While on my sabbatical from writing on this site, I had some opportunity to read other blogs out there (something I rarely get a chance to do during the week). While it was great to see the further expansion of Blacks in the blogosphere, to me it seemed as though the core of most postings I read dealt with some of the same issues we have been talking about for years. Here is a general list of core topics that I am talking about:
- Racism and all of its variations
- Politicians/movie stars that have “sold out” or are too uppity.
- The endless tagging of Blacks who live in the suburbs as those who have”left” less fortunate Blacks behind in the inner-cities.
- Folks (mostly women) who hate on Black men that date lighter shaded black women while ignoring Black women who prefer lighter shaded Black men with green eyes (AS IF ANY OF THIS REALLY MATTERS).
- The continual accusations that suggest that Black folks who in any way are critical of their own race are being “too hard” or “beating up” on the Black race.
- The usage of the N-word.
- The endless competition over who can best articulate “the Black struggle” by using language that looses most readers.
- Angry Black women who slam Black men for dating outside of their race while complaining that there is not enough “eligible” black men to marry.
- “White cop shoots black kid” stories.
- Kwanzaa vs. Christmas
- ANYTHING about Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton
- Endless ranting over Black “leaders”
- The constant redefinition of what is a “Black conservative” while most Black liberals prefer to be called “moderates”, “progressives” or any other label that they believe separates them from the rest.
- The endless debates over statistics that compare Blacks to Whites.
- Fiery rage over dumb comments from folks that are insignificant to Black progress.
Again, for those who tend to read too fast I said these are some of the core issues that tend to hover over much of the debate and discussion that takes place in the Black blogosphere. I am in no way suggesting that this is representative of all Black folks (for those who would typically jump to those conclusions).
Back in the early 90′s when I moved from a mainframe environment to a UNIX-based system, I was introduced to a little known technology called the Internet. Back in those days the web was still in its infancy stage, but newsgroups had quickly established itself as the first online discussion venue for the growing Internet crowd. The one forum that I was particularly fond of was soc.culture.african-american (or SCAA). While I rarely contributed to any of the discussions in that group, I read it daily. For me, hearing Black folks from around the country sound off on issues from OUR perspective was just awesome. Many of the discussions were very lively and always kept me coming back to read more. Over time I lost touch with newsgroups in general as I moved on with life. Fast forward to the creation of the blogosphere and I am finding that many Black-oriented blogs still hover around some of the same topics that were beaten to death 12-15 years ago in the newsgroup (and chain e-mail) world. In many ways, it feels like I am watching perpetual reruns of School Daze just with different cast members.
The Black blogosphere is filled with very successful and talented Black folks who, despite the rhetoric have managed to navigate through challenges of all types to reach some level of success. Yet when you look at the many of the core discussions that take place in our virtual world, much of it does not reflect the NEW issues many of us are currently facing. For example, the biggest “injustice” that I have faced in 2006 had nothing to do with racism, but taxes. No I am not in any tax trouble as I pay them like most honest Americans. As my wife and I are slowly moving up the economic scale, so is our tax rate. There is nothing more frustrating than to pick up the paper and read that the state is dumping THOUSANDS of my tax dollars into a school system that consistently scores close to last place nationally. Let me give you a 20 second condensed version of my family’s bio:
A little over 3 years ago, my wife and I hit rock bottom financially and had no choice but to go on welfare for a season. During that time we were cleaning office buildings at night to make ends meet. In fact, much of this website was written while I was working as a night security guard. We’ve been through disconnections, very bad credit, calls from collectors, payday loans to pay for payday loans, inability to pay for car repairs, etc. Today, we wear those memories as a badge of honor as we have met much success from very hard and smart work in relatively short amount a time.
Keeping the above paragraph in mind, tell me how our hard-earned money is making a difference when a significant portion of it goes to programs that aid illegals or school systems that have been failing for years due to a proven lack of fiscal responsibility. Do I tow the line and just settle with saying that the government needs to do more, or do I stop to realize that “the government” actually means “my money“?
Racism is no longer a problem for me and my family. I am finding that there are more pressing issues for me to worry or talk about than a couple of handpicked incidents of racism out of millions of examples where Black folks like me have tasted the true American dream. For some of us, we graduated on the top of our class, others of us were able to buy a house without the race-based roadblocks. Some of us have even raised kids who are doing well in school and have stayed out of trouble. If a Black woman wants to wear a platinum weave, then that is her business. The same goes for the brothas that like certain types of women. I could care less. Just tell me HOW you made it. This is what I care about, not about some idiot who called someone the “N-word” 40 years ago from a moving car in Alabama. I also don’t have the time to enter into a nap count debate over how many naps Sen. Obama has on the back of his head and if that number qualifies him as a “real” Black man. Just discuss the issues that he stands for and let me make up my own mind. Never mind the shade of his completion or that of his wife.
I will be the first to admit to you that as a writer who spends a great deal of time writing about Black issues, it is very easy to get into a rut. While this rut can be a bit entertaining at times, I can honestly say that I learn NOTHING from it. As I mentioned earlier, the issues tend to stay the same with only the variable of place and people to keep us interested enough to post a well thought out comment that will be forgotten by the end of the week.
Here at Blackinformant.com, I try my best to go a little bit further beyond the some of the headlines out there that touch on issues that affect the Black community. I also try to highlight Black-authored blogs that go outside the box of talking points I mentioned earlier. For 2007, I hope to delve even further on some of this issues and how that can affect you.
Please do not get me wrong with this post. There are a number of Black-authored blogs out there that do try to go beyond the norm. My hope is that we would continue in this direction and not allow ourselves to get caught in the usual rut.
While some of these issues are very worthy of our continual attention, others need to die off with the Triple-Fat goose jacket and the fake leather Africa medallion. There are more important issues to talk about this year.
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