In the current environment, the white media may ignore the Reverends in favor of no one

Posted October 10th, 2007 by Prometheus 6

Or worse, white "experts" on Black folks.

Who Keeps Sharpton and Jackson Powerful? The White Media.
by Dayo Olopade
Only at TNR Online
Post date: 10.10.07

Despite the effective e-organizing among blacks, it will be a long haul before the Internet generation makes Sharpton and Jackson's methods totally obsolete. These famous figures present a unique connection to systems of publicity and power. Their loud harangues brought figures like Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, and President Bush into the debate, and brought mainstream media outlets to dutiful--if peripatetic--attention. During a recent O'Reilly Factor appearance, for example, Sharpton's rehearsed statements about Jena quickly segued into chatty jibes about the many dinners he and O'Reilly have shared. While Jackson performed better the following night on O'Reilly, this piecemeal statesmanship proved the only means for a story like Jena to enter the national conversation. White liberals gasp at what seems like atavism when such standoffs spotlight racial tension in America--yet have made these elder statesmen the only canaries in the mine.

The real blame, therefore, may rest with the media's own 'white tree.' An April Brown University study showed that black contributors make up less than one percent of the political blogosphere. As the study notes--and the Jena movement proved--black blogs are successful at spurring black interest groups to action, but they hold little crossover appeal. Progressive blog Pam's House Blend pointed out how, even on the day of the march, dozens of widely-read left-wing political sites run by whites continued to sleep on the story. The lack of publicity among non-blacks was evident at the Capitol Hill rally on the Jena Six Day of Action last month. I spoke to a white filmmaker documenting protest in America who said that even she knew nothing about Jena until that week, claiming the story "stayed segregated." DC event organizer Lynetta Carson, who is black, gave the realist perspective while packing up the stage: "All we had was word of mouth, and unfortunately, that's to our family."

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Am I alone in seeing this as

On October 10th, 2007 keto says:

Am I alone in seeing this as a good thing. I don't care how white folks see us.

My ideal would be an economic/political/social model that rests not on the whim of white folks. An somewhat independent entity, that could care less what the mainstream thinks, like the many of the ethnic communities I observe.

We could actually have an neo-Oklahoma City model, linked by the innertubes instead of paved local streets.

Am I sounding crazy here?

My ideal would be an

On October 10th, 2007 Prometheus 6 says:

My ideal would be an economic/political/social model that rests not on the whim of white folks.

This is not crazy.

I think the factors are listed backward, though. Right now we're trying to craft a social model that meets preestablished political and economic parameters...and that meet the unstated but very real goal of not destroying Black individuals, much less the Black communities.

Distribution, distribution, distribution

On October 10th, 2007 Temple3 says:

Keto: you're right. I believe though that a few too many of us still care about the mainstream and what white folks think. What's the Oklahoma City model?

i think keto may be

On October 10th, 2007 kspence says:

i think keto may be referring to tulsa? (the black wall street)

Lester Spence, PhD

http://lesterspence.com

http://flickr.com/photos/unbowed

Death comes without the beating of drums

yep

On October 10th, 2007 keto says:

I meant Tulsa, though ultimately that did depend upon the whims of white folks. The only equivalent I could see in an internet driven community would be the control and monitoring of bandwidth by corporations and the government. Certain carriers could slow down the afrosphere to a crawl.

I meant Tulsa, though

On October 10th, 2007 Prometheus 6 says:

I meant Tulsa, though ultimately that did depend upon the whims of white folks.

Physical destruction of the infrastructure is a bit more than a whim.

The only equivalent I could see in an internet driven community would be the control and monitoring of bandwidth by corporations and the government. Certain carriers could slow down the afrosphere to a crawl.

That's why I'm keeping an eye on the net neutrality debate.

Thanks for that.

On October 10th, 2007 Quaker in a Basement says:

i think keto may be referring to tulsa? (the black wall street)

Thanks for that. Filled another hole in my education today.

You are not wrong, Keto

On October 10th, 2007 rikyrah says:

Am I alone in seeing this as a good thing. I don't care how white folks see us.

My ideal would be an economic/political/social model that rests not on the whim of white folks.

I've been insistent that the Black Blogosphere develop its own rhythms and grooves. We should do what we want to do. While there are those of us who do the battle over in the ' mainstream', and we should always put out a seat at the table where they can relax and get their wind before they go and do battle again...I just have no interest in trying to ' educate' White folks.

Prometheus 6