All posts by Mitch Mitchell

I'm an independent consultant in many fields, so I have a lot to share.

Black Web Friday – 4/6/12

Yes, it’s the 12th week (thanks Carl) of Black Web Friday, and I think it’s going to be another great week of highlights. Since I wrote about Dr. King on Wednesday I don’t really have a lead in this week, so let’s get right to it.

Black Web Friday

Alexis Kenne’s website is named after him (I’ll use that “E” word later probably) and he talks about making money online; I’m trying to remember if I’ve featured anyone that specifically does that yet. He accepts guest posts, so if you’re looking for an opportunity to spread your fame his might be one of the places to go. I will say that he’s more of a facilitator on his blog than a content writer, since his last original post seems to be from December, but that doesn’t negate that there’s pretty good content there from others. As a matter of fact, one I know our buddy Beverly would like was on adding press releases to your marketing; I still need to work on that one. His blog offers both the traditional WordPress way of commenting and Facebook commenting.

I mess with her from time to time, but Evelyn Parham‘s eponymously named blog (see, told you I’d use it) talks a lot about eating healthier; actually, eating like a vegan, which we all know I’m not about to do. lol She was highlighted in my very first post on black bloggers in December 2010, and gets more love because she’s got a lot of content on this subject as well as staying healthy in general. She also deviates here and there and talks about internet stuff because, probably like me, it’s intriguing, and we just can’t stop ourselves sometimes. Of course I have to say I’m still not drinking any smoothies! It’s a traditional WordPress commenting blog.

Deeone Higgs writes a blog called Releasing Me Today and it’s a blog geared towards motivation and making you feel good; man, do I need a lot of motivation and good feelings these days. He calls himself a life apprentice and spirit encourager; can’t be mad at that. There’s a lot of nice content about life lessons and moving forward, and who couldn’t use more of that these days? Once again, traditional WordPress commenting system.

Kesha Brown writes the blog Confessions Of An Uncommon Chick and in a lot of ways reminds me of me and this blog. That’s because she writes about whatever she wants to write about and does very well in that vein. You might get a post on motivation or on movies or on internet stuff or even about her; nothing wrong with that. She states that her goal in life is to be happy; I’m feeling that. She uses a cool customized theme, but it’s a traditional WordPress blog commenting system; a 4-0 sweep this week!
 

Dr. King Would Feel Better

Today marks the 44th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. It seems that I make this almost an annual thing on both this blog and my business blog, where today I wrote on the topic of 5 Things Dr. King Wouldn’t Be Happy About. Last year on this blog I wrote on what I saw was a different take on things concerning the date and how little things have changed.

I’m slightly modifying that this year. I’m modifying it because of what’s been going on the last couple of weeks, and how it signifies, in some way, just how things have changed.

I’m talking about the Trayvon Martin case in Florida and all that’s happened because of it. Unfortunately there’s still no real resolution of what’s gone on down that way. The guy who killed him is still out of jail, and police chief has temporarily stepped aside, and the police are trying to make out like this kid was the instigator of his own demise; police will be police I’m afraid.

There’s been a major movement in this country over this case, and what’s fascinating about it is that no one has been killed over it. There hasn’t been any riots. Cities across the country have held some kind of rally in support of this kid, even here in Syracuse. It’s talked about almost every night on the news, both national and local.

Back in 1968, Martin’s story wouldn’t have made the news anywhere. No one put anything about black people on the news unless it was something major. Back in 1968, after Dr. King was killed, people went on a rampage all over the country. The police and military went on alert. For days it was scary, even for us little kids. I lived in the suburbs so I was isolated, but from what I hear things were tense in the city, though I’m not sure if there were riots or not; that had happened years earlier.

People are actually talking this time around. The conversation is about racism in general. The conversation is about guns and the rights of gun owners. The conversation is about youth culture and profiling; come on now, hoodies? The conversation is about the difference between protecting oneself and stalking and provoking someone into action so you can feel justified in killing them. The conversation is about how the police sometimes cover things up. The conversation is about a search for truth, justice, and the American way; yes, I had to work a Superman quote in there.

