There is a Black Face in the White House, but media coverage of the Black community has not significantly improved. So says a new study by the widely-respected Pew Research Center. In fact, the study says, media coverage of Blacks may have gotten worse. Who woulda thought it. Read more here.
You may have their attention, but you don't have their control
The "face-recognition software" in the video below is supposed to make the camera follow you as you move. The software works with a white face, but not a Black face...
How could this have happened? It is possible that the software developers only used white folx as models when they were developing the software-- Bleep! No excuse!! That might explain >how< it happened, but it is no excuse for not including people of all colors as models as the software was developed.
As I have said before, technology, including the Internet, will not bring an end to racism, but can expand it. See the "technology" link below for more.
We all know too too many times when innocent Black males have been accused of horrible crimes knowingly committed by the white accusers themselves. Well, that disease is now spreading. This is the first time that I know of, where a Black female has been accused of such a crime. In Washington state, a white woman threw acid on her own face [above] for some unknown reason, then accused a Black woman of doing it.
Hmmmm. I wonder.... how big is this trend? A trend where whites knowingly accuse innocent Blacks [or non-existent Blacks] of crimes that they themselves commit?
As another blogger wrote, "It worked for Charles Stuart when he gunned down his pregnant wife, shot himself and blamed it on a black mugger; it worked for Susan Smith when she drowned her two kids and blamed it on a black carjacker; and it worked for Ashley Todd when she said a Black supporter of Barack Obama carved a "B" on her cheek." And here is a slide show of even more examples.
And how old is this trend? Don't get me started: We could start back in slavery, where a white man would accuse a slave of raping his daughter, when the rape was actually done by the father himself....
Back in the day, I used to listen to this 2-minute song on record. It is the story of a woman being sold at auction. So glad to see that this is around on video today. It is still powerful. This is how modern media can be used to tell old stories in new and interesting ways. See what you think--
"Bid 'em In" by Oscar Brown Jr. Video by Neal Sopata.
For all you Mel Gibson fans, hear him here... I even heard a sister suggest that the mom provoked him into using the n-word. Wow. Listen and decide for yourself.
Oscar Grant is the young unarmed father who was shot in the back and killed by a transit cop in Oakland CA on New Year's Day 2009. Most of you know about the case. Above is an Associated Press picture from Oakland. Here is the photo caption--
A beauty salon-- with a poster of Oscar Grant in the window-- is locked up in Oakland, California. Several shops put up photos of Grant in their windows in the hope that it would deter rioters [sic] from damaging the businesses.
Two lessons on media in the modern age here--
One, this poster is a good example of how street media can be used. Street media is where individuals or small groups go straight to the streets to influence public opinion. With street media, you don't send press releases to the Big Paper In Town. You don't buy an ad on a local radio station. You create strong images, words and/or sounds, and you take it to the streets.
Two, this is also an example of how street media can be mis-used-- The beauty salon owner is being very crafty-- "If I put this poster up, folks will not likely damage my business after the trial verdict." It is not being used for the purpose intended by the maker of the poster.
Dominika Stanley and Charles Jones, the parents of Aiyana Jones Kimora Lee Simmons, model, designer and businesswoman, comments on the media's role the 17.May.2010 killing by Detroit cops of Aiyana Jones...
Damn Detroit Police Department! You burned, shot and killed Aiyana Jones, a little seven year old girl.
You threw a stun grenade through the front window and lit the little girl’s blanket on fire! And then you shot off a bullet that [pierced] her neck! ...
First you said that the grandmother attacked the officer who pulled the trigger that pierced the neck of Aiyana, and now you have revised your story to say that the grandmother "may have simply collided" with the officer.
No matter what happened, you should never have used those tactics, because there were children in the house. And of course you knew that - since there were toys all over the front lawn!...
