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What is the most common action uttered during Juneteenth ?


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I saw on local news , black people talking about Juneteenth , and voting was mentioned as an action, besides the ever common mentioning of Black folk in the past. 

I will not repeat the details , but all the representatives of my district from the city to the congress are black and donkeys. Now, they haven't done anything brilliant but I don't know what more can a black populace in a district in the usa do then choose a candidate that says they will do better. Voters don't have a gun to anyone's head. They can't force anything.

But a question occurred to me. if 100% of black people, who were eligible to vote, voted in the USA, what action will be uttered by the people who talk about voting this juneteenth?

 

If voting is the only action Black people in the usa  in recent memory seem to support then what happens if 100% of black people voted? what would be the next action? 

It seems to me like most black people or black groups don't have anything. 

I wonder what the AALBC community members think on this? 

 

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3 minutes ago, richardmurray said:

If voting is the only action Black people in the usa  in recent memory seem to support then what happens if 100% of black people voted? what would be the next action? 

It seems to me like most black people or black groups don't have anything. 

As discussed in other threads here, black folks in America do not have agenda to which they can hold politicians accountable. 

 

That's why black folks get the table scraps and crumbs when it comes to politics.  They haven't asked for any real sustenance. Just piggy-backing off whatever they've been told to want (jobs, education, healthcare, etc.). 😎

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Blacks should be voting on whats best for our country as a whole, we shouldnt be voting for candidates that just make excuses for us and want to give us some free stuff. Lets stop letting politicians tells us we are victims of racism. Its getting boring.
Another thing that bothers me. To say blacks dont have access to voting is an insult. I actually do agree with voter ID, it makes sense. An elderly black has no more of a disadvantage than an eldery white or elderly hispanic as far as access to voting.  Its 2022, there are no racist laws that prevent any blacks from voting, it makes us sound ignorant. I also agree that mail in voting( ballots) is a very bad idea, it creates doubt and the optics compromise our election integrity. 

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12 hours ago, Greg said:

.
Another thing that bothers me. To say blacks dont have access to voting is an insult. I actually do agree with voter ID, it makes sense. An elderly black has no more of a disadvantage than an eldery white or elderly hispanic as far as access to voting.  Its 2022, there are no racist laws that prevent any blacks from voting, 


An "elderly black"???

Where did you grow up?


I don't know a lot of Black people who talk like that.
They usually say "elderly Black man" or "elderly Black woman" or "elderly Black people" but not just simply "a black".

 

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1 hour ago, Pioneer1 said:

An "elderly black"???

Where did you grow up?


I don't know a lot of Black people who talk like that.
They usually say "elderly Black man" or "elderly Black woman" or "elderly Black people" but not just simply "a black".
 

image.png.3322145d791424c0900f08fbd30d463b.png

Hmm...I reckon an elderly black could make some real good French fried potaters.🤣😎

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On 6/14/2022 at 5:29 PM, richardmurray said:

t seems to me like most black people or black groups don't have anything. 

 

 It's inaccurate to say black people or black groups have nothing. There is black commerce. There are black-owned businesses in every U.S. industry or sector. 
 
We are communicating on one of the top black-owned global black literature - bookselling and publisher platforms. 
 
Black-owned businesses thrive where I live -and not in just media and entertainment, even though we have a strong showing in that industry. Such as Tyler Perry recently opening one of the southeast's largest film studios/sound stages. I say one of the largest because there are several black-owned film studios in Atlanta-Metro. We have black-owned billion-dollar law firms here - and Black-owned Tech firms with a billion-dollar valuation. 
 
So Juneteenth aside, black groups have more than a vote; we have private equity.

Edited by Mel Hopkins
grammar
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 It's rather difficult for actions to be uttered, but I'll give it a try.  "The most common action uttered" by me in my Illinois hometown where Juneteenth was not widely celebrated or, as in my case, even heard of was: "Wow!" It wasn't until i was in my 30s that I learned the story behind this date. 😳

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As history books are being white-washed, holidays might be the only way Americans have a reason to learn about and/or remember events of historical significance to AfroAmericans.  I hope we keep Black History Month too. 😎

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@Mel Hopkins I wish you had quoted the question above what you did. I will

Quote

If voting is the only action Black people in the usa  in recent memory seem to support then what happens if 100% of black people voted? what would be the next action? 

