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LOL! Blasphemy indeed. I'll respond in the other thread. Colin Powell is retired. Tavis was erased as part of the #metoo movement. Obama nullified West....

@Troy, If you want to pick apart each industry and look at the representation then it would look like there are none but that's not what you wrote. You wrote black middle age men are invisible and that's false. It doesn't matter if you don't like who is representing black middle age men - the fact remains black middle age men are NOT invisible. Michael Eric Dyson,Phd, Reverend Al Sharpton, Tavis Smiley, Michael Steele, Former President Barack Obama, Ret General Colin Powell, Eric Holder, Senator Corey Booker....Kenneth Cheneault, Kenneth Frazier, Robert Johson, Ben Carson, MD, Cornel West, And that's just off the top of my head

Well @Pioneer1 I admit my position is changing on this issue. I always viewed pro athletes as entertainers, you know people you provide amusement for others -- they have no agency besides what their owners provide. Colin exhibited a minor form of protest and he was summarily executed -- obviously the NFL colluded against him and was never punished, while Collins lost his livelihood. Seemingly there was nothing anyone could do about it. Today, it appears others, clearly risking their own careers given Colin's example, are "standing up," for themselves and Colin -- invoking their right to engage in a symbolic protest, however minor -- against the will of 45, the NFL owners, and many of the fans. This is can be a powerful thing. If this protest continues and builds momentum, the NFL and the general public, will have no choice but to yield to the protests -- they can't fire everybody. At some point the media will have to consider why they are kneeling -- forcing the public to reconcile the outrage decent people feel about police killing black people with reckless abandon. Our million-dollar-slaves will will gain some power and control in their role -- who knows where else that will lead. I honestly don't think the protest will grow to a point when it comes to a head, but you can always hope.

Chevdove I think there is some kind of movement going on and certain Black people and others too are being targeted. It's funny you said this, because I said the same thing in another thread just a few minutes ago about AfroAmericans being "targetted". https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/5319-the-absurdity-of-the-truth/ It's not the problem of racism and police brutality that I disagree with Colin over. We both agree that it's a major problem that needs to be solved. It's the SOLUTION (or lack of one coming from him) that I take issue with. First of all, he and many others are wasting too much precious time trying to "call attention" to a problem that most people already knows exist. Both the victims AND the perpetrators know that racism and police brutality exist and have for decades if not centuries...so who's attention is he trying to call? Secondly, whatever type of problem he's seeing down the line or major issue he has privy too that most of us aren't aware of......how is his kneeling on the field going to solve it? Again, his behavior just causes more confusion and leads our people in the wrong direction. We need REAL leadership who will give us a REAL gameplan as to how to solve the problems we face and get positive results.....not window dressing and show boating just to bring attention to a problem everyone already knows exists.

@Pioneer1 Maybe that is the big question that Colin has responded to in his actions. Maybe he can see a bigger picture. I'm not sure either, but something strange is going on in America. I think there is some kind of movement going on and certain Black people and others too are being targeted. In the long run, maybe Colin sees where the NFL may tie into something. There are a lot of Black men in this sport and well, maybe they may feel exploited too, as well paid pawns, while other Black men are being killed by police. The White House deals with economical issues and so, what about all of that money being passed around in the sports world? Just recently Will Smith starred in a film about how football players are being exploited and this too, seems like it was all a part of some movement from higher levels than just the movie making industry. This has become a legal issue. All of these cases about CTI or some kind of brain damage being downplayed are now a legal issue and a money issue and more. This system is crumbling and I think lawmakers are scrambling to try and make their fall a little easier at the expense of others. The NFL players maybe sensing something on these underlying levels and are connecting the dots, so to speak. Yes, I know I sound like a conspiracy theorist, but that is what I am thinking about. Right now, I just have a lot of questions, but they are loaded questions though. Something strange is going on in the world today, and not just in America.

@Pioneer1 We might not agree with Colin's tactics or lack of a strategy, but clearly we agree with the spirit of what he was trying to accomplish and we should support him. But again we won't because collectively (save the ministers in the video), we refuse to stand up for ourselves. The boycott now would be to punish the NFL, in a way they understand, financially, for firing Colin. @Chevdove, it probably is too early for us to boycott the NFL. We are simply not ready.

@harry brown, Oprah is trying to maximize revenue. If putting on football players like Kaepernick and other advances her goal of making money she'll do it. You can't become a billionaire trying to do what is "right" -- especially if it is for Black people.

