Africa is the cradle of humankind. It is one of the earliest places in which people shaped the world. The inhabitants of Timbuktu, Aksum, Carthage, Mali Empire, Great Zimbabwe, Kingdom of Kush, Ethiopia, the Mutapa Empire, and more are a significant part of Africa’s illustrious past. Africa helped shape today’s world. The importance of Black news in understanding this history cannot be understated.
Many European chroniclers have literally gone out of their way to bad-mouth the African continent and ignore the history of innovation, trade, and learning that is part of African history. Colonial conquest dismantled Africa’s institutions, so that today, only a remnant of her true greatness has come down to us. This lack of awareness contributes to the void in Black news coverage.
Colonization has resulted in a kind of “blackout” wherein contemporary dwellers on our planet disregard the strength and power of Black people based on the lack of their understanding of Africa’s illustrious history. For example, when the fantastic Benin bronzes were discovered, certain Europeans insisted that Africans could not have done those bronzes themselves; that some other non-African group must have been responsible for creating those magnificent artistic pieces. Of course, they were wrong, and today it is common knowledge that the bronzes were, indeed, created by Africans. The resurgence of Black news is crucial to changing these narratives.
Why is it important that people receive a true understanding of the breadth and depth of the African mind and its historic accomplishments? Black people, and others, must come to understand the dynamism of their legacy. This step is necessary because too many African Americans have bought into the theory of Black inferiority. It is a sad state of affairs to observe the number of Black people who do not research their history, or don’t think that there is anything of importance generated by the community.
The foregoing has resulted in a quandary that we are facing today…too many Black people do not value their own history and do not support their journalistic storytellers. Black community publishers are having trouble maintaining an audience. Today, there are only a handful of Black publications that enjoy a robust circulation; many of the original publications have gone out of business or are offering virtual, i.e., online versions of their publications.
This last issue points to a very troubling consequence of the seeming reluctance of Black people to support, or even seek news that comes from the African American community. Black people in America and elsewhere around the globe are not giving enough attention to news generated by Black people.
Where does this leave us today? The answer is “publicity challenged.” Basically, most of the news that the Black community embraces comes from white people. If Black people get most of their information from the white community, it will miss out on a lot of “truth,” because white people don’t necessarily understand Black history, or have an incredibly distorted viewpoint of it. This is exacerbated by the fact that many white people lack the understanding and exposure necessary to lend the kind of support that Black journalists need.
Today’s Black community is behind the publication 8-ball; it is facing a dearth of information based on a less-than-adequate dissemination of accurate information, and all of this is happening in the age of AI as well as the spread of disinformation that is ubiquitous during this age of MAGA.
Ultimately, no one is going to honor the information generated by the Black community if the community ignores its own accomplishments. Essentially, Black people are the only ones who are in a position to share community news, which includes information from the remote past. Racist white people can’t be trusted with interpreting the truth of Black achievement. This means that Black people must take the initiative to disseminate it themselves. In order for this to happen, Black people must generate their own research and publish accurate and quality information, and other Black people must support these efforts! This is the best safeguard against disinformation and historical inaccuracies generated by white supremacists and others. Aluta continua.
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