Again, Black bloggers

It's getting deep up in here.

Did you read Cobb's The Mystery of the Black Blogger? Go check it again. The comment thread continues, and is very, very good. Probably because Oliver Willis linked to it, it was visited by the estimable Steven Den Beste, who gives a succint example of the reason I refer to "us" as Black rather than African American.

National origins can be interesting to the extent that they cause people to have quite different points of view, which is why Kim du Toit is fun to read. He is a genuine "African American", in that he's a white immigrant from South Africa who is now a naturalized citizen. (If he ain't an African-American, who is?)

The true answer to that last question can only be given by a cop from two blocks away.

The other interesting statement Mr. Den Beste makes is:

One of the reasons why a lot of bloggers "pass" is because they want to be seen as themselves, not as what they look like. (In fact, there are some bloggers out there whose gender I'm not even sure of.) Does the value of someone's words change because of the color of their skin? Or whether they're old or young? or based on their sex? Not for me.

I am absolutely taking him at his word here, because I feel the same, as long as race isn't the topic. I don't exclude people from the discussion, but the topic is inherently subjective, so I have to take a person's experiences into account in valuing their statement.

Their acts, on the other hand, speak for themselves, as always.

As I read Cobb's post and his responses to his commenters, it took a while for me to decide how to describe his handling of the topic…"better than I did" was the first phrase that came to mind, which is not my favorite phrase to say the least. I think it it struck me that way because my own response was seriously impersonal.

Which brings us to Glenn's contribution.

What I believe P6 may be trying to do (not speaking to P6 I have no way of knowing his true motives) is to open up a broader discussion on how Blacks fit into the blog community and the potential of blogs to foster strong online communities of educated black folks. I make the specific reference to EDUCATED black folks because if you�ve ever looked at the numbers not many of our ghetto cousins are signing on.

I got motives. Glenn has specified a subset of them. Acting on my motives means making a rational, realistic, non-hysterical view of Black folks current among mainstream folks and making a rational, realistic, non-hysterical view of mainstream folks current among Black folks. We need both and ain't got neither. A public discussion like this one is a possible vehicle to these ends…it shows the non-hysterical views are possible.

Once the non-hysterical views are in place then it will be possible to figure out a way to a racial rapprochement. And we need one…it is no exaggeration to say the lack of a racial rapprochement was key in allowing certain extremists to take over our government and culture (see "Southern Strategy").

As for our ghetto cousins, they may not be blogging but they're online. Trust me. I've actively chosen not to present the views of that segment of the community as expressed in certain mailing lists because I'd be too busy explaining how people I don't necessarily agree with can see things the way they do to get around to my own positions.

Personally I believe that blogs and the Internet in general MAY have the potential to foster strong online communities for blacks, but why hasn�t it happened already?

They have, but the Black folks you're seeing on social and political blogs are those who actively participate in the mainstream and feel like they have some input. That's just not a large segment of the Black communities.

There seems to be a BUNCH of Black gay bloggers. They fall into the "looking for a connection" category. And Black people whose blogs are personal journals are legion as well. If I make my experimental blog public, I'll probably link to the wittier journal-bloggers from there. Having only the opinions of folks like me in the mix makes for a serious distortion.

So if P6 really does want to open a discussion on blogs and how they may fit into the Black online presence I have one question. Who will be the person that strikes the match that lights the fire?

The discussion is started. Like all blog discussions, it will run a course and come to an end.

As to matches and the fire, I'm not feeling that as the metaphor.

I'd be willing to bet that every Black blogger and most Black folks who blog counts him or herself as an independent voice. The odds of gathering them into a single voice is like zero. I think the better metaphor is an electronic circuit, made of many kinds of components, each with their own nature (and even different capacities among those of the same nature), connected, each processing the juice and passing it along, each necessary for the correct operation of the circuit.

This is kind of connected to something in Cobb's response:

The alternative is to create a joint authored portal like Volokh or Crooked Timber or OxBlog. I have Vision Circle and there is the ever excellent Negrophile. For the moment I'm not complaining. I do think, however there is a significant question on whether the blogosphere needs a joint blog of color.

For the moment, I think I'll leave that as the last thought, for my consideration as well.

Posted by Prometheus 6 on September 16, 2003 - 7:06am :: Race and Identity
 
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