The Black Press: Charity begins at home!
8th June 2020 · 0 Comments
By C.C. Campbell-Rock
Contributing Editorialist
On the rise to stardom, they look to us
Hell, it’s because of us that they have risen to stardom
When they get in trouble, they find us
When they have money to spend, they diss us….
That Black celebrities and wealthy Blacks are stepping up and calling for police reform and an immediate stop to the murders by cops, and other whites that has persisted in Black communities for 401 years, is a welcomed and beautiful movement among those who are using their platforms to speak to the need for criminal justice reform.
Yet, as we have seen time and again, the white man’s ice is colder for some of us.
CNN recently reported that music and sports mogul Jay-Z has partnered with families who have lost sons to police violence, along with fellow activists and attorneys, to take out full-page ads in newspapers across the country to honor George Floyd. The ad is captioned, “in dedication to George Floyd. #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd,” and quotes a passage from a speech made by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma, Al. in 1965.
The ad was placed in The New York Times, The Denver Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Austin American Statement, The Orlando Sentinel and The Atlanta Journal Constitution, among several other newspapers.
The Louisiana Weekly reached out on Team Roc’s via an email and its Twitter account, to ask if the ads have been placed in Black-owned newspapers. But at press time there had been no response.
While we appreciate and celebrate Jay-Z for stepping up in a big way to wake up America to the murderous practices by “stick time” loving police, who devalue Black lives and live for opportunities to physically abuse Black citizens, we are disappointed that the ad dollars Jay-Z is spending don’t seem to be benefiting the Black Press.
So, let’s define the Black Press. It is not a white media-owned conglomerate that placates us by writing about us or playing our music, for the sole purpose of making money off of us, taking it out of our community and spending it not in our community but in their enclaves, not major corporations that try their best to exclude us; it is not Black folk who are hired by white conglomerates in order to fill EOE requirements.
The Black Press is a safe haven, a beacon that shines the light on injustices perpetrated against Blacks. It is the voice of the Black community. Were it not for the Black Press, there wouldn’t have been a Million Man March.
In many instances, the Black Press has been the main truth-teller and investigator of the domestic terrorism waged against Black people by governments and white supremacists, inside government and on the streets, who pull the levers of power and authority and weaponize white privilege, respectively.
Like the Black communities they serve, Black-owned newspapers have to struggle for economic justice. Black publishers have had the doors of white-run ad departments of major corporations, who count Black consumers among their marketing universe, slammed in their face for decades. As Blacks patronize and buy their goods and services, they ignore both the buying power of Blacks and the Black-owned newspapers to which they subscribe.
For example, Netflix last Saturday posted to its Twitter account: “To be silent is to be complicit. Black lives matter. We have a platform, and we have a duty to our Black members, employees, creators and talent to speak up.” That got retweeted over 216,000 times and “liked” over a million times.
The streaming service is just one of many corporate brands that have turned to social media to voice concerns over racial injustice after the death of George Floyd. We commend them for taking such a woke stance.
But does Netflix advertise in the Black Press? Do any of the major entertainment businesses – music labels, movie studies, theaters, etc., advertise in the Black Press?
The struggle to get advertising to support the mission of informing the Black community has been a struggle for Black-owned newspaper publishers since the Black Press came into existence, Black-owned newspaper publishers are used to not getting ads from major corporations, even when the majority of their customers are Black.
But what is not acceptable, is for wealthy Blacks, who have built empires in their respective fields, to not support or patronize the Black Press.
Do they think that white-owned media conglomerates are going to rescue them, when they are in trouble or become the victims of injustice? If the Black Press ceases to exist, the Black community will lose a major line of defense.
Jay-Z and other Blacks, whose products are a manifestation of Black culture, who are supported by Black consumers, need to wake up, pay attention, and support the Black Press.
Charity begins at home.
This article originally published in the June 8, 2020 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
