Could Comic Books Become A Family Affair?

When I was doing my research about the comic book industry the thing that broke my heart the most was hearing the stories of Dads who desperately wanted to share their love of comic books with their children. Dads who couldn’t share their love of reading with their children because the comics today don’t feature the same all-ages content they grew up with as a child.

I have read and heard countless stories from fathers who said they were willing to introduce comic books to their children. But because the content in comics today features extremely graphic violence nudity, (full frontal in some cases) sexual situations and characters using profanity, they can’t share the joy of comic books and the gateway to reading with them.

Due to the extreme and graphic content in today’s comics, many a father has said they had to give their kids Independent reader fiction or young adult fiction. While the Independent Reader and Young Adult fiction markets have exploded over the last two decades with million-selling franchises like Harry Potter, Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Twilight, the comic book industry has been mired in a slump it can’t seem to shake itself out of.

From the 1930s up until the late 1990s, the primary readers of comic books were children. The low price was cheap enough for a child to pay for out of their allowances, and the material featured characters in fantastic adventures they could relate to. Today a comic book costs $4 and features characters in stories no one but the most diehard comic book fan can understand.

I believe the key to reversing the two decade slump the comic book industry will be getting kids reading comic books again. This is the biggest baby boom since the 1940’s and not a single comic book publisher has made a serious effort to capitalize on it. Over twenty million kids are growing up with chapter books and passing comic books by.

Today, there are two generations of fathers who grew up with comics. They’re eager to share their experiences with their children. These customers want to turn comic books into a family affair. The only thing stopping them are comic book publishers who continue to cater to an over 35 crowd instead of the growing audience of younger readers.

Most American publishers are still trying to produce “dark” type comics featuring brooding heroes and ultra-violent adventures. While these types of comics were popular in the 1980s and 1990s, it’s clear their time has passed. No one wants to share death, violence, sex and coarse language with their young children in 2013.

Fathers trying to introduce comics to their kids want the kinds of characters they grew up with, heroes that taught right-and-wrong in a Black and white way. Worlds of clear good and evil and clear moral messages. Comics that are fun to read and fun to share. Books that are so enjoyable that people read them until the covers fall off.

But they can’t find those comics on the shelves at comic shops or at the bookstores like Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Outside of Archie Comics and Manga, there aren’t many comic options for young readers in the comic book sections. Most of the comics today are targeted towards older readers. Most publishers today think 18 is the age kids should start reading comic books.

I’d like to bring that age back down to 13. 10 if possible. And create easy-to-read content for kids 4-7. Writing for younger readers doesn’t mean dumbed down. A good writer can write the same types of rich complex stories, but tailor the content where it’s tastefully appropriate for younger readers and their parents too.

I’d love to see comics become a family affair. When I hear the stories of Dads (and some moms) who desperately want to share comics with their children I wish I was the editor-in-chief at Marvel or DC Comics or had the resources to start-up my own comic book company. I’d make every effort to produce comics so those parents could share comic books with their kids and pass their love of comic books down to their children. I believe there can be comic books for everyone. There’s nothing that makes me happier than seeing a child with a comic book. Because that child has just entered the gateway to reading.

Robin The Boy Wonder is Dead Again…*YAWN*

All the media outlets are reporting the death of Damian Wayne, the fourth Robin the Boy Wonder. It’s supposed to be a big national event.

Whatever.

Another meaningless death of a fictional character. It’s like they happen every couple of months these days in comics.

Didn’t we just have the funeral for Professor X for the third time a couple of months ago? I guess Shawn should have his black suit pressed to go to the funeral of this imaginary character.

But he’ll be staying home and watching the game that day. As I’ve stated before, comic book character deaths are not news. They’re just a last desperate grab for attention by comic book publishers when sales are low.

This isn’t the first time a Robin has died. Way back in 1988 when Shawn was in high school, Jason Todd, the second Robin died after he came out on the losing end of a 900 number poll. Beaten to death with a crowbar and blown up in the Middle East. We all thought that was going to stick when fans embraced Tim Drake in the Robin role in 1989.

But when DC Comics got desperate for a story in 2004, they brought his lame ass back through Superboy Prime punching reality. A cop-out explanation for bringing back a loser ass character no one liked 20 years ago. And most people still don’t like now.

But on hearing about this allegedly sad news of the Boy Wonder’s demise the speculators are out trying to capitalize on the national frenzy. These thirsty Simps are hurrying to the comic shop hoping to buy up all the issues in the hopes they’ll turn into a huge payoff. Some are trying to make it look like people are going to pay $20 for this big event comic.

Don’t believe the hype. And don’t fall for the game.

Shawn’s here to tell you to keep your money in your wallet. There’s no gold at the end of that Yellow Brick Road. Just Dan Didio, Jim Lee, Bob Harrass, and all of DC Comics Editorial laughing at you. That’s right the joke is on YOU.

You plunk down your $4 and buy multiple copies of a comic think you’re going to get a big return for your investment a few years later.

Only to find out the very comics you paid $4 today for are now worth a quarter or less. Shawn has a crate full of comics from the Death of Superman era that are worth about that much now. How long has Superman been back to life? Twenty years now and counting.

Death in comics used to mean something 40 years ago. But today it’s just a gimmick to get a short-term sales spike for a comic book publisher. When all the fanfare of the “death” of a popular character is over and sales are at an all-time low again, they bring them back like they did with Barry Allen, the Silver Age Flash.

Comic book characters die and come back to life like Wile. E. Coyote in a Looney Tunes cartoon these days. Death is the one thing that doesn’t stick in a Marvel or DC Comic anymore. Captain America died five years ago. Batman has died twice in the last couple of years. And twenty years ago the death of Superman was one of the events that triggered the collapse of the comic book industry.

As a long time comic reader and former comic collector I’m urging everyone not to go running down to the comic shop to buy that issue where the fourth Robin the Boy Wonder Dies for the first time. This comic isn’t going to be worth anything. In six months it’ll be reprinted in a trade paperback. Six months later it’ll be reprinted in a hardcover omnibus. And in a year or two when sales of comics hit an all-time low or when writers paint themselves into a corner Damian Wayne will be back in the land of living comic book characters.

And the only thing you’ll be out is $4. Don’t be a sucker. Save your money and don’t waste your time. Maybe if enough people stopped spending money on these “Events” comic book writers would actually take the time to write a real story that means something for once.

Shawn's thoughts on the show Scandal

I’ve never watched the show Scandal. I never will watch the show Scandal. And I never plan to watch the show Scandal in my life.

Scandal may be made by an African American and feature an African-American actress in the lead. But it promotes the same old White Supremacy to the masses.

As a Black man who believes in Black pride and supports Black-on-Black love, I cannot endorse or support the TV show Scandal. I don’t care if the show was created by a Black woman and stars a Black actress in the lead. I cannot stand behind this show for the same reason I cannot endorse Lee Daniels films like Monster’s Ball, and Precious. I do not support the values promoted by this program or the negative misrepresentation of Black people in it.

There’s nothing scandalous about Scandal. What transpires in every episode of Scandal is something that’s been going on since the earliest days of United States history. Black women like Sally Hemmings have been Negro Bed Wenches for White Slave masters since slavery. There’s nothing special about this program for Black women to take time out of their lives to watch it every Thursday night.

An educated Black woman having an affair with the President? As I see it, it seems she’s not too educated if she doesn’t understand her history enough to know the history of the Negro Bed Wench. And if she’s not smart enough to know her history then she deserves to experience the same fate as those women.

Which was abandoned by their White Masters once another younger prettier piece of Black ass came along. Once he abandoned her, she just became a prostitute selling her body for any man that would have her.

If anything, Scandal is just the sexual fantasy of a Handkerchief headed Sista broadcast for the world to see. Someone deluded into believing that White men see Black women as attractive.

When this has never been true. The Black woman has ALWAYS been at the BOTTOM in terms of desirability when it comes to White Men. If anything this show drives the image of the Black woman deeper into the ground.

The irony is that in the attempts to present a Black woman as desirable to a White Man, Scandal shows me that Black women sell themselves short. Why can’t we get a show depicting Black-on-Black love? In an age where we have a Black man in the White House married to a Black woman, why present this coonery as entertainment? Why can’t we get a show featuring a Black man and a Black woman loving and caring about each other like I grew up with? Why can’t the brothers and sisters of this generation have their own Cosby Show? Why do they have to see their Black woman as a WHORE?

Is the best ABC TV can do is present a Black woman as the President’s mistress? Why not give us a show featuring a Black woman as a supreme Court justice? Why not give us a show about a Black female Secretary of State? Why not give us a show about a Black female president of the United States?

