La Shawn Barber of La Shawn Barber's Corner (BBR #9), Debra Dickerson of Mother Jones (BBR #4), and I joined Farai Chideya on her NPR News & Notes show on Wednesday, January 9. Our 15-minute discussion focused on the New Hampshire primary results, Cynthia McKinney's presidential bid, and another protest planned against BET.
This was the second time that I've been on this Blogger
Roundtable. However, other AfroSpear bloggers are appearing more frequently in the mainstream media.
This was the second time that I've been on this Blogger
Roundtable. However, other AfroSpear bloggers are appearing more frequently in the mainstream media. Click here to listen to the roundtable discussion. Villagers, any thoughts on the three topics we discussed on the NPR show this week?
6 comments:
1) Cynthia McKinney is just trying garner media attention, and needs to just sit down. She sees a viable woman running, and viable black man, and feels she the best combination of the two. She's just drawing focus away from where it needs to be. I honestly, don't think anyone should run on the green ticket, I rather them write in or choose not to vote before throwing their votes away on someone who doesn't have shot in the dark. Just to make a statement that will not be heard.
2)I am 30 so I am in between generations, and I will probably get a lot of flack for this, but I am mad that all these people are picking on the youth of America and not examining their roles as parents in the music choices, and media choices these children are making. I feel the youth inherited a lot of junk, and are now being used as an escape goat for a generation that failed them. Yes, I think this generation was set up to fail. Too many people became victims to crack,too many fathers went "away" or was absent, and too many checked out and disassociated themselves with the inner city, once they moved to the suburbs. Rap music was bad when I was a kid, and few people tried to put a stop to it, but freedom of speech prevailed. Now that kids are shucking and jiving for music deals, and music has moved into the suburbs, it's now a problem. It's been a problem, and parents allowed their kids to listen to it and draw inspiration from it. We will have to be crazy to think our actions had no impact on the way these kids think and act today.
It's not the music that's the problem, it's the problem that's the problem, meaning it's the things that exist that allow the music to be made or created. You can get it off the TV, and it will just become underground because you are not changing the way people parented and the way these kids think. It's not the image on TV, because these images will still exist in urban communities. It's cyclical, and you have to change both aspects, if not the problem will re-occur.
Mentor a child, parent your children, and get off your comfortable lives and help show someone the way to make better choices.
Mrs. G - I hope that you are using your comments on these past few posts as fodder for posts on your blog! This is great stuff.
Cynthia McKinney - Amen!
BET Protest & How We Impact on our Youth - AMEN, AMEN and AMEN!
I appreciate you taking time to listen to the broadcast. I imagine that you'll be on the weekly blogger roundtable soon...
Villager, that was a great show; I just think it's never long enough. Great comments; especially about McKinney.
BTW, thank you for linking my interview with Yobachi and for welcoming me to the AfroSpear Nation.
Vanessa - I'm grateful that you took time to listen to the show. I agree that the timeframe is tight ... but, we have fun. This was my second time on the show with La Shawn Barber. I hadn't heard of the other blogger ... but, it turns out that her blog is now BBR #4. Who knew? (smile)
I recently listened to the NPR segment where you were a featured
commentator discussing current political events. The segment featured
a brief discussion concerning Cynthia McKinney's Green Party
presidential announcement. Though I disagreed with much of our
assessment of Ms. McKinney -- Ms. McKinney's fearless service during her time in Congress serves as a brilliant example of what we should be demanding more of from our elected representatives -- I can respect your opinions on the
matter. What I cannot respect or abide, however, was the comment you
choose to lead with in that discussion.
The continued evocation of the fallacy that Ralph Nader's 2000 Green
Party presidential run somehow cost Mr. Gore the presidency is not
only intellectually dishonest and factually incorrect, but it reeks
of a supposed entitlement in the electoral arena of votes belonging
to this or that candidate. A vote belongs to no one but the voter and
until he or she chooses to grant a candidate that vote, it remains in
that persons sacred trust. The despotic rhetoric around Mr. Gore's
failed presidential bid that flies in the face of this essential
democratic understanding should enrage decent people everywhere.
Your candidate apparent, Mr. Gore, failed to win his own state, or
that of the president he had served under for eight years as Vice
President during that race. He failed to push for an investigation
into legitimate claims of voter intimidation, fraud and voting
machine malfunctions (unlike the Green Party Presidential campaign of
David Cobb four years later); gave up his rightful claim in court to
have all of Florida's ballots counted and, though winning the
national popular vote, stepped aside to allow the Supreme Court to
appoint Bush president. Gore won the vote, Bush stole the election
and the Supreme Court sealed the deal.
Mr. Nader had and continues to have every right to run for president
and I dare say, given the overall shape this country is in, the
responsibility as a concerned citizen to do so if he so chooses. Mr.
Nader is not infallible - I certainly would have liked to see
something similar to what was done in 2004 in Ohio have gone on in
Florida - but to blame him for providing hope and inspiration to
millions of voters where Gore could not or would only goes to show
how much trouble this country really is in.
Sincerely,
B. Colby Hamilton
Chair, Green Party of Brooklyn
Villager - I rec'd this correction to information that I shared on the radio show last week -->
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From: Nikki Young
Hello Mr. Hicks,
I heard you on News and Notes today. And although I agree with many of the things you said, I wanted to point out something that you said in error. When talking about the protests against BET (which I am glad to hear about and support) – you compared it to what the Writers Guild did to the Screen Actor’s Guild Awards. The awards show you are referring to is actually the Golden Globe Awards (presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press). These are the awards that were recently cancelled, due to the fact that the majority of stars (members of the Screen Actor’s Guild) refused to cross the WGA picket line.
As a member of the Screen Actor’s Guild (SAG), I am proud that my union is standing in solidarity with our fellow artist in the WGA. The SAG Awards will be going on as scheduled because SAG reached an agreement with WGA. It may seem like a petty detail, but as I’m sure you understand – perceptions are important and a little bit of misinformation can go a long way.
I join you in looking forward to a successful outcome to the BET protests. All the best to you and your efforts in the coming year.
Kind regards,
Nikki Young
Nikkiyo Films
www.nikkiyofilms.com
http://www.myspace.com/nikkiyofilms
"Whistle Lesson" a Nikkiyo Film....view the trailer online now!
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