majority heterosexual, majority American (needless to say), and majority male. This is what constitutes what is called "institutional power" and this is why white people have all of the money and all of the political power. Everything economic hinges on the power of white. White people are not willingly drowning themselves in the stories of black people uplifting black people. You complain that you do not hear stories of black people lifting up their communities, but have you bothered to seek out such stories? If not, why not? I live in the same country that you live in, and I understand how unavoidable the commercialized blackness of big booty hos and gun-carrying thugs is. It is how black people are perceived. Part of it is, without question, the doing of black people. I know some loose black girls that have babies and men that don't take care of business, I do. But what happens is that the white-run media (an institution with more control than any of us realizes) takes this image of black people, finds others like it, and that is the black person they expect to see. I have a four-year degree from a prestigious college, and I am still addressed as "girl" and "girlfriend." Neither of those, as I'm sure you realize, are my name. I think that what macon d was trying to convey to you is the fact that it almost doesn't matter if every single black person got up, went to college, and became