Creating My Own Unique Journalism

I have been thinking a lot lately about the future of journalism, and specifically how it fits into the new digital age. For the last few years I have been attending journalism and technology conferences, where I am told constantly that I need to be doing this social media application or using that tech gadget for reporting the news. I am happy to say that I am "teched up" and ready to take on the cyber news frontier.

But I am also ready to take this to another level professionally.

I have always had an entrepreneurial personality, and had the belief that if you are not getting opportunities from others, you should create your own opportunities. This is one of the reasons why I founded Global Wire Associates. Through my firm, I wanted to help create opportunities for others to take advantage of technology for furthering their own social justice objectives. I am happy to report that we have not only consulted with hundreds of activists worldwide through trainings and on our website in the last six years, but we have also launched a new e-waste awareness campaign.

In our most recent article on the site, we discussed how multimedia content producers are using online video to combat racial discrimination and stereotyping.

Filmmaker Issa Rae also felt that she wasn’t represented as a black woman in mainstream media. After reading yet another article about the lack of African-Americans onscreen, she decided to be the media and do her own online webisodes about being “awkward,” and, thus, the name of her series “The Mis-Adventures of Awkward Black Girl.”

“This is the future, especially for minority content producers on the Internet,” she said in a recent CNN interview. “This is the way to go. There is no gatekeeper. You can release whatever content you want. I think this is the best route to take, honestly.”

This interview made me think more about how I can create more of my own unique journalism. In the last few months, there have been complaints by journalists of color about the lack of diverse anchors in prime-time TV news. While I support the idea of increasing racial diversity in mainstream media, maybe the conversation needs to move towards how media professionals of color can utilize technology for telling their own stories.

The Internet has created so many opportunities for anyone to create their own media empire. There are a growing number of journalists who are going off the beaten path by using social media. Reading a post by British videographer Adam Westbrook and accompanying comments by Filipina journalist Prime Sarmiento have only pushed me to take my own journalistic endeavors further.

I am currently looking to create a way to get more funding for the videos I produce on my YouTube Channel, either through private donations, grant funding or some other business model. In the last couple of years I have fallen in love with videography, I am very interested in doing more social justice storytelling through this medium, but I need money to do it. I also like traveling, meeting new people, learning about different cultures while creating videos and, most importantly, doing more video production training for myself, so I am seeking financial opportunities here too. I have found that although I have had much success in working in mainstream media, nowadays, it is hard for me sometimes to pitch stories that don't have something to do with pop culture or entertainment. And there is a serious lack of mainstream media coverage of hard news issues that affect marginalized communities. I am hoping to fill in the gap with my online video news venture with the right help.

I know this will be a lot of hard work, but I am up for the challenge. I am hopeful about my unique route!

UK Race Relations: Yesterday & Today

Two white men were found guilty and received life sentences for the murder of Stephen Lawrence, the black teenager stabbed to death by five white youths at a London bus stop in 1993. Nearly two decades on, the verdict may have brought some closure to a case that put a spotlight on racism and criminal justice in the United Kingdom. I was a teenager myself at the time and remember hearing a little about this case, but it wasn't until I viewed the BBC film The Murder of Stephen Lawrence when I got the whole story of the case and how England is so not "postracial."

My mother emigrated from Jamaica to England during the 1960s and some of her relatives still live in London's Hackney area. They all say that, unlike America, where race is discussed ad nauseum on a regular basis, any discussion about race in England was pretty much muted before the Lawrence case. When race was discussed, it was seen as the "immigrant problem." In 1968, politician Enoch Powell gave his infamous "Rivers of Blood" speech, criticizing the growing number of immigrants moving to the UK from Commonwealth countries.

Following the initial investigation in 1999, the five suspects were not convicted. It was believed at the time that Lawrence's murder was not only racially motivated, but also the acquittal was due partially to institutional racism within the Metropolitan Police. Later that year the Macpherson Report confirmed these findings, stating that the case was "one of the most important moments in the modern history of criminal justice in Britain." Although the Race Relations Act of 1968 passed and has since been superseded by the Race and Religious Hatred Act of 2006, racial tensions provoked by Powell's speech continued to have a lasting impression for years to come. This could be seen through the many race riots over the years. The most recent London riots that spread nationwide are believed to have been racially provoked by the death of Mark Duggan at the hands of the police.

Just last week the family of Anuj Bidve, an Indian student who was shot in the head and killed while walking with his friends on Boxing Day, accused British authorities of racism due to delays in handling the investigation and return of his body to India.

[Bidve's family] have accused the police of failing to contact them to inform them of their son's death – they only found out when his friends started to contact them through Facebook – and of neglecting the case because it was the festive season.

