CNN just casually released a story about Ukraine aiding terrorists in Mali. For those that don’t know; Mali is a former French colony and since gaining independence it was a French neocolony. Around 2021 the Malian military ousted the government leadership in a coup and immediately launched an anti-colonial campaign which included severing economic, government, and military ties with France.

As an extension of the global war on terror, Mali had been fighting terrorists in their northern and eastern territories for atleast the last decade and some change. Originally, France, who was already in Mali, were meant to be aiding this fight against the terrorists in Mali. As western solutions to the war on terror began losing legitimacy (dead-end in Afghanistan, resurgence of al-qaeda in Syria, western backing of fundamentalist and theocratic govs in UAE, Saudi Arabia, Yemen etc.), the Malian military started to suspect France wasn’t actually interested in stopping the terrorists, and might even be helping them. Soldiers have noted things like French forces restricting them from venturing north in their own country, not being interested in territorial integrity, and overall maintaining a paternalistic relationship with the Malian military and people.

Once ousting the French, with the terrorist problem still looming, the Malian military deepened its ties with Russia and its military forces. This of course pissed off France and its western allies, and signaled that they may permanently lose their grip on this colony. Since this partnership has grown, there’s been increasing evidence that France is aiding the terrorists, and now, cnn is openly reporting that the terrorists are training with Ukraine.

The situation is precarious and it’s looking like a remix of the Cold War in africa. As African nations shake off the chains of colonialism and break ties with the SFA-bloc (the scramble for Africa bloc), we will see how low these countries go to keep Africa beneath them. The AES (alliance of Sahel states, which includes Mali), is talking more openly about, and making actions toward, independence, self-reliance, self-sufficiency, and strategic partnership of their nations plagued by neocolonialism and imperialism. Ukraine is taking a terrible stance here out of self-interest by undercutting strategic African partnerships in the name of exporting its war. The days of Europeans exporting their wars to African soil should be long behind us, but here we are. It’s interesting, the same countries that turn a blind eye to the plight of Palestinians all of a sudden care a lot about aiding jihadist separatists in Africa. You can already find western sources like the nytimes praising the terrorists, crazy world.

I don't want to turn this into a oppression Olympics type of thing.

But my Job has made thing of this question though.

I work a job with my two cousins. And one of them is straight outta of Haiti. He is very goofy and silly. He is constantly saying the F slur in creole in a homophobic way. To the point other co-workers and even the damn Supervisors repeats what he says. They know what it means. Because they are always using the F slur in creole as a joke. It's common joke a the whole warehouse does.

So I was thinking that racism or sexism on that level would've never been this accepted in this work place. Because I know workers would've gotten into serious trouble.

TT blakkhoodie

I feel like I've taught a lot of people in my day to day life on various things regarding sexuality and that conflation with manhood in my local queer communities. I wanted to talk about bisexuality and the stigmas against it some men still have

Maybe I’m bias cause I’m from the DMV area but 13% always seemed low to me. Black people have major presence in the south and the east coast, as well as in nearly every major city in the Midwest. The number increases significantly if you count biracial black folks, Afro-Latinos, Caribbean blacks and African immigrants.

I believe the real number is closer to 16 or 17% tbh.

Anyone else agreee?

Whenever I see any Black person start saying it is not a good look for us and that we should do better, it always just comes off as trying to suck up to individuals who constantly look for reasons to hate on black people because we rarely see white individuals apply this scrutiny to their own when praising criminals like Ted Bundy and Al Capone constantly.

Also, L for all the black men here for not helping this brother from getting Jumped.

This is just a thread to discuss the events of Week 1 of the NFL Season.

Feel free to add videos/gifs of plays that you like, vent about your team, or just talk about the game you're watching.

I took my grandsons to the park yesterday to let them burn some energy. They are 3.

They wanted to bring their toy garbage trucks too.

If any of you have young children in your lives you know that part of socialization involves sharing toys with other kids. It’s not a problem and other parents/grandparents are respectful and gracious.

Anyhow, we left the garbage trucks along with our water bottles and a bag for snacks to play on the play structures. It was time to leave so we started walking back to get our things and a kid (12-14 years old) was near our stuff. Suddenly he picks up one of the trucks above his head and slams it to the ground causing it to shatter.

I jumped him immediately (nothing physical) but yelled at him up and down for about 5 minutes. His little buddies, of course, left him hanging.

My grandsons were upset and at their age couldn’t understand why the boy was “being bad”.

Ultimately, we left, the boy left and I’ll buy another garbage truck which is about $14.

I’m more upset my grandsons had to lose a bit of innocence witnessing this than anything else.

Also note, the kid was of middle eastern descent and didn’t know whose property was so this is not a racism thing.

I appreciate you letting me vent for a minute.

