Rwebel Vol. 6
March 2022
The Collaborative Issue
16 24 28 31
"MEMO ON BLACK MEDIA." K I T C H E N E T T E
TIMELINE OF BLACK NEWS MEDIA - TRIUMPHS AND FAILURES A R T
F T .
J A Y
T H A
P O E T
"RWEBEL" A C T I V I S M
FDR'S WAR AGAINST THE BLACK PRESS T H E
P E N
H O U S E
WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM LIVIN' LARGE D E - C L A S S I F I E D S
Q&A WITH BLACK EDITORS T R I B U T E S
PAYING OUR HOMAGE TO THE RWEBELS WHO PAVED THE WAY
CONTENTS
8
E D I T O R
E L B A T
4
F R O M
F O
3
L E T T E R
Memo on Black Media The purpose of this issue is to emphasize the fact that we are stronger together. By "we," I mean Black media. In this issue, we will explore how Black media has both pushed the culture forward and been a hindrance to the culture. Nonetheless, in presenting a united front against white supremacy, we must come together.
The Kitchenette
A look at The Black Press
Kitchenette "RWEBEL RAVES" BY:
JAVANNA PLUMMER
IN THIS SECTION, WE WILL LOOK AT SEVEN POPULAR BLACK MEDIA OUTLETS. FROM EBONY TO BLAVITY, BLACK MEDIA HAS SEEN ITS HIGHS AND LOWS. AS WE PIVOT INTO A DIGITAL AGE OF NEW MEDIA, IT IS IMPORTANT TO REFLECT ON THE LESSONS WE CAN GLEAN FROM OUR PREDECESSORS. MOREOVER, IN COVERING BLACK LIFE, WE MUST ENSURE WE ARE NOT FALLING VICTIM TO RESPECTABILITY POLITICS, WHITE BUSINESS ACQUISITIONS, CLASSISM, AND OTHER SOCIAL ILLS. WHILE WE RAVE, WE ALSO REFLECT.
~ℝ
Founded in 1945, Ebony magazine was a staple in Black households for its coverage of Black culture. In recent years, they've come under fire for not paying writers, but they are still considered a legacy publication.
A self-described "contentaggregating video blog," World Star started as a mixtape seller but eventually became synonymous with "music exclusives, viral bits of comedy, violent fight videos, and sex acts," according to Complex.
In May 1970, Essence magazine presented itself as a magazine that would highlight the essence of Black women, and it's been doing that ever since. With Cover girls like Lizzo, Issa Rae, and Nikole Hannah Jones, the magazine has lived up to its original premise.
In 2012, Atlanta Black Star established themselves as a platform seeking to provide news about Black life globally. Now, they are the largest Black-owned news network and produce investigative and news content daily.
The Shade Room "offers celebrity and trending news on an hourly basis," according to their Wiki. While their founding intentions were pure, they have become synonymous with messiness, petty gossip, and support of social ills like homophobia, colorism, and domestic violence.
Coming onto the scene in 1980, Black Entertainment Television produced premier content like 106 and Park, BET News, and the BET Awards. Yet, in 2000, when they were purchased by Viacom Network, they slowly declined, and they have never recovered.
With brands such as Shadow and Act, Travel Noire, Blavity News, and more, they present Black millennial life wholistically. Founded in 2014, they are now, "home to the largest network of platforms and lifestyle brands serving the multifaceted lives of black millennials."
ART
By: Jay. Tha Poet.
YOU WANTED THE EXCLUSIVE, AND NOW YOU EXCLUDED.
SITTING OUTSIDE YOUR BEST FRIEND'S HOSPITAL ROOM SECLUDED. WE CALL THAT THE DEXTER JACKSON EFFECT™️. LIVIN' LARGE, PIMPIN' YOUR COMMUNITY FOR A CHECK.
I MEAN, WHAT CAN WE EXPECT? WE NEED THE NEWS, RIGHT?
BUT, LIKE, TMZ STANDS FOR TOXIC MAGAZINE. THE SHADE ROOM IS A SOCIAL EXPERIMENT GONE WRONG. WORLD STAR IS BY FAR THE WORST THING TO HAPPEN MEDIA WISE. AND THE MEDIA LIES.
THEY'LL TRIVIALIZE OR MISREPORT
OR CONTORT DATA POINTS TO FIT THEIR NARRATIVE. MEDIA LITERACY IS IMPERATIVE BECAUSE WE PARTICIPATE. I'VE BEEN RUMINATING AS OF LATE, AND I REALIZE THE MEDIA CREATES DISPARITIES WHERE FACT CHECKING IS AS MUCH A RARITY AS A BLACK NEWS EDITOR.
