I’m doing something different this time; I’m starting with a video. Watch it, laugh, but pay attention because once it’s over I’ve got more for you:
Did you enjoy that? I enjoyed it a lot, so much so that I spent a big part of yesterday sharing it with a lot of folks for a lot of different reasons. You’re probably asking yourself why; you know I’m going to tell you. 🙂
Continue reading Black History Month: The Blogger/Social Media Edition
Yup, it’s Black Web Friday again, and we have some good sites for you today. Before I begin, I want to address the fact that I used “we” instead of “I”, when all of you know what I’m the only one writing on this blog.
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In 2010, I was at my consultant’s group meeting and brought up the subject of whether sole proprietorships could legitimate use the term “we” when talking about their businesses. We all discussed it and the general consensus around the room was that all of us have the opportunity from time to time to work with someone else and thus using the term “we” is a legitimate thing.
I like that and it applies to this topic mainly because I’m thinking I’ve probably said “we” in discussing these Friday posts at some other time, and the fact of the matter is that I see myself working with the sites I mention every week to help bring black social media to the forefront and bring others into knowing that they exist. It truly does become a “we” scenario, doesn’t it? By the way, as a sidebar, “we” were included as a Blog of the Month entry on LogAllot by Sonia Winland; thanks! 😉
With that said “we” move on. 🙂 I’m starting today with a guy who actually gets a lot of love, but probably deserves more. Wayne Sutton writes Social Wayne, and this month he’s actually running what he’s calling #29 Days of Diversity, where he’s naming people of color he believes are impacting social media. He tells you up front that not everyone he mentions will necessarily be black, which is cool, but of course I’m going a different way. Whenever you hear of black tech in America his name comes up often, and he was included in a CNN story on the subject last year, which was really neat to see. He has a Disqus comment system, just so you know.
Next on the list is a blog called Happy Black Woman, written by Rosetta Thurman, someone I featured last year, but didn’t really talk about. Her goal is to bring about positive aspects of black women to counter the belief that all black women are angry, something I addressed in a previous Black Web Friday post. She talks a lot about lifestyles and behavior, and has a traditional WordPress blog commenting system. I was really impressed with her post about compassion, something I’m not sure enough people think about, let alone talk about these days, and if you’re looking for entry into what makes her tick check it out.
The final blog I’m highlighting today is a Blogpost blog, but the content is so good I just have to share. It’s called NewBlackMan and it’s written by Anthony Neal. Basically he talks about black issues, and calls out anyone who writes things that are either negative about blacks or put black people in a bad light in some fashion. I thought a post he wrote basically telling a rapper named Too Short that he was sending the wrong message to kids about objectifying women was great and it showed that he had guts and courage to do so, reminding me about a post I wrote on the courage it sometimes takes if one is going to participate in social media.
The final Black Web Friday of Black History Month; have y’all been out there learning something you didn’t already know? Remember, black history isn’t only about slaves and Martin Luther King. Have a great weekend.
Wow, it’s Black History Month and I waited an entire week before mentioning it. Actually, it’s not all that surprising for this blog when I think about it. In the just over 3 years that I’ve had this blog, the only time I ever mentioned a black person by name on this blog during February was the first year of this blog when I talked about Bobo Brazil, the first black wrestler inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
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The funny thing is that I’m old enough to remember when black people were called “Negroes”, and that was the nice word. I’m obviously old enough to remember when we were first “black and proud.” I’m not quite old enough to remember when Muslims like my hero Muhammad Ali used to talk about the “so-called Negroes”, but in retrospect that was an inkling that things were really about to change.
Or were they? Sure, the names have changed. These days we’re called African American, a term I rarely use because, well, I grew up “black and proud”, and African American just has way too many syllables to be effective.
I remember when I was younger this month meant a heck of a lot to me. As a kid, I wasn’t the typical reader. One of the first books I bought for myself was a small book that gave a brief biography of Frederick Douglass. Of course that wasn’t enough for me, so over the next couple of years I would go to the library and request other books on him. I lived in Limestone, ME at the time, but I was on Loring Air Force Base, so they’d take requests and order the books to be sent up there.
It’s hard to put it in your mind in this day and age, but this man taught himself how to read and write, as a slave, when it was against the law. Then he ran away, came up north, went to England, wrote an autobiography, came back, had a lot of people come together to buy his freedom, settled in Rochester, wrote a couple of newspapers and more books, worked with President Lincoln, then later married a white woman and alienated everyone; that was in 1884. He lost the support of his family, she lost the support of hers, even though her family were staunch abolitionists. But in 1888 he actually got a vote to be his party’s representative for president of the United States at the… Republican National Convention. Yeah, it was different back then, the party of Lincoln and all.
Anyway, I was a major fan all through elementary school, high school, and college. I was a major advocate for a number of years. And every year through my early and late adulthood I thought it was still important enough to try to get the word out. After all, there’s a lot of stuff we wouldn’t have now if it weren’t for black people.
Then in 2005 I wrote this post on my other blog, Mitch’s Blog, which is my business blog, called Black History Month – Why Don’t People Care More. And I realized that the month really doesn’t carry any meaning anymore. There are no protests for equal rights anymore. There’s a black president, and lots of black people on TV and in sports and entertainment. People can stay in the same hotels now. There’s interracial marriage without mass protests. Goodness, in some communities people are actually trying to segregate schools now to save money (idiot move, North Carolina).
In other words, the differences are still there, but people just don’t really care anymore. I realized that, in some way, I can only state my piece and go with my opinion on things, but it’s probably an old opinion. I’m asked by younger people “Why can’t you just be yourself totally in public and forget what other people might say.” I say because I remember being the “only” enough times when I was younger and knew that I had to “represent”. I then say because even today I’m often the “only”, and I still have to represent. It’s important enough to me, if not them; that’s a shame. But it proves my point; if young black people don’t care, then I’m not going to force it upon them, nor upon anyone else. I’ll state my piece when I’m in the mood, and then I’ll move on.
Of course, that doesn’t mean I’m not going to shake things up from time to time. It also doesn’t mean I don’t still want some things to occur. So, in that vein, I present the video below. Elon James White is funny and on the ball and calls it straight. And for once he put out an entire video without saying any bad words, although, well, you just can’t account for the shirt. So, Happy Black History Month; this is all I’ve got for now:
