African American blogsphere; Gaining stature in the world of news.

“When these same media outfits are spending millions of dollars on a PR campaign
To try to convince you they're fair and balanced…” Immortal Technique, Revolutionary Vol. 2

Journalism was, at one time, perceived to be an unofficial fourth check on the government in the checks and balances mechanism, a kind of buffer to keep the other three branches honest. While I was attending university we were taught that journalist had certain rights to protect their “sources” used to gain information that could provide flesh and blood proof or the validity of their story. But, it seems the Woodward and Bernstein type investigative reporting on the government, its actions and policies have become part of the very thing it was supposed to check. Journalism in its true essence is on its death bed with a do not resuscitate order.  Maybe even by force under the Bush regime, remember the Jutidh Miller case?  Whatever the cause, be it by force or consent the main stream media is losing its journalistic roots.

For many years I lived without the services of a cable provider and I really lived happily without them. But, something kept nagging at me as if I were missing out on very pertinent information that others were privy to and I was not. So, after 11 and a half years I broke down, ordered and have service from one of the many cable providers in the Metro Atlanta area and I couldn’t be more disappointed in what I see passing for journalism and also, maybe, my decision to bring this bangarang into my home once again.

The stations I used to look to for good quality information all seem to be stuck in some vortex between “real” news and comic showmanship. Actually conducting fact based journalism is a thing of the past, filled with the slant (a watered down form of opinion) of the overall station’s or print medium’s philosophy. Their not so hidden bias has become the order of the day not withstanding what appears to be collusion with government agencies. Fortunately I’ve found solace in the ever burgeoning blogsphere.

Bloggers, and especially Black bloggers, are emerging as the vanguard in the world of bringing new and fresh news to the fore, along with an open outright opinion. There is no façade of “true” objectivity, but open raw news with the writer’s obvious opinion. Never the less we are seeing more raw and hidden information being revealed by Black bloggers to the extent that some people are utilizing blogs as a source of news and information equal to that of the main stream media, including this writer. Granted, I do watch the other news programs and glean the major rags, yet the blogsphere is providing information these other journalistic outlets do not or agree to not cover.

Unfortunately, blogs are most often visited and read by other bloggers and not enough of the general population. I have friends and co-workers that have told me that they cannot get into utilizing their computer and the internet as a form of “entertainment“, I suppose their meaning of entertainment includes news. This is the mindset that must change since many of the Black collective are far and away being duped by the 4^th branch (as termed by Immortal Technique) in the song of the same name. The overwhelming question is; How to drive more of the Black collective to the internet and the Black blogsphere?

More for Black History Month; Black Caribbean Sailors serving in the Union Navy during the Civil War.

As I said on a previous post, Black History Month should be about more than recycling the same stories over and over, and we should endeavor to present new or little known information.

On many occasions I have made it known that I believe the original people of the Americas, are who would be described today as Black people. There is much evidence to support this, and even a bit of rumination on the words used at the time of the European voyages which occurred before, and after the voyage of Christopher Columbus will help to reveal such. One main point to consider is the use of the word Indian. During the time of the European voyages west, the people encountered were described as Indians. Not withstanding, that in 1492 there was no place in the world named India. Yet, Christopher Columbus is alleged to have written in a letter that he had Indios with him on his return from the Lucayos.  This dispells the tale that he was looking for a western route to India.

Thus, during the time of Columbus, the word Indian did not refer to place called India. The place we call India today was then called Hindustan, and the use of the term Indians for the people of the americas didn’t come into fashion until around 1553. Columbus also writes of the people of the Guanahani Islands (now the Bahamas) as “…not Black, but the color of the inhabitants of the Canaries (islands off the west coast of Africa), use your imagination concerning the race of the people that inhabited islands off Africa's west coast.

Its imperative that we understand that when Columbus says they are not black, he is not referring to race but, only to skin color. This doesn‘t indicate the people of the Americas are not Negroid/Africoid people, only that they are not as dark complected as other Moors he had encountered.

Later, during the time of the Underground Railroad, many escape routes lead from the Carolinas south through Georgia, Florida into the Caribbean on to the Bahamas, Cuba, Haiti and Jamaica, the islands that are in the closest  proximity to the U.S. With that said I would like to present a post found on Black Food Culture shop and bookstore, written by Charo R. Walker on Afro Bahamians in the Union Navy during the Civil War. There were over 18,000 Black people in the Union Navy comprised of Black people of the U.S., Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, Trinidad, Jamaica and Barbados.  Think of the deeply rooted connection of our ancestors that we have somehow allowed ourselves to forget.  Surely our ancestors didn't.

Historical Society Talk on Afro-Bahamian Sailors in the U.S. Civil War.

