Afro-Netizen: DNCC Post-Mortem

Saturday, July 31, 2004

DNCC Post-Mortem

To think, armed with my Mac laptop with WiFi access, a new Casio Exilim digital camera, a tiny digital audio recorder, a snazzy smartphone, a smidgen of chutzpah, and several thousand Blackfolk and other negrophiles eggin' me on, I was able to represent for the little known, but fast-growing "afro-blogosphere" and definitively prove once and for all that "blogging while black" is not a myth, it is a vital reality that will one day revolutionize the modern mass media mafia, as we know it today. (I love alliteration, don't you?)

As a result of the DNCC having the sense to allow irreverent, unruly and largely unaffiliated independent bloggers to cover the convention along with traditional members of the press, it turns out the big story of the convention was the bloggers themselves.

Who would you have thought that a progressive, neo-capitalist afro-cosmopolite like me would have garnered the interest and attention of dozens of news outlets? Clearly, I didn't when I received my confirmation letter in the mail just two short weeks ago.

I also got the chance to talk to a number of interesting public figures including, but not limited to: Julianne Malveaux, Ph.D., Rep. Mel Watt (D-NC), Rep. Chaka Fattah, Philly mayor Hon. John F. Street, award-winning writer ZZ Packer, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH), Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC), actor/radio host Janeane Garafalo, Oracle president Charles Phillips, Prof. Michael Eric Dyson and wife, Rev. Marcia Dyson, DC mayor Hon. Anthony Williams, political strategist/TV pundit Donna Brazile, and a handful of esteemed Black North Carolina state legislators.

I also spotted Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr., 70's bombshell Jayne Kennedy and Outkast's Andre 3000, among other notable Negroes.

However, one of the absolute high points for me was having the honor interviewing Congressman John Lewis (D-GA) who I learned knew my paternal grandfather, Dr. Maurice F. Rabb, Sr., of Louisville, Kentucky. Both Fiskites, Rep. Lewis and the late Dr. Rabb (1901 - 1982) were civil rights activists and "race men", though my grandfather was significantly older than the venerable congressman. To download the enormous, unedited audio file (in AIF format) of my interview with Rep. Lewis, please click here.

I would have never dared to think that what began as a humble, civic avocation would one day be covered by the likes of The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, L.A. Times, Newsday, Houston Chronicle, Congressional Quarterly, and so. (See below for more references.)

I also was interviewed via phone on CSPAN's Washington Journal last Tuesday, and on live television on Canada's CBC "Canada Now", a primetime news show anchored by David Gray, which CBC producer, Jennifer Brown, told me (afterwards) reached over 50 million people!

Well, thanks to these same media outlets' coverage of this weblog and the rampant word-of-mouth within Afro-Netizen's long-time and loyal following, Afro-Netizen is no longer in "guerilla mode". How ironic it is that many of the same media outlets who have done so poorly providing consistent, meaningful and highlly visible reporting on our community are the ones who have helped usher Afro-Netizen into "primetime".

Other publications and entities that cited Afro-Netizen:

Afro-Netizen on Saturday, July 31, 2004 at 10:38 AM in Publisher's blog | Permalink

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