About the Author

Fredric is a web developer based in Chicago who hopes to one day start a foundation to support young, Black males in programming and computer science.

Other posts by Fredric

There Are 12 Responses So Far. »

1. 

   Comment by Kimberly Michelle on 9 April 2007:

   I can honestly say that I felt nothing but anger when I saw those two Fox News videos (one attacking Barack and one attacking Black America). I often find it hard to articulate my frustrations to the parties who have control over the situation. I always want to take action but sometimes can’t figure out how or where to start. And I know this happens many times in the black community… we get so mad and frustrated with the media so our first instinct is to spread the word and discuss it with our peers. But just talking about it doesn’t get us far, which is why we had to take it so much farther in order to get Shaquanda Cotton released. We can debate and bicker until we are blue in the face, but the only way to spark change is to actually do something about it. The contact form was a great idea Fredric. Kudos to the Web 2.0 push button activist movement.
2. 

   Comment by Latimer Williams on 9 April 2007:

   I have contacted them all and the CBC should be ashamed of themselves for agreeing to go on that Republican channel. The right wingers at fox are best to be ignored and nothing more, and as far as Imus it is no suprise to me, he is always going saying something stupid that he has to apologize for a year.

   From my experience the best way to deal with radio stations is to also send letters to companies that advertise on their stations, you start threating their revenue and then they make changes.
3. 

   Comment by GB on 9 April 2007:

   thanks for those links/letters.
4. 

   Comment by Fredric on 10 April 2007:

   my letter to the CBCI:

   Greetings.

   I am the editor of the Young Black Professional Guide. I ask that you withdraw your partnership with Fox regarding the Presidential Debates.

   Fox has shown and proven that their opinions constantly influence their journalist intent and often at the expense of minorities.

   Jon Edwards and Barack Obama have already pulled out. Do the right thing and discontinue.
5. 

   Comment by Martin Lindsey on 10 April 2007:

   So Fredric, what is the CBC’s planned partnership with FOX? I haven’t been keeping up with it.

   I don’t necessarily agree that pulling out of their agreement is the smart thing to do. Although FOX may have blown it on this series of reports ,(are people really tripping off of whether a smoker should be President?) as if a person’s name and school attendance actually matter in the 21st century, in general they really are the only truly balanced network out there.

   No, people, they are not a Republican mouthpiece. They are the only one out there consistently and intentionally giving equal political viewpoints on issues. They are the only network I can stand to watch. I have no time for the big three because they are a big joke.

   It’s only the tradional networks that can be truly accused of having any political leanings and those are obviously liberal with no balance whatsoever.

   However, I do agree that the sense of civility in American culture is in the toilet but it’s not new friends. It’s been in the process of taking a dump for the last twenty years.

   And let’s not not forget that the CBC doesn’t have clean hands either. They aren’t even all inclusive of Black congresional legislators because they won’t allow for Black conservatives. J.C. Watts was an opportunity missed for them. They seriously blew it. Now there’s something that’s important to me. Where’s the balance with the Black politicians with each other? Major issue for Martin.

   If there’s one thing the African American populace can’t stand or survive is intentional political isolation. Life is about giving yourself options, remember? Haven’t all of our parents told us how destructive it is to pigeonhole ourselves? Didn’t mom or dad tell you from time to time “don’t put all your eggs in one basket”? They told you that so you wouldn’t make it a life habit to limit yourself.

   Yet as African Americans we do it politically and on purpose. Somebody explain to Martin how that makes any sense. We can’t afford to be dedicated to one side or the other. We need to be involved in both major parties. I’ll even go this far. The DNP (Democratic National Pimp) is killing us and collectively we are their political whores. Nothing would be better for us as a demographic than a mass shift from one side to the other.

   Let’s go back to Dr. King again. He didn’t talk about isolation. He talked about working together co-operatively. He was striving for inclusiveness. You can’t stop doing that just because of a network or a couple of public personalities that drop their shorts and show their butts.

   Yes, Imus is an idio and I’m glad Rev. Sharpton is rippin’ him a new one. And Gingrich likes to put a new pair of shoes in his mouth every few years. Those types have to be taken to the woodshed and be given a public beat down. Fine, no problem.

   I think the only way for FOX or the Congressional Black Caucus to pick up their faces and begin to regain their credibility though is to go ahead and proceed with their plans for the campaign season.

