As you may know, John H. Johnson, founder of Ebony magazine, died last week. Columnist Leonard Pitts “goes there” by asking and answering the question, “Why is there an Ebony? He writes:
Black life, black striving and black aspiration were conspicuous by their absence from the nation’s newspapers and magazines. As far as mainstream media were concerned, the only blacks who existed were “hulking negro brutes” (they were always hulking and “Negro” was always lowercase) who were forever preying on virginal white women.
For black people, mainstream media were mind poison. Ebony – and the news weekly Jet, which came along in 1951 — was an antidote. It emphasized black upward mobility and mainstream success, its stories always illustrated by carefully posed photos of Negroes Doing Well….
So the answer to the question is simple. There is an Ebony because there was a need. And, thank goodness, a man who saw that need and refused to let it go unfilled. (Source)
Pitts doesn’t answer the (hypothetical?) white guy’s question directly, but we get the point. I have no problem with black publications (or groups) per se, as long as the purpose is positive and uplifting. If they’re created simply as platforms to constantly complain, grievance shop, and whine about “racism,” I don’t (and won’t) support them.
I’m solidly against taxpayer-supported separatist groups. Private businesses supporting such groups? OK with me.
Blacks traditionally have been excluded from the mainstream, yes, but it doesn’t mean we have cause to protest or complain about publications that appeal to whites, even if the appeal is blatant. In a capitalist system, we have the freedom and opportunity to meet the market’s demand. John Johnson saw a need and filled it. That’s the beauty of human imagination, ingenuity, and will, qualities that should be stressed in the black community loudly and often.
Leave the whining back on the cotton fields where it belongs.