Back in 2003 ABC gave us a show about a White Female President called Commander in Chief. Geena Davis was allowed to play the President of the United States on TV. And last year Julia Louis-Dreyfus currently plays the Vice president on the cable show Veep.

But all a Black woman sees another Black woman on TV is as the President’s mistress. The White man’s whore. The Strong independent Black woman dependent on Uncle Sam to take care of her.

*FACEPALM*

At the end of the day, Scandal isn’t scandalous. It just promotes the racist stereotype of Black woman as the Jezebel, a sexually promiscuous woman with no morals or values who will fuck anyone just to get ahead. Another program in the long line of American media mainstreaming this racist stereotype for another generation of little Black girls as a norm.

I am deeply disappointed in Kerry Washington. She’s following in the footsteps of Halle Berry as the White man’s whore. Thinking starring in this show and debasing and degrading herself by starring in Django Unchained is going to get her career moving forward and get Hollywood executives to take her seriously.

Only she doesn’t understand that her career will fall into the same ditch Halle Berry’s is in currently. After degrading herself by starring in Lee Daniels’ Monsters’ Ball and participating in that graphic sex scene that legitimized and mainstreamed the image of the Black Jezebel for a new generation of Black girls, her career went downhill. After starring in a series of roles where her sexuality was at the forefront she’s faded to the background. And all over the world laughingstock people now see Halle Berry as a joke. She’s now known more for being a minstrel Baby Mama in some ghetto drama with her Baby Daddy than as a serious actress.

Sure Halle Berry won the Oscar. She got a handful of accolades from White America for a moment or two. But at the end of the day Halle Berry lost her soul. In the bigger picture, that gold statue and fifteen minutes of fame weren’t worth the loss of her dignity and self-respect.

And I’m deeply disgusted in the show’s creator Shondra Rhimes. As an executive producer, Rhimes knows how hard it is to get anything featuring Black actresses greenlit. So she creates a show perpetuating the worst stereotypes about Black women for a fellow Sista to star in?

This bitch needs to be slapped in the face.

Shondra Rhimes has the money and the power to create any television show and promote any image of Black people to the masses. But instead of wielding the great power given to her in a responsible manner, she uses it to further oppress her people by promoting the very racist stereotypes her ancestors fought against.

Shondra Rhimes may think she has it made right now. She may think she’s on top of the world with her millions, studio contracts, top-rated shows, and her White husband. But like The Negro Bed Wench who serves her White Masters, soon very soon, she will find out those White Supremacists she’s colluded with will betray her.

And when her husband takes her to court to divorce her, she’ll suffer the same fate as Tonya Pinkins. Google her and learn what happens to Negro Bed Wenches in the 21st Century.

If anything, the show Scandal Shows me how much Black Hollywood has sold out. How disconnected it is from Black America. With all this Black money financing films and television shows, we should be in a second golden age like that of the mid 1980’s through the 1990’s when we saw numerous positive images of Black people in Television and film. But in between sellouts like Lee Daniels, Shondra Rhimes, and Tyler Perry, Black entertainment is regressing instead of progressing. The films and television shows produced by these three feature stereotypical racist images that would be more acceptable in the 1930’s than in 2013.

Moreover, the response to Scandal shows me how out of touch and disconnected Black people are to their own condition as human beings. In 1998, UPN tried to put on a show called The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer, featuring Chi McBride As a shuffling servant of President Abraham Lincoln. The Black community at the time spoke out and protested against the show. After four episodes aired, it was cancelled due to low ratings.

But today the same Black audience some 15 years later has become so brainwashed by racist movies like Monster’s Ball, Precious, and The Help that it’s become indifferent and apathetic to degrading images of Black people, especially degrading images of Black women.. The saddest part about the popularity of Scandal is that some Black women even schedule their weeks around watching a program which perpetuates the very racist stereotypes used to oppress them.

Brothers and sisters, Shawn urges you to skip the show Scandal. It’s just more of the same racist nonsense White Supremacists have been selling about Black people for the past 400 years in a brand new wrapper with designer clothes.

If you want to read a movie script about a Black woman who is strong, proud and stands on her own two feet, read All About Marilyn. In that story I show you what happens to Black actresses in Hollywood at the end of the day. Especially the ones who have the pride, dignity and respect to be their own woman instead of the White Man’s whore.

And if you want to read a TV script featuring a positive pretty Black teenager in Beverly Hills, Check out the First Season of All About Nikki. If we had more shows like Nikki on the air, maybe more little Black girls would aspire to be something other than a sex object.

Calling on All African-Americans! Take Back Your Children or Suffer the Consequences-Guest Blog By Lawrence Cherry

Our children are killing each other in episodes of gun violence, precipitated by their participation in gangs, the drug game, and/or thug life. Our children are becoming parents when they should be thinking about graduating from high school. A good number of our children are being processed through the criminal justice system as offenders from tender ages and come out even more hardened and jaded than when they went in. When I speak to them or overhear their conversations as I travel throughout the city, I can’t help but feel sorrow.

 They look up to pop stars and athletes, many of which are known for behaving badly. Our twenty-something sisters and brothers don’t even want to date each other anymore. Young black men are trashing sistas and praising white women. Young black women are trashing brothas and looking for white guys. (If I were white I wouldn’t want anything to do with someone who wants me solely for my color, and I definitely wouldn’t want someone who hated him/herself.) They get their information from the media and the Madison Avenue advertising machine. Our children are being duped by the glitz of Hollywood, and the music machine that only wants to use them to buy consumer products, keep them trapped in their self-hate and despair to continue the legacy of violence and physical and spiritual poverty.

I hear our children say they don’t care about school – that doing well in school is “acting white”, and it makes me wonder, “do they know that many of their ancestors risked their lives to learn how to read and write? Do they know about the lies that were perpetrated against their people?  We were slandered and libeled: people saying that we were akin to monkeys and that we could not learn. Do they know about the men and women of color who sacrificed themselves so their generation could go to school, let alone one of their choice? I hear our young women talk about how they degrade themselves for the pleasure of someone who could care less about them.

I keep hearing about Beyonce, Rihanna, Nikki Minaj, Lady Gaga and the like being ‘cool’. They admire them because as I heard one girl say, “they don’t care about what people think”. It makes me curious to know if they know anything about Ida B. Wells Barnett who stood up to speak out about how our black men were being lynched during a time when she could have been lynched herself for her crusades. Ida didn’t care about what people thought, either. I wonder if they understand that it takes a lot more courage to stand up for what is right, than to dance naked on stage. When Biggie Smalls died, I heard a young man say that he was “our generation’s Martin Luther King”. While his death was sad and tragic, I could not understand the analogy. What had Biggie sacrificed for him? When did Biggie go to jail for fighting injustice? What had he ever written or said publicly to defend or promote our issues? Who did he stand up to? It certainly wasn’t the record companies that were using him to advertise the “thug life” that eventually led to his demise.

 I hear kids say “black people ain’t never did nothin’”, and I want to tell them about the Ancient Egyptian kings who innovated mathematics who were black, I want to tell them that the first university was in Timbuktu (Africa). I want to tell them about Garret A. Morgan who invented the traffic light. I want to tell them about Louis Lattimer who created the filament for the light bulb. I want to tell them about George Washington Carver, Charles Richard Drew and the long list of African-American pioneers and inventors that helped to make this country what it is. It saddens me to hear our children speak.


What really hurts is to hear them talk about God. They have no respect for God. They think God is white or that Christianity is a “white religion” or a “slave religion”. I don’t understand how they can say that. Don’t they know how God worked through the church to deliver our people? It was our faith in God that gave us the courage and the strength to endure slavery.  The abolitionist movement came about because God enlightened some people to understand that all people were made in his image and deserved the dignity and right to be free. It was God working through people in the church that brought literacy to the ex-slaves. Many of our churches helped to build and house schools for our people. Most of our power came from our faith in God and from our assembling ourselves together in the church. Men and women of the church played a huge part in organizing the civil rights movement (SCLC = Southern Christian Leadership Conference and it was headed by Martin Luther King, Jr.). Our children do not understand the deliverance that was brought to us as African Americans. Our God heard our cry and delivered us from slavery and the social apartheid called ‘segregation’.


