Philadelphia Tribune - Index

Philadelphia Tribune - April Magazine - Blogger Nation - Index

Continued from page 20
known as the Jena Six, the media and
traditional civil rights organizations
were silent. While the mainstream media
trailed in their coverage — even after
Chicago Tribune reporter Howard Witt
broke the story nationally — and Black
leaders stood oblivious to the Deep
South injustice, a network of bloggers
and Internet-based civil rights organizations
reportedly galvanized more than
220,000 people who signed online petitions
and contributed more than
$130,000 to the legal defense fund in
support of the teenagers months before
the protest. James Rucker, co-founder of
colorofchange.org, says his group
helped set up the fund and organized a
“blog-in” where thousands of interlinked
bloggers wrote solely about the
story for one day to focus their readers’
attentions to the case.
Playing catch-up along with the
media, the Rev. Al Sharpton said it was
through the Internet that he found out
about the Jena Six story.
The influence of Black bloggers was
first realized when their online petitions
brought national attention to the case of
14-year-old Shaquanda Cotton who was
sentenced to seven years in prison for
shoving a school hall monitor in Paris,
Texas. Citing racial discrimination,
bloggers called a “Day of Action” where
they united under the cause and simultaneously
posted stories solely about
Cotton’s case. The bloggers and their
readers began flooding the Texas governor
and Texas prison authority with letters
and holding protests in front of the
courthouse. Their collective effort
resulted in Cotton’s release and an
examination of the Texas juvenile justice
system.
“That one issue kind of coalesced
everyone around one central issue; that’s
when we began to link to one another,”
says Shawn Williams, creator of the blog
Dallas South, which is based in Dallas,
Texas. “Before that we were all sort of
blogging in our own worlds.”
Cotton’s story was the foundation for
what would become the Afrospear, says
Williams, which is a blog site for discussion
among all bloggers in African
Diaspora, to share ideas and plan solutions.
22 TRIBUNE MAGAZINE APRIL 2008
The story of Mychal Bell (the face of the
Jena Six) resonated with younger generations,
specifically Generation Y.
The diverse landscape of the
Afrosphere mirrors a movement that
transcends labels of class, gender and
partisanship. These bloggers discuss a
range of insights from conservative politics
(Jack and Jill Politics) to Black
misogyny (What About Our Daughters)
to gay rights (The Republic of T) and are
airing out topics once reserved for barber
shops and sister circles. Little technical
skill is required to start a blog or
engage in the conversations. Compared
to the preparation and training needed
during the Civil Rights Movement,
activists today can fight injustice without
extensive knowledge and with little
time commitment, allowing everyone to
make a contribution, says Rucker.
This culture of inclusion bodes well
for closing the digital divide in which
African Americans are statistically
behind in Internet use and access.
“An increasing percentage of civicminded
Black people are becoming
more and more web savvy,” observed
Rabb. “At the same time there is a pro-
liferation of web-based resources and
other technologies that make it free, easy
and powerful for private citizens to
amplify their voices and impact in ways
unimaginable even during the dot-com
craze a decade ago.”
After the Jena Six protest there was an
eagerness to coin this political drive the
“new civil rights movement.” Though
flattered by the comparison, many bloggers
avoid that moniker saying that it
“puts them in a box” too concentrated on
the ways of the past. One precedent they
defy in the Afrosphere is the old-age
idea that a movement requires a chosen
leader.
“There’s no one persona or personality
that’s kind of at the center of things,”
says Rucker. “I think hopefully we’re
able to move beyond centralized personality-based
leadership that has plagued
us in the past.”
Many bloggers write under an alias to
maintain anonymity, which Rabb likens
to the Underground Railroad agents who
could conduct their missions without
ever meeting face-to-face.
This “faceless” leadership is especially
appealing to youth who are discovering
their voices through Netroots
activism. While civil rights veterans are
toiling over how this generation would
fall in line with the rules set by their forbearers,
they have overlooked a charge
already in progress.
“The movement may not be as visible
as it was in the ’60s, but that’s because
the issues we face are not as visible.
Racism and things of that nature are
institutionalized now,” says Addison.
The events that unfolded last year
struck a cord with those in a younger
generation, specifically Generation Y,
igniting a display of activism and pride.
The stories of Mychal Bell (the face of
the Jena Six), Genarlow Wilson and the
young women of the Rutgers University
basketball team, who were object of
Imus’ verbal attack, resonated with
younger generations. In those cases the
victims were the same age as their best
friends and classmates, which made
them realize that the fight was no longer
just their parents’.
For a generation that was introduced
Continued on page 24