This is how things should happen. We should all be able to talk about things we don’t like, talk about things that scare us, talk about change, talk about difficult topics in the open. True, it’s not happening everywhere. Goodness, I’m surprised to find so many people who, when I mention it, say “Who?” Now there’s a level of oblivion I’ll never understand.

And it’s in this spirit that I write my Black Web Friday series going right now. It offers the chance for people to get to know each other and open a conversation. It offers the chance for all of us to grow together.

The first link above talks about what Dr. King might not be happy about. I think he’d be happy that for once people are talking peacefully; that’s never a bad thing.
 

Santorum & Gabby Brothers?

Another short post, this time sort of political but actually more just irked by what I see as an apparent attempt by a presidential candidate NOT to utter a racial epithet in public against President Obama. Of course he says he wasn’t even thinking the word and his press secretary said he wouldn’t even dignify questions about it, saying it’s us who are misinterpreting it. But come on… well, you tell me what you think of the comparison of these two videos:

versus…

Well? I’m just saying…
 

Black Web Friday – 3/30/12

Week number 10 of Black Web Friday is here, and the series is progressing well. I have to admit that I’m not sure part of what I’m hoping for is working, that being to show other black people some of what’s out there as well as everyone else. This is important as well because there can’t be any true support of minority websites if the minorities being written about aren’t helping out in their own way. At least that’s how I see things.

Black Web Friday

Of course, the big news this week in the United States has been the Trayvon Martin killing in Florida and whether this was a true self defense case or the case of another young black man being gunned down for, well, being black. There’s a lot of America that, in this case, have rallied around the cause, but it’s always been there, whether it’s always resulted in people being killed or not.

A part of why I do this series is to show a humanity that many people may not know exists, as well as expose people to a different way that people think based on their background. If you’ve followed the series you’ll realize that I’ve shown some sites that are geared towards black perspectives, and others were you wouldn’t know the person was black unless you saw their picture. That’s all on purpose; no one person represents us all.

And with that, let’s get to this week’s listing.

I initially featured Justice Wordlaw’s eponymously named blog last June in my first series titled 21 Of The Top Black Social Media Influencers. At that time I said he talked about internet marketing but he really talks about business in general, as well as web stuff. I was pretty impressed that he wrote this piece recently, Entrepreneurship, Is It For You? Maybe Not> since I’ve been talking about marketing so much lately. Young guy moving forward with business on his Livefyre comment blog; check him out.

Torrey McGraw writes Grind and Thrive, which is a business motivational blog with a lot of positive posts and, something a little different, many posts and interviews with people in the music business. It’s very interesting reading and could help offer a different perspective to get your mind going in the right direction. He also just became a new father a couple of weeks ago and I almost broke my no Disqus blog rule but I didn’t. Still, if you don’t care go over and give him some love.

Also named after herself, Monique Neeley writes and talks about social media through a mix of writing and videos. She really keeps up to date on the latest trends in social media, with one of her latest posts about Pinterest, and she also has posts on internet marketing and has interviews as well. And she’s a military wife, so since I’m a military child I feel an affinity for her. She has a Disqus blog, just so you know.

Finally there’s Black Like Moi, which is kind of a combination blog/black news site. I say it that way because there are a ton of posts there on black issues, entertainment and politics, but every single post is formatted like a blog, waiting for comments that, well, most of the posts don’t have. Yet I still like the site because it does have lots of content, and it’s a standard blog commenting system which I believe makes it easy for anyone to participate on.

That’s all for this week; enjoy and have a great weekend.
 

Verify Information That’s Not Yours

Well, yesterday was an interesting day in this country, at least in Florida. I decided that I needed to address this issue, especially on this blog, and further decided that it needed to be a video. The title speaks for itself; anyway, here’s the video:

I hope I got my point across, and I’m doubting there’s anyone who can dispute what I said there. Yeah, I know, it might take some time here and there to do it, but in many cases I think it’s important enough to do. You never know who you might hurt by not doing it.

See, short post, short video; I can do it. 🙂