Our children are ignorant of our history. If they don’t know their history, they can’t possibly know who they are. Instead the have the Madison Avenue machine, the media, and Hollywood telling them who they are. These machines enlist unwitting recording artists, athletes, actors, and the like to send the message to our young people that “black is whack.”  This is why our children put themselves down and they put each other down. Every young man is a ‘nigga’, nowadays. Every young girl is a "h**" or a "b****". I’m not even going to mention the other names I’ve heard young people calling each other. When you call them on it, they always say ‘it’s not serious. That’s just the way we talk. It’s friendly’.  That’s like saying words like ‘jerk’ and ‘moron’ are pet names that we give our friends. When I was a teen it was ‘hey, man!’ or ‘catch you later, girlfriend’. Men were called ‘brothas’ and women were ‘sistas’. We gave each other respect. Now there is no respect. There is only self-hate.


Why don’t our children know our history? Why do they not know who they are in Christ? What happened to those church mothers and church fathers that participated in the civil rights movement? What happened to Big Momma and Big Poppa who kept vanguard over the family Bible that had everyone’s birth date and kept the record of the family tree? What happened to the old griots that wouldn’t let you forget what happened? What happened to the family reunions? What happened to our people?


I think there were a number of things that happened. After the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, we thought we had arrived and got lazy. We stopped cultivating our culture and started working on accumulating money. All of a sudden black businessmen just wanted to be businessmen, black artists just wanted to be artists. We went from working together to not wanting to be seen with each other. We stopped networking with each other. When we got money, we didn’t use it to build the culture and capital, we used it for conspicuous consumption. Just go to the library and look through an archived 1980’s Ebony magazine and you’ll see what I mean.

Instead of building black industry, black entrepreneurs sold their lucrative businesses to corporate giants so they could live the high life and live in a mansion. Forget about leaving something for the next generation to build on. Everything became about the dollar and showcasing how many of them you had. We thought money alone could buy our children a better life than we had. Black women began drinking the poisoned kool-aid of the women’s right’s movement, buying into the false notion that freedom from male hegemony lay in sexual promiscuity. Being a single mother became a symbol of empowerment, rather than a circumstance to be avoided or overcome.


Black men drank the white man’s poisoned kool-aid of shallow materialism in which success is measured by how much is in your bank account. Our men (and some of our women) also got caught up in the liberal intelligensia cult in which intellectual knowledge is not utilized for the good of society, but worshiped for its own sake. This bred a new breed of civil rights activism, which I like to call ‘arm chair’ activism. Arm chair activists tour the university circuit, displaying their erudition with the hope that they can get money from the mainstream to write books in which they complain about the state of Afro-America. The arm chair activist has little to no intention to change things because he likes being a part of a “talented tenth”.

Finally a lot of us thought we had achieved full parity with whites and started copying their vices as well as their virtues believing the repercussions would be the same. I know of black people who started thinking, “Well, if white people do drugs and can be productive, so can I.” They foolishly didn’t get that this country still holds a double standard when it comes to African-Americans. A white drug addict can be rehabbed and re-integrated into society. A black drug addict will be demonized and targeted for incarceration. Proof came when crack exploded in our community and the Rockefeller Drug Laws were enacted. So much for parity.


In our quest for material wealth, we lost who we were and we lost our children. Instead of giving them our time, we gave them to daycare, or to some stranger who abused them. They wanted our love and we gave them the x-box, sneakers, cell phones, computers, designer jeans and the like. They wanted to know who they were and we left them in front of a screen with a half-naked black woman dancing on a stage or we took them to a movie that showed a black man killing another black man. We never thought about taking them to the library. They came to us to learn about the meaning of life and instead of leading them to the Bible, we lead them nowhere. Instead of a father, we gave them a ‘baby daddy’. The world beats them down, tells them they can’t do anything and they’re nothing, and instead of encourage our children, we agree with those that discourage them. Instead of a foundation of a strong African-American identity, we gave them self-hatred. The Bible says that “he that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind” (Proverbs 11:29). We have destroyed our own house and are committing a genocide against our own. If we don’t stop what we are doing, there won’t be an African-American people.


We can turn this around and it has to start now. This second. Don’t put off what you need to do. Start now.  It starts with putting our children first.

Putting our children first
Some people want to bandy about a phrase I heard on a talk show one time. It was said that the mother should put her needs ahead of her child. If mom isn’t happy, no one else will be. I don’t know who was the first one to say this, but whoever it was, they were wrong. If we go to the Bible, we learn that God put his children first when he sent his only begotten Son to die for our sins, so that we could receive eternal life. So if God put us first, why shouldn’t we put our children’s needs ahead of ours. This doesn’t mean the mother shouldn’t take care of herself. It means that she puts the welfare of her child before her own selfish desires.


A lot of us are doing whatever we want to do and we’re not thinking about how it impacts our children. Our ladies want a man so they’re not lonely, but if that man is abusing you or your child he needs to go. A lot of people want nice things, but if those nice things mean you have to work 14-16 hours a week and you never see your child but for an hour a day, you need to change your priorities. A lot of our men like to complain, “I don’t like my baby momma”. I say “Well, you certainly liked her before the child came, so suck it up and be there for your child” Remember, they didn’t ask to come into this world. You brought them here so now you owe them a decent life. If you put children first, you don’t go out and engage in promiscuous behaviors that could result in a “baby daddy” or “baby momma” situation. Children deserve better than that.

Bring up Children in a Godly Home
Children need more than food, shelter, clothing, and the latest trendy items to survive. Let’s face it folks, we live in a fallen world. No matter where you go on this planet, you will find a fair share of greed, narcissism, violence, lust, and dishonesty. The Bible warns us that things will not get better, but worse as Jesus return draws nearer. It is imperative, now more than ever that we equip our children with the means to withstand the negative influences that are presented to them everyday. We do this by inoculating them spiritually with the Word of God. God sent his Son, Jesus to die on the cross and thereby redeem us from death unto life. It is only through faith in him that we will be able to overcome the influence of the world. We have to actively teach our children from the Word of God and be an example to them of how to live out the Word. Once you do this, even if your children stray away for a while, they will come back to their roots eventually. Remember, they have to have roots to come back to or they won’t come back.

Quantity of time creates quality time
Another myth I want to bust is the whole quality of time is more important than the quantity of time. I say, you can’t have quality without some kind of quantity. If the only time you get to spend with your children is early in the morning, when all of you are rushing to get to work/school, or at night when everyone is tired, what kind of ‘quality’ interaction can you be having? Do you spend that precious time barking out orders (brush your teeth, put this on, eat your breakfast) or are you really having a conversation? Are you busy checking your phone or ipad during this time? Are you watching TV? If you are lucky enough not to take work home on weekends, do you engage in any activities with your child? When you are with them, do you really tune in to listen to them or are you trying to multi-task at the same time? Real conversation takes time and it can’t happen if you’re not around or not paying attention when you are. Remember, you can’t say you know your child if you’ve never spent much time with them.

Children Learn by Watching: Be an Example
You can’t expect your child to want to read, if they never see you reading anything. You can’t expect your son to do right by women if he sees you getting your head bashed in by your man. You can’t expect your daughter to be a respectable young lady if you entertain a different male in your home everyday of the week. Men: you can’t expect your son to have a positive image of black males if you’re not around. Kids don’t give a rat’s narrow behind about what you say. They are paying more attention to what you do. So if you want your children to be the best they can be, you need to set the example.


Stop Saying Father’s Don’t Matter
Although feminists would like to have us believe that father’s don’t really matter, it doesn’t change the fact that they do matter. Again, let’s go back to the Bible where it says, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them”(Genesis 1:27). It has always been his intention that men and women work together to make a home for children. Men and women are different, and though in the sight of man different=inequality, it is not so in the sight of God. Just because two people are different, it doesn’t mean one is inherently superior or inferior to the other. Men and women are different in ways that compliment each other and allow each other to balance each other out. Both are necessary to raise children. Fathers influence their sons and daughters differently than mothers do. Fathers model to young girls what they can expect from their husbands and boyfriends in the future. They model to young boys how to treat women and how interact in different spaces. When fathers are absent, children are impacted in a negative way that has lasting consequences. I believe it is the main reason for the growing division between black men and women in dating circles. When black men and women do the “baby daddy/babby momma” thing, our children learn that our people aren’t supposed to love and marry each other. Instead they learn to be disrespectful of each other and view each other as disposable sex tools. Not the way to nation build. Enough with the “living together” nonsense. Put a ring on it!