It seems to me like most black people or black groups don't have anything. 

 

I was not speaking on the black populace standalone. I was speaking in context of collective actions or individual actions that can be summed collectively concerning juneteenth that black people suggest. I have said in this very community that black people have always owned businesses. I am certain of that based on my bloodline, whose business ownership goes into the 1800s. You may know this Mel but I want it clear to anyone beside you who may read this comment.  I was not suggesting the black populace of the usa has nothing but in the context of Juneteenth, not it aside, the black populace seems to only utter voting as a collective action, and I think that is a negative. 

 

@Pioneer1 @ProfDyour comments to greg made me laugh thank you:) 

IN AMENDMENT ProfD , history books aren't being white washed, history books have always been half truths. Always. From scrolls of the time of Kemet to photonic memory systems on mars, history books are always half truths. to tell the truth means you have to break through the lies that maintain the system or way of things. If you are a native american child, what history book can really tell the truth. The truth is that the entire american continent is populated by governments founded by people who killed your forebears and took the land they lived on for their own purposes. Its not just white wash, its the truth is hard. The truth doesn't forgive negative actions. Every single native american is historically honest should have one reply from canada to argentina, from montreal to buenos aires, get some explosive and blow up everything that isn't a reservation which is very little. Native americans didn't want to make the usa, they didn't want to make brasil. they didn't want to make canada, or mexico or jamaica or haiti or any of these countries. but they were living on those lands before those countries or their predecessors was made. Its not just white wash, it is fear of the truth. 

 

@Cynique when i was kid my parents plus other elders made sure by the time i was halfway through elementary i knew all key moments of black history in the usa. I have said in this community in the past and I repeat it, no black child raised by black parents in this country from the time of the war between the states to now should had any ignorance to key black moments in history. The only reason they do is a failure of black parents, and a failure that doesn't stem from ignorance, it stems from, again, what they want. I don't know how many black people offline I heard say, they were enlightened later. but I always try to instill among black people, all of our great great grand parents knew about slavery, the usa before the war between the states, during the war, after the war. They didn't need a book, why didn't they tell their children, your great grandparents? and then if they did why didn't your great grandparents tell their children, your grandparents? and if they did, why didn't your grand parents  tell their children, your parents? Books aren't needed if people are willing to simply tell the next generation the truth. I know from many elders offline, ho defend that position. They speak of trying to not influence the child. You want the truth to influence children. That is why the truth is vital. Just cause black peoples truth in the usa isn't pretty or convenient or non violent, didn't mean it warranted being unspoken, but that is what went on in our community and the consequence of that near beyond repair. And goes to my core question about how black people think of juneteenth. 

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5 minutes ago, richardmurray said:

  I was not suggesting the black populace of the usa has nothing but in the context of Juneteenth, not it aside, the black populace seems to only utter voting as a collective action, and I think that is a negative. 

 

 

I don’t watch TV local news and i don’t watch cable news. So I never see the Black community through that lens.

 

But back to your statement, I hear Juneteenth utterance with its pairing of 1865 w/ freedom and enterprise. I see the activities planned in my neighborhood, which is majority black and in other black majority counties and cities in the U..S.  So far these events are related to commerce and our natural environment. 

 

What black people do is indicative of what they believe. Just today, the proprietor  of black-owned business in Cincinnati came to the aid of his vendor whose business was gutted by fire.  The first thing he said was 1865! Let’s help this brother in the spirit of 1865. 

 

So, it this is your belief and action…

 

.” I have said in this very community that black people have always owned businesses. I am certain of that based on my bloodline, whose business ownership goes into the 1800s. “

 

Then you know after slavery ended  in the Land of Dixie, enterprise and job creation was the only way black people could survive. By now LLC is embedded in our psyche and DNA  . Voting came much later. 