Cynique I guess neither of can truly know what is in the brother head. However as time goes on his value to the NFL declines. He is not more of a scapegoat than a martyr. Even with the book deal, Colin took a big financial hit and accolades don't pay bills. Besides all successful quarterback get book deals, and I'm not sure how will the book will do given the fact white men will probably not support it very well. The long term prospects of the NFL look very good they are looking to expand into foreign markets and revenue growth looks good as well. I'm also not holding my breath waiting for any ad buys on this the largest website dedicated to books written by or about Black people.

@Troy I don't give a lot weight to the profound long term effect of a boycott. It would just pit black boycotters against retaliatory white boycotters inspired to show loyalty to those who cherish the American flag - as a symbol of white dominance. Black people don't attend NFL games in great numbers so that would have no huge impact, and whether TV advertisers dropped these games would depend whether their sales plummeted because of black consumers not buying their products; something that white consumers could again offset. Never under estimate white people flexing their muscles when it comes to those who mess with the revered symbols they associate with making America great. Currently, I don't think Kaepernick even cares about securing a spot on a NFL team anymore. To me, he scored a moral victory and became an award-winning folk hero and is in a position to take his concerns into another area. And, as courageous as the actions of Ali and Smith and Carlos were, I don't know that they had a great impact on change when it came to black men.... @Coach Michael Taylor I suggest to you, that there are millions of black males who have followed your common sense advice on their own, and are doing OK for themselves. They are who make up the black middleclass. But some things never change. While they are managing to survive in their glass-ceiling jobs and as business entrepreneurs, owning nice homes, maintaining 401Ks, sending their kids to college, their nice cars rather than being assets, can become liabilities in the "driving while black" zone that is a real, not an imagined victimization. Obama reached the pinnacle of achievement, but he was still the victim of racism. It ain't easy being black. Optimism can only take you so far.

I have to agree with Cynique. Although the impact of his protest may not be immediately apparent, his protest impacted the consciousness of this country in profound ways. It brought awareness to some very basic facts. There are still lots of people who are racists, our government isn't capable of addressing racial issues and our current president is absolutely clueless when it comes to race relations. But I still believe in the goodness of people and I still believe in this country. As an optimist, I believe his protest actually accomplished his goal of bringing awareness to the issue of police brutality and eventually America will live up to the creed that all men are created equal. I stand with Kaepernick!

Del the reason is, as Paul Mooney would probably say, "Tim Tebow is not a nigger." QueenX, still I believe Colin would have found another way to deal with police brutality if thought his relatively innocuous action would have resulted in his dismissal. I'd also bet if he did this prior to the "era of 45," he would have gotten away with it -- it still wouldn't have made a difference -- but he'd probably still be in the NFL. So no, I can't jump on the worship Colin bandwagon, because there are countless unheralded heroes grinding, everyday, making a difference in our communities, and no one sings their praises. We all know them, you might even be one. Again we can't use the oppressor's platforms as a tool for our liberation. In fact NOT using them is the best way to make a change. Imagine if Black folks stop watching and betting on football -- for just one season. Supposed we (and all out allies) took it a step further and boycotted all the NFL sponsors? Imagine the impact.

Are you aware of any policies that have changed as a direct result of Colin's taking a knee? EXCELLENT QUESTION! And the answer to that question determines the effectiveness of Colin's actions. It's a shame but those mostly Caucasian kids from the Parkland highschool shooting have been more effective in changing legislation and striking fear in the hearts of their adversaries in just their 4 or 5 months of demonstrating than AfroAmerican NFL players have been in their YEARS of kneeling and locking arms and begging for understanding. Why? Because those kids aren't going from school to school across America urinating on flags or bowing down and taking knees infront of flag poles nor are they making music videos where they dance around half naked........ In other words they aren't wasting time with confusing indirect methods that are basically useless except for pissing people off. But what they ARE doing is taking DIRECT ACTION by calling out the local and national legislators as well as those in the media who are promoting guns and feeding gun violence.

@Coach Michael Taylor, I'm not convinced there is a binary response to your question. Perhaps the answer is neither. From a personal perspective Colin's actions, outside of providing fodder for conversation, have not had an impact on my life, one way or the other. I'm sure the likelihood of being gunned down by law enforcement has not changed. Are you aware of any policies that have changed as a direct result of Colin's taking a knee? Do you think Colin, in his heart of hearts, would have taken a knee if he knew it would result in his being Blackballed from the NFL? Maybe he would have found an more effective way to effect change.

Hi, I sure do hope Colins can play football professionally again, especially because I heard he was very talented. Also, I just recently looked back at some links about some of the cases such as Trayvon Martin and Castile, and I coulda kicked myself... I became drawn into it and couldn't pull myself away for some time, and it was so emotionally draining and depressing. I had planned to look back over this kind of news by setting aside time, but I kept putting it off, until, I heard about the recent news of M. Zimmermann being sommoned for stalking. I've learned so much that I had not known and, as sad as it may be about Colin's career, I gotta tell ya, I understand why he did it; took a knee. What is going on in the world today, especially America, is surreal.

