Ed Markey (D-MA) Discusses Net Neutrality with Black Bloggers

I was pleased to receive invitation to join a conference call today with Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) regarding his Internet Freedom Preservation Act (H.R. 3458) bill. The Internet Freedom Preservation Act would protect Network Neutrality under the Communications Act, safeguard the future of the open Internet, and protect Internet users from discrimination online.

Rep. Markey is best known for his work in Congress on the global warming issue. However, he made it evident during the conference call that he feels the time for net neutrality legislation is now.

Rep. Markey is one of seven congressional leaders to co-sponsor HR 3458. He asked that bloggers and other online activists encourage other members of congress to co-sign this legislation. You can find online petition that allows you to write your congressional representative in the 'Take Action for Net Neutrality' section of this website.

Rep. Markey also suggested that villagers participate in the debate currently taking place within the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

The conference call helped me to better understand the importance of supporting Net Neutrality. I appreciate Rep. Markey, Garlin Gilchrist II (The SuperSpade) and Timothy Karr (Free Press) for providing this open forum of discussion by Black bloggers!

What are your thoughts on the Net Neutrality movement?

NAACP Leaders Talk with Black Bloggers

NAACP President Ben Jealous has been engaged in the Vote Hard Bus Tour going through four states down south. However, he took time yesterday to continue his dialogue with Black bloggers. Garlin Gilchrest II, Chris Rabb and I were the bloggers on this month's conference call. You can see summary of last month's call here.

NAACP leaders introduced to us by President Jealous included Rev. William Barber (North Carolina), Chris Smitherman (Cincinnati) and Angela Ciccolo (NAACP General Counsel).

Here are the highlights from the call:

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Rev. William Barber (NAACP North Carolina Conference) - He shared history of the 'early voting' initiative that began two years ago in North Carolina. This year the state has 15 sites open for Sunday voting. Over 1.2 million NC residents have voted already ... 400,000 of them are African American. Over 6,500 Charlotte citizens voted this past Sunday. Two voter suppression challenges that NAACP NC Conference dealt with recently involved (a) out-of-state college students registered to vote in NC and (b) ex-felon voting rights. Finally, Rev. Barber encouraged everyone to check out the Million Voting March information in print and video.

Chris Smitherman (NAACP Cincinnati Branch) -President Smitherman highlighted the importance of early voting by spending the night in order to be the first person to cast a vote in Hamilton County. Over 15,600 citizens followed his lead as of yesterday. The goal is to have over 25,000 early voters in Hamilton County. He noted that Hamilton County went to Pres. Bush in the 2004 election cycle by only 27,000 votes. NAACP worked with a number of strategic partners including the Greater Cincinnati Urban League, Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS), SEIU and others in a variety of early voting efforts. CPS provided two busses to help get 18-year old high school seniors to voting booths! NAACP Cincinnati Branch wants citizens to 'own the ballot'. As such, the branch is actively promoting support for local ballot initiatives.

Angela Ciccola (NAACP Headquarters) - She acknowledged the powerful work being done by local branch and state leaders such as Barber and Smitherman. She pointed out that the NAACP is aggressively fighting voter suppression and voter intimidation situations in places like Lake County (IN), Indianapolis (IN) and Virginia.

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NAACP has a number of election 'watch parties' taking place next Tuesday night. I imagine that most NAACP members and supporters will be watching the election results next Tuesday all over the country.

I understand that the issue of the NAACP Youth Entrepreneurship Institute will be on the agenda for our call next month. NAACP would like to see more bloggers of African descent on these monthly conference calls. Let me know if you're interested and I'll forward your information on to them so you will be notified.

NAACP Prez Ben Jealous and Black Bloggers Talk About Voters, Foreclosures and Much More

Villagers recall that I questioned the relevance of the NAACP last year.

I no longer question the relevance of the organization. First, one of my colleagues in The AfroSpear is president of the NAACP Wichita Branch and his consistent advocacy on the part of our people is beyond reproach. Second, I've seen the continued evolution of the NAACP Cincinnati Branch as it relates to matters of economic development as well as social justice.

However, I was still surprised to receive invitation to join NAACP president Ben Jealous on a conference call he wanted to hold with some members of the afrosphere. African American Political Pundit and the Super Spade were other bloggers on the call. Mr. Jealous had Hilary Shelton (DC Bureau Director), Carla Sims (Communications) and Nicole Hayes (Media Relations) on the call from the NAACP.

