if you are interested.

I think what is "new" about hip-hop is how blatant and public the sexual and violent themes are expressed. The artists who "sold out" allowing themselves to be pimped out for a few shiny things while enriching record executives. Sure, some rappers have become very wealthy. But far more have died violently as a result of the lifestyle. We used to listen to people like Blow-Fly but it was behind closed doors, and we definitely knew better to let our moms know we were listening to such "filth" 🙂 Before the Furious Five we wondering how to keep from goin' under, we had Gil Scott Heron and The Last Poets. Shoot we had whole Black Art Movement. To the @ProfD's point we have to stop selling out. Consider some of the principal artists Black Arts Movement. I defy you to show me one sell out. Now if I posted a list of the most popular contemporary rappers. Do you think finding sell outs would be as difficult? While "Hip-Hop music isn't responsible for prostitution, drug epidemic or the murder rate." It does glorify this behavior and reenforces the "racist" stereotype in the minds of rap music's biggest consumer: white people. The Brothers and Sisters below, some of whom are still alive, were active in the community doing the work. In America, uplifting Black people does not generate fantastic wealth. Selling Black people out is what gets people rich. Toni Cade Bambara Amiri Baraka Steve Cannon John H. Bracey Jr. Gwendolyn Brooks Mari Evans Nikki Giovanni Nathan Hare Gil-Scott Heron Fred Lee Hord Rosa Guy John O. Killens Etheridge Knight Audre Lorde Haki Madhubuti Paule Marshall Larry Neal Sterling D. Plumpp Eugene Redmond Ishmael Reed Carolyn Marie Rodgers Kalamu ya Salaam Sonia Sanchez Ntozake Shange S. Pearl Sharp Askia M. Touré Quincy Troupe Marvin X

Science asserts that social construct of race has no basis in genetics. Therefore, the association of characteristics like intelligence, or the propensity to violence, to one's race, commonly known as racism, cannot be based in genetics. That is axiomatic, like the Earth is not flat. You guys are being intellectually dishonest, playing verbose linguistic gymnastics, dismissing science, arguing with the dictionary, and for what? @Pioneer1 I provided the source of my definition of racism. @richardmurray found it, I'm not sure why you missed it. But I'm sure you'll reject the dictionary's definition, as he did, in favor of you own.

You believe one's so called race is the reason for the differences between what you see as Black and white people (again people I would call Black, like Rock Newman, you reject and call them white, but that understandable since race is purely subjective). The statement you made is racist. I don't believe homo sapiens with pink skin are any more homicidal than any of the other ones with different skin color. Come on Brother-man the "bias" Pioneer expresses is rooted in racism. Bias is a direct consequence of racism. From Merriam Webster: racism noun rac·ism ˈrā-ˌsi-zəm also -ˌshi- 1 1 : a belief that race is a fundamental determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race From Merriam Webster: also : behavior or attitudes that reflect and foster this belief : racial discrimination or prejudice

i believe she is right. It is a function of being raised in this country. You don’t get into positions of power in this country without doing the same thing they do. @richardmurray, the “H” in HBCU, ISD you know stands for “historically” not “currently.” A white kid from Morehouse, their valedictorian, was given a high playing job at Goldman Sachs when I was there. I think that should have been a Black kid in that position. If Morehouse is educating young white boys to do well then they are not serving Black parole as well as they should and they can just go on a be a “regular” school. This is profoundly flawed reasoning. white is a social construct, African speaks to geography, “mentality” depending on how you are defining it, is driven by culture, and genetics… White racists, for centuries, used the now debunked idea that black people were genetically inferior. you make it sound as if any white person put into power would be a homicidal maniac, while any black person would bring peace to the world. Individuals are just that individuals. Making sweeping generalizations about people based upon the way they look is the definition of racism.

Yeah some of the jokes were funny. It was as if that was the purpose of the mele to provide fodder for social media memes. It seems social media is the only winner of these events. @ProfD Black people have always fought back, but this narrative and the stories were strongly suppressed. (1) you did not want white folks sacred to death and (2) you did not want Black folks getting any "silly" ideas in their heads. How many memes couched this as a form of Black people fighting back against racism, or was it all jokes?

Based upon account name alone, how many of these accounts did I approve? Wide awake kiarakelynack5 wabix earle384946155 Naomi Rivers norberto59g957 kwc kelleyb123987 Dashia The Black Diaspora I used to take the time to look at IP address. There are some places that get banned based upon where the account was created. Today I don't even look at IP addresses I look at the account name and the domain that the email address was created. I used to worry about banned a legitimate poster today I'm more concerned about letting a troll in, so I appreciate my heavy-handed approach may be banning legitimate posters. I may ultimately restrict all users to google and Microsoft accounts. Sorting users the way I do is tedious and not a good use of my time... I can only imagine what a social media sites has to deal with. Social media sites basically let anyone in to bolster subscriber counts, and deal with the nonsense they post after the fact. Also, most of the accounts I approve are not used. You already know "wabix" was dinged but how many others did a not approve? Wide awake kiarakelynack5 wabix earle384946155 Naomi Rivers norberto59g957 kwc kelleyb123987 Dashia The Black Diaspora

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.