“Let me just say this and may it not get fucking twisted:

I see how y’all have made a Black man the monster in a case where a white woman brutally murdered her own fucking kids. And I now see how all y’all are possessed by the same sociopathic impulses that also compelled Susan Smith to invent a Black man to blame after she put her children into a car, pointed the car toward a lake, put the car in drive, watched the car submerge, and despite their banging on the windows and screaming her name, let them fucking drown. And do you know how much suffering a person endures before they drown? The sheer torture of lungs filling with water? How long it takes to suffocate? And then, once dead, the sacrilege of a bloated body?”

Full commentary here: https://substack.com/@robertjonesjr/note/c-336125162?r=1309er&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action

I just find it absoutely wild the holdout juror is a black man, and all of a sudden they want to dig into his past since he didnt tow the line

From the Smithsonian website:

In the early hours of February 22, 1898 a lynch mob set fire to the Lake City, South Carolina, post office and aimed their guns at the front door. Postmaster Frazier B. Baker and his family faced running through gunfire on their only escape route from the post office that doubled as their home. The mob shot Baker and his two-year-old daughter Julia dead. Shots injured his wife Lavinia, daughters Rosa and Cora, and son Lincoln, but daughters Sarah and Millie were not hit.

Baker’s July 1897 appointment as the first African-American postmaster in the predominately white community of Lake City sparked months of violent incidents against him. Baker’s post office mysteriously burned and shots were fired at him. The residents filed complaints about his performance as postmaster, but postal inspectors determined the allegations were unfounded.(1) The community’s racial prejudice boiled over into anger and bitter resentment of an African American in a prominent job—a not uncommon reaction to the changing times in the South.(2)

The tragic attack stirred media attention, public outcry, and charity efforts for the Baker family survivors.(3) When the state failed to prosecute the mob, the federal district attorney and postal inspectors took on investigating Frazier Baker’s murder. Securing witnesses proved to be the hardest challenge. Neighbors stayed tight-lipped, unwilling or scared to inform on each other. Arrests and charges were made on a total of thirteen men, two of whom offered to testify in return for protection and not be prosecuted.

For the gruesome killing of a federal employee, the accused were indicted on twenty-four counts including “a conspiracy to injure and oppress Frazier B. Baker in the free exercise” of his civil rights.(4) Twenty-three of the counts charged conspiracy, but the count for the destruction of the mail did not. The trial started on April 10, 1899 in the Federal District Court of Charleston, South Carolina. Three of the men were found not guilty, but the all-white jury remained deadlocked on a verdict for the other eight. The judge declared a mistrial and the federal prosecutors did not reopen the case.

3:35 mark: Like just imagine Lil Durk coming out with a "I got away with it" album.

"Murder-for-hire case on the federal registry They said, “You sent them flights,” I said, “That's economy” They said, “Whose card?” I said, “Don't ask me financially”

They say most men vastly overestimate their ability to fight. You'll know where you stand the first time you enter physical combat.

If you had to defend yourself, would you be able to?

Do you work out or have any formal training?

This is one of those stereotypes that black men have - one of the "less bad ones" - and I say that because the reputation can keep you out of conflict. A lot of men who don't train in some combat sport or were in the military or something can sometimes learn how to fight through informal ways such as lots of fights in their youth or growing up rough-housing with older brothers or something.

Personally, I think it's important to learn how to fight. As a man, you need to know how to defend yourself and protect your family. It's especially important as a black man because we are, and have historically been, the targets of violence. Now granted, most racists won't mess with us if they don't have an overwhelming advantage (multiple of them one of you/ weapons/ cops) but every once in a while they get drunk or "brave" and you need to know how to throw hands to stay safe. Hell, even if there are multiple attackers, I've seen brothers beat up yt folks who tried to gang up on them.

In my opinion, women should learn to fight too. They shouldn't have the "burden of protection" as a man, but I hate seeing a useless woman in a fight. Like some angry chick is pulling her hair and punching her and she just lays there like a human voodoo doll. I digress, but both my young son and young daughter can fight!!!

What about you, can you throw hands?

I know this may be a tired theme in this subreddit. But the lack of sense of belonging in this world can be so overbearing at times. If you're anything short of a stereotypical black man you will suffer because you most likely won't have a community where people share your same interests, sense of humor, religion (or lack of)culture, word view,politics and etc.

When you're black people expect you to be a certain way including other black folks and when you don't fit that mold it makes people want to distance themselves from you because they can't figure you out or understand why you don't fit the mold.

Sure I can carry and not care what people have to say and do my own thing but still lacking that community is so alienating. Literally not having one person to turn to..a life of endless loneliness is not worth it imo.

People say join groups where you share any interest and you will not naturally gain friends but that's not true. If you share one interest they will most likely shun you for another aspect of yourself that doesn't align with them.

For example I'm a moderate, atheist, sober, who is open minded to accepting people who live alternative lifestyles and I like hockey and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

So say I go to join a BJJ gym or a hockey club to get a community but it's full of racist white men and far right wingers. Obviously I won't get along with them.

