Today I got a letter from Howard Witt. I'm one of the dozens, perhaps hundreds of bloggers he periodically sends information that's getting press in the Chicago Tribune and in the black blogosphere. Witt's exposure of many of these black bloggers merited some exclamation points in the first MSM coverage of the entire Jena tragedy. Some might go as far as to say that to many Americans black bloggers were born on that day in that context.
Continuing in that tradition of outrage, crime, punishment etc, there have been several dispatches from Witt over the months. Murder in Knoxville, Shaquanda Cotton, Dunbar Village, More on Jena 6 suspects, more on prison guards in Paris, TX and most recently a possible wrongful death in another obscure corner of America Winnifield. Louisiana.
Anybody who has read Cobb for any length of time should know that I've had a slippery grasp of blackness which has grown more lax with age and maturity. A few years ago, I boldly asked Who Owns Black?, with a resounding answer The Old School. It's something I still believe fervently, you just won't find me jumping up and down about it. I find evangelism of the sort tiring and generally a non-productive use of the blogging medium. And so I've ditched the Negro Problem as a burden of mine, ie I'm not responsible for telling you what the Old School is and how that establishes and maintains a proper blackness. Herding black is like herding cats. Nevertheless I remain plugged into the Kwaku Network, the informal yet pervasive blackified backchannel which communicates any and all things black on the Internet. Well, at least the political - can't say that I even know what the R in R. Kelly stands for if not reprobate.
So it is from a perspective of curiosity that I ask who is leading the story on this latest outrage. Is it Witt or is it 'his' blackosphere? You tell me.
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