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Editorials
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Published:
November 5, 1998
THE
ONE WHO CONTROLS Friday October 16th was the 3rd anniversary of the Million Man March, now known as the World Holy Day of Atonement. Many of us will undoubtedly took time out and tried to re-capture the upbeat spirit and inspiration many of us felt when the MMM first convened. I know back in '95 many people came back from the March committed to re-dedicating ourselves to the work that was needed to improve our communities. We were asked to join organizations, get involved at church . . . and most importantly love and respect one another. From where I sit . . . I think there were some fundamental changes made in the lives of many people. . . People have definitely stepped up their game. . . In hindsight my one regret is that when we had those 2 million brothers gathered in Washington DC we overlooked one vital thing. . . We forgot to direct people to a consistent media source that we own and control. . . I wish when all those brothers reached into their pockets and pulled out some donations, that everyone would've been asked to get a subscription to The Final Call Newspaper and a local Black owned newspaper liked the San Francisco Bayview, The New York Amsterdam News, etc. I wish there was some national news type show like BET Tonight with Tavis Smiley that we would've been asked to watch on the regular. I wish there was some national Black owned syndicated news feature that we could hear regularly on radio. . . We didn't even push for folks to at least commit themselves to being online. . . My overall point is that as we move into the year 2000 I'm finding that the one who controls the flow of information sets the tone. They dictate the pace and influence action or lack of action. I observe in instant after instant how various organizations struggle to get seen and heard and their programs and accomplishments made known because they have very little access to media outlets. Most of the mediums we put our support behind are unfortunately not owned and even programmed by African Americans. At first we unknowingly get caught up in the fact that many of these outlets are showing Black faces and letting us hear Black voices. . . But then after a while-after the community gets hooked. . . you start to notice the vital information that could really help keep us connected and moving forward ceases to exist. A good case in point is MTV. . . Back in the days they got the entire hip hop community hooked by aggressively showcasing rap videos with the show "Yo MTV Raps". . . They initially had no intention of doing a rap show. . . In fact if you recall prior to them putting out the "Yo MTV Raps" show, the outlet was threatened with a lawsuit because they were notorious for not showing any Black music videos. . . Things got so bad that even Michael Jackson got involved because they weren't giving "The King of Pop" no love. To make a long story short, Run DMC guest hosted a video segment which blew up. . . The response was so great that MTV decided to look a little more closely at this whole rap thing. . . Soon "Yo MTV Raps" was born. At first all sorts of hip hop was being shown. . . . Fab 5 Freddy, Dr Dre and Ed Lover were off the hook as the regular hosts and the network began doing documentaries and all sorts of features on hip hop. . . The show came on everyday after school and it was by far one of MTV's most popular features. But then things began to change. After everyone was hooked. MTV started regulating. They became very strict about what could and could not be shown. . . Acts like Brand Nubian had a video banned from MTV for showing the burning of an American flag. Paris had his video banned because he showed a picture of the rock group Guns -N- Roses lead singer Axl Rose who Paris found to be racist, next to a picture of white supremacist leader Tom Metzger. So what you had was political statements being diluted or altogether eliminated by MTV. meanwhile the network continued to show NWA videos as well as videos of scantily clad women. . . What message do you think was being sent out.? Things took a turn for the worse when MTV began to move the popular show to different time slots. . . First they took it off their heavily watched after school slot and moved it to late evenings around 10 p.m. . . Then they scaled it down to only a couple a days a week and not everyday. At one point the show was so hard to find, it appeared to be off the air completely. . . This was done in spite of the show's immense popularity. . . The network did what I was describing. . . The got folks hooked and then changed the script. . . . Fox TV was even more blatant in doing this. . . . Time after time they would get Black folks hooked on a show that really spoke to us and then either cut it off or completely dilute the content. . . The first time this happened was with "In Living Color." Here they watched as Keenan Ivory Wayans broke new ground in doing television. . . Then they started controlling and dictating his content. . . Soon Keenan wasn't even hosting his own show. . . The once