OK. So I'm pissed. That's really what I mean to say. Pissed. Why do black folks always talk about supporting our own then do nothing? What's up with that? It's almost six months now that I've been blogging away, all because I had read and heard some things about dkos, (that's daily Kos for you who don't know). Daily Kos, by Markos Moulitsos, is possibly one of the biggest and best known blogs going. I think they had their second conference this past summer, and it was well attended. It draws so many people because it is a left wing blog, which means there's some place for place for democrats to go. Not me. I'm afraid I'm an anarchist, which they did accuse me of being, lol. dkos is a mainly white domain, and those who attended the conference where mainly white. The conference actually caused something of a stir because only a handful of blacks attended. I have no problem with that, except that a well known blog such as dkos, or any of the main stream blogs like it, will tend to shut out blacks and any other person of color. And still think that black owe an allegiance to white candidates, and that's where I have a problem.
That's when I got curious. I wondered if there were any black voices on the web, blogging black voices. There was one that I had known about for a number of years, and that was Steve Gilliard of the News Blog, who passed away last summer, may he rest in peace. So of course I used good old Google and went searching for those other voices and I found them, plenty of them, excellent, wonderful voices, many of them involved in some monumental undertakings, most working to change the world around them. I visited these blogs and read and read, so glad to see that there some wonderful black voices out there, some wonderful brothers and sisters blogging, lending their voices to the world. Some bloggers are even doing web podcasts and have been featured in other forums. There's a black web blog award and there's even going to be a conference in Atlanta next summer.
It's all good, it really is, but. After finding all these great and wonderful voices, posting and responding to their excellent writing, I began to get discouraged. Not in my own posting, you understand, but in theirs. Now, at this point I have to admit that in general, I suppose I don't know anything about blogging etiquette as it were, you know, what the rules are. I thought that if you posted in response on someone else's blog, then they just might come and visit you. Not that they necessarily have to, but they might. I also got the feeling that they wanted to build a coalition of African American bloggers, of voices united, though to a great extent this was accomplished. It was black bloggers who organized the march on Jena, for the kids who were getting a raw deal there. Many kept nooses out there in the fore front of the news. The voices can get out there and move the people when needed.
So. How do you build a coalition of united voices if you don't go to read the blogs of others? How do you know what others are thinking and doing if you don't go to read the blogs of others, don't seek out other voices? How do you encourage others if you don't visit their blogs, let them know that somebody out there had found them? That they should keep on adding their voices to the bloggosphere? Yes, I do know that many of keep on blogging because they have something to say and because they need to, I'm one of them.
That being said, I'm really sorry that I won't be able to attend the conference in Atlanta next summer. I can't imagine what it be like surrounded by so many wonderful voices you only read on the nets. Meeting some of these brothers and sisters face to face. I can only hope that it will be as well attended as the one of dkos, though if there's going to be some barbque there you know black folks will be there too. More black voices are needed out there in the world as well as the bloggosphere where so many people tend to live these days. We all need more and better ways to communicate amongst each other, learn from each other and share our experiences because we're really on the edge of something new if we just get it together.
On that note I hope to do better myself and get my blog roll up and running so that I can hit those blogs every time I log into blogger. I and I promise a certain someone to do better about my communications, lol. Then I will make the effort to visit those on the roll once a week and say something, let them know I was there. Then no one will be able to scream that a black person didn't support them because I did.
That's when I got curious. I wondered if there were any black voices on the web, blogging black voices. There was one that I had known about for a number of years, and that was Steve Gilliard of the News Blog, who passed away last summer, may he rest in peace. So of course I used good old Google and went searching for those other voices and I found them, plenty of them, excellent, wonderful voices, many of them involved in some monumental undertakings, most working to change the world around them. I visited these blogs and read and read, so glad to see that there some wonderful black voices out there, some wonderful brothers and sisters blogging, lending their voices to the world. Some bloggers are even doing web podcasts and have been featured in other forums. There's a black web blog award and there's even going to be a conference in Atlanta next summer.
It's all good, it really is, but. After finding all these great and wonderful voices, posting and responding to their excellent writing, I began to get discouraged. Not in my own posting, you understand, but in theirs. Now, at this point I have to admit that in general, I suppose I don't know anything about blogging etiquette as it were, you know, what the rules are. I thought that if you posted in response on someone else's blog, then they just might come and visit you. Not that they necessarily have to, but they might. I also got the feeling that they wanted to build a coalition of African American bloggers, of voices united, though to a great extent this was accomplished. It was black bloggers who organized the march on Jena, for the kids who were getting a raw deal there. Many kept nooses out there in the fore front of the news. The voices can get out there and move the people when needed.
So. How do you build a coalition of united voices if you don't go to read the blogs of others? How do you know what others are thinking and doing if you don't go to read the blogs of others, don't seek out other voices? How do you encourage others if you don't visit their blogs, let them know that somebody out there had found them? That they should keep on adding their voices to the bloggosphere? Yes, I do know that many of keep on blogging because they have something to say and because they need to, I'm one of them.
That being said, I'm really sorry that I won't be able to attend the conference in Atlanta next summer. I can't imagine what it be like surrounded by so many wonderful voices you only read on the nets. Meeting some of these brothers and sisters face to face. I can only hope that it will be as well attended as the one of dkos, though if there's going to be some barbque there you know black folks will be there too. More black voices are needed out there in the world as well as the bloggosphere where so many people tend to live these days. We all need more and better ways to communicate amongst each other, learn from each other and share our experiences because we're really on the edge of something new if we just get it together.
On that note I hope to do better myself and get my blog roll up and running so that I can hit those blogs every time I log into blogger. I and I promise a certain someone to do better about my communications, lol. Then I will make the effort to visit those on the roll once a week and say something, let them know I was there. Then no one will be able to scream that a black person didn't support them because I did.
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