According to Nicole Wallace of the McCain campaign, the American people don’t care whether Sarah Palin can answer specific questions about foreign and domestic policy. According to Wallace — in an appearance I did with her this morning on Joe Scarborough’s show — the American people will learn all they need to know (and all they deserve to know) from Palin’s scripted speeches and choreographed appearances on the campaign trail and in campaign ads.

Wallace’s bash-the-media exercise has its merits as a campaign tactic. It certainly rallies the base. But the base won’t lift McCain to 50% in November. More importantly, in her smug dismissal of the media’s role in asking questions of the candidates, Wallace was really showing contempt not for reporters, but for voters. I bet there are a lot of undecided voters out there who were intrigued by Sarah Palin last night, but who don’t yet know enough about her — what she believes, what she knows — to be comfortable with the idea of her as vice president of the United States. It’s important to them to know if Palin can handle herself in an environment that isn’t controlled and sanitized by campaign image makers and message mavens. Maybe she can, maybe she can’t. As far as Wallace is concerned, it’s none of their — or your — business.

God help us,

Stay up fam,

Brandon Q.

Stay up fam,

Brandon Q.

The SuperSpade’s partnership with Color of Change, Brave New Films, MoveOn.org, and Nas to outline just how racist Fox News climaxed yesterday.

600,000+ signed petitions were delivered to Fox HQ by Color of Change and Nas.  The rapper also spoke to the crowd about why they were there and what they wished to accomplish.

Art & Activism

Artists are important to movements.Their creativity gives movements vibrancy. Their notoriety gives movements visibility. Their passion makes movements inspiring.

Here’s a video of the event:

Nas was also on The Colbert Report talking about this action:

Why this is important

The myth of the post-racial society is becoming more and more pervasive. The problem is that it is itself based on a conservative, racist mode of thinking about race in America that equates progress with individuals. Using this as a measuring stick, makes it possible for the Fox News’ of the world to attack individuals and Black folks collectively.

If instead we saw that progress can only be meaningfully defined as collective improvement, we would focus on solving the root causes that lead to individuals making the choices that look stereotypical. Who knows, maybe CNN will go at it like that? I doubt it.

One Love. One II.

What’s up fam, this week James Dickson ripped into The New York Times (NYT) for their not publishing an article on the conflict in Iraq penned by Senator John McCain. For context, McCain’s piece was a defense of his supporting the conflict in Iraq and it was a response to an article written by Senator Barack Obama that was published the week before.

James said,

Rather than the nation ignoring McCain’s piece, as it almost certainly would have, the NYT has made it the first must-read political tract of 2008. Rather than bypass the piece when it would’ve run in the NYT, I instead read the piece — which, admittedly, was the typical “BUT THE DEMOCRATS ARE WORSE!!!1″ Republican attack line — on CNN.com, a site that, if it has lower circulation than NYT, isn’t by much.

I actually disagree that McCain’s piece is now a must-read political tract. This type of analogy is is akin to people buying NWA’s music solely because it was banned. And not for nothing, Obama is a really good writer and it is painfully obvious that he wrote his article while it appears that McCain’s article was written by the Communications staff and quite frankly, it read like it went through the campaign filter about ten times before they sent it to the NYT.

James himself admitted that McCain’s piece was lackluster which begs the question, why does the NYT editors have to publish bad journalism? Regardless, James went on to point out that decisions like the one made by NYT serve to highlight the growing prominence of the blogosphere and the decline of mainstream media. I think this claim is a bit overblown because the vast majority of political blogs react to articles in the mainstream media via commentary/analysis. (like we are doing right now)

The larger issue is that McCain is losing in the marketplace of ideas and by that I mean that his ability to paint an inspiring vision of a better America is similar to the article he submitted to the NYT; lackluster. And while the notion of fair and balanced news analysis is seductive, it is fleeting, which is why you can get more in-depth analysis by reading Black on Black Thought.

Stay up fam,

Brandon Q.