Turn the TV and the Radio off!!!
Some of the worst influences on our children come from the TV, movies and radio. I think it’s best to try to live life with out any of them as all they do is tell us we’re less than and  then inundate us with ads for things we don’t need. But if it’s that important to you, we have to monitor what our children are watching. We also have to monitor what we ourselves are watching. If all you ever watch are the semi-pornographic ‘booty-shake’ music videos, violent gangsta and horror films, mindless reality tv and broadcast news, I would suggest you try something different. Think of it this way, we all know that if we eat junk food, we’ll get fat and then the extra weight leads to health problems and diseases that can kill us. Think of trash TV as junk food for your mind. It feeds your mind and your spirit. When we watch things that are violent, negative, sexually suggestive and the like, we are exposing ourselves to things that will reinforce the negative conceptions of who we are (and it doesn’t matter if you are white or black when it comes to this). Then if our minds are negative it will translate into negative behaviors. Instead of watching ‘Set It Off,’ try watching “Pride”. Instead of listening to Lil Wayne or Beyonce, try Israel, Donnie McClurkin, or Fred Hammond. If you can’t live without TV or radio, at least try to find things that are positive.


Learn Your History and Teach it to Your Child
Our history is important. Stop allowing some of these racist people to shame you into thinking our history is irrelevant. Nowadays, I see African-Americans who don’t even want to talk about our history in any shape or form, especially if they are in mixed company. I’m sick of people telling us to stop bringing up the past, especially since it still affects us today. The Jewish people tell their children to “Never Forget” about the holocaust. In school, they make sure to cover the founding fathers and what they believed and how it still impacts us. Well if everyone else can talk about their history, I’m going to talk about mine, too. I’m not just going to talk about the good, I’m going to talk about the painful stuff as well. No one is going to shame me into being quiet about slavery. It happened folks – get over it! It is not a symbol of shame for us as some would have us think. Some slaves did great things in spite of the challenges they faced. Some fought against and resisted slavery despite the fact that the “system” seemed so entrenched. They believed there could be change and trusted God to move on their behalf. And guess what? Change came. That’s the stuff that we’re made of! This is what our children need to know. Our ancestors didn’t allow racism or racists to cause them to put a limit on what they aspired to be, and neither should we. We must teach our children this history because it’s not being taught in schools. In the rare cases when it is taught it is watered down and adulterated. In fact, it is being taught to elementary students in NYC public schools that during the Civil Rights Movement, white supremacists were “bullying” African-Americans. Medgar Evers was shot in cold-blood outside his home. Four little girls were blown up in a church. Chainey, Schwerner, and Goodman were lynched. Non-violent demonstrators were being attacked by dogs and had hoses turned on them. I find it insulting to our people and to our ancestors to call such things “bullying”. This ‘sanitizing’ of our history only serves to absolve the perpetrators of such injustices of their responsibility and keeps their descendants from feeling guilty. I for one prefer truth.


We have to reclaim our current generation, so they can build the next. We cannot afford to allow them to be eaten alive by the negative forces that are destroying this nation among others. Enough of the apathy and waiting for the government to do something. Why should Obama or anyone else on Capitol Hill do anything for us if we aren’t willing to do anything for ourselves? We have no right to ask for jobs if we haven’t been preparing our children with the knowledge and skills to operate competently in the job. We have no right to ask for better schools if we send the message to our kids that school doesn’t matter. We have no right to ask for more rights and opportunities if we’ve squandered the ones our ancestors struggled and died for. Change in our community doesn’t start with the President, it doesn’t start with the governor, or the mayor, or your school’s teachers. Change begins when you take control of what you have to begin to make things better. Start with your children. Reclaim them or future generations will have no choice but to reclaim our history of slavery. Peace.

Thoughts On Forest Whitaker Getting Racially Profiled at a New York Deli

Last week Academy Award Winning actor Forest Whitaker was racially profiled by an overzealous clerk as he walked in and out of a deli.

Shawn knows his pain. I was racially profiled at my local Associated Supermarket on December 29, 2012. And even after contacting their corporate offices I still haven’t received a response from Associated Supermarkets corporate management. Shows how much that chain cares about its customers. And why I’ll never shop there again.

Anyway, Forest Whitaker was patted down by this zealous dumbass who decided he was going to show how great an employee he was by overstepping his bounds and violating the laws of the State of New York.

Now Forest is saying it wasn’t racial profiling But Shawn knows it was another case of Shopping While Black. He’s experienced this situation too many times in his life. The message those businesses want to send to a Black man to never come back there.

Cool. Let’s not spend our money there. Send a message to them that we Black people value our dignity more than the products on their shelves.

Forest was very graceful in trying to keep this idiot’s job. Now Shawn would have wanted his head and would have sued his bosses for damages, but Mr. Whitaker tried to help keep this moron employed. Unfortunately, in spite of Mr. Whitaker’s impassioned plea he still got fired.

And he deserved it. No smart owner is going to keep a cowboy on their payroll who could cost them millions in a civil lawsuit.

Here’s some advice for you cowboy grocery clerks who want to play security guards:

You’re only being paid $8-$12 an hour. That ain’t enough money to pay the rent in most local municipalities here in the United States. And it’s definitely not enough money to play hero.

If you get hurt trying to apprehend this shoplifter who is going to pay your medical bills? Most of these minimum wage jobs aren’t union. They don’t offer healthcare. You have to pay those bills YOURSELF.

And who is going to pay your disability when you can’t work from those injuries or in the time you’re recovering from them? Not your employer. When you call yourself busting employees and you get hurt they’re gonna turn the tables on you the same way they turned them on Rayon McIntosh and Artis Hughes.

What you’re going to find out is that minimum wage employer is going to hide behind HR and HR Policy. And their official stance will be “You violated company policy” and “You were acting on your own.”

Leaving you with a heroes reward of JACK SHIT. All while the medical bills pile up.

Chances are just to get disability you’ll have to sue your employer. And you’ll still lose. Because you were violating their company policy and state law.

So stopping that alleged shoplifter doesn’t seem so smart after all. It’s just cheaper and safer for you to let the guy walk out of the store. Don’t you know they have insurance to cover every item in that store? Even if it burned down to the ground the owner would still get paid for everything in it.

But if you approach that shoplifter and he hurts you, you’ll be drowning in debt from medical bills. Spending over a year fighting for social security disability benefits (which will possibly be denied). Struggling to pay your bills. Eventually winding up on welfare to make ends meet.
Don’t you know the average person only stays six to eight months on a retail job? In between the low pay and no benefits, it’s just not worth risking your life to play hero.

And it’s not worth the lives of your fellow co-workers or customers. You don’t know if this person is armed. If they’re carrying a gun and it goes off, someone could DIE as the result of your reckless behavior.

Most smart Business owners don’t want employees like sales clerks stopping shoplifters or alleged shoplifters. It leaves them liable to be sued.

And the stigma of being a place that profiles customer isn’t good for customer relations either. Most people don’t want to shop in a place where they’re not trusted.

The law in New York State says that a clerk has to see the individual take the item off the shelf. And they have to follow them around the store and see them actually leave the premises with the item to constitute a crime being committed.

And if a clerk does see a theft happen, they are to contact loss prevention who will contact law enforcement. Salespeople are NOT to engage a customer on the sales floor. There is no telling if that person is carrying a weapon. If that person is armed with a blade they could injure the clerk struggling with them. If they have a firearm, the clerk could be shot and killed. Worse, a shot could go the wrong way and harm an innocent bystander.

Now in the case of Forrest Whitaker this clerk put the lives of everyone in that store in danger with his overzealous “stop and frisk”. In worst-case scenario of a store that’s packed 50 deep and Mr. Whitaker was carrying a firearm and used it to defend himself, it could have caused a riot or stampede for the doors.

And the store owner would have been liable for all the injuries and deaths as a result of that stampede.

All because a clerk decided to not do their job. Sales people are hired to stock shelves and help customers. They don’t have the skills or the training to deal with retail crime. Nor are they paid to do so. Security specialists are licensed and certified by the State of New York to do security work and deal with retail crime. If a store owner is too cheap to hire a proper loss prevention specialist, then they deserve to pay for the lawsuits that come from their greed.

If this Deli owner was smart, they’d fix their cameras to work properly. Then hire a proper loss prevention specialist to secure the store. Smart security specialists would know the law regarding shoplifting and use of force. Moreover, they’d know what to look for in shoplifter activity. Those professionals would be looking at the majority of middle-aged WHITE WOMEN who do most of the shoplifting in the U.S., not the Black man who walked in and out quickly.

Retailers need to train their employees on how to deal with shoplifters. It’s not the job of salespeople and stock clerks to be security guards. If they see something, they’re to tell management or Loss prevention. They will call law enforcement and make efforts to apprehend the shoplifter. No store clerk ever needs to play hero and put their lives and the lives of others in danger.

The 20th Anniversary of the Comic Book Industry Collapse- Celebrating Two Decades of Doing the Exact Same Thing & Expecting a Different Result

Twenty years ago the comic book industry collapsed. And sadly in those two decades that have passed, no one has learned anything.

