CNN As Arbiter of "New Black Leadership"?

The new black leaders? What gives CNN the right to crown a new generation of so-called “Black leaders” as it plans to do this week in its focus on Blackness?

God bless her. Soledad O’Brien seems earnest in “uncovering” the Black America that is undiscovered territory for her and so many others in the US. Why do so many of US have to be “uncovered” for the rest of US? My folks have been in this country from at least the early 1700s. Why haven’t we and ours been “discovered” until now?

To pick a group of people, mostly entertainers it seems from the promos, as the “new Black leadership” is an embarrassment, an insult and a sign that corporate America, including mainstream media in the US, is not that far removed from two centuries ago when Blacks decided to form their own media to “plead our own cause.” While you’re “discovering”, check out 1827 and the first Black newspaper in the US. If you don’t know US by now, will you ever, ever, ever know US?

Ms. O’Brien in the introduction to a piece in this series said: “When it comes to African Americans, do two famous reverends have the first, last and only words?” Only, my child, if that is where you start and end.

When Blackfolk get in trouble, here and abroad, they often reach out to Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, men with whom I’ve had—and still do have – disagreements on certain actions and topics. But they are the men to whom people turn when they need a spotlight focused on police brutality, the Hurricane Katrina aftermath, political shenanigans, Darfur, etcetera. As Sharpton told CNN, he is more the ambulance than the ambulance chaser. “People know we will come when the ambulance won’t come.”

I see all the time in photographs and in news telecasts a focus on Jesse or Al without the reporter having acknowledged any of the others in the frames I’m seeing. I see politicians and clergy, neighborhood activists, entrepreneurs, educators and even other should-be-respected journalists. But those sending the stories out to the world are IGNORANT most of the time. They go for the face(s) they know, not the real story of the people who are demanding – sometimes just begging for – justice.

“The media is lazy,” Bruce Gordon, the head of the NAACP says to CNN. Rep. Maxine Waters expands: “The media has identified who Black leadership is. They go to the same people over and over again. They are saying to the American public, ‘This is the person who speaks for the Black community.’”

Unless we people of color allow them to, media cannot define who leads people who are Black any more than they can define who leads people who are White. Gone are the days of Booker T. Washington and even Martin Luther King Jr., when one person was considered the HNIC – to use polite 21st century language: Head Negro In Charge.

We Blackfolk speak many languages and live in various settings. Give us credit for being Americans as reticent or as outspoken as anyone else among the US.

United Negro College Fund

“A mind is a terrible thing to waste….”

“When my soul was in lost and found, you came along and claimed me….”

The first quote is the slogan of the United Negro College Fund (www.uncf.org)

The second is a line from one of Aretha Franklin’s many hit songs, celebrated in recent days on cable TV’s salute to her as a way to carry on Lou Rawls’ dedication to raise money to make dreams reality for kids of color. Before his death a year ago, he helped raise $200 million for historically black colleges and universities.

I kind of regret that I did not attend one of those HBCUs (www.edonline.com/cq/hbcu); maybe I’ll wind up my teaching days by teaching at one of them – probably in Atlanta.

In the meantime, think of contributing money or mentorship. Go to the website or call: 1-800-331-2244.