Let The Congregation Say AMEN!
By Kevin Ross, CEO of 3BAAS Media Group
2007 will be remembered as a banner year for African Americans.
Will Smith, Oprah Winfrey, Stanley O’Neal, Denzel Washington, Michael Vick, Al Sharpton, Juanita Bynum, T.I., New York Lieutenant Governor David Paterson, the Rutgers University Girls Basketball team, Kanye West, Marion Jones, Keith Boykin, Genarlow Wilson, Condoleezza Rice, Ike Turner. These men and women touched our lives, tested our faith, and compelled us to vigorously challenge everything we believe in.
From BET Hip Hop Awards host Katt Williams sporting his “Sunday’s finest” with a noose hanging from his neck as a fashion statement, to an audacious Illinois senator trying to covet residence in the "big white mansion," Black people refused to be ignored.
We galvanized against perceived racial injustice in Jena, Louisiana, died in Iraq fighting a bullshit war, and collectively waived our church fans while enduring O.J. Simpson “The Sequel.”For better or worse, a review of 2007 reveals that never before in this nation’s history have African Americans sold as many newspapers, books, CD’s, DVD’s, box office tickets. We graced the covers of magazines in record numbers, remained the central topic of many a cable show, and consumed exorbitant amounts of Internet bandwidth.
Questioning my assertion? Well, entertainment provides an interesting testimonial. You won't see one Black actor in the acclaimed film "Sweeney Todd." Yet any filmgoer this year had to be moved by the critically acclaimed “Talk To Me”, “American Gangster” and “The Great Debaters,” as well as the box office success of “This Christmas” “I Am Legend,” and “Why Did I Get Married.”If you got your praise on through music last year, you stayed abreast of Beyonce, Jay-Z, Rihanna, Sean Kingston, Keysha Cole and Alicia Keys.
You were also testifying over the current state of hip hop, the disappearing local black radio personality, and the inability of American Idol Winners Jordin Sparks and Reuben Studdard to keep the rent party going.While soul-searching in 2007 over singer R Kelly’s musical genius and his sexual proclivities, you were also probably clapping your hands to young singer-turned-actor Chris Brown and wondering aloud whether manager-director Chris Stokes actually molested former boy band members of B2K. Then there was the coming to Jesus moment for Grey’s Anatomy actor Isaiah Washington, who we still have love for, despite the inexplicable “fag” blunder. And don’t get me testifying about the incredibly talented yet clearly disturbed Lauren Hill.
In sports, let’s just say the praise dancers were stumbling all over each other. Sure we had Tony Dungee's historic Superbowl win. But that was overshadowed by an amazing athlete named Michael Vick, who disintegrate into the poster child for Black ballers gone wild after those dog cruelty charges. The Atlanta Falcons quarterback was just one of many of our disciples who had to “man-up” and deal with some harsh realities. The same was true for NFL Titans choirboy Pacman Jones, who remained suspended after having been arrested six times since being drafted, including two arrests in Georgia in 2006 that the Titans were unaware of until 2007. And NBA alter boys Isaiah Thomas and Stephen Marbury showed us that Black men can be just as disrespectful of Black woman as the new and improved Revered Don “Nappy Head Ho” Imus.Sure, there were spectacular moments, like Lewis Hamilton redefining our perception of what a race car driver looks like, or golf superstar Tiger Woods becoming a father after losing his own. Watching tennis superstars Venus and Serena Williams experience the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat without loss of enthusiasm was further cause for celebration. And what was truly inspiring was watching injured Buffalo Bills football player Kevin Everett walk on the football field just a few weeks ago after being told he would never walk again.
But the biggest story involved Major League baseball slugger Barry Bonds. Of course disgraced Olympian Marion Jones had to sit in a public confessional, relinquish her medals, and tearfully admit she lied to everyone about her steroid use. But after breaking Hank Aaron’s all-time batting record with home run number 756, it was Bonds that had to bear the heavier burden.
Unlike Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor, who was fatally shot in his Miami home by Black youth just as he was beginning to move his life in a different direction, Bonds is still facing criminal perjury charges and an uncertain legacy and future.A future, admittedly, that didn’t always look bright when it came to politics.
With every Adrian Fenty, recently elected Mayor of Washington DC, we had, sigh, ineffective New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin. As we heralded Deval Patrick becoming Governor of Massachusetts, we winced at Congressman William “Dollar Bill” Jefferson and that $90,000 in cash found in his home freezer.Then there was the Duke Lacrosse case, where District Attorney Michael Nifong was stripped of his law license and convicted of criminal malfeasance over black stripper Crystal Gail Mangum's allegations that privileged White boys raped her. We lost to cancer Congresswomen Juanita Millender McDonald of California and Julia Carson of Ohio, and Tennessee member Harold Ford Jr. lost his U.S. Senate bid.
Yes, it would have been a very stark year, until one brother stepped up and decided it was time to forever change the face of American presidential politics.
Currently the only sitting Black U.S. Senator, Barack Obama is poised to make history as the first mainstream contender in a presidential election. If this man ultimately snatches victory from the jaws of past defeated hopes and dreams, the world will never be the same. As descendants of enslaved human beings, we have so much riding on Barack and Michelle’s ministry that you can taste it. Not simply because their Black, but because they are demonstrating that the only way individuals will continue to be denied a seat at the global table hence forward is if they choose to be denied.
And this is the mantra of a new wave of Internet entrepreneurs. Since Dec. 17, 1997, when the term "weblog" was used to describe a list of links "logged" on one person’s Internet wanderings, the Black digital community has begun heading up usher boards with prime cyber real estate. Sites including Skeptical Brotha, Bossip, What About Our Daughters, Media Takeout, Rod Online, Why Black Women are Angry, Undercover Black Man, Field Negro and Three Brothers and A Sister are leading this choir of soulful voices rising from the pews, wielding a powerful cultural hammer as traditional news industries continue to decline.
Whether it’s a crisis such as Hurricane Katrina, Black gay bashing, Dunbar Village, BET’s Hot Ghetto Mess and Darfur, YouTube clips of “Chocolate Rain” and “Read A Book”, or taking credit for putting African American celebrity news out in the forefront, my contemporaries are doing some serious preaching from their respective bully pulpits, becoming a dominant publishing powerhouse and important news sources in their own right.It’s true. Blogs are the cheapest, fastest, farthest-reaching communication tool in existence. Bloggers in general, and Black bloggers in particular, have caused the world to re-imagine the publishing, entertainment and news industries that once single-handedly shepherded how society obtained and reported information about us. As we celebrate this year the 40th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s death and the Civil Rights Act of 1968, from this point on, there’s no turning back!
Inevitably, some loitering in the church parking lot will challenge the assertion that 2007 was the year Black folks “stepped up”. While history will speak for itself, there is a strong feeling that last year, brothers and sisters starting putting some big dollars into the global collection plate.
And for me, that’s enough to warrant a “Halleluiah, praise the Lord!”