In addition to starting our own leagues. We could have simply boycotted the NFL. But obviously we don't care enough about what Colin was protesting. Kind of reminds me of my survey exploring the idea of boycotting Amazon's bookstore -- not the whole site just the bookstore--in an effort to prevent them from dominating the sale of black books. The strongest push back was from authors themselves -- the ones who actually are being hurt the most. People are not prepared to do the work, make the sacrifices, spend the money to start their own League any more than they would engage in the much easier activity of boycotting the NFL. As a result we just get used and abused. Collins looking for a job and nothing changes.

We must also understand that most of these players are playing under CONTRACTS with all types of clauses and stipulations in it that gives the owners and agents the ability to strip money from them left and right in the form of fines, penalties, law suits, ect..... Out of a $10 million contract, after taxes and fines and paying off agents and lawyers they may only see about $2 million of it. Colin wouldn't be unemployed right now IF AfroAmerican men had been intelligent enough to have seen this coming and started THEIR OWN major football league 30 or 40 years ago atleast as an option not ot be beholden to the wealthy White conservatives who own the NFL I think Ice Cube was trying to start some sort of basketball league of his own. Atleast that's a start.

This also reinforces the fact that despite the large wages these athletes men serve at the largess of their owners, "million dollar slaves." Colin may never play football again simply because he took a knee -- a symbolic act resulting in an football death sentence.

Film. Maker. Spike. Lee. Vocally. Slams. Trump . At. The,Cannes. Film. Festival.. Talking. About. Trump, Supporting. Neo. Nazi. In. Charlottesville. Last. Year..The,Movie,Black. Klansman. ,Is. About. A. Black. Detective,A. Jewish. Detective. Together. Infiltrate. A. Ku-Klux. KLAN. Cell. In. Colorado...Spike. Lee. Says,Black,White,Brown. We. All. Live. On. The. Planet,Trump,Has. The. Nuclear. Code,I. Go. To. Bed. Thinking,About. It....When. The. Sports. Talkers. Talk. About,Colin. Kapernick ,Protesting ,They. Will. Not. Talk. About,White. Police. Fired. For. Being. KLAN. Members...The,News. Show. Another. Black. Man. Jumped. On,By. White. Police. They. Don't. Talk. About. White. Police ,Fired. For. Being. KLAN. Members.........Some. Neo. Nazi ,Think,Trump. Will. Lead. The. Racist. Holy. War.....

Prince Hall Wanna Be Man, stop wasting your time trying to explain what you DON'T know....lol. 　 Freemason's, formed in the middle ages was a secret Jewish society, for Jews. They become so powerful that non-Jews offered support only if they were included. Today, only the most promising, intellectually inspired Blacks are allowed entry. Many are Freemasons in secret, Barack Obama?, Chester Puller, Colin Power, Herman Cain, Candis Rise, and yes, your boy Ben Carson, etc.; True, most are recruited in college fraternities. With their secret hand-shakes, codes, etc. And who the HELL is "Candis Rise".......LMAO. What country do you REALLY come from? You CLAIM you come from Chicago but you write like somebody who just learned English 5 years ago.....LOL. Have you even considered the bowtie? Why, yes...I have. You like?

I hit that damn nerve again, huh? Pesky truths just won't let up! Freemason's, formed in the middle ages was a secret Jewish society, for Jews. They become so powerful that non-Jews offered support only if they were included. Today, only the most promising, intellectually inspired Blacks are allowed entry. Many are Freemasons in secret, Barack Obama?, Chester Puller, Colin Power, Herman Cain, Candis Rise, and yes, your boy Ben Carson, etc.; True, most are recruited in college fraternities. With their secret hand-shakes, codes, etc. Deflecting the truth with accusations of right-wing conspiracies is quite common among Jews too, who get offended when confronted with the truth. You know what they say about long legs and long fingers... Pun intended! And the legs are only have the 6ft 3in of my wonderful 210 lbs body, even at my age of 65 years. The image of my membership posts are 1 years old. How about your 5ft 5in maledeficient avatar, with the MANLY sideburns. Have you even considered the bowtie?

And to think...... If only Ben Carson would have known that poverty was simply a state of mind when he was just a poor kid coming up. Instead of all those years of going to college, studying, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans in order to become a doctor and make a good living for himself......all he really had to so was go out on the porch, sit down, and CHANGE HIS MIND, lol. I don't agree with his politics but Carson is a brilliant brother. He wouldn't have made it to head nigga in neurosurgeon at John Hopkins Medical Center if he weren't. It's sad to see him disgrace himself and tarnish all of his achievements like this. It reminds me of how the esteemed General Colin Powell allowed himself and his sterling reputation to be turned into shit by doing the bidding of George W. Dr. Carson should resign from that position and abandon that sinking ship.