They say insanity is doing the same things over and over again and expecting a different result. If one follows the pattern of the major comic book publishers since 1996 the approach to business has been the same cycle of events:

Sales decline. Big event storyline. Series cancellation. Series Reboot.

And the cycle repeats itself again and again. Worse, the cycles are getting shorter. Back in 1996, reboots of a series cycled every seven to ten years. But by the mid 2000s, they were cycling through title restarts every three years.

Comic book series went from going hundreds of issues in the 1980s to barely a hundred issues in the early 2000s before a sales decline. Now barely going 24-36 issues before sales declined to numbers that led to the vicious cycle of events, cancellations and series reboots starting all over again.

What’s even worse is even as these vicious cycles repeat themselves is that comic book readership continues to decline. While many books start off with somewhat strong sales with their new number one issue, they soon quickly decline to the low numbers of the original series or even lower than the original series.

Unfortunately, instead of trying new business approaches, comic book publishers still continue to produce gimmick items suited towards the peak of the speculator market of the mid 1980’s and early 1990s.  Along with the new number one issues, publishers like DC Comics continue to publish titles with features like variant covers and gatefold covers. Items that led to the collapse of the comic book industry 20 years ago.

Doing more of the same hasn’t worked for the comic book industry since 1993. But comic book publishers continue applying archaic and obsolete business approaches to selling comics in 2013. Seriously, who are they selling these gimmick items to?

The collectability of comics is nonexistent. The only reason why old comics had value back in the 1980s and early 1990s was because they were rare. Paper Drives of World War II and parents throwing them in the trash in the 1950’s and 1960’s and 1970’s led to a limited supply of back issues of old comic books. And  it was the high demand for the limited supply of back issues that drove up prices.

While the back issue market limped along since the collapse of 1993, it’s all but dead now in the aftermath of the multiple reboots of the Marvel Universe in 1996 and the DC Universe in 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2011.

Since the early 1990’s millions of back issues sit in warehouses and comic shops not in collectors’ homes.

And why should the consumer buy them? The books are worthless. And with every universe reboot or series restart, they lose value as the earlier stories have no connection to newer continuities like DC Comics’ New 52.

Then there’s the sentimental value of that number one issue. Why collect a number one issue anymore in a world where there will be another number one issue in another 24-36 months?

What value does a back issue of a comic book have to a reader when they can buy that exact same story in a trade paperback 6 months later at half the retail price of the print run of 32 page comics?

In addition to this madness is the continued obsession with maintaining a large catalog of titles. In 1993 publishers produced over 500 different titles and printed six million comics every month.

Today publishers like DC Comics continue to offer large catalogs of 52 plus unique titles and are on their way to printing close to a million comics a month. In 1993 at the then affordable price of $1.25-$1.50 per copy it was next to impossible for comic readers and speculators to buy all the comics that saturated the market. Today At $4 a copy it’s become economically impossible for the new customer to even consider buying two or three 32-page comics let alone even consider trying new titles in a publishers’ catalog.

This is why the value of a four dollar 32-page comic book is only worth a quarter these days in a few years. And why people can buy boxes of over a thousand comics from the past four decades for just under $50 on eBay.

What’s the readers’ incentive to start buying a series and getting invested in it if the publisher will cancel it in 24-36 months? Why should they commit to collecting comic books when the publisher doesn’t have the fortitude or the finances to hang in there and commit to the series? Why should readers start buying a new series when it’ll abruptly stop in 6-8 issues?

Comic publishers say they’ve made all these efforts were supposed to make the industry more open to new readers. Ironically, it’s actually become HARDER for new readers, especially independent readers, tweens and teens to enter the world of comics than it was 20 years ago. All the events, reboots, have led to multiple volumes of a series, multiple titles of a series and multiple numbers, and renumbers are enough to give anyone but a diehard comic fan a headache. It’s so confusing that a young reader or a casual reader just can’t access the world of comics.

And the industry grows more insular with each passing year. Comic books have gone from a product every man, woman and child could enjoy back in the 1980s to a shrinking niche product a handful of older White males enjoy today.

Following a failed pattern of logic, the comic book industry is on the brink of a second collapse that could cripple not just the industry but setback the storytelling medium. If publishers continue to produce gimmick products like variant covers and die-cut covers and continue to focus on inaccessible events it’s going to lead to further readership declines.

Those declines are going to lead to the remaining comic shops being forced to close. As they get stuck with thousands of non-returnable product and as inventory backs up on their shelves like it did in the early late 1980’s 1990’s speculator booms, they’re not going to be able to order new comics.

While the corporate owned conglomerates like Disney’s Marvel and Time Warner’s DC will still have a limited revenue stream from licensing when the print market collapses again, it’ll be the small indie publishers who will take the brunt of the closing of comic shops due to this second wave of product saturation. Outside of Amazon and online retailers, comic shops are the only venues where people know about these small publishers’ products. Moreover, they’re the only venues where people can touch and feel them or know about them to buy them.

Sadly, Comic fans and comic book publishers are so stranded in their own world can’t see the problems plaguing their business objectively. They don’t understand that their approaches to business haven’t worked in two decades and they’ll never work again.


Yet comic book publishers keep trying to do the same things they did twenty years ago hoping, wishing, and praying for that different result. Thinking that the cycle will end with the next big character . Trying to write that one big story will lead to droves of new readers rushing into comic shops to buy comics again. Looking to produce that Action Comics #1, Detective Comics #27, Showcase #4, Amazing Fantasy#15 or Fantastic Four #1 or even the next Giant Sized X-Men 1 which will revive interest in comic books again.

Not understanding that the paradigm for publishing has changed in the last five years. The publishing industry collapse of 2008 has totally changed the landscape of the publishing world. Trade publishers today are shrinking their catalogs and publishing fewer titles.

Only comic book publishers continue to publish large catalogs of books like it’s 1993 when big storylines like Infinity Crusade and Zero Hour dominated the sales charts. While that approached to the launch of a dozen new titles or spurred renewed interest in struggling ones then, It’s a business approach that doesn’t work in 2013.

In the last twenty years it’s clear the event model of storytelling has run its course. In today’s fast paced world where apps, games, and eBooks compete for peoples’ attention no one has the time to sit down and read over 100 comic books to finish a story. Especially when they cost $4 a copy. In these tough economic times who has $400 to spend on comic books when they need that money for rent?

It’s clear to me that today’s reader wants comics in the storytelling medium. But they no longer want 32-page comic books or monthly serialized comic books. And with the way comic book series get cancelled every 24-36 months in a vicious cycle of low sales, events, cancellations and reboots it’s just no longer economically viable to keep publishing them in that format.

Looking at the way customers buy comic books it’s clear that the 21st century readers want their comic stories told in one self-contained volume. eBooks, trade paperbacks and hardcover omnibuses are how people have been buying comic books over the last ten years. And they’re how comics are sold all over the world. It’s cheaper for the consumer. And buying stories in these single volumes allows readers young and old to access comic book characters in a simple easy-to-follow format where they can read stories they want without the baggage of decades of continuity.

If the industry is to survive it’s clear that the business model for the comic book has to change. With readers preferring trade paperbacks, hardcovers, and single volume self-contained stories I’d like to see more of a focus on those types of original publications than 32-page comic series. With comic series now getting cancelled after only 36 issues it’s just a lot cheaper to do three trade paperback volumes or one hardcover omnibus casual readers can access at a library, bookstore or online bookseller than to print comics only a handful of readers will buy at a comic shop.

And some stories don’t need an ongoing series of 32-page comics. They’d be better told in the graphic novel format. Plus graphic novels would probably sell better with audiences of new readers like kids, tweens, young adults, and other casual buyers who don’t want a commitment to a series.

And these kinds of products allow comic book publishers to compete in the growing market of library sales. Yes, libraries buy comics. And there’s a huge opportunity to reach new readers there.

The opportunity for reaching new readers of all ages in the 21st Century is there. All the comic book industry has to do is adapt to a more profitable business model and stop the insanity of following business strategies that haven’t worked for decades.

There Is No Such Thing As A Thug

 There is no such thing as a thug.

What we see in the streets wearing sagging pants, tattoos, durags and walking with a swagger aren’t thugs.

They’re Mama’s boys.

These males who call themselves thugs are usually just the product of a single-parent female-headed household and communities controlled by the Black Matriarchy.

These boys usually grew up in communities where they saw no Real Men in leadership positions. And because they saw no Real Men in leadership positions in their communities, they had no one to set a standard for them to model their behavior after.