popular show fell to the wayside and we haven't seen anything like it since that time. . . The program "Roc" really spoke to Black folks. . . The lead character Roc began to make some very uplifting and socially conscious moves on his show. He suffered the same fate as "In Living Color". . . Black folks got hooked on this ground breaking show and it was yanked. . . "New York Undercover" went through all sorts of changes. . . which resulted in at first the show being cancelled and then brought back minus the edgy hip hop elements that made it so attractive in the first place. Of course everyone is familiar with the drama surrounding "Living Single," which featured Queen Latifah. Despite being the most heavily watched show by African Americans. . . it too was cancelled in spite of a well publicized letter writing campaign. The list goes on and on. . . We could find this in the case of Arsenio Hall all the way down to the "White Shadow." which was starting to be conscious raising. . . The trend nowadays in media is to bait and switch. Media outlets obtain Black credibility and support and then flip the script and change up. . . The result is us being not only disappointed. . . but us never really having a consistent place to literally "feel at home." The other trend is not to necessarily dis us in the media. . . but instead not talk about us or our issues at all. Omission of information is often times more impacting then bad press. . . . Omission means we as a community are never on the same page. . . We all don't get the same info at the same time. . . I think Sista Souljah (who is another powerful voice omitted by the media) said it best a few years ago. . . . There's seemingly always a middle man who stands between us and the vital information that we need. . . This middle man who usually is not us. . . .and does not have the community best interest in mind. This middleman usually filters in and out information which pertains to us. . . It used to be very blatant. . . It would be a white guy overseeing the content of Black radio stations and TV programs. . . And while you still see this still goes on to a large degree. . . You now see more and more Black faces serving that middleman role who are under lots of pressure and strict orders to follow the programming tastes of the white owners. The bottom line is that you have white folks who now through the media control and influence will arrogantly tell Black folks what's important and not important what's hip what's not hip within our community. We must change this trend I see occurring. I know TV outlets like the WB provide lots of programs with Black faces. . . But then they flip the script and hit us off with "Desmond Pfeiffer" and very little relevant issues about things going on in our respective communities. . . There's talk about HBO expanding to have an all Black TV outlet to challenge BET. . . There's rumors that New York City will get another white owned urban station. How long and how deep will that commitment be? The pattern has been in the past for white outlets who want Black patronage to initially give us everything we want. Then after they've gotten Black credibility because our entire neighborhood is hooked, they change up and dilute the images, obscure and omit the messages. It's kinda like a dope dealer who gives out free samples until the fiend is hooked and then he starts reprogramming. . . I know this Friday there are all sorts activities related to the 3rd Anniversary of the MMM. . . Was your local media keeping you up to date? Was the local radio DJ telling you about it in between giving shout-outs and playing songs about "get your boogie on"? Did the local newspaper have a list of MMM events for you to attend? Did they even revisit the MMM? Finally have we ourselves actively supported our Black owned media outlets. . . Do we have a subscription to The Final Call? Are we checking for Brother Tavis Smiley etc? Remember Knowledge is Power. . . Lack of information keeps us unknowledgeable and in darkness. My solution is for us all to be media activists and for us to really take steps to support and build up those media institutions within our respective neighborhoods that regularly address our collective needs. . . Finally I would suggest that we not take this media thing too lightly. . . The flow or lack of information flow is how many oppressive governments keep their people in line. . . Look at China and certain countries in South America. . . . Why do you think the U.S. boldly broadcasts Radio Free America? So it can be heard in places like Cuba. . . The media's power to ability and effect change is not to be overlooked or taken for granted. . . Create and support alternative media! Let me know what you think. I'd like to hear from you. Hit me off at kingdave@sirius.com (c) 1998 Davey D. The largest and most comprehensive web site for hip hop culture and politics is: Davey D's Hip Hop Corner at http: www.daveyd.com Also be sure to subscribe to the Friday Nite Vibe Hip Hop Newsletter. It's free. To subscribe, send email to daveyd-announce-request@daveyd.com with the message: subscribe |
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