Mr. Jealous indicated that he wants to create a more direct connection with Black people through the evolving blogger networks. He wants to see NAACP use more Web 2.0 tools to communicate with his stakeholders.

The four topics Mr. Jealous wanted to update us on included:

1. 2008 Presidential Election - NAACP effort to register voters as part of the 'Upload to Uplift' initiative was a success. 17,288 people registered to vote via this online project at the time of our call. Mr. Jealous noted that he planned to be in North Carolina in the coming week to encourage early voting. I was pleased to learn that he planned to contact the #1-ranked Black blogger, Pam Spaulding, during his visit to North Carolina.


2. Black Radio - NAACP wrote FCC Chairman Kevin Martin to ask that the FCC investigate Arbitron's Portable People Meter (PPM) methodology. Jealous says the PPM methodology "dramatically undercounts and misrepresents the listening habits of racial and ethnic minorities -- so much so that the continuing viability of minority radio stations is seriously threatened."


3. Foreclosure Crisis - Evidently, the NAACP has been knee-deep in this issue since 2007 when it became apparent that 52% of the African American families with subprime mortgages purchased in 2005 were likely to be in foreclosure by 2009. NAACP expressed concern about predatory lendors and shysters that underplayed the balloon payments and interest-rate escalators. NAACP is monitoring how the Treasury Department implements the $700 billion bailout plan to ensure that African Americans families benefit as much as others. African American Political Pundit asked the NAACP to take a look at the contracts purchased with the $700 billion funds to ensure that 8(a) and MBE-certified corporations get a chance to compete whenever possible.


4. Texas Visit - Mr. Jealous noted that he was heading to Texas this weekend. He planned to meet with NAACP members and leaders impacted by Hurricane Ike. He also wanted to get a first-hand account of the Brandon McClelland case in Paris, TX. We asked him to keep us informed of his findings.

The conference call ended with discussions about NAACP getting onto Twitter and such.

Overall, I found Bro. Jealous to be well-informed and willing to empower his staff. Also, the mere idea that he wants to engage with the afrosphere (Black bloggers) is a powerful indication that he "gets it" when it comes to leading a large organization in the 21st century.

I look forward to future discussions between the NAACP and Ben Jealous. Villagers, let me know if you have issues you want covered at the next conference call between NAACP and Black bloggers.

Black Blogging Beyond Obama

I didn't attend Netroots Nation conference this year. I understand that the event will be in Pittsburgh next year. My plan is to attend it next year.

Anyhow, one of the Netroots National panel discussions this year was entitled, "Black Blogging Beyond Obama".

Drumbeats from The SuperSpade inform us that this panel discussion featuring panelists Gina McCauley from What About Our Daughters, Leutisha Stills from Black Agenda Report and Jack and Jill Politics, and Andre Banks from Color of Change. The panel was honest, probing, and forward thinking.




This panel discussion provides some direction for any of us involved in Black online activism or Black blogging. My guess is that this conversation will continue this weekend at the Blogging While Brown conference in Atlanta.

Here are the questions that Brandon Q. White (The Superspade) asked his panel at Netroots Nation.

1. What is the difference between Black online activists and Black bloggers
2. What do Black bloggers talk about when they are not talking about Obama?
3. How do you see the ascendancy of online activism impacting the traditional civil rights infrastructure?
4. Who blogs locally? (hands) More often than not, the hardest place to organize is where you live. What is your relationship with offline activists in your local community and what should we do to get to the point where we can have local versions of Jena 6 and Fox/CBC debate?
5. How can/should Black online activists going to fill the current and future void of Black leadership?
6. We need more Black bloggers, (burnout) who in this room has encouraged or developed a new Black blogger
7. How do you envision Black bloggers holding Obama accountable should he be elected?
8. Are Black bloggers the flavor of the month and what is our obligation to the community once we have a known voice?
9. There has been much talk about Obama's campaign and possible election as a sign of America's transcending race. What infrastructure and/or strategies need to be in place to continue to raise the issues relevant to the Black community and hold Obama accountable should he be elected?

Villagers, care to share your answers to any of these nine questions?