Philadelphia Tribune - Index

Philadelphia Tribune - April Magazine - Blogger Nation - Index

Heather Faison
One of the most important e-mails
to land in Kourtney Addison’s
inbox was seconds away from
being cyber trash. As her eyes scrolled
down the computer screen, the forwarded
message read like a scene from a Jim
Crow-era documentary. A tree that only
whites could sit under. Nooses hung in a
schoolyard. A Black teen faced a 22year
sentence for beating a white classmate.
Immediately, she thought it was a
joke. “It just seemed so unreal,” she
recalled of the story later known as the
Jena Six.
“It was just blatant racism.”
Wearing a white T-shirt with the
words “Free The Jena 6” painted in red
block letters, the Temple University
sophomore joined more than 700 students
in a demonstration in front of City
Hall last September. It was Addison’s
first protest. As she pumped her fist in
the air letting her oversized cowry shell
bracelet drop to her elbow, the 19-yearold
was brought to tears by the passion
displayed by her peers and the realization
that “Dr. King’s dream had not been
– TRIBUNE FILE PHOTO
fully realized yet.”
The events of last year — the Jena Six
protest, the firing of racist disc jockey
Don Imus and the campaign for
Genarlow Wilson, a Georgia teen sentenced
to prison for consensual sex with
a white classmate — resulted in a rebirth
of political activism among African
Americans, unseen in recent years.
Many have wondered who is behind this
surge. The leader of this movement is
not on CNN or holding press conferences
on the evening news. This revolution
will not be televised — but you may
find it in your e-mail.
Today’s generation is turning technology
into activism and using the Internet
as a tool to carry its messages. With
social media sites and e-mail blasts, a
story about an injustice can be sent to
millions in one mouse-click, garnering
support en masse. “The early Civil
Rights Movement had the mimeograph
and the Black press. Today, we have email,
blogs, text messaging, online petitions,
instant messaging, social networking
sites like Facebook and MySpace,”
said Chris Rabb, Philadelphia-based
Netroots activist.
Netroots (taken from Internet and
grassroots) was coined after Internet
users ignited the campaign of 2004 presidential
candidate Howard Dean through
mass e-mails and blogs, bringing him
national support and millions in
fundraising dollars. Netroots uses the
Internet as a platform to voice opinions
and draw online users to a particular
cause.
Though Netroots activism for African
Americans is nascent, says Rabb, “it is
by no means a fad.”
Through grassroots petition signing
and e-mail campaigns, these online
activists raised the profiles of stories
such as the Sean Bell shooting, long
before the media or Black leaders
noticed. Cutting no slack for offenders
regardless of race, these individuals successfully
challenged BET networks’
negative portrayal of African Americans
and have exposed the faults of Black
leaders in their candid blog commentaries.
(“Black activists Jesse Jackson
and Al Sharpton are pimping the ‘man’
in the name of civil rights,” read a
tongue-in-cheek entry from blogger The
Field Negro).
Radio host Don Imus talks with the
Rev. Al Sharpton after his racist and
sexist comments about the Rutgers
women’s basketball team. – TRIBUNE FILE
PHOTO
TRIBUNE MAGAZINE APRIL 2008 19