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(ThyBlackMan.com) Few thinkers spoke to the interior life of Black America with the clarity, compassion, and insistence of bell hooks. Her work never asked readers to perform enlightenment. It asked them to be honest. Honest about pain. Honest about love. Honest about power. Honest about responsibility. bell hooks understood that liberation was not just a political project, but a deeply personal one. Her writing bridged feminism, race, class, love, and […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) “Dear Jonas: Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America.” Text from President trump to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Støre, on Jan 18, at 4:15 p.m. Fact Check: […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) In Minnesota this winter, amid the steady stream of grim headlines out of Minneapolis, one story barely made it beyond Duluth’s city limits. The Duluth News Tribune and other regional outlets are inviting residents to dig into the city’s archives, retell old stories, and share plans for America’s upcoming 250th anniversary. Town halls are discussing parades. Local museums are planning exhibits. Families are marking the milestone in small, thoughtful […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) A lot of Black men do not actually hate exercise. What we hate is the gym. The mirrors, the noise, the unspoken competition, the feeling that you are being watched or judged the moment you walk in. After working long hours, dealing with family responsibilities, financial pressure, and the constant weight that comes with being a Black man in this country, the gym can feel like just another place […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) There are many aspects to church service. All of them are necessary as they serve different purposes that support one another. Praise and worship are an important part of church; corporate prayer is also important. There is power in coming together at the altar to pray and uplift one another. We never knew who walked into church on edge. Someone needed that prayer, praise, hug, some danced the heaviness […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) Accountability in every relationship and individually is very important. There can be no growth without it, and in its absence relationships fall apart. There is strife in this country, within ethnicities, in our communities, in our churches, and in our families due to a lack of accountability. Everyone wants to call out the next person without taking any heed to themselves. We say we have forgiven but hold grudges, […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) Walking stays undefeated after 40 because your body starts keeping score. Not in dramatic ways, just subtle reminders. The knee that needs a second to warm up. The back that wants respect before movement. The energy that doesn’t stretch as far as it used to. That’s when you realize you’re not falling apart. You’re just in a different season. At this point, you’re not chasing fitness trends or trying […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) In your mind, you may be thinking, what book have I read that spawned me to think about to write on what I am about to print? What can I say? With that stated, the decades-old allegations of welfare fraud by immigrant Somali communities across the nation, in concert with the audible political chorus of tax the rich, remind me of a play by Arthur Miller called The Crucible, and a […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) The Gulag Archipelago (1973) is one of those rare works of history that has proven its weight in gold. In my personal view, it is in a class of work that includes Alexis de Tocqueville’s classic work Democracy in America (1835), Civilization or Barbarism by Cheikh Anta Diop. (1991), Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond (1999), and The Negro Family: The Case for National Action, written by Daniel Patrick Moynihan (1965). Now I am aware that nitpickers will nitpick my selections. Some […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) Sometimes life is not that difficult to figure out. Politicians from both political parties, Republicans and Democrats, along with their billionaire, and millionaire dollar donors, corporate sponsors, and professional political advisors make life economically difficult and downright tough for Americans, American workers, professional, blue collar, union, and working-class Americans, when they just don’t have to give the average American, such a hard time. “To live and let live, with the least taxation for the most convenient services,” said Dean Minnich. That’s one great […]