Farewell NPR News and Notes

Top (L-R): Geoffrey Gardner, Drew Tewksbury, Joanne Griffith, Allison Samuels, and Zachary Slobig
Middle (L-R): Sonata Lee-Narcisse, Sasa Woodruff, Sherene Strausberg, [former staffer] Kenya Young, Tony Cox, Roy Hurst and Geoffrey Bennett
Seated (L-R): Christabel Nsiah-Buadi, Nicole Childers and Devin Robins

I was blessed to be a guest on this show a number of times over the past year. I thought that the host, Farai Chideya, was a woman of great character and intellect. NPR made a mistake when they cancelled the show.

I appeared on the Blogger's Roundtable on the following dates: January 14, 2009, August 20, 2008, June 18, 2008, April 9, 2008 and November 14, 2007.

Farai Chideya speaks with Villager on NPR Blogger Roundtable

I was a guest this week on NPR’s News and Notes with host Farai Chideya. Amani Channel and Lenny McAllister were the other two bloggers at our roundtable. We talked about Congressional Black Caucus, Sarah Obama and increased incidents of racism on the Internet. It was a fairly low-key discussion.

Click here to listen to the roundtable broadcast.

NPR Cancels 'News & Notes' Program Hosted by Farai Chideya

It saddened me to learn that the 'News & Notes' show is being cancelled by National Public Radio (NPR). News & Notes covered a wide range of issues from an African American perspective.

The one-hour daily program hosted by well-known broadcast and digital media journalist Farai Chideya was a wonderful opportunity for Black bloggers. Farai hosted a Blogger Roundtable each Wednesday as part of her program. I had pleasure of being a panelist in Nov 2007, Apr 2008, Jun 2008 and Aug 2008.

NPR claims that the show is being eliminated because of a $23 million budget shortfall. NPR, which has a staff of 889, said it will cut 85 jobs, including 21 unfilled positions. Dennis Haarsager, NPR's CEO, says that the show failed to attract “sufficient levels of audience or national underwriting necessary to sustain continued production under these tough financial circumstances.”

Here is what other Black bloggers are saying about this sad news:

1. African American Political Pundit


2. Can't Stop Won't Stop


3. goodCRIMETHINK


4. Jack and Jill Politics


5. Jasmyne Cannick


6. Maynard Institute


7. My Urban Report


8. Pam's House Blend


9. Rod 2.0 Beta


10. SES: Science, Education & Society

I'm not certain what can be done at this point. Please share any ideas that you might have in the COMMENTS section below.

Villager on NPR Roundtable: Mixed Race, Pretty Face?

I represented villagers as a member of the NPR bloggers' roundtable hosted by Farai Chideya on 8/20/08. We discussed the following three questions during the roundtable:

1. Do you agree with new study calling mixed-race kids cuter, but worse behaved?


2. Do you agree with the Justice Department desire to use racial, ethnic and religious profiling when investigating a suspected terrorist?


3. It's all good that Laurence Fishburne has a new gig with CSI, but doesn't it seem like the Black sitcom is going the way of the dinosaur?

My two roundtable panel colleagues were Aimee Laramore (A Work in Progress) and Kevin Ross (3 Brothers and a Sister).

Do have thoughts on any of these three issues that you care to share? What say u?

Condoleeza Rice for Vice President? Are Civil Rights Groups Obsolete?

Farai Chideya hosted Blogger's Roundtable on NPR News & Notes earlier today with Arlene Fenton, Jay Anderson and me. We talked about the rumors of Condoleeza Rice seeking vice presidency.

All three of us agreed that Condi Rice was not going to be McCain's veep candidate. All reports indicate that she wants to leave Washington DC at the end of Bush's term of office in order to return to the academic world of Stanford University. I don't think Condi brings anything useful to a McCain ticket. She doesn't have economics expertise ... nor is she a darling of the radical right ... also, she is tightly-tied to George W. Bush ... and that ain't a good thing for McCain! Those are three things that McCain needs in his VP candidate.

