Tavis Smiley has gotten a little momentum going with his annual parade of black academics and other non-profit celebrities involved in the State of Black America conference. This year, I happened upon it by way of the ever-present Prometheus 6 who has posted some compelling video up at YouTube.
But before we go there, let me direct your attention to EbonyJet Online, where their community forum has about 30 comments. What's wrong with this picture?
The problem with the picture is that even in decrying the lack of a grass roots black political movement and stressing the need for process over personality, the divas of this directorate are still not digital. The lead luddite is, as always, Professor Cornel West. But wait, there's hope. There is the Covenant Blog. I'm going to head over there and kick up some sand and see what gives.
It's probably not fair for me to engage them in such a half-assed way because truth be told I'm not particularly focused on domestic politics as I am with the War and my investigations into Western Civ and Christian Theology and the rapproachment of them all in threads of American political philosophy. But, I do have to represent and get into the middle of any debate that touches on these issues as they relate to directions in black politics.
I could be convinced at length to resurrect Vision Circle in some form or fashion in order to capture a bit more of the development of black political discourse on line. I struggle to think where all of Dell Gines captive audience went. I know they haven't come over here. I also think that The Conservative Brotherhood could use some new recruits and maybe it's time once again to consider The Black Hole. I don't know maybe it's because it's Black History Month or maybe because I'm in Philly which is certainly a blacker town than LA where I hang. But I have a nagging sensation that there are millions of blackfolks as of yet unserved and unrepresented online. It us just that kind of revival meeting flavor shown at the SOBA convention that prompts me toward that gut feeling. Surely those people have more to say than just 'Amen'. Maybe they just don't know about how influential online blogs can be.
In any case, while I've failed to keep up with Blackprof and dropped them from my RSS feed, I might put them on (like Bonita, Bonita, Bonita) as well as the Covenant and see how amenable are such people to markets, non-anti-corporatism and the acceptance of a permanent black upper middle class. Who knows, there may even be more Old Schoolers drawn into the conversation and debate.
As for this Covenant with Black America itself, I haven't read its particulars, so despite my initial skepticism, I'm willing to give it a fair hearing. I am always interested to see how a negotiated black agenda compares and differs from the Democratic platform in substantive ways. It would behoove us all to make references to a genuine other-than-Civil Rights agenda from African Americans that would allow us to ignore the oxygen sucking few.
Again I wonder out loud, in light of my undertaking to believe 'black' is caste, if such an agenda could be maintained without the racial reference. So long as a blowhard like Hare can exhort the throngs to twist and shout in blind opposition to ABC, and CBS as Always Broadcasts Caucasians and the Caucasian Broadcasting System, we're going to have problematic conflations when clarity is called for. It's theatre of the absurd to be sure but that double standard needs to be slapped to the curb straight out. Y'all ought to be ashamed.
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