]]> http://thesuperspade.wordpress.com/2008/07/23/mccain-feels-disrespected-by-nyt-black-on-black-thought/feed/ 0 brandonq http://thesuperspade.wordpress.com/2008/07/23/barack-obama-rejects-fox-news-on-middle-east-trip/ http://thesuperspade.wordpress.com/2008/07/23/barack-obama-rejects-fox-news-on-middle-east-trip/#comments Wed, 23 Jul 2008 18:07:08 +0000 Garlin Gilchrist II http://www.thesuperspade.com/?p=1567 ]]> There is one good thing that I do see about Barack Obama’s trip overseas. It turns out that his campaign actively refused to include Fox News as a part of his media entourage.

Why this matters

This is important because how candidates and Presidents deal with the media is indicative of how they will deal with the people at large. By Obama rejecting Fox News, he is rejecting their practices as an organization,which is a win for tolerance and open-mindedness. I fervently applaud such actions, and you should too.

On Obama’s Trip

I haven’t said anything about Barack Obama’s current trip to Europe and the Middle East for a few reasons:

• Everyone else is talking about it, so there’s not a lot of new news to share
• It is reactive action. Obama has been very good about taking ownership of issues, national defense in particular, away from the Republicans. For a generation, it has been true that if the debate was about national security, then Republicans & conservatives automatically won. Obama has done quite a bit to change that, but this trip was a step backward because the action was based on the acceptance of John McCain’s completely idiotic premise for critiquing Obama’s war policy. The premise is that Obama is “naive” and that he “doesn’t really know what’s going on”, both of which are wrong. The critique was that he needed to “see things for himself”. By taking the trip, he accepted these. Instead, I would have liked for him to define a different narrative that shows how strong he is and has been in terms of the correctness of his judgement, one that exudes pride in America taking the position as the worlds wisest diplomat with Obama as President. I digress…

I want Progressives and Democrats to stop accepting Republican/Conservative frames of issues. This is the reason that we are always on the defensive. It’s time to go on offense.

One Love. One II.

What’s up fam,

I am happy to kick off Black on Black Thought. This week, James wrote about CNN’s Black in America special (that will highlight life in Black America in all its complexity) and considers whether or not this series will over saturate America with “race talk” and its possible impact on the 2008 election. James basic conclusion is that we are reaching a saturation point in our “race-talk.” I think we are far from the point of saturation.

James’ article kicks off with a basic premise that America is not ready for a meaningful dialogue on race and to this end, I think he is right especially given the mistaken notion that we are living in a post-racial society and the willful ignorance of addressing the historical significance of Indian removal policy, slavery and Jim Crow (and others) as institutional wrongs whose impacts can be felt today

James goes on to question “whether America isn’t “done” with race for the moment, and whether re-engaging a dialogue on race won’t hurt race relations — but also the Obama candidacy — in the end.

I will address the aforementioned shortly but James supports his argument by stating that “By November we will have had the Wright/Pfleger controversy; Obama’s speech on race; questions about Obama’s patriotism; stories about white Americans who believe Obama represents a “change” too great; discussed Black Liberation theology; and will have “learned about what it’s like to be Black in America — and then be expected to vote for a black man in the poll booth.

If I could sum up James’ article it would be that America is getting tired of talking about race and this may have the impact of hurting race relations and damaging Obama’s chance of victory in November. However, if we are really honest with ourselves, it’s not that Americans are not tired of talking about race, they are just really annoyed and upset when it comes up.

To help illustrate my point, consider this, all of the major news outlets embark on a two-week campaign highlighting the need for Americans to give of their time and money to help victims of Hurricane Katrina. For clarification, imagine that this coverage is replete with graphic images and harrowing stories and intensity comparable to MSNBC’s coverage Tim Russert, whose passing moved me deeply and inspired me to cherish my family more. Now do you think Americans would a) Respectfully engage this campaign by watching/listening to this coverage and give of their time and money or b) Occasionally watch the coverage and before the end of the first week, start to think to themselves and become vocal in saying “OK, I get it. Katrina was bad but can we please change the subject now?” I suspect that the answer would be b) because people aren’t tired, they are really annoyed and upset.