Actually, the rumors are insulting in some respects to the talent-level of Condi Rice. She has some serious skillz and doesn't deserve to have her name thrown in the ring by the Republicans to counterbalance the diverse talent (Clinton or Obama) being showcased by the Democrats.

Our roundtable also dealt with the question of whether or not Civil Rights groups are obsolete. What do you think villagers? Are groups like the NAACP or the Urban League or CORE or SCLC obsolete? In our view, the issue went beyond the ability of these groups to adopt new-age technology, such as blogs. Rather, the blogger's panel wondered if the leadership of these groups could look at problems in our community from a 21st century perspective.

As an example, we noted that NAACP and Al Sharpton jumped on comparisons of the Dunbar Village ('alleged') rapists were being treated unfairly in light of the fact that ('alleged') white rapists in Boca Raton are free on bail. Ol' school thinking! White boys got bail, therefore, our Black boys should get bail. That is stinkin' thinkin' when the Black boyz are undeniably responsible for rape, torture and terrorism with an innocent mother and her son. 21st century thinking is that no bail should be offered to the Dunbar Village rapists. Eventually Al Sharpton and NAACP apologized for their stinkin' thinkin'.

Finally, I was pleased with Bro. Anderson (AverageBro blog) perspective that our civil rights organizations ... and Black bloggers ... should be more PROactive and less REactive. For example, he calls for bloggers and Black organizations to get engaged in mentoring, tutoring and other PROactive efforts to keep our young people on the right path, rather than REact when our young people get involved in rapes, gangs or other counter-productive behavior.

We had a great time. I hope you had a chance to listen to us live ... but, if not, you can click here to listen to what we had to say. What would you have said on either of the two questions --> Condi Rice for Vice President? or Are Civil Rights groups obsolete?

Villager Joins NPR Blogger Roundtable

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.

Click here to listen to the roundtable discussion. Villagers, any thoughts on the three topics we discussed on the NPR show this week?

NPR Blogger Roundtable Invites Villager Back Again

Villagers, I learned today that I will be back on the blogger roundtable hosted by NPR News & Notes in January 2008 to discuss the evolution of The AfroSpear as well as the recent ranking of influential Black blogs.

We ran out of time to discuss this segment during the Nov 14 NPR Blogger Roundtable ... so, we rescheduled that segment for January 9. Villagers, did you have a chance to listen to the 13-minute roundtable discussion with me, La Shawn Barber and Yobachi Boswell? If so, what did you think?

Villager Joins NPR Roundtable Hosted by Farai Chideya

Click here to listen to our 13-minute roundtable discussion!

Villagers, I am heading to local NPR station later today to participate in a weekly blogger roundtable on News & Notes hosted by Farai Chideya (shown in the photo to the right). I will be joined by La Shawn Barber and Yobachi Bowell. The show is pretty relaxed -- think of it as a conversation around the dinner table with friends and family, or at a coffee house or bar.

My understanding is that we will be talking about four topics (time permitting) during the show:

1. Growing influence of 'The AfroSpear - The history of AfroSpear is documented. This progressive section of the afrosphere stoked the fires that led to mainstream media coverage of Jena Six, Genarlow Wilson and Shaquanda Cotton situations. The group recently began to track the Top 10 Black Blogs with a list that is published monthly on both the Electronic Village and BDPA Foundation blogs.


2. Who speaks for Black America? Anyone?? - Personally, I think that this is a bugaboo of white powers-that-be resulting from their utter surprise at the response of Blacks all over the country to the news of MLK's assasination.


3. UC system considers using race for admissions - I think that affirmative action programs are valid responses to institutionalized racism. As such, I think that using race for admissions is a valid option for consideration.


4. HOTGIRLS - (Helping Our Teen Girls In Real Life Situations) uses rap music to start conversations with girls about the challenges they face growing up --- BUT rap is often blamed for promoting degrading images of women -- Is this what they call a conundrum?

Anyhow villagers, I hope that you will listen to the show live or via the taped audiocast! Let me know what you think about the four topics or the show itself!