DAMN, I THINK I SAID TOO MUCH. MAYBE I SHOULD HUSH. NAH, FUCK THAT. THE W IS SILENT; WE’RE NOT.
RWEBEL IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU GOT BLACKBALLED FOR BEING MENTALLY ILL.
WE USE BLACK ART TO TALK BLACK LIFE WE REPORT ON BLACK JOY, NOT JUST BLACK STRIFE. WE GIVE LIFE AND CREDENCE TO BLACK EXCELLENCE AND ACCOUNTABILITY. BUT WE HAVE NO SOCIAL MOBILITY. SO MANY HILLS TO CLIMB.
I REMEMBER THE TIME A BLACK EDITOR KILLED MY PIECE BECAUSE IT TALKED TOO BAD ABOUT POLICE CRIMES. I REMEMBER THE TIME A BLACK EDITOR KILLED MY PIECE BECAUSE I SAID TARGET WAS A SIGNAL OF GENTRIFICATION. I REMEMBER THE INVESTIGATION MY SO CALLED GRAD SCHOOL FRIENDS NEWSROOM DID WITH THE OUTLET I HAD APPLIED FOR TWICE.
BUT LIKE... MAYBE I'M TOO RADICAL, AND THAT'S WHY I HAVE TO HOLLER AND SCREAM FOR VIEWS AND STREAMS. MAYBE IT'S ME. MAYBE I'M NOT DESTINED TO BE MARA BROCK OR MARY JANE. MAYBE I'M MEANT TO MAKE MY OWN NAME: RWEBEL. ~ℝ
ACTIVISM The highs and lows of the Black Press
Javanna Whitney Cliff Varnado
black press Timeline 19th century media
1827: first black newspaper created
according to PBS, "Founded on March 16, 1827 as a four-page, four-column standard-sized weekly, Freedom's Journal was the first black-owned and operated newspaper in the United States, and was established the same year that slavery was abolished in New York State."
many newspapers were published during slavery times that promoted abolition.
1830: the first documented date of the abolitionist papers
1837: the standoff between Elijah Lovejoy (a white abolitionist editor) and a prolynch mob ALTHOUGH IT BECAME A TOOL FOR FREEDOM, ADVOCATING FOR ABOLITION WAS STILL A DANGEROUS PRACTICE THAT OFTENTIMES RESULTED IN VIOLENCE. IN AN 1837 RIOT, ABOLITIONIST ELIJAH LOVEJOY WAS MURDERED.
after three of her friends were lynched, wells launched an investigation into Memphis lynchings and published her findings in Memphis free speech. as a result, their offices were squelched, according to Jean Ait Belkhir, who wrote for the Race, Gender & Class Journal.
1889: ida b. wells joined the Memphis free speech as an editor.
1892: the printing press was torched.
RWEBEL MAGAZINE ISSUE SIX | 18
black press roots At almost 200 years old, the Black Press has a rich history.
in this section
The first documented “abolitionist papers” were dated around 1830, an archives.gov article reveals. They write, “[T]hese volumes focus on their reactions to African colonization and the idea of gradual emancipation, the Fugitive Slave Law, and the promise brought by emancipation during the war. The NHPRC also supported the microfilm edition.” According to Penn State’s The Abolitionist Movement: His-Story and Her-Story, many newspapers were published during slavery times that promoted abolition. This was a dangerous practice that oftentimes resulted in violence. In an 1837 riot, Elijah Lovejoy was murdered. Sadly, this was not the first time he experienced mob violence. Four years earlier, he was named editor of the St. Louis Observer, which advocated against slavery in Missouri, a slave state at the time. His advocacy made him a target, according to History.com. This was not the first time Lovejoy or other anti-racist journalists would be victims of mob violence. Other targeted individuals included: Ida B. Wells and Frederick Douglass. Later, intellectuals like W.E.B. DuBois and Paul Robeson were also targeted and kicked out of the country.
www.rwebel.com
black press Timeline 20th century media
1908: the fbi was formed. 1909: NAACP was formed in new york.
while it started with "modest beginnings," says Kenneth O'Reilly, the FBI (previously known as the bureau of investigation) would morph into a surveillance organization with the help of Franklin Delano roosevelt.
1934: the naacp pressured fdr into passing an anti-lynching bill As Black people suffered under jim crow, civil rights complaints began to pile on the FBI's desk. Yet, "in the civil rights field, the FBI was invisible," O'Reilly concluded. while the FBI was LAX on investigating AntiBLack crimes, this did not mean that BLACK people were off their radar. in 1942, hoover pulled a song from Billie holiday's set because it was a "communist, anti-war song," o'reilly mentions. (photo: peterseward.com.)
