By Billy “Hollywood” Groves
Without the power to communicate, I truly believe African-Americans would be in a situation worse than they are. African-American journalists have a very important role in providing essential information to people who are not considered to be credible. Without people writing and speaking out about the successful and positive endeavors of Black, Brown and other disrespected Americans, the news we would get about these Americans would mostly be negative.
When you see more negative news than positive news on certain groups, you have to question the communication between the media and those groups. That is why it’s important that we have Black publications, which actively communicate with African-Americans and are able to highlight their greatness. I am not trying to say there aren’t negative activities happening in Black communities, because there are.
In fact, there are “bad actors” in every American neighborhood; however, there are more productive citizens in Black communities than those which are often highlighted by various media outlets. Oftentimes, we see majority of these outlets only focus on the negative things that happen in Black communities.
Sad to say, when you look at the American major news media of television, newspapers, radio, magazines, the internet and other outlets, they are predominantly made up of White people, while Black people in sports and entertainment are given media attention basically for their performance and amusement abilities; however, for the most part there is much more attention from American media on Black people when they do something wrong.
The power to communicate allows young and old people the ability to work together on goals which help not just African-Americans, and our communities’, but, all Americans. For those who may think I’m not telling the truth, do your own research on your local media outlets. Find out how many African-Americans, Brown people and other so-called minorities are on their staff and what their positions or status is at that business.
Imagine if the majority of these recent massive shootings and murders at schools, clubs and other places in America had been done by Black men instead of White men. I know the coverage by America’s media would have focused more on them and their race than they have done on the current killers.
The more African-Americans and other minorities that speak out against this element, the stronger the nation can become. I really feel good when I talk with White Americans across Texas and America who tell me they enjoyed reading about successful endeavors accomplished by African-Americans. They tell me if they had not read it in a Black newspaper, or heard a Black journalist say it, they would have never known this “positive news”about Black people.
Historically, America has not been kind to Black people, rooting in the fact that only our ancestors were slaves in this nation; therefore, the way media outlets portray African-Americans should not come as a surprise. But with new avenues of Black media things are changing.
The “Power to Communicate” is one of the main ingredients that America must use to bring our currently “divided country”together and we the media are there to make it happen! God Bless America!