 

BTW, be careful with local tv news.  

 

When I prepared MOS (Man on the street) interviews for my CBS network affiliate  - I edited the responses the way I wanted them to appear on the evening news.

 

That is to say,  what you see on air isn’t necessarily what the community or individuals believe.

 

It’s what the news producer wants you the viewer to believe about your community. 

 

Local news programming aims

to keep the attention of teens. And video story development borders on propaganda - produced to win “hearts and minds of its viewers. 

 

 

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@Mel Hopkins I oppose your historical statement, business enterprise and job creation wasn't the only path that could had led to a better tomorrow or for black survival. If we had a child, and you told our child that I would say to our child, that is a lie. But that is what a lot of black people in key roles in the black populace chose to do. I do not say it to desire a change in the past but I oppose that black people had only one path to survival in the commonly called antebellum south.

 

NYC is fortunate, local news comes in many forms. If you know where to look in nyc local news can give rare views. It was local news that allowed me to hear what sean bell's father said which black newspapers in nyc didn't even state. Yes, your 100% correct all shows have an audience they are reaching for. but, from shows like Like IT Is, which is gone, to black news outlets in NYC, to shows like democracy now. I find alot of truth in these venues. but most places, cities or towns, in the USA don't have the internal media that NYC does. 

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6 hours ago, Delano said:

Communication is either propaganda or manipulation

@Delano

 

Truth!  This is truth and ranks right up there with the other genius and profound observations you’ve shared in this space (and on my blog too!) 

 

Communication is like sequence, a simple algorithm that causes folks to carry out tasks.   It is absolutely manipulative - that’s the function! 

 

@Troy said something very powerful in his WSJ appearance -(paraphrasing) algorithms will have a lot of things popping up for you to buy but they are meaningless without context - therefore sharing your experience cuts through the noise . 

 

I realize now from this simple distinction is why I call you twin.  We don’t communicate, we commune ( a word that has  become obsolete) we share feelings and experiences. Commune rises to a level of intimacy. 

 

The only time you and I have locked horns here was that one time we tried to out-fact each other. lol …

 

Aside, I remember @Pioneer1 made a comment that  I never called the black men in this forum “brother” .. I always wondered about that but later I began to feel a kinship.  

 

From your observation  - I get why some folks I’ve  never met now feel like family and others can eff all the way off. 

 

The old and new currency is intimacy —🗝

 

“Don't give the fact; give the feeling"  -Crossing Lines

 

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Rather than think some random holiday that we came up with will help us as blacks, how about we help ourselves by making responsible decisions in life.
Number 1- our black women need to stop having babies out of wedlock at a young age. If you want a one way ticket to poverty and almost ensure your children will get involved with illegal activity then keep doing that. All the black men need to step up to the plate and stop acting like a bunch of immature thugs and make respinsible adult decisions. Our community and culture is a complete joke, Its because of poor decsion making not white people. Some random holiday ( juneteenth) does absolutely nothing. My family and I dont even acknowledge it.

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@Mel Hopkins, thanks for listening to the WSJ Panel.  Did you notice at the end how passionately the ladies described the books that they were reading.  The is the thing that a good bookseller can do.  If you find a bookstore where the sales people are actually book people you are very fortunate. While there are more Black-owned stores stores than ever -- there are probably fewer booksellers than ever. 

 

@Stefan, you mentioned that I called you a troll once, I'm actually drawing your attention to Greg, who has clearly demonstrated that they are a toll.  Their post above is an example. You struck me like this initially, but over time my opinion changed. 😉

 

Now all Greg is doing is ranting about "black women need to stop having babies out of wedlock at a young age." he is not adding anything new to the conversation and appears to be solely interested, not in dialogue, but in advancing racist stereotypes.  If it continues I will ban his account. 

 

In 25 years I have banned less than a handful of accounts.  If anyone disagrees I'm open to hearing your thoughts.