1938: THE FBI Launched a special SEction titled "Negroes" to combat communism. around 1942: THE FBI began targetting black-affiliated entities, such as the black press and black entertainers.
RWEBEL MAGAZINE ISSUE SIX | 20
black press rwebels Censorship was one of the major problems facing Black media in the early and mid-20th century. Really, Black media was a target of governmental hate campaigns.
in this section
for example, racon (short for racial conflict) was an FBI initiative aimed at preventing the spread of communism. Kenneth O'Reilly notes that FBI Director j Edgar hoover gave franklin Delano Roosevelt a document about "'Foreign-Inspired Agitation Among American Negroes internal Security. The timing was fortuitous, given the summer’s rioting in Harlem and Detroit. Thereafter, the Roosevelt administration continued to rely on the FBI to help solve any conceivable race-related problem. " As a result, racon indexed several black publications such as "The Afro-American, Amsterdam Star News, People’s voice, The Black Dispatch, Chicago Defender, Michigan Chronicle, Pittsburgh Courier," O'Reilly mentions. during the red scare, the black press became a target of the government. in another article, O'Reilly writes that black people during that time "appear[ed] to have become more disrespectful, more assertive of their rights and more discontented with their station in life." This was connotated with communism, he adds, which led to FBI agents approaching "at least four black-owned newspapers, including the Pittsburgh Conner, in an attempt to convince black editors to tone down their 'militant crusading'." This would set a precedent for a long history of problems affecting black media.
www.rwebel.com
black press Timeline 21st century media
The 2000s: legacy black media faces a downwards spiral of media acquisitions and white co-optation. for example, BET was purchased by Viacom in 2001, which called in question its role as "black entertainment television" because it was white-owned. previously a hub for shows such as bet news, 106 and park, and other staples, the network became synonymous with Tyler perry and replays of "baby boy" and "love and basketball." essence magazine, who also faced white acquisition, became black-owned again in 2018, just as digital media took off.
2000s: legacy black media faces a downwards spiral of media acquisitions and white co-optation.
2010s: dawning of digital media
the 2010s saw the rise in platforms such as the shade room, world star, and blavity.
january 3, 2019: rwebel media is founded.
As a black media company, we will continue to archive the ongoing history of black media, including our own. March 3, 2022: rwebel media becomes rwebel, llc.
RWEBEL MAGAZINE ISSUE SIX | 22
black press respectability Over the years, the Black Press has faced external opposition from major players like J Edgar Hoover and FDR. Yet, in more recent years, there seems to be internal opposition as well.
in this section
Excerpted from a 1919 article by Chicago Defender that instructed Southerners how to behave. (Source: National Humanities Center)
Breaking Rules Outline That is, some Black outlets have contributed to anti-Blackness instead of interrogating the roots of issues such as classism, racism, homophobia, and intra-communal violence. One prime example is the Chicago Defender extolling respectability politics onto Southern expatriates. According to WTTW, “[F]or those already in Chicago, the Defender routinely printed rules of conduct to help new arrivals adjust and avoid conflict.”
Moreover, The Atlantic noted that “The front-page photograph of The Defender on September 2, 1916, shows a crowd of neatly dressed black men and women waiting for a train in Savannah, Georgia, under the headline ‘The Exodus’.” “Neatly dressed” is a loaded term in this context. The excerpted quote suggests that these “neatly dressed” (well-behaved) Black people are more respectable than other Black people simply based on their behavior. These Victorian notions of modesty that came from the Black church are still prevalent to this day. It is worth noting that while these churches were focused on defying stereotypes and avoiding adversities such as church burnings and bombings. Nonetheless, they participated in isolating certain Black people who did fit their ideal version of Blackness. However, these respectability politics do not only affect class but other social identities as well.