And without a balanced male or group of males in the community to model personal intangibles for them such as character, integrity, honor and discipline, these boys grew up learning their models for masculinity from media presented by Madison Avenue and Hollywood. And those caricatured images were usually in three categories:

The Hypermasculine male. A pseudo Alpha Male who overcompensates for his feelings of inadequacy regarding his masculinity. On the surface it appears that he has all the traits of male leadership. He’s full of bravado, loud and boisterous. He walks with a swagger and seems like he is a take-charge individual. However, his posturing and aggression is all a façade.

But scratch below the surface and one soon finds out how insecure these boys are regarding their male identity.

When put under pressure these males often show how weak they are. While Real Men rise to the challenge and overcome adversity by applying critical thinking skills to solve their own problems, the Bitch-Made™ hyper masculine male often turns to the leadership of a female to help him deal with his problems.

The sensitive/soft male. A male who tries to hide his masculinity because he has been made to believe his male identity is something to be ashamed of. The Soft or Sensitive male is usually a male who is doing their best to not be like the “evil” father who abused their mother. The males who fall into this category are usually “Nice Guys”, Simps, and Manginas.

Or the asexual male. Boys who are raised to be asexual have suppressed most of their masculine energy altogether. Worse, they suppress their sexual energy. Usually the product of strictly religious female headed homes, these boys are taught from a young age not only to be ashamed of their masculinity but their sexuality as well. The males who fall into this category often grow up to become sexual deviants with secret addictions to pornography, patronizing prostitutes, or sexual criminals like pedophiles and rapists.

The thug is gets most of his character traits from the hyper masculine model of Matriarchal manhood. Usually the Thug male is trying to compensate for his feelings of inadequacy and insecurity regarding his male identity. In an attempt to he takes his external male character traits to an extreme. While neglecting his internal character traits.

Because his internal male character traits aren’t nurtured or developed by other males in the community who will teach him how to think logically and critically, the hypermasculine male is an emotional thinker like the woman who raised him and the women who he sees as leaders in his community.

This is also why the thug is more interested in feminine things like shoes, clothes and his hair. Why he's more interested in owning things like bright colored sneakers and jeans. Why he loves do dish and spread gossip and spread rumors. Why he aspires being an entertainer or sports star. Like a beauty pageant queen and the "Divas" Single moms who raised him he lives to hear the cheers of the crowd. Acquiring all these feminine internal traits is the reason why he'd rather get everyone's attention for being on a theater stage  than learning concepts like math and science that allow him to innovate on a world stage  like Real Men do.  

And it's  why the Thug male often is so violent. Because he’s insecure about his masculinity and his male identity, he’s often eager to prove to anyone, especially another male how much of a man he is. In an attempt to prove his manhood to others, he walks with aggressive body language, dresses in what he believes to be intimidating clothing uses profanity as a dialect and engages in the most savage acts of violence.

Caught up in his emotions, the thug male never thinks logically about the long-term ramifications of his actions. Like the female who raised him, he only thinks about gratifying his short term perceived personal needs.

This is why for all their bluster, macho and bravado, the average thug cannot lead like a Real Man can.

Instead, he is often led by the females of the community.

And the females in the Black Matriarchy love the thug not because of his swagger but because at heart he’s a mama’s boy. A weak, emasculated man they can easily control and manipulate. A man dependent on a woman for his needs and his care. A man they can use as a tool towards protecting and preserving the institution of the Black Matriarchy.

Which is just a subsidiary of White Supremacy.

The Thug is nothing more than the unwitting pawn of Black Matriarch overseers and White Supremacist slave masters. He is the enforcer they use to keep the Black masses in the inner-city impoverished and oppressed. A man without an identity or knowledge of self, he is used by both White Supremacists and Black Matriarchs to cripple the economy of the Black community and keep it co-dependent on a system of government handouts.

Thanks to his terrorist campaigns, decent brothers and sisters can’t build businesses and wealth in our communities. And thanks to his Matriarchal supporters those same brothers and sisters can’t establish a quality of life that benefits anyone who isn’t on public assistance, government programs, or lives a criminal lifestyle.

As I stated before, A Thug is not a man. It’s a false identity created by White Supremacists from Madison Avenue and Hollywood to give the lost confused Black male an external façade of masculinity while sacrificing the internal character traits of true Manhood. A Black man can only learn how to be a Real Black Man from a relationship with other Real Black Men. 

WHAT WOMEN DON’T KNOW ABOUT BEING THE SIDE PIECE

There are women who willingly choose to pursue affairs with men who are either married or are already in committed relationships with someone else. Some people call these women mistresses. But Shawn calls them Side Pieces.

For most men, a side piece is a woman who is in between a prostitute and a girlfriend. She’s a woman he goes to get some ass when his wife won’t have sex with him. Or someone he goes to go where he can get sexual acts performed on him that his wife won’t do like oral sex, anal sex, bondage, S&M, role playing or other fetishes.

And for a few others, she’s someone he goes to get away from a nagging or contentious wife who verbally abuses him. A voice of reason that will listen to him. Someone who he thinks appreciates him for who he is. Someone who he thinks won’t take him for granted. The relationship between a man and his Side Piece can be either very cold or very close depending on what man a woman gets involved with.

No matter how intimate the relationship is it’s still cheating.

How does a woman become a Side Piece? Some become side pieces by hanging out with their best friend’s husband or their husband’s sister. Others by working closely with a boss or a co-worker. A few by meeting in a bar, a club or some other social event. And some are just gold diggers who go out looking for married men to have relationships with. People talk, hang out, and form a connection with other. The chemistry swirls and…Soon boundaries are broken and they wind up in a relationship with someone other than their wife or girlfriend. But usually the “other woman” knows that the man she’s involved with is taken.

And she still chooses to pursue him. Either way, a ho is still a ho.

Usually in exchange for her time (and her body), most men offer the Side Piece money, or things like houses, cars, shoes or clothes. Because these exchanges of gifts for sex are within the confines of a relationship it’s not considered prostitution. And technically it isn’t. But both parties usually know they’re in the wrong.

Most men justify having a Side Piece by saying it’s complicated. Others by saying she’s cheaper to keep than a prostitute. And a few justify it by saying it’s a lot cleaner because they know that the woman they’re getting involved with is usually drug and disease free. And that’s true, if that woman isn’t sleeping around with other men.

Even some wives justify their husband having a Side Piece because they feel that they know where he is and who he’s sleeping with. These are usually older established women indifferent to their husband’s affairs. At their age they know that relationships with Side Pieces are often short-term, not long-term and are often no threat to their financial security. In most cases a man will never leave his wife for a mistress. It’s just cheaper to keep the wife than to divorce her and break up his home.

Even though being a side piece is considered immoral there are some unwritten rules for women to follow in engaging in sex with another woman’s man or her husband. These rules include:

Knowing that the risk for veneral disease is HIGH. As A Side Piece, you are sleeping with a man who is sleeping with another woman. And maybe he’s sleeping with someone else.
Compound this to the men the Side Piece is sleeping with (On the Side) and there’s a lot of other people’s penises going into other people’s vaginas. So even with condoms, the chances of catching a veneral disease are higher than in a committed relationship.

Understanding this is a short-term thing The Side piece relationship is usually a short-term thing. While a few men have relationships with their mistresses for years, this is the exception, not the rule. Most guys who get involved with a Side Piece just go to her to work through some problems, get their nut off a couple of times and move on to the next woman. Or they go back to their wives or girlfriends. So women who choose to become a side piece shouldn’t go into it looking for commitment.

Knowing that the relationship can end at any time for any reason. A woman who agrees to become a Side Piece has to understand that it’s usually all about sex for the man they’re involved with. This is why a woman shouldn’t get too comfortable with any man she’s having an affair with. Don’t get accustomed to the gifts, the money or even the dick. It can end at any time for any reason.

Knowing that he has no emotional connection to you. One of the big mistakes women make when agreeing to become Side Pieces is getting emotionally attached to the men they involve themselves with. Because most women invest their emotions into sexual relationships, they don’t understand that men who are using them as side pussy are only interested in what’s between their legs, not what’s between their ears. Most of these guys tune you out when you’re talking.

Knowing if he says he loves you he’s FULL OF SHIT. If you’re a Side Piece and a man says he loves you, chances are that he’s lying. Or he’s just a Simp strung out on pussy. But once the magic spell of the coochie wears off on him, he’ll realize he wasn’t in love with you. He was just in love with getting in your panties. Don’t fall for the game. This relationship is still all business for him.