The delay in getting Bidve's body home has infuriated family members, who say the British authorities were more concerned about Christmas and the new year festivities than in helping the family observe their traditions.

"It is unacceptable to us," said Rakesh Sonawane, Bidve's brother-in-law... "We still have a lot of faith in the UK authorities and the police, but they have to help us more. They have to help us to believe again that Britain is not a racist place."

As I have said here before, the more things seem to change, the more things remain the same.

The Fight For/Against Palestinian Statehood

World leaders are gathering in New York this week for the United Nations General Assembly. This year the international community will consider a bid for Palestinian statehood. Although it is likely to fail, the bid refocuses attention on the 63-year-old land fight between the Israelis and Palestinians. Long before 9/11, riots in Tahrir Square and rambling audio messages from Muammar Gadhafi and Osama bin Laden, the original Middle East crisis began on a strip of land along the Mediterranean Sea.

I have always been a fan of history, current events and multicultural affairs. Particularly, I am fascinated by how different cultures interact with each other. Some divisive relationships I can understand better than others - Tutsis vs. Hutus, Turks vs. Armenians, Cuba vs. United States. But there is something about the Palestine/Israel question that continues to capture the world's attention - and I simply just don't understand.

My first real introduction into Middle Eastern politics began in university, where I minored in post-colonial studies. Tom Friedman's From Beirut to Jerusalem was a book I was required to read in a course on Arab-Israeli cinema. It was a good primer into the conflict, and since its first publication two decades ago, it is still considered a fair assessment of the major players. I also remember after graduation viewing a documentary on female hijacker Leila Khalid which gave me the Palestinian point of view. But the history of the conflict is just too confusing for me to understand.

As for the Palestinian bid, it seems like it is dead on arrival at the UN, although Israel Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has extended an invitation for a meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in New York.

Maybe something good could come out of the meeting... Probably not...

Get Digital, But Stay Safe

Enjoy your online life, safely from Dave Legion on Vimeo.

In light of the recent "Weinergate" scandal and June being Internet Safety Month, I thought I would take the time to share with you guys the basics of maintaining a good digital reputation.

Earth Day 2011: Greening Transport

More than ever these days, the way we get around - whether by car, bus, train or airplane - has been in the daily news. Here in the United States, gas prices have now risen to $4 a gallon, with no sight of the prices going down anytime soon. Also, with the recent near airplane catastrophes due to sleeping air traffic controllers along with the ongoing worries about terrorism and TSA searches, air travel has become less pleasant as well.

The bottom line: Americans need to reduce their dependency on fuel for these modes of transportation not only because of the many battles in the Middle East, because also because of the growing global climate problem. Each year cars emit more than 300 million tons of carbon into the atmosphere in the United States alone. Aviation accounts for three percent of carbon emissions globally and rising.

With all this said, it is time to rethink alternative transportation methods. Of course, I am not advocating not taking a plane at all, but maybe limiting air travel to when it is absolutely necessary. I have to travel long distance a great deal for business, but in recent years I have embraced web conferencing tools like Skype to connect with business associates around the world. Not only is this better for the planet, but also on the wallet.

For everyday travel, there are also many great alternatives that I embrace. I don't own a car for both health and environmental reasons. By not having a car, it forces me to be more physically active and walk (or in some cases run) to catch a bus or train or just do stuff in my neighborhood. Not having a car and walking and taking public transit also allows me to be better acquainted with my surroundings and the people around you. Whereas if I had a car, I would feel more isolated because of the lack of interactions.

Furthermore, it makes no sense to own a car if you primarily live and work in a major city with decent public transportation like I do. Recently my city implemented a bike share program, which is also a great transport alternative. I am also a big fan of Amtrak and the growing light rail movement.

But even if you don't live in a big city, there are many ways to reduce your carbon impact. For example, if you live in the suburbs, instead of traveling in a car, why not use a bike or take the commuter rail for part of or for the whole trip. Also ask your employer if you can telecommute on some days.

Every little step makes a difference in every one's lives!

The (Post-Colonial) Ties that Bind

As the "no fly zone" continues over the Libyan skies, many analysts are speculating about Muammar Gadhafi's possible exit strategies. Yesterday Uganda cited that it might be open to receiving the dictator, while Venezuela could also be an escape option since Gadhafi and Hugo Chavez are "friends." Even Zimbabwe is on the table.

From Bloomberg:

Several African nations could take Qaddafi, the diplomat said, citing Ethiopia or Mauritania as examples. The likeliest countries to let him in are those that aren’t parties to the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the International Criminal Court, a tribunal based in The Hague that seeks to try despots charged with genocide and crimes against humanity.