   Changing things on the inside is often as effective or more effective that doing so from the outside. Yes, wrong must be corrected but there are effective and ineffective ways of doing so. Just one guy with a dissenting opinion on this one.
6. 

   Comment by Fredric on 10 April 2007:

   interestingly, i agree with you martin.

   i mulled over writing about the cbci/fox news thing for awhile. if you notice on other blogs, the issue blossomed about two weeks ago. i did so for that exact reason you state.

   now, i can’t vouch for fox. i don’t watch it frequently. i have, however, tuned into bill o’reilly and other shows just to get, as you’ve pointed out, perspective. it is vital that we as black folks not ‘bandwagon’ ourselves just because the words ‘conservative’ or ‘republican’ come out of someone’s mouth.

   however, in light of that balance and after having weighed the opinions, i have chosen to agree with those who’d like the cbci to formally denounce the fox network. to me, it was as simple as watching, reading, and experiencing the angle they tend to report news. while we’d all like to believe that the organizations protected by the first amendment report a balanced newscast as a point of moral obligation, the fact of the matter remains that politics is its own battlefield.

   a presidential primary hosted by a network that seems to like spinning issues in a certain direction that generally casts black issues as an ‘us vs them’ moniker is bogus.

   if it were up to me, i’d have all debates and publicly aired events on pbs.

   public broadcasting service. anyone? anyone?
7. 

   Comment by Kimberly Michelle on 10 April 2007:

   Clinton’s out too and Obama would rather debate on CNN. And I think PBS is a go- “Were going to participate in the DNC-sanctioned debates only,” Clinton spokesman said. He added that Clinton already had commitments to participate in an upcoming debate in South Carolina and one hosted by Tavis Smiley, the PBS late-night talk show host.

   http://www.tavistalks.com/TTcom/press_rel__022107.html
   http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18035439/
8. 

   Comment by Ms. Cherry on 10 April 2007:

   This goes to show that we, as black folks, need to become more involved in the political sector and the legislative processes. There is simply too much complacency…. too many think they’ve arrived. Have mercy on us Lord.

   This is great dialogue! Everyone affiliated with YBP should be posting their oppinion even if its twisted. And I agree, we need to be involved bipartisan. It takes all of us to make up this wacky world and even though we may not agree one way or the other we MUST agree.

   AND I agree that the debates should be aired on PBS simply because it’s a non-profit public station. They have aired some of the most educational broadcastings I’ve seen (outside some of the Univ. broadcastings)…. AND because Tavis Smiley hosts his show there… yep, that’s a good reason too. In fact, he should be the host of the debate… imagine that!
9. 

   Comment by Rodjuan on 11 April 2007:

   I agree with you that we need to act as opposed to just expresing how angry we feel. Until we see these ocurrances as a single attack against our collectice consciousness, we will always be on the reactionary stage.

   We view these attacks as separate, each issuing its own apology, so we forgive and forget until the next issue. But all of thses seemingly separate attacks are against one people. Each attack frustrates the collective consciousness, we would like to think we are independant of each other in deed as well as thought, most of the ‘I’m black and I’m proud’ ‘We are one family’ issuants we spout are merely rhetoric in reality. The only time we seem to come together is to re-act to someone’s actions towards us. This is a very weak position to be in, we must transmute our collective consciousness, and we must begin yesterday.

   The greatest factor that impedes our forward movement is the pain of our past. Everything done against us stirs that pain deep down to the cellular level, this ancestral pain of the past must be effectively toned out, THIS WAR IS PSYCHIC AND WE ARE STUCK ON THE PHYSICS.

   We as Africans at large have called for an International Day of Mourning for our slaughtered ancestors of the Maafa(black holocaust). This is the only effective means of transmuting energy traumatized into pain back into its intended use. Energy cannot be destroyed, pain is energy vibrating on a particular frequency. If your guitar or piano is out of of tune, you re-tune it, or tone it back to its intended vibration.

   The date selected is June 19th, 2007 -2014, we will mourn as a collective consciousness each year on June 19th beginning this year until 2014, at which time that day is toned into an International Day of Celebration. This is proactive action, the mere thought of this is empowering, think.

   I can be reached at RODJUAN@BELLSOUTH.NET

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