Know that all promises made to you mean NOTHING. Some women think that a man has to adhere to his promises to buy them gifts when they’re a Side Piece. What they don’t understand is that because they’re in an illegal or immoral relationship, he doesn’t have to do anything for her. So all of his promises are Null and Void the minute he says them. Once he gets the pussy he can walk out and give you NOTHING.

Any woman who agrees on a Side Piece needs to understand: You are only there to provide sex for him. And if you provide sex to him and he doesn’t give you anything…Well, that’s on YOU. That’s why seasoned hoes are smart enough to know to get their jewelry, clothes, and cash up front before dropping their panties.

Get the money up front. A Side Piece, or a Mistress is just another Ho at the end of the day. The only difference is that instead of turning tricks with multiple men you’re exchanging pussy for cash and gifts with one man exclusively. And if you’re going to be an exclusive Ho to one trick stop playing around and get the money up front like professional escorts do. If you’re going to put a price tag on your vagina, then get top dollar for it.

Feeling bad when people call you a HO. If the shoe fits, then it belongs on your foot. Don’t feel bad when people call you a Ho.  Just because you’re exchanging sex for cash and gifts with one man doesn’t make you less of a prostitute. Because basically you’re doing the same job hookers do on the street corner or at the escort service. Only you probably get paid a lot less. 

He is not taking care of you. He is taking care of his access to pussy. Some Side pieces think that because their men put them up in homes or apartments that they're being taken care of.

WRONG.

He is taking care of his access to pussy by putting you on retainer. That apartment he's putting you up in, those clothes he's buying you and that luxury car he's letting you drive are all a way to maintain access to what's between your legs. He's given you a lifestyle upgrade so he can have a woman who will be ready to have sex with him whenever he wants and who will do whatever he wants.

Not understanding that this is sex on demand.  As a Side piece you are agreeing to be his exclusive POD (Pussy on Demand) on call ready to serve him ass 24 hours a day, seven days a week. So if he calls at 2 AM and wants some ass it’s your job to give it to him when he shows up at 2:55. If you're going to be a Side Piece, just make sure to keep your vagina fresh and clean. Take plenty of baths and keep your body tight by going to the gym. Do Kegel exercises every day.  Because you never know when you'll be called up to serve up the poontang pie. 

Even though his wife knows you’re involved with him it doesn’t mean you’re in an esteemed place. Some Side pieces think because the wife or the girlfriend knows about the affair that things are fine. That it gives the relationship some semblance of normality.

It doesn’t change the fact that you’re still a ho at the end of the day.

Some wives resign themselves to affairs because they have other emotional investments like their kids and don’t want to put them through the drama and stress of a divorce. Others have large financial investments in their husbands’ job or business and would just rather wait for him to die to get the estate. And a few have another man as their Side Action and are getting their pussies pounded by him instead of their husbands. She doesn’t mind because you don’t matter.

Knowing all his promises to leave his wife are BULLSHIT.  Some of the more Simpish men who have Side Pieces often promise to leave their wives to string them along in the hopes of keeping the free supply of pussy flowing.

These promises are nothing but LIES.

He’s never leaving his wife. And he has no reason to. Why? This is what you signed up for when you agreed to become his Side Peice. The terms and conditions of that agreement were for sex, not love.

Knowing a Side Piece will never become a Wife. Another common mistake women make in becoming a Side piece is investing in the delusion that one day he’ll leave his wife and marry her.

Sorry, but that’s not going to happen. EVER. He is NEVER going to put a ring on your finger.

Women who agree to become the Side Piece are usually relegated to that position PERMANENTLY. Now there may be a few thirsty Simps who do divorce their wives and marry their mistresses, but it’s extremely rare. A woman can wait for YEARS for a man to leave his wife pining for a more permanent relationship with him, but it’s just wasting their time.

Most men who have a side Piece has her there for gratifying his sexual needs. And if he’s getting pussy from the Side woman for free while he’s married then what incentive does he have to put a ring on the Side Woman’s finger? Why would he be STUPID enough to make the Side Woman his wife when he already has her giving him free, no-strings pussy as his mistress?

Getting pregnant doesn’t get you anything but 18 years of misery. Some of the more emotionally attached Side pieces try to force a commitment to their men by getting pregnant. They think he’ll leave whoever he’s involved with to go be with her to take care of the baby.
Stupid hoes.

When a woman signs up to be a Side Piece she needs to understand she is signing on for a TEMPORARY
SEXUAL RELATIONSHIP. And in that relationship all you’re going to get is FUCKED. No amount of children you have for him will make him COMMIT TO YOU. At the end of any pregnancy, all a Side Piece is going to be stuck with is a kid that looks like the man they had an affair with, and 18 years of headaches trying to get that man to have a relationship with that child and her.

Getting upset when he cheats on you. Some Side pieces who become emotionally invested in men get upset when they find out they’re not the only one he’s seeing. Yes, there are cases where a man cheats on the woman he’s cheating with…With another woman!

And on finding out about the cheating, these women just lose it. Not understanding that Karma is kicking her in the clitoris. Seriously, why get upset? This is his nature. If he’s cheating with you, chances are he’s gonna cheat on you.

Telling his wife or girlfriend will not change the fact that you’re a HO.  Some women who become frustrated about being a Side Piece try to escalate the relationship into a deeper commitment. When that fails, they threaten to tell the girlfriend or wife. And when they do tell the girlfriend or wife they expect sympathy. Then they get upset when they don’t get any.

They don’t deserve any. In fact they deserve any tounge lashing or ass whooping given to them. You deserve it. Why?

BECAUSE YOU ARE A HO.

At the end of the day you are still having an affair with someone else’s man. You were the one exchanging your vagina for gifts, trips and cash.

And the only reason you told on him wasn’t about redemption or atonement. It was spite pure and simple. You’re just mad that the man you got involved with won’t commit to you the way he does his wife or his girlfriend.

And why should he? He never agreed to commit to you. You agreed to be the Side Piece. And a Side Piece relationship is no strings, no contracts, and no commitment. You can be dropped at any time for any reason.

When a woman agrees to become a Side Piece to a man she has to understand that she sells herself short. All she’s reducing her value down to is what she can get in exchange for vagina. No man is going to respect you. No man is going to commit to you. No man is going to care about you. Because if you make yourself into a ho, there’s no way he’s going to want you to be his housewife.

The Black Man’s Survival Guide to the American Workplace

Congratulations Black man! You’ve got that 9-to-5-job. But your work is just starting Brotha. The hardest thing about getting that job is keeping it. And it’s hard for a Black man to keep that job in the face of a hostile work environment where everyone is trying to get you fired.

Understand Black Man, when you enter the American work place you are BEHIND ENEMY LINES. NO ONE WANTS YOU HERE. And that has nothing to do with your education or your experience. No one wants you here because you represent COMPETITION.

A Black man is considered a threat to everyone in a corporate workplace by his just being there. Why? Because by just being there he represents the idea that Black men can be functional. That they can be responsible. That they can be intelligent, creative and have leadership ability. And that they are the equal to any White Man.

The fear of many White Males isn’t that if a Black Men are allowed to compete with them on a level playing field that they’ll take over a business. No, their greatest fear is that most White men will be shown for the mediocre employees that they are. The power of White Privilege has made many a White Man take his position in life for granted. Sitting in his comfort zone for so many decades he’s become lazy and incompetent. And he doesn’t want anyone rocking his hammock or knocking him out of the comfortable spot he’s in.

Because rocking his hammock means he has to wake up. And see the truth about his sorry position in life. And when he realizes that the Black man who is supposed to be behind him is running neck and neck with him for his job or is leaving his sorry ass in the dust when it comes to skills, that means he has to step up his game.

And he’d rather get back to sleeping in that hammock. Because stepping up his game means that he has to WORK. Most of these American White males today are so spoiled and entitled they think they’re supposed to get high paying management positions by just showing up. And when they get on these jobs they’re just supposed to do the minimum to get paid. No innovation, no creativity, Just do what dad did, show up and get paid.

You see Black man, the American workplace is a White Supremacist institution. It is a place made by White males for White males. And that institution has an unwritten social hierarchy. In that world nigger men are only good for the following jobs: Security guard, mailroom, and janitor. Out of sight, out of mind, and out of the way of progress.

But Brother, if you managed to work your way into a job outside of those three positions, you lucked out. But your greatest challenge is coming up. And I’m going to help you overcome the obstacle course and survive

Don't get comfortable. Black man, understand that your employment is NEVER STABLE. You can be fired at any time for any reason, and people at work are looking for any petty little reason to get rid of you.  So don't get too comfortable at any place you work. Companies aren't loyal to you, so don't be loyal to them.  Do your job, stack your chips and save your money
.