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12 minutes ago, Troy said:

In 25 years I have banned less than a handful of accounts.  If anyone disagrees I'm open to hearing your thoughts.

My sense of humor is slightly curious to see how long this parrot will continue to cut and paste the same BS before tapping out.🤣

 

Otherwise, I'd defer to your better judgement. 😎

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Honestly, @ProfD I'm curious too, not so much out of humor but understanding the behavior.  I've encountered a couple of other trolls here who were much more sophisticated than Greg, but you learn from every experience. 

 

I usually do a good job identifying trolls at account signup.  Usually the location of the IP address is a dead give-away, but if a VPN is used you have to look deeper.

 

My biggest concern is banning an account of someone who is a legitimate poster.  I wish more people would post under their true identities, but I understand why some people don't have that freedom.  

 

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@Troy, I know you got this in terms of  figuring out the legitimate versus BS.

 

The behavior you seek to understand is just an extension of racism within America.

 

Whether it's a white person pretending to be black or a self-hating black person, they eventually *reveal* themselves and/or they disappear.  

 

Trolls and bots are like flies and mosquitoes at a cookout. 🤣😎

 

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7 hours ago, Mel Hopkins said:

The only time you and I have locked horns here was that one time we tried to out-fact each other. lol

I remember another time I was wrong. I had said something that upset you. I talked to my partner and she explained how it sounded to her and I apologised to you.

 

One of the things I often say is everyone believes they are right until they know that they are wrong. 

 

I am interested in the exoteric and the esoteric. I have been interested in math and magic for as long as I can remember. I think part of the reason I am attracted to you, @Troy @Cynique is that you all have an openness to try and understand what is being said, and then you engage. I have lost the interest in trying to persuade someone to widen their viewpoint. That was disappearing when Cynique when into semi-retirement. Although yesterday I had various discussions with an avid Trump supporter. We generally have opposing viewpoints. Although I think I made one point that he felt and then understood. You can't judge people's choices unless you are in that situation. Interestingly that lead to this was him talking about Harlem gangsters. I had two personal stories of close contacts having interactions with well known Harlem Drug Lords.

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23 hours ago, richardmurray said:

@Cynique when i was kid my parents plus other elders made sure by the time i was halfway through elementary i knew all key moments of black history in the usa. I have said in this community in the past and I repeat it, no black child raised by black parents in this country from the time of the war between the states to now should had any ignorance to key black moments in history. The only reason they do is a failure of black parents, and a failure that doesn't stem from ignorance, it stems from, again, what they want. I don't know how many black people offline I heard say, they were enlightened later. but I always try to instill among black people, all of our great great grand parents knew about slavery, the usa before the war between the states, during the war, after the war. They didn't need a book, why didn't they tell their children, your great grandparents? and then if they did why didn't your great grandparents tell their children, your grandparents? and if they did, why didn't your grand parents  tell their children, your parents? Books aren't needed if people are willing to simply tell the next generation the truth. I know from many elders offline, ho defend that position. They speak of trying to not influence the child. You want the truth to influence children. That is why the truth is vital. Just cause black peoples truth in the usa isn't pretty or convenient or non violent, didn't mean it warranted being unspoken, but that is what went on in our community and the consequence of that near beyond repair. And goes to my core question about how black people think of juneteenth

@richardmurrary: I don't know what part of the country you are originally from, or how  old you are and this perhaps contributes to why I often have difficulty relating to what you say. I was born and raised in a suburb of Chicago in 1933 and grew up during the Great Depression.  My parents were a part of the first wave of the great migration of blacks coming north to seek a "better life", my father arriving in Chicago  from Kansas in 1912, and my mother from Tennessee in 1914.  Since Juneteenth was a local holiday in Texas, it's very possible this regional celebration was not a tradition where my parents were from, which is why the observance of it was not included in what they told me about my family history which was, itself, black history. Since, back then, black history per se was not taught in the local schools I attended,  I was not alone in being ignorant about this holiday until the 1960s when people from Texas moved to my hometown and just mentioned in passing the Juneteenth observance to us locals. And i might add that these Texans did not revive the tradition among themselves nor did they show any interest in establishing it as a tradition in their new location.  They also displayed no surprise upon finding out how many people weren't aware of this holiday. The obvious reason for this was that Juneteenth was not a widespread celebration among the black population for a long time. And, to be truthful, although it makes for a good anecdote, it is not particularly significant in black history in general. and the fact of the matter is, that It has just recently became popular in a nation superficially catering to blacks. So maybe you should broaden your perspective and do less generalizing when you judge black parents on this matter.      