By Charo R. Walker
BlackFood News Reporter

LAST Thursday The Bahamas Historical Society hosted a talk by Dr. Peter T. Dalleo entitled, ‘That Boasted Land of Negro Liberty’: Afro-Bahamian Sailors and the Union Navy During the U.S. Civil War.

The event, which was attended by about 30 persons, proved to be very thought provoking.

Dr. Dalleo holds a PhD in African History and is a former lecturer at The College of The Bahamas. Apart from his educational background, he acknowledges that working in Kenya and Ethiopia strengthened his knowledge of Africa. He also credits his time spent in The Bahamas with enhancing his understanding of the African Diaspora in the Caribbean.

In his most recent work, which spans from 1861 to 1865, he looks at the intersection of American and Bahamian history from an African perspective.

His research profiles 62 Afro-Bahamian sailors who served in the Union Navy during the U.S. Civil War. Dr. Dalleo’s proof of the nationality of these sailors rests on enlistment papers that he accessed which lists Nassau, New Providence as the birthplace of the sailors.

According to Dr. Dalleo, most of the sailors were in their mid-twenties, with the youngest being 19 and the eldest 47.

The sailors, for the most part, enlisted in the navy yards or military shipyards on the East Coast of the United States; mainly in New York. There were also some instances in which Afro-Bahamian sailors signed up outside the U.S.

Dr. Dalleo posited that those sailors who signed up in the U.S. were probably working there before the war began and had considerable maritime experience given the strong maritime tradition in The Bahamas. As a result, 39 of the Afro-Bahamian sailors had a rating of seaman or ordinary seaman as opposed to being cooks or being assigned other menial tasks.

He also told the audience that Afro-Bahamian sailors served on 52 different vessels, including supply ships and gun boats. Dr. Dalleo highlighted Dover Edwards, in particular, as an Afro-Bahamian sailor who saw “action” during the War.

Of the 90,000 sailors who enlisted in the Union Navy 18,000 were of African descent. Additionally, the Afro-Bahamian sailors were part of a larger Afro-Caribbean presence in the Union Navy; as sailors of African descent also came from Jamaica, Trinidad, the Turks, and Barbados.

The talk ended with Dr. Dalleo offering speculations on why the sailors enlisted in the Union Navy. He stated that the navy offered good pay, there were prize awards for capturing Confederacy vessels, there was predictability of punishment in the face of discrimination, and there was racial tolerance though there was personal racism.

Perhaps, the biggest pull, which Dr. Dalleo also mentioned, was that they knew they were fighting for the freedom of their brothers and sisters in America.

Though Dr. Dalleo admitted that his work was incomplete and lacked all of the answers just yet his efforts so far are commendable.

Slumdog Governor?

Piyush "Bobby" Jindal is  obviously being raised up as the Republican front runner to possibly faceoff with President Obama in the next go round of presidential politics.  Its so shameful how these politicians will slit the throats of their citizens (saying he will refuse stimulus funds) to gain an elected office.  It is a fact that the Louisiana legislature can and more than likey will accept the funds without the consent of governor Jindal.  This stance by the "good" governor is purely political posturing.  Is Jindal the best that Michael Steele can come up with?  Governor Jindal shuffled to the mirophone like an old worn man, then proceeded to give his biography as to how he came to be an U.S. citizen after his parents immigrated here from India when his mother was four months pregnant.  This smacks as the new in thing by darker skinned politicians, to announce how their parents so loved this country that they raised their only begotten son to so love America as to take political office to show how great this place is.  It all sounds like contrived bull hockey to get into office.  It smells much like the European American song of how "my fadda came here wit nuttin" and raised himself to the stature that he is today.  Are U.S. citizens so naive as to possibly vote this guy into office?

Warren Ballentine off the air in Atlanta!

 Attorney Warren Ballentine

Warren Ballentine is off the air in Atlanta! All to often Black people will holla “it’s white male supremacy” that’s the cause of so many ills in the Black collective (Black community for some of you.) It’s in deed a fact that white supremacy has and is playing a role in the downpression of melaninated humans across the globe. And, it’s an accepted truth that the acceptance of Eurocentric culture has and is playing a negative role in the downpression of Black people across the globe, yet we have to examine our own collusion with white supremacy that aides in the downpression of Black people.

 In this particular case the culprit is Catherine L. Hughes owner of Radio One. Cathy Hughes has allowed the management at Grown Folks Radio 102.5 FM, Atlanta to remove Warren Ballentine and Rev. Al Sharpton from the air waves. Don’t get me wrong, I am not a mourning fan of Mr. Ballentine or Rev. Sharpton, but I mourn the loss of some semblance of balance on radio. Some semblance of Maat. So , I say what a travesty. What a travesty to remove nationally syndicated Black talk radio from the air waves. What a travesty to remove two voices, whether you agreed with, liked, disliked, want to cuss out, or whatever you may feel for these men, to be gone from the city of Atlanta. Its a travesty. So why did they do this?