www.rwebel.com
RWEBEL MAGAZINE ISSUE SIX | 23
From one perspective, the shade room serves as a cultural archive of Black pop culture. On the other, it is a vessel of bigotry, but can we take one without the other? “An array of factors including an over-emphasis on the role of heterosexual Black male publishers, such as John H. Johnson and Robert Abbott, and a reluctance to move beyond narrowly defined definitions of the ‘political’ have contributed to the marginalization of gender and sexuality within Black Press historiography,” E. James West notes in “Queering the Black Press: Remembering BLK Magazine.” As a result, BLK Magazine became one of the first magazines focused on the Black LGBTQIA experience. Unfortunately, outlets like this are an anomaly. More recently, Wear Your Voice Mag operated from 2014-2021. According to their archived Twitter account, it was “a digital magazine for and by LGBTQIA+ Black, Indigenous, and people of color.” Last year, the magazine ended operations due to a lack of funding. At the same time, other Black outlets that are LGBTQIA unfriendly are thriving, such as The Shade Room. For HuffPost, Zeba Blay wrote, “For every “#TSRPositiveImages” post celebrating the work of Black entrepreneurs, philanthropists and others, there are posts that seem strategically designed to bring out the worst of the internet.” Blay contended, “I don’t know what to do with The Shade Room.” That’s fair. From one perspective, it serves as a cultural archive of Black pop culture. On the other, it is a vessel of bigotry, but can we take one without the other? In other words, should we ignore its flaws to celebrate its positivity or should we dismiss its positive impact when analyzing its flaws? These are all essential questions I am asking myself about not just The Shade Room but many Black media outlets in general: Ebony magazine, who aided J Edgar Hoover; The Chicago Defender, who pushed respectability politics; World Star Hip Hop which went from Hip Hop highlights to being connotated with negativity, violence, and pornography. In this column, The Archivist, we will take a look at Black media from 1827 until now, to give a wholistic glance at our past, present, and promising future. ~ℝ www.rwebel.com
THE PEN HOUSE
BY: JAVANNA WHITNEY
What we can learn from Livin' Large
THE MEDIUM HOW IT WAS PRESENTED At the onset of the movie Livin' Large, director Michael Schulz is blatant in his commentary. In a competitive news market such as Atlanta, Georgia (where CNN is headquartered) it is hard for a Black reporter to get a job - that is until another Black reporter is killed in a tragedy. If we learned anything from the 2020 uprisings, it's that tragedy is the only means of sparking progress. But that's a commentary for another time. In this piece, I'd like to focus on the main premise of the movie. After a Black reporter is killed by a gunman, aspiring reporter Dexter Jackson fills in for him when no one wants to cover the story (see right).
Dexter's charisma earns him a coveted spot at his local news station, after which he undergoes a transformation. From fancy suits (see left) to a new 'do, Jackson becomes unrecognizable to himself. While watching recently, I realized that the premise is very similar to that of Boot's Riley's Sorry to Bother You. That is, to excel in corporate America, one must conform to corporate standards of dressing, behaving, and speaking. Yet, in this process, people are isolated from their culture, their family and, most importantly themselves. This is what I would call "The Dexter Jackson effect".™️Especially for those in white dominated fields, such as the news industsry, it is hard to preserve cultural connections.
THE MESSAGE WHAT HE WAS TRYING TO SAY Moreover, even when you "make it" - even when you are able to break into these white spaces - that does not shield you from facing the racism that made it so hard for you to enter the space in the first place. Take Omar Jimenez for example. He is a CNN reporter who was arrested while doing a live report. To some, Jimenez might seem an exception. An alum of the Northwestern University, he is a Big 10 graduate who works in a Top 10 market. Yet, he was arrested while doing his job, which was reporting the news. This reminds all of us that Black faces in high places can't save us - because those high places were (and still are) anti-Black. Dexter Jackson quickly learned this lesson. He was as charismatic as he was expendable. When things went left between him and his community, there was no one there to pick him up. That's because he isolated the ones who would have lifted him up. He climb the career ladder in an attempt at racial uplift, which is the practice of trying to lift up the Black community through respectability. In the movie, Jackson ditches his unapologetically Black fiancee for a white woman only focused on climbing the career ladder. She is reminiscent of my graduate school classmates who were more concerned with writing a story than having cultural competency or tact.
THE MESSAGE (CONTINUED) For example, I remember when Jussie Smollett's case first happened. Although there were glaring holes in his story, the expediency of news reporters to trust the word of the Chicago Police Department (who had just been exposed for paying out millions in brutality settlements) was alarming. Alas, this behavior is an industry standard. For an article about the complicity of mainstream media, I wrote, "Recently – as in just this week – the anti-union New York Times (NYT) caught flak for calling Nazis “a group carrying Nazi flags.” The reluctance to acknowledge Nazism is intentional; it is reminiscent of a practice by newsrooms to use the passive voice instead of calling things what they are: bigotry. The NYT’s actions bear semblance to newsrooms calling police killings “officerinvolved shooting,” although the Associated Press has discouraged the use of this passive terminology. Yet, the tweet is still up with its original headline. Why would an outlet that defines itself as seeking “the truth and help[ing] people understand the world” be unable to help people understand why we should call Nazis by their chosen ideology? It is because they are part of legacy media and its complicity." This complicity is something that we at Rwebel are working overtime to dismantle. When we say, "The W is silent; we're not," we mean it. We seek to empower marginalized communities by allowing them to tell their own stories. Moreover, we seek to interrogate the role that media plays in people's oppression. With the reality of a Ukrainian war, it is now more important than ever to be responsible reporters. We have to think about who is harmed by the Ukrainian war: Africans who just want to go to their home countries; Uber drivers who do not make enough money as it is; Russian citizens and reporters who are being punished for Vladimir Putin's crimes. In a world of Dexter Jackson's, we must be Mary Jane. ~ℝ
ISSUE NO. 13
DE-CLASSIFIEDS
Sarad Davenport
"I'm an artist more than I'm a scientist."