For any remaining moral purists, tell me how long it takes for you to click away from television specials that highlight the need for giving aid to starving African children?

So if we are at a place where we can’t even mount sustainable campaigns where people have to give of their time and money for extremely worthy causes, how can we get people moved to do a far less taxing activity such as having a “race-talk.” As for Obama’s candidacy, I think his “race-talk” will be beneficial in comparison to the extent that the majority of Americans are not annoyed or angered. And in my opinion, if Americans are over saturated with anything, it is thinking that it is inherently unfair to correct this country’s original sin through public policy along with a severe lack of empathy for those less fortunate and/or different.

Enjoy.

One Love. One II.

There were lots of interesting panels and compelling speakers, my favorite of which being:

• How Independent Media Creates Change, which featured my friend and Brave New Films founder, Robert Greenwald.
• Power in Your Pocket: Cell Phones and Social Change, which I loved because it talked about how cell phone technology can be used as an organizing tool.
• News for the People: Can Black Radio provide the News we need? because it featured my friend and mentor Bruce Dixon‘ along with the brilliant Dr. Jared Ball.

But the most valuable part of the conference was the opportunity to meet so many great people in the hallways, at the parties, and around the city. I met folks I’d only worked with online, and others for the first time. These people I met and interacted with for the first time in person included:

• Friend and fellow Black blogger Baratunde
• Black blogging pioneer Chris Rabb of Afro-Netizen
• Veteran activist and writer Bruce Dixon
• Feminist blogger Samhita Mukopadhyay of Feministing
• Freelance journalist Kristal Brent Zook
• Award-winning journalist George Curry
• Popular liberal blogger Atrios
• Many, many more…

I also was on a panel Sunday morning called Where We’ll Take It: Young Leaders on the Future of Media. I was on the panel with Jenny Lee from Detroit Summer and 2 other young activists (I was actually the oldest member of the panel). It was a very passionate discussion, and one that was extremely well received by the large audience that attended. I spoke mainly on the importance of localization and new media focusing more on local news and stories, as well as the rise of Black activism online. As soon as Free Press sends me the audio and the video, I’ll put it up on the site. (UPDATE: The audio is here.)

I enjoyed myself, I enjoyed my panel, and I enjoyed interacting with all of the great people I met. This conference has great energy, even better than last year’s. Though it still has a long way to go as far as having more people of color in attendance, they better on that than they did last year as well. All in all, this was a definite step in the right direction.

Throughout the coming year, I’ll be doing more media reform work with Free Press, and I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.

One Love. One II.

Popular talk radio host Michael Baisden should be commended for his efforts raising attention to the Jena 6 but he foolishly squandered all that when he got involved in the same old crabs in a bucket mentality that consistently cripples the efforts of Black folk to do good. I can not put it better than Jack and Jill Politics, “For reasons that appear at best, self-serving, he and another DJ have gone on the attack against the laudable leadership Color of Change has shown in bringing needed attention to the plight of the Jena 6 families.” The SuperSpade enthusiastically supports the work of Color of Change because they have four characteristics that are sorely missing in traditional Black leadership model; principled, transparent, bold, and accountable. I challenge you to go to their site and tell me what you disagree with.

Color of Change explains how Marcus Jones – the father of Mychal Bell, one of the Jena 6 – was a guest on Michael Baisden’s syndicated radio show on Monday, November 5th. Marcus Jones and Michael Baisden used the occasion to attack and slander ColorOfChange.org and our executive director. Baisden continued to do so on November 6th. Both Baisden and Jones made several false and misleading statements which have raised the concern of many of our members.

