by Charing Ball
As a dedicated and consistent social networker, I sometimes marvel at how certain links I post about entertainment news or political gossip draw more opinions and critiques than links I’ve posted about world politics, the environment and the sciences and technology.
Just last week, I had a very fruitful discussion on my Facebook page about the Bishop Eddie Long scandal. My network, which consists of mostly folks of African descent, critiqued and analyzed every angle of the incident, offering up their own theories to what this scandal might mean to the Black religious community.
Last week, I also attempted to start a discussion about the implications of Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka‘s new political party, which he founded to take aim at corruption in Nigeria. Unfortunately, that discussion never took off.
Not one single person in my network had an opinion on Soyinka and the prospects of his youth-based party, which is really surprising as these are generally young, educated and opinionated folks. Maybe it’s an issue of my network not knowing much about the politics of Nigeria or maybe, it’s a matter of them knowing, but not really caring.
Perhaps Leslie Pitterson and I share the same concerns – or at least the same network of Facebook friends – as last week, Pitterson penned a piece in Clutch Magazine about the African-American news media and its lack of focus on international affairs. As Pitterson writes, “I’d like to think that this is a blunder, an editorial oversight if you will. But as an avid reader of many of these publications, this latest omission represents just another example of Black media’s blatant disregard of international news.”
The floods in Nigeria, which displaced millions, the Chilean mine collapse, which has trapped 33 miners in a cave for more than a month, and the recent decision by Israel to restart construction on settlements along the West Bank have all been hot-topic news items in most mainstream media outlets. Yet these same stories, and others, rarely find attention amongst black press.
So who’s at fault: the black media, including radio and print, who fail to view us as global citizens or the viewers, who feel no relevance to these issues and who do not deem these stories worthy of attention?
In short, it’s all of the above.
The conventional wisdom is that, due to greater concerns about jobs, crime, education and other ‘survival’ issues, news stories related to the environment or world politics falls in the category of mess in which black folks could care less about. And to some degree, I can understand that reasoning: it’s hard to think about armed rebels in the Sudan or the plight of the endangered polar bear, when you’re battling the NYPD right here in your own community.
However, it is our narrow view of the world – and our place in it – which explains why African-Americans, who represent 13% of the US population, only earn less than 5% of graduate degrees in computer science and engineering. Or why the HIV infection rate among certain demographics within the African-American community is just as high as it is in Third World countries.
Many of history greatest social change leaders including Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, had been inspired by the liberation struggles in Africa, India and other Third World countries. Likewise, many of our great scientists and inventors, had overcame being shut-out of professional industries, by not believing the hype that African-Americans were not smart or capable of working in these fields.
Which is why I pay attention to all sections of the newspaper as having a world-view not only connects us to the global struggle experienced by persons of color throughout the world but also helps African-Americans, particularly the youth, understand that there is a world bigger and greater than what has narrowly been perceived as the African-American community.