“All you need is one country to take him,” Shadi Hamid, director of research at the Brookings Doha Center in Qatar, said in a telephone interview. “Uganda sounds like a good option. We are most likely talking about Africa.”

So why are other African nations willing to take in Gadhafi? This brings up a fascinating conversation many are not talking about: the everlasting bind among one time revolutionaries turned tyrants. Gadhafi is still considered a anti-colonial hero and Arab nationalist throughout the post-colonial world. So there should be no shock that the likes of Chavez, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe are quick to come to his defense.

Speaking of which, the same is true of Mugabe's reputation in Africa as a leader against the apartheid regime in southern Africa. Peter Godwin, author of "The Fear: Robert Mugabe and the Martyrdom of Zimbabwe" recently explained this phenomenon.

From NPR:

GODWIN: ...The government in Pretoria has protected Mugabe from a ratcheting up of international pressure, that he's basic that Pretoria has basically insured his longevity in power. And that's one of our big problems, is that by appointing South African presidents as the sort of referee in Zimbabwe, we've actually protected Mugabe because the referee is, in this case, is partisan.

NPR: Why would the president of South Africa want to protect Mugabe?

Mr. GODWIN: Well, it's interesting. I mean and even going back to President Bush, who said Thabo Mbeki, who was then the South African president, was his point man on Zimbabwe, and that was an easy handoff. You handed it off to South Africa and then you could get on with other things. And to some extent that's continued under the Obama administration.

Systemically, I think that why - that Pretoria supports Mugabe, and more importantly, not just Mugabe but his party Zanu-PF. I think from talking to people in South Africa and the administration what they had originally hoped, was that they might pressure Zanu-PF to reform, to become a sort of Zanu-PF light and to maybe get a technocrat, someone like Simba Makoni or one of these other guys who don't actually have blood on their hands, to take it over.

The reason they don't want to see the opposition winning, the MDC winning in Zimbabwe, is if you look at the southern African countries that all fought liberation wars, anti-colonial wars, those original parties, those liberation parties are all still in power - the ANC in South Africa, Swapo in Namibia, the MPLA in Angola, Zanu-PF in Zimbabwe and the Frelimo in Mozambique; they're all still in power. And it's not in any of their interests for any one of them to lose power, because it's a terrible precedent. It sort of shatters the myth of the sort of aura of liberation invincibility.

NPR: Of the original freedom leaders, the original anti-colonialists...

GODWIN: Absolutely. I mean it's a very, very potent well that you can dip your bucket in and pull out this sort of, you know, this history. It's very potent and it can kind of re-anointed you, you know, for decade after decade.

But when is it time to pull out a bucket of new history?

Migrant Workers & the Food System

I went to Costa Del Sol many years ago, and I don't remember seeing all this sitting on the warm beaches, drinking a virgin daiquiri. The farm owners must know that if migrant workers were more visible, there would be instant condemnation. Unfortunately, exploitation of migrant workers is a global problem and not much is being done about it. The vast majority of these workers have the same story: desperate working conditions, no money to pay for the cost of living and a dream to do better for their families and communities. But many of them regret even immigrating in the first place.



According to the Genesseo Migrant Center, in the United States there are approximately three million migrant workers who are primarily of Mexican origin but also from Jamaica, Guatemala, Puerto Rico, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and other countries. Most of them work in farms throughout the country, making sure we have fresh fruits and vegetables in our supermarkets. But sometimes they can't even afford to eat the food they grow.

From The Economist:

...As Tom Joad in Steinbeck’s novel discovered, many farmworkers, even as they spend their waking hours picking food for others, can barely afford to eat. Between harvests they have no work. When they do work, their wages are meagre. The workers picking grapes with this correspondent got $8 an hour. That is vastly superior to the $9 a day—not hour—which the tractor driver says he used to get at home in Mexico. But costs in the United States are higher too...

In a country where illegal immigration has become a hot topic and the national unemployment rate is reaching double digits, one would think Americans would want to take these jobs.

...At a time of high unemployment, many Americans are convinced that these aliens take American jobs. As a test, this summer the United Farm Workers (UFW), the main agricultural union, launched a campaign called “Take Our Jobs”, inviting willing Americans to work in the fields. In the following three months 3m people visited takeourjobs.com, but 40% of the responses were hate mail, says Maria Machuca, UFW’s spokesman. This included e-mails such as one reading: “We’re becoming more aggressive in our methods. Soon it may come to hands on, taping bitches to light posts.”

Only 8,600 people expressed an interest in working in the fields, says Ms Machuca. But they made demands that seem bizarre to farmworkers, such as high pay, health and pension benefits, relocation allowances and other things associated with normal American jobs. In late September only seven American applicants in the “Take our jobs” campaign were actually picking crops...