Keep looking for a job/Work on your side business. The average job for anyone is two to three years these days. But it can take a Black man four to five years to find a job after losing one. To keep from being stranded in long periods of unemployment, always look for work even when you have a job. And if you have a small business venture make sure you work at it like a regular job too. This secondary form of income may be the only way you make money during those down periods. Don't depend on any job as a sole source of income!

Treat every day at work like it’s your last.. Black man when you get that job Stack your chips. From your first day, start putting money away. You never know when you’ll get terminated. So make sure you build up a nest egg to cover at least six month’s of bills.

Get yourself a side hustle.  Black Man, understand that your employment is never stable. You can be fired at any time for any reason. So don’t count on your 9-to-5 as your primary source of income. Make sure you have something you do on the side like a second job or a weekend small business start-up. If you ever get let go from your job this will be your backup source of income.

Be on the lookout for Manginas. Brother, the Mangina is your number one enemy in the workplace. This is the guy who has an ear to the grapevine and is looking for juicy gossip to take back to supervisors. And he uses that information to get you fired.

At the workplace the Mangina He appears to be articulate and intelligent on the surface. But once you get to know him you’ll soon find he’s a mediocre employee who is extremely ineffective and even incompetent. He’s afraid of competing with anyone, especially a Black man. Once he sees you in the workplace his main goal is getting you terminated.

The Mangina’s goal is to try to be a friend to a new Black Male hire in the beginning. He’ll offer advice and even make promises to show a Black man the ropes.

Understand this dude is trying to sabotage you. Remember, The Mangina wants to get information he can turn around and use against you. Don’t give him any information he can use. Don’t say anything he can take back to others. Decline his offers of help whenever possible.

Watch out for Simps. You can find out who this loser is. He’s usually the dude dressed up in designer clothes on the expensive phone. The guy with the expensive luxury car in the parking lot. The guy And the guy who spends half his time talking to the receptionist or the admins.

The Simp is a notorious pussy hound. He’s the fool making lewd comments about women. He’s the idiot with his eyes down a woman’s blouse. The fool busy mixing business and pleasure trying to get a date with co-workers. And the guy who will soon find himself out of work thanks to a sexual harassment lawsuit. To make sure you don’t wind up joining him on the unemployment line, keep your distance from him. There are plenty of places to meet women. And the job is NEVER one of them.

Keep your social interactions at work with women in the workplace professional. There’s an old adage in the workplace: Don’t shit where you eat. A workplace is where you go to get the money to pay your bills and eat. While you may see many pretty faces on the job Black Man, don’t get personally involved with them or their personal bullshit. Social interactions, especially romantic ones with women at work outside of the job can come back to bite you in the ass. All it takes is for your personal relationship to sour and you could be terminated. Worse, you could wind up on the end of a sexual harassment lawsuit. So keep all your interactions with women at the job work related.

Be on the lookout for Hoodrats. Hoodrats are notorious in the workplace. They can easily be spotted by the tacky way they dress or are overdressed. Like the Mangina, these females are mediocre employees out to get a Black man fired from his job because they fear that he’s competition. These women are very comfortable with their position in the White Supremacist corporate hierarchy and don’t want anyone challenging their position of power.

Hoodrats are often found in low-level jobs like receptionist and administrative assistant. A few of the more educated ones work their way into positions like Human Resources or entry level management positions. While they appear friendly on the surface, All of them hate Black men and make every effort to get a Black man terminated from his employment.

These women are very passive-aggressive and will try to sabotage you in doing your work. Whether it’s losing your messages (Use your cell for business calls) losing important files (have a backup) or just being snappy and having a bad attitude, a Hoodrat isn’t working with you, she’s working against you.

Watch out for Coons.  The Coon is another thorn in the Black man’s side in the workplace. Like the Mangina this guy is another mediocre employee who feels threatened by your presence. And like the Hoodrat this guy is extremely loud and has a bad attitude. He tries to intimidate you by yelling and screaming. This is to overcome for his inadequacy in your presence. His goal is to make you feel worthless so he can maintain his semblance of power over you.

The Coon hates Real Black men with a passion. Like the Mangina and the Hoodrat he’s loyal to the White Supremacist hierarchy. He wants a Real Black man terminated. But he wants to make sure he kisses the right butts to get himself installed in your position. So he’ll bide his time until he finds just the right piece of evidence to bring to White Supervisors to get you fired. Then he’ll try to flip the game on you.
With the Coon, a Black man has to make sure he has all his I’s dotted and his T’s crossed. Keep records and backups of records. Keep all your social interactions professional.

Watch out for people who label you “Too Professional”. When people label you “Too professional,” or “Too Nice”. These are people who are uncomfortable with the idea of a functional Black man. And they’re uncomfortable with the idea that you can do a better job than they can. Mediocre people fear success. And they fear successful people.

Some of the more racist people will say that you’re hostile, have an attitude or that you’re aloof. Don’t take it personal. That’s just them projecting their own insecurities onto you. It’s a sign that they’re scared of competing with you. Moreover, they’re terrified of you surpassing them.

The Black woman is usually your Enemy. In the workplace, there are no friends. But Many brothers lull themselves into a false sense of security in the workplace when they see another Black face, especially a female one. And because they let their guards down they wind up vulnerable to attacks from cutthroat co-workers and saboteurs.

Remember Black Man, You are behind enemy lines. Everyone is to be seen as an enemy until they prove themselves an ally. The same Black woman you work with is competing with you on that job working to get to the next level. And some of them will do ANYTHING to get ahead.

Many Black men have lost their jobs and their careers due to trusting a nefarious Black woman. What most brothers don’t understand is that many of these Black females in the American workplace are afforded leadership positions by White Supremacists. And these women are extremely loyal to that

And these Negro Bed Wenches don’t want Real Black men in the workplace. Because the Black man represents a threat to the livelihoods that are provided to them by White men. So depending on how loyal they are to the corporate Massa, they will make every effort to get you fired.

Watch out for headgames. Your co-workers and your supervisors will try to play psychological headgames with you. If you fall into these psychological traps they could stall your career or lead to your termination.

Some will try to minimize your work . They’ll say things like “You’re improving” when you’re actually doing a great job. These people feel inadequate in your presence and want to devalue your work. The goal of minimization is to make a person feel less than, so the minimizer (who usually has an inferiorty complex) can feel greater than

Others will try to tell you that you don’t belong here. They’ll tell you that you should be working someplace else. Or you should apply for other jobs.

It’s a passive-aggressive way of telling you to go away.

They’re just scared of competing with you. Again, these are mediocre employees who fear having to step up their game and want to eliminate you so they can return to being mediocre. People who are up for the challenge know that they have to keep their game face on in the workplace. They aren’t intimidated by the new guy, they want to work with him towards becoming part of the team. They know that success only comes when everyone works together towards the same goals.

Watch out for Saboteurs. Brothers in the workplace there are people out to undermine you. But there’s a way to counter co-workers out to sabotage you.

Keep important papers off your desktop. They have a tendency to get “lost.” People are always walking in and around your desk and things seem to walk away with them.

Always keep important documents in a locked file cabinet and keep the key with you. Keeps important documents from “disappearing.”

Always keep backup files from your work computer on a separate USB Key.

Stay away from adult websites at work. Stay away from shopping sites at work. Hell, stay away from online news at work. Sure the White dudes and the Black women can get away with stuff like looking at porn at work. But you Black man are behind enemy lines. And the enemy is looking for any minute reason to get rid of you. So that means you  have to keep your work computer clean. Anything you do on a workplace computer is doubly monitored (there may be even tracking software installed on it). And any site you go to that’s not work-related will be used against you to terminate your employment.

Send all your e-mails with return receipt requested and forward one to your personal e-mail account. Print them also. People tent to “lose” e-mails too. And sometimes they mysteriously get “deleted” from the system by IT. Having your own records can save you in case there’s ever a problem at work.

When dealing with workplace contacts always give them your cell number first. This way you can avoid hoodrat receptionists and administrative assistants who “lose” your phone calls.

When you hand paperwork to a supervisor, make sure to make two to three copies for yourself. Bosses tend to “lose” files you gave them. Worse, tend to “forget” you gave them to them. This is a passive-aggressive attempt to make you appear incompetent. Cover your ass and have your insurance on hand before they ask for it.

Brothers, understand that you have to keep your guard up in the American workplace. I’m not saying be paranoid, because even in this hostile territory you will find allies and supporters. But I urge you listen to everything people say and more importantly watch what they do. Learning the unwritten social rules of workplace etiquette will help you keep your job and food on your table and money in the bank.