How, in this age of unfettered technology, did you get this so wrong?!! It’s my sincere hope that the cameras for A&E’s “The First 48” television series that trailed you and filmed the whole incident didn’t spur your heroics! I know reality shows, very well indeed. Please tell me that this wasn't a performance for the cameras!
The wails and cries of Aiyana's grandmother, Mertilla Jones, are some of the most heartwrenching scenes you will ever see [toward the end of the video].
Children pick skin tones they like as CNN's Anderson Cooper watches
White children have an overwhelming white bias, and black children also have a bias toward white, according to a new study commissioned by CNN. Nearly 60 years after school "integration", and more than a year after the election of the first Black president, white children have a white bias, and Black children also have a white bias, says CNN.
I bet you were really outraged, weren't you, when you learned from the media recently about the group ACORN, which helps poor people find affordable housing, etc. Well, it's not just about media outrage at ACORN, it's also about perspective--
I have long contended that technology, including the Internet, will not bring an end to racism, but can expand and accelerate it. Some very old ideas will get a boost in new technology.
Example: Need to stop spam? There is an email application that will send your unwanted email to a "Black Mail" folder. That same program will send your "safe" email to a "White Mail" folder.
Now comes word of some bad things in Facebook's ad program. If you search for a friend on Facebook and the name you want is close to the word "Race," watch out. Facebook may place an ad on the right side of your search, an ad for "Ni**er Jokes." And I am not joking.
CNN is so proud of itself, now that it has aired two big reports called "Black in America," one last year and one this year. Well, I won't get into the details of the shows here. But ever since the powerful network last year aired Black problems in public with Part 1, I have been asking: CNN, where is "White in America"? I bet you CNN will never commit the same amount of its budget, publicity and prestige to a parallel report laying out the problems of whites.
[Soledad O'Brien, host of the CNN show]
White drug use, white collar crime, white aggression against nations of color around the world, domestic abuse and child abuse among whites, stealing of Black land by white courts and land developers across the South, school shootings by white youth, cocaine laws that favor whites-- and especially the growth of NRA gun club membership and gun sales since Obama became President. And don't forget the recent refusal of a club to let Black youth swim in its pool, and don't forget Black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. getting arrested in his own home, and don't forget the-- let me stop.
The absence of a show called "White in America" for the past year illustrates this media law-- play down, ignore or excuse negative actions of whites, actions that would make headlines-- and CNN specials-- if done by Blacks.
In the meantime, see this video response by Jeremiah Camara--
Shocking news on the media front: Ebony and Jet magazines are in financial trouble. In the midst of the nation's financial crisis, advertising and circulation have fallen mightily. It is the worst downturn for their owner, Johnson Publishing Co., in its 67-year history.
Contractors have slapped liens on the Black-owned JPC, which has mortgaged its headquarters building in Chicago to the white company that does its printing, R.R.Donnelley. The nation's largest Black-owned media company is said to owe Donnelley $12.7 million.
There is so much to like and dislike about these two publications, but let's hope they can survive, change and thrive. JPC chief Linda Johnson Rice will have to call on much financial and community expertise-- and on the spirit of her father, John H. Johnson, who founded the company and also weathered many, many storms. He transitioned on 08.Aug.2005.
Ms. Rice, your father has not left-- he just went to sit over there with the other ancestors. He can help you through!
Technology is changing everything faster than you think. The future is not coming. It is already here. Are our leaders taking these ideas into consideration? Are you taking these ideas into consideration?
This image is presented by Youth Rights Media. The group empowers youth to-- -- know, protect and advance their rights -- build "youth power and leadership" -- use "video media production and community organizing" -- learn "tools, skills, and strategies for affecting change"
Wanda Sykes is funny, and no funnier than here. She was at the top of her game on Sat.09.May.2009 at the White House Correspondents Dinner, where U.S. presidents attend, knowing they will get ragged...
[According to government studies, alcohol causes more deaths, car accidents, health problems, family breakups and arrests than all illegal drugs combined.]
[Soledad O'Brien, host of the CNN show]