 “We respond to what the people want” is the normal song radio station management sings when suddenly removing programming that positively impacts the Black collective from the air waves. In a December PPM (Portable People Monitor) 1,946 people carried the monitor. The ethnic groups carrying the monitor broke out with 623 Blacks, 158 Latino and 1,165 listed as “other”. Now these ratings are based on audience estimates and are only the OPINION of Arbitron and can’t be relied upon for precise accuracy and precise demographic of terrestrial radio programming.

 I wondered how the “other” group affected the research and how they were perceived by PPM. In recent years there’s been an increase of people of color, that we in the United States would consider part of the Black collective, recording themselves as “other” (a subject I will cover in the coming weeks.) Considering this new phenomenon, was the data manipulated to prove the Black group was not in sufficient enough numbers to maintain Warren Ballentine and Rev. Sharpton on the air in Atlanta?  In this case, is the data really reflective of the reality?

 What other motive would Grown Folks Radio have to remove Attorney Ballentine from the air? It’s the enemy within that is the demon now. White supremacy is strong and fully at work, yet white supremacy is an enemy from without. The worst enemy is when the body attacks itself, the internal cancer.

We are entering into an age of knowing, knowing that we personally and collectively have to re-enter the womb of selfless mind and cleanse from the inside out. Atlanta is a huge African American radio market and Black owned radio stations remove a balance to the buffoonery that continues through the other comedic host in Steve Harvey, selling his brand of religion “Steve Harvey got a morning show….if it wasn’t for God…” and Michael Baisden, you know what kind of clowning that show pushes, will remain on the air in Atlanta. Black owned and operated so called Grown Folks Radio chooses this over real grown folk radio.

 The enemy within is the worst enemy. All to often we fall under the ignorant spell that Black people with authority and power are going to “look out for our best interest” and do the best for the Black collective. Not so! The cleansing has to come from within, each and everyone of us has to begin internal cleasing on an individual effort. Cleansing our minds, bodies, thoughts and beliefs. The dumbing down of Black America comes not only by the hand of the oppressor, but also by the hand of the Black collective itself.

Reggae Makosa

In February of 2008 the governor general of Jamaica proclaimed February as Reggae Music Month, which happens to run concurrently with Black History Month.. I have been on a bit of a hiatus since the inauguration absorbing the news and all of the economic blight that’s being bandied about on CNN, Fox, MSNBC and all the local stations as if it’s a real situation and not a man made disaster. During that time I Was considering what I would write and if I would even take part in the Black History Month.

I am not against Black history Month, for as long as our history is not being told in school books there is a need for Black History Month. But, the simple fact that the same ole information gets recycled every year is a bit of an annoyance. The aim of this blog is to bring you information that may not normally get to you or at least a different look into the news and from there you take what you find here, and move forward to search out more and deeper knowledge.

In that vein I want to present information that may not be common knowledge and as such it may spark a negative reaction, but none the less a valid source of information to be considered and ruminated upon. With that, and this being Black History and Reggae Music Month, I want to recognize a powerful woman in the world of Reggae music.

Makeda “Dread” Cheatom founded the World Beat Cultural Center in San Diego’s Balboa Park and is also the founder of the Reggae Makosa Reggae show that formely aired on 91X in San Diego. As a native born San Diegan, and deeply into Reggae music Ms. Cheatom was our only source to good, serious, live Reggae music. She often brought in, up and coming artist from abroad such as Tippa Irie and veteran Pato Banton. I can remember on one occasion she had a few of her friends fly in from Jamaica to introduce to us the latest dance that was hot in Jamaica at that time, The Bogle Dance….LOL that seems like an eternity.

Queen Makeda is a native born San Diegan, and has created, the Bob Marley Day event that is a 12 hour event in San Diego, 2 days in Los Angeles and has even spread to San Francisco and Tijuana,Mexico.

Single handedly Makeda Dread has brought one of the biggest Reggae events to California after Reggae on the River. What really caught my attention is the facthathe longest running Reggae music radio program outside of Jamaica.

So, lets look at this, a Yankee from San Diego, had the longest running radio program in the history of San Diego, CA, the longest running Reggae radio show in the world outside of Jamaica lasting for 25 years. Longer than any program in Toronta, Canada, longer than any Reggae program in Britain, which means she had been on the air longer than the famed David Rodigan or Daddy Ernie of London, England, chuh!

In June, 2008 91X in San Diego pulled the plug on the longest running radio program in San Diego history and the longest running Reggae program on air outside of Jamaica. Big up Queen Makeda Dread.

Makeda can now be found on Big Up Radio on line here.