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19 hours ago, Delano said:

I had said something that upset you. I talked to my partner and she explained how it sounded to her and I apologised to you.

 

One of the things I often say is everyone believes they are right until they know that they are wrong. 

@Delano this is so powerful and intimate! You took the time to "see" beyond you.  A lot of people say that's "soft" but this is true strength! Thank you. 

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3 hours ago, Delano said:

So I am not trying to confuse strength with rigidity.


which is so often confused. say you have a position on a subject, learn more and change your position as a result. That is disparage today as, “flip-flopping.”

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Troy

Absolutely.
There's a verse in the Bible that says, "A wise man changeth often...while a fool changeth not"

When new information (especially facts) are presented to you, then ofcourse you should reconsider your position on a subject and change it if necessary.
Even the best generals know this in warfare.

 

I think PRIDE gets in the way of a lot of men changing their positions.

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@Cynique you were born in 1933... I am shocked you even bother with online communication, but thanks for interacting. 

Your correct about juneteenth but I quote myself

Quote

when i was kid my parents plus other elders made sure by the time i was halfway through elementary i knew all key moments of black history in the usa.

Juneteenth is specific to the black populace in texas. But the 13th amendment could be mentioned couldn't. I daresay maybe even celebrated, but I comprehend that while the civil rights act of the 1960s is mentioned heavily, black people have never seemed interested in celebrating the 13th amendment, which is the true end of slavery legally outside of prisons. It seems to me, black parents should be catering to the black populace  in their home when communicating to their children. I don't know why black people need white people to cater to black folk if black folk actually value it. You say i generalize. Your right, I assume. I can't speak or assess every black parents. But I am not generalizing. I am mentioning a flaw or a problem. History isn't merely something you read, it can be something you lived and black people lived our pain. Black parents lived our pain. all black parents had to do to educate any black child on the usa was tell their children their life story. Black parents who didn't which included some , I daresay most, elders in my clan or bloodline are failures. I have heard the reasons offline, but they were wrong. 

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8 hours ago, richardmurray said:

But the 13th amendment could be mentioned couldn't. I daresay maybe even celebrated, but I comprehend that while the civil rights act of the 1960s is mentioned heavily, black people have never seemed interested in celebrating the 13th amendment, which is the true end of slavery legally outside of prisons. It seems to me, black parents should be catering to the black populace  in their home when communicating to their children. I don't know why black people need white people to cater to black folk if black folk actually value it.

 

Because "passa" didn't say it. Our history was supposed to be preserved by our black churches. But like many black booksellers, black churches have also come under federal fire for keeping, teaching, and preserving our legacy. A sniper assassinated cur "passas," and ghouls bombed our churches. All these activities, over the years, have weakened those who lead in our sacred spaces.  

But more than ever, we have to share our history orally now that the current powers are removing our books from public institutions. We must continue speaking out and sharing Black American and African tribal history the best we can.   

 

Note: Passas = Pastors

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@Troy

Well, there's one thing about me: I am consistent. My view has never changed. I am Black and I will defend and extol my people.

And I cannot stand the policies of modern day Republicans. They are racist, hurtful and do incalculable damage to the innocent, the needy and the downtrodden.

I am not one to post one sentence retorts. So I write out my responses. 

Juneteeth has finally arrived and like all holidays, is being exploited by corporations, retailers and money-hunger purveyors of nonsense. 

However, against a backdrop of mass shooters, GOP hatred and a war against women, I don't see much to celebrate. Not when so m many of our own kind join in with our tormenters. 

 

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