***From the historic 1965 election of Carl Stokes as mayor of Cleveland to the momentous joy felt throughout Black America after President Barack Obama’s election in 2008, the history of Black politics has been filled with highs that still cause many in the community to be filled with jubilation years later.
However, during President Obama’s historic rise to the highest office in the land, critics of Black politics have argued that Black America seemed content with just electing a person of color, regardless of his qualifications or what was best for the community.
True, many rejoiced at the fact that they could now honestly tell younger generations of Blacks that they truly could aspire to achieve anything in life, regardless of whom they were or where they came from.
The joy seen throughout Black America in 2008 was similar to that experienced in Cleveland in the mid-1960s. It was simply a reflection of a people who had experienced so much pain in life, finally experiencing what true joy felt like.
Nevertheless, Black America is still a microcosm of America as a whole, just with a darker skin tone. And what all Americans want is what is best for themselves, their family and their community.
Although many have doubted whether Black politics could ever be truly colorblind, the recent election of Mitch Landrieu in predominately Black New Orleans is a blow to all of those critics that said the majority of Black America voted for President Obama simply because of the color of his skin.
The city of New Orleans has suffered like no other city in recent American history. The devastation of Hurricane Katrina seems like yesterday, when residents of this mighty city helplessly cried out for salvation as the rest of the country watched in agony, not knowing how to be of assistance.
Children and grandparents died. Homes were destroyed and lives were permanently uprooted as a result of the catastrophic storm.
While some have returned to the Crescent City, the recovery has been slow if not nonexistent and many of the residents of this city in which Black politics has been a mainstay for decades, had simply grown tired of politics as usual and elected the first White mayor since 1978.
Mayor-elect Landrieu stated the city decided to “strike a blow for unity, strike a blow for a city that decided to be unified rather than divided, a city that understands where there is equal opportunity, there is equal responsibility.”
In a state where the Landrieu family is the equivalent of the Kennedy’s in Massachusetts, the mayor-elect’s father Mitch became a historic figure in the area as he spearheaded the city’s integration efforts and was the last White mayor of the city.
The reputation the senior Landrieu had in the Black community undoubtedly assisted his son in his attempt to gain the Black vote. However, it shows more importantly that Black politics is simply politicians and policies that affect the Black community. And at the end of the day, the Black community simply wants the politician that is going to look out for the interest of the community, not necessarily the one that looks the most like them.
And that disproves the myth that the Black community is unable to view life through a colorblind point-of-view.
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Book marketing is an essential part of the publishing process. You spend weeks, months or even years writing your book. Another gruesome process begins as you dive into the literary agent pool. Finally your moment of triumph arrives when you receive a contract from a publisher. Was it worth it? All the months or years of perseverance you stayed up late, skipped spending time with family or friends and turned into an introvert have finally paid off. You rush off to your favorite department store to pick out an outfit for you Oprah interview.
Anxiously you check the mail everyday for your first royalty check. As the days and weeks come and go, so does your enthusiasm. Are you missing something? Was there a step in the book publishing process that you forgot? The answer is yes. The book sales profits you’re waiting for are waiting for you. What am I talking about? Book marketing. Without some sort of book marketing plan in place your book sales will be very low. Don’t sit back and wait for your publisher to do all the work.
My uncle once explained how saddening it is when someone leaves their success up to others. Are you expecting your publisher to put more effort into your success than you are? If you want to see more book sales, you will need to create your own book marketing plan. A book marketing plan should include methods for:
• Increasing your book sales
• Building an online and offline presence
• Creating local and national exposure
• Implementing common and very uncommon measures
• Marketing through your community, companies and celebrities
Increasing your books sales is of course your ultimate goal. To do so you will have to be creative, dedicated and committed to implementing various book marketing ideas, book marketing strategies and communicating with your readers. Establish yourself in the public eye. If you have a specific target audience, narrow in on your niche. Focus your efforts where you see results. Networking with other writers, organizations and groups will broaden your reach. Try to align your book marketing campaign with influential resources.
Building an online and off line presence should go hand in hand with creating local and national exposure. The more people know about you and your book, the more opportunities you have to sell books. An offline presence builds your credentials and reputation. While an online presence produces similar results, it also allows you to reach more readers with less effort.
To increase your book marketing profits, your techniques should include common and uncommon measures. Use what you know has worked for other writers but also create your own system. What is special about your book? Who would be interested in reading it? What are some book marketing techniques that will work hands down? If you have a small budget or none at all, do your research. The internet offers a wealth of information on any and every topic, including book marketing. Also create your own list of ways to market your book through your community, companies and if possible celebrities. If you don’t have the time, effort or energy to conduct research, consider purchasing the information.
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Why queue at your local DVD rental or wait for a film delivery through the post? You can join an online movie club and stream movies onto your pc and watch great movies free of charge.
These types of club can open up a wealth of opportunity for the avid movie fan. Like book clubs, when people join a virtual movie club and want to create a group, it becomes easy for them to all watch the same movie. All they have to do is stream the movie of everyone’s choice onto their pc and then off they go. Discussion sites become more flexible too. Members of your group can either watch the film together or in their own homes. Also you no longer have to live near to one another as you used to with a book club. There are not the same time constraints. If you are going away, you can stream the movie on your laptop, watch and post your comments on Facebook or Twitter.
When signing up to these clubs, you are joining a virtual community of amateur movie buffs and the choice of films to watch is wide and varied. Whether its action adventures, horror, fantasy, biographies, comedy, drama, war films, romance, sci-fi, murder mysteries or classic film noir, there will be something there to suit your particular age and taste. Joining up is not difficult either.
Companies like iReel only ask for an email address and password and you are ready to stream and watch your first movie.
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1 March 2010 in
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