From What about our Daughters, “Well apparently the Jena 6 families want the money to be used for purposes other than getting their children out of the clank and they collaborated with consummate attention whore and smutty book writer turned prognostitute and talk show “personality”, Michael “Baby Oil” Baisden to bite the hand that fed them. Better yet, they just bit off the hand of Color of Change completely. Listen to the audio of the calls.

Micahel Bell’s Daddy ( the one who can’t stop his child from repeatedly violating parole), gets on the Michael Baisden show and says he doesn’t know WHO Color of Change is and then goes on to slander ALL Black activists online. Baisden goes on to call Color of Change “Shady.”

Of course this is before Baisden promotes his own fundraiser for the Jena 6, trying to raise $1 million dollars after all the legal fees have been taken care of. In other words, Baisden used Marcus Jones to prop-up himself as the only trusted source for donations. So then when Baisden gets called out for his BS, he puts out a half-ass apology in the form of a statement but there was no on-air apology clearing the name of Color of Change. You can’t attack an organization based off misinformation by your staff and then refuse to correct this wrong in the same spirit and medium it was originally made.

The bigger issue for me though is that I am trying to figure out why Marcus Jones would want to deny money that is being raised by Color of Change to cover the legal costs to get the Jena Six out of jail? I hate to be bitter but for real, how many people do you know that would get upset because OTHER people are raising money to help you with an expensive legal case? Marcus is upset because he doesn’t know them (Color of Change). SO WHAT!!! That can not be the real reason but I won’t speculate.

I will however, refer to Gina from What about our Daughters, (A fantastic blog btw.) writes and I concur,

Dear fellow diplomatic and tactful Black bloggers, I know that y’all want to temper your public outrage for fear of creating a chasm in some coalition you believe now exists as a result of the Jena 6, but let me make it plain as moi is prone to do. THIS WAS AN ATTACK ON BLACK ONLINE ACTIVISTS IN GENERAL. It was a calculated attack. Baisden worked on this attack for weeks and knew EXACTLY WHAT HE WAS DOING. Y’all can be all “We Are the World” if you want to, but it is what it is. Old media is terrified of Black bloggers. The Black Elite Establishment, of which smutty book writing Baisden wants to belong, views bloggers with suspicion and disdain and since I love hyperbole… they don’t have a problem destroying what they cannot control and they can’t control Black bloggers…Folks let’s move on. New Orleans is still in shambles, folks in Dunbar Village are still living in fear, a WHOLE BUNCH of Black folks are actually SITTING IN JAIL, and the Entertainment Industrial Complex is still cranking out multimedia crack aimed at destroying Black America. The Jena 6 and their families want a DIVORCE from the Black Blogosphere. Give it to them already!

Remember the Iron Rule: “Never do for others what they can do for themselves.” There ain’t nothing left for y’all to do for those families that they can’t do for themselves.

I founded a coalition of Black bloggers known as blacknetaction and there is another coalition known as Afrosphere. I am willing to bet that the majority of breaking Black news you digest was birthed from a Black blogger. When you see forwarded emails that have the subject line; ‘YOU WON’T BELIEVE THIS,’ those emails are inspired by Black bloggers who are not tied to corporate advertising dollars and can speak truth to power weeks and months before mainstream media would even think to cover the stories we write. Even Baisden has said on numerous occasions that he would not have known about Jena 6 were it not for Black bloggers. So here is a tip to any Black “leader” that decides to unfairly crap on Black bloggers, we talk. 

Check out the letter Eddie Griffin wrote to Baisden.

Stay up fam,

Brandon Q.

Barack Obama thinks that consolidation in media ownership is a bad thing, and he let the FCC know that today.

Minority owned and operated newspapers and radio stations play a critical role in the African American and Latino communities and bring minority issues to the forefront of our national discussion.

I am glad to see Obama be explicit here about the impact of media consolidation on minority communities. It is clear that the interests of minorities are not a particularly high priority in this administration, I hope that everyone's interests matter to the next President.

One Love. One II.