Erikka Yvonne, Strut in her shoes & BLAC
"I'm a creative first." page 32
page 31
WHERE ADS LIVE
BACKGROUND
SARAD DAVENPORT CONTENT MANAGER
Charlottesville, Virginia
In a typical “Vinegar Hill day,” there are many tasks needed to be completed, including: managing the news aggregator, restocking merchandise in the African American Heritage Center, updating the website, checking emails for pitches, attending partnership meetings, says Sarad Davenport. Davenport is a Content Manager for Vinegar Hill magazine, which publishes a quarterly issue. Additionally, they sell merchandise – Vinegar Hill vintage – and partner with legacy media outlets.
www.vinegarhillmagazine.com @vinegarhillmag
I am an artist, more than a scientist I am I want things to look good, to feel good. And to be good. I am a person that values relationships. So everything that we do, such as around relationship building relationships, and conversations, authentic conversations.
What astounds me about Davenport is the fact that he does this all in his spare time. Davenport is an alum of the New York Times and notes that he brought that design expertise to his current position with Vinegar Hill Magazine.
DOCUMENTING HISTORY When pivoting to a magazine, they realized that they needed a website too, so they launched with a story about Nikuyah Walker, Charlottesville’s first Black woman mayor. After the far-right protests in Charlottesville, the city was on international radars, and Vinegar Hill was able to break a story about Charlottesville’s first Black woman mayor, who had refused to interview with national outlets like NYT and Washington Post.
BACKGROUND
ERIKKA YVONNE EDITOR IN CHIEF, BLAC FOUNDER, STRUT
DETROIT, MICHIGAN www.strutinhershoes.org www.blac.media/ @BLACMagazine @strutinHERshoes
I'm a creative first. Developing a team was the hardest because it was hard to find people that still had that passion. I would have people that had that background in journalism that wanted to write, they didn't have the passion for Strut, and it's a totally different thing. And so finding a team that was so passionate that also wanted to write that was willing to do the work, to help striking to where it is and where it can go has been the greatest challenge in that.
In her own words, Erikka Yvonne “derive[s] proudly from the East Side of Detroit, Michigan. Raised by a dynamic single mom who instilled unwavering resilience, confidence, and authenticity. Took time, because well, growing pains and life, but here we are. Always growing and learning, proudly wear many hats. I’m your Creative Bestie™️, who balances a life of imaginative freedom, entrepreneurship, digital content production, strategic leadership, designing, brand development, execution, mentorship, philanthropy, friendship, sisterhood, and my personal most significant role as Journee’s Auntie.”
CREATING SPACE FOR WOMEN AND DETROIT'S INNER CITY On Women: Yvonne is the founder of Strut in her shoes (Strut) and Editor-in-Chief of BLAC, which stands for Black Life, Arts, and Culture. Yvonne said that she founded Strut to help others struggling to find jobs like herself, but then it became about helping women. “I wanted to create a platform that I could share my journey that has kind of served as mentorship to other people along their journey.”
On Detroit: Yvonne said her favorite story was covering Marv Neal, a Detroit celebrity stylist. Yvonne noted, “It speaks to Detroit culture, but it’s also empowering to know that, yes, I can be from one of the worst neighborhoods. Yes, I can be unexpected to be in these places, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible for me to be in these places.” ~ ℝ
In Loving Memory J
a t i u a l d v C d I ia a o
Le
ro
ne
Pa ul
W.E.B.
of Rwebel Reporters
FINAL WORD
[...] This is about the beaches that I hope you see. I hope your flowers bloom heavenly. I know this life put you through Hell, but you masked it so well. I wish you didn’t have to. This world would’ve been empty if we never had you. Sad we had to lose you to see, but we remember posthumously The role you singlehandedly played in Black liberation. [...] Speaking truth to power every newscast. You left this world a little too fast, but you left it better. Aaliyah voice cause I’m writing you a four page letter Expressing my gratitude. without you, there’s no me. I’m still figuring out how to be Mary Jane. ~ℝ @rwebel_llc
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