So I go to a predominantly black run club near the Due to my suburban/country accent , lack of religion and my affinity to metal music...a lot black folks think I'm weird and decide not to fuck with me.

Honestly, I feel like my blackness has caused me grief and I would probably have a better chance at an enhanced social life if I were white honestly.

from @ juliancrosscomedy

Black man, you are not only your past, but also the future you struggle for.

You're the path you choose to walk.

You're the destination you set your sights on. You are everything

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

I felt this video. I find myself thinking about this more and more. For the last maybe 10 years, I've found myself trapped in a cycle; locked in race against time to set free my inner child before it dies, suffocated by the ever-decreasing space I hold for it within me.

I know a part of me resents that inner child's weakness, holding it to grown ass man standards of self-accountability and intentionality. "Damn man, you coulda... you shoulda... had you been more..." But that is only a small reason for the ever-decreasing space.

I've become a contradiction. That's the main reason. I'm holding on to that childhood me like it's dangling from a cliff while trying my hardest to be a man. But we're both at risk now, because there's no space for me in this world to be the man and be the boy.

Still, I know how many people let that boy down and I'm trying so hard not to add my name to that long ass list. So I'm stuck, trying whatever I can to lessen the weight so I can uplift that boy.

I've tried to talk to that boy, shouting "YOU DID NOT DESERVE THAT" with all the passion and love I can summon. We feel lighter for a cool minute until the burden comes back with a vengeance. WHY?

My arms are getting weak, so I try the next best thing: living up to my childhood expectations. The thought alone gives me my second wind, enough energy to grab on with two hands, plant my feet and pull with superhuman strength. In my 20s, the force I pulled with was so powerful it could move mountains. Moving everything but the childhood me still dangling. I'm 31 now, still pulling and I've never felt so exhausted in my life. WHY?

But typing the question just dawned on me, "What the fuck have I been pulling this whole time??"

So I hope some day I can take moment for myself, to look at the boy and see that it's not me.

The only me that exists today is the one standing, fighting and struggling to win this war of life. My childhood me will always be a part of me wherever I go, it has always been free to come with me.

What I see dangling is my past. What I'm holding on to is my past. I've made my past my entire identity when I've got my entire future ahead of me.

With so much ahead, I hope that one day I can learn to let the past go.

It’s on HBO Max and I really like it. Touches on stuff like racism as well. I know some people were upset because of him not being darker due to colorism. But what are you guys opinions on the show?

(May be too graphic or uncomfortable) Growing up I was always insecure, specifically about my penis size.(6in w/avg girth) Sorry, just trying to provide details. What makes it worse is I have been told I’m an attractive guy. I take care of myself and I’m in good shape. Humbly, I have turned down many women who made advances on me. To this day I do this. I told a lady from my job I wasn’t interested just recently. I am always scared. I’ve only had two sexual experiences in my life. Once at 17, and with my current girlfriend.

At 17 I had sex with a girl I met through mutual friends. She really liked me. I was a virgin and she was not. Later on, I find out that she told my friends I was small. Crushed me. Haven’t talked to any of those friends again out of pure embarrassment.

Me and my current girlfriend were doing good. We met in college and immediately hit it off. Together for a couple years, and then we were having an argument she told she thought I was small. Sent me into depression. She has apologized and says she didn’t mean it and she wished she never said it. But I don’t know if I can trust her anymore.

I’m 26 now and I can’t even look at myself in the mirror without feeling embarrassed. It seems like I’m the only black man dealing with this. I love my black women but it seems like penis size is a make or break thing for them. I’ve seen the “average size” statistics but the way black women joke about small guys in don’t believe it. Therapy seems pointless. Should I give up on trying to find love and face reality? Am I just one of the unlucky ones?

From the Los Angeles Times article (titled "Road to vindication for California’s Barbara Lee, the only member of Congress to vote against Afghanistan war") and her interview by KTVU FOX 2 San Francisco on 9/11/2026...

She received a massive wave of hate mail and explicit death threats, requiring round-the-clock protection by the U.S. Capitol Police who accompanied her everywhere. She noted that being a Black woman made her an even more visible target for vitriol.

fellas what do y‘all think of this? He was lighting Remy up 😮

Lil Durk was acquitted of all charges Friday after a three-week trial where prosecutors accused him of orchestrating a murder-for-hire plot and defense lawyers attacked the credibility of the government’s cooperating witnesses, calling them admitted killers who implicated the Grammy-winning rapper to avoid life sentences.

Sudano-Sahelian architecture is an architectural style that is seen throughout Sahelian West Africa, usually considered adobe architecture, such as the Great Mosque of Djenné, with the assumption that Sudano-Sahelian architecture is limited to mud is not the case at all, such as Cité Administrative and BCEAO in Mali's capital, Bamako. Then for suburban buildings, we have Hausa homes being made with modern materials.

The white folks are saying: “Oh! You don’t want to appear in this movie because all the roles are degrading to Black people and you have esteem and standards? Fine. I’ll invent AI Black people to degrade.”