@Delano, I get it, a lot of people saw the film. But even the writer of the article pointed out that this film will "cannot reverse generations of negative imagery and distortion." The point you are missing and that was overlooked in the article is that first and foremost this film is a vehicle to make money. If someone did an analysis to see who will make the most money from the film this will be plain to you. Look I wish all of the ills heaped upon Black people globally would disappear as a result of this movie, but it is woefully idealistic to believe this will be the case. I'm surprised you would hold this position. Do you think this film will change 45's attitude toward "the Blacks?" Do you think Colin with get he QB job back. Do you think they will ever let more than 10 Black people into Stuyvesant HS? Do you think all the trigger happy Po-Po will stop gunning down unarmed Black people? Do you think more than a handful of Black people, if any will share proportionately in the fantastic profits generated by this film? Or will our role continue to be that of consumer; continually forking over our dough to people the owners of Disney who we have allowed to create our Mythology. You don't see Native Americans running around talking about how great Pocahontas was for the indigenous people of North America. The few that are left have more sense that we apparently have. You do realize that The Hollywood Reporter article you site, and well as all the other sources --including the NFL, is part of the same propaganda machine that made this film so fantastically popular. This material is created to get you to think exactly the why you are thinking. It is good that you visit sites like AALBC so that you are exposed to ideas not beholden to the same propaganda. that has figured out a way to both define your culture reap great financial rewards from it.

Deep article. As you know I have always decried the ineffectiveness on the NFL boycott, largely because we did not really sacrifice anything -- we refused to boycott, and the NFL and media controlled the narrative. The protest and Colin were easily dispatched. Random House will profit from a related book deal and I'll generate some commissions but football will go on and the brutality against Black people will continue... MY GOD! Have 4,000 people been shot in Chicago!?! I just looked it up and I see the number was actually 4,349 resulting in 771 murders! That is an astounding stat. In contrast, NY City with more than 3 times the population of Chitown had 231 murders in 2016 (the number will be well under 200 for 2017). I'm sure, but did not check, that murders in both cities were disproportionately Black on Black. In 2016, less than 260 Black people were killed by police -- nationwide -- Chicago's citizenry beat that before the summer was over. Of course some of the Brothers killed by police were unarmed and the shootings were unjustified. At any rate, I agree wholeheartedly with the idea that "...oppression left us unprepared for freedom." The word "Freedom," used 18 times in Shelby Steele's article, is key. We largely don't exercise freedom in the Black community. This is no different than what Carter G.Woodson wrote almost 90 years ago; "if there is no back door, he will cut one for his special benefit." I had not really thought about the protest in the content of freemdon before. Thanks for sharing the article (next time post an excerpt and link to the full article). _____________ BTW Jason, @Cynique is Brilliant nonetheless. In an alternative universe where wisdom and experience were revered more than youth and celebrity, people like Cynique would be more widely known.

There was no need to collude since they all wanted Colin to go away.

In the real world, things tend to be complex.....complicated. The answers don't seem to be as cut and dry or obvious or appealing. The fact is...... The owners have the right to hire and fire whoever the hell they want. Actually, in many ways they even have the MORAL right to do what they're doing. Let's say I owned a business in the city of Detroit. Which is a mostly Black highly urban area...... And I hired a White man to do a job. And part of that job is to be friendly with and get along with the customers and promote the values of the community. Now he KNOWS what I want and he AGREES to do this...which is why I hired him in the first place. Well hell, if the fool comes in one week with a confederate flag t-shirt on playing country music and turning on the television in the store to FOX NEWS. Should I respect his right to "express" himself and piss off my customers? Or should I HURRY UP and get rid of his ass? And if I gave him an ultimatum or just fired his ass out right.....I don't need some people jumping up and down in my store telling me about how he has to right to express himself or promote his conservative values. This is MY store....not his. And it's not public....it's private....it's MY BUSINESS. If people don't like how i run MY BUSINESS they need to start THEIR OWN business! Sometimes you have to look at things from OTHER PEOPLE'S point of view. Hell yeah the owners have black listed Colin and are refusing to hire him. Is it right? I don't know. But they certainly HAVE THE RIGHT both legally and in my opinion ETHICALLY to do so because THEY OWN IT. The point of OWNING something is CONTROL over who works there.....duhhh...... Black people focus too much on trying to force OTHER PEOPLE to do the right things in THEIR institutions instead of creating institutions of OUR OWN. If Black people owned their own teams and leagues, this wouldn't be as big of an issue if at all.