Reparations Means Combating Propaganda

That should be pretty clear.

When we speak to people about the recent Jeremiah Wright Saga, most will say they agree with Wright. However, that is not the sense you see in the "Mess Media." Black pundits have either been whitewashed into a seemingly Black person indoctrinated with the White perspective, or they are (justifiably) afraid of loosing their jobs.

In Message to the People: The Course of African Philosophy, Marcus Garvey says:

The press, cinema, pulpit, schoolroom are all propaganda agencies for one thing or the other...The white man is a great propagandist. he fully and completely realizes the value of propaganda. Therefore, you must organize your propaganda to undo the propaganda of other people; if their propaganda affects your interest...the school book is literary propaganda. The novels and books you read are also literary propaganda, all calculated to bring about certain results beneficial to the propagandist.

So, everything is designed to make us fearful of ourselves. With regards to the Jeremiah Wright saga, DC journalist William Reed says:

The acrimony corporate media created and manipulated regarding Rev. Wright started when their programmers saturated the airwaves with sound-bite clips of Wright sermonizing about the evils of America. When Rev. Wright started his defense, mainstream media’s provocateurs stoked the controversy by over-blowing statements with a stable of black commentators in tow - each professing Wright “didn’t represent their views and blaming him, for, as they saw it, continuing to be an albatross around Obama's neck.

Corporate Media’s endless faintings about “Obama’s pastor problem” illustrates consistent and colluded institutional racism thinly veiled as a defense of American civility and patriotism. Barack Obama does not have as much “a pastor problem" as Americans has a corrupt media problem. The airwaves are filled with "Obama's Pastor Problem" because an irresponsible media pretends that America does not have a race or a division of wealth problem. Black-oriented issues are rarely aired via corporate media.

Reparations means combating propaganda. And, to defend against the attacks of mainstream society we must control our own media...not so-called Black Press, but press which is controlled by Black people. Black Press is largely disrespected and mostly read by Black people - who, themselves, read it superficially. That serves no purpose. What we need is press that is controlled by Black people, which is respected and carries the weight needed to be taken seriously.

Again in Message to the People, Garvey instructs us:

Watch the newspapers, magazines and journals (now TV and Internet) daily for propaganda against your race or your institutions...rush into print immediately a defense of your race institutions and organizations from any attack. Never allow an insult propagated to go unanswered by you. Be ever vigilant to down anything by way of propaganda that dishonors or discredits you.

Reparations means combating propaganda. So, we need to be in a position to defend our independence. That is why I am hopeful to see the launch of the Black Television News Channel. Again from William Reed:

The Black Television News Channel (BTNC) will launch in early 2009 with the nation’s first all-news cable network dedicated to the African American community. Based in Washington, D.C., BTNC is the creation of J.C. Watts, the former Republican congressman from Oklahoma. The network is part of a multi-year carriage agreement with Comcast Cable. Initial distribution will be limited to Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit, Washington, Atlanta, and Baltimore.

A black cable news network will be a welcome addition to the media world. But, BTNC’s 24-hour news format will be a costly proposition. To satisfy a bourgeois black clientele addicted to mainstream media, BTNC will especially need to put forth a state-of-the-art product. BTNC’s difference, of course, will all be in the perspective it brings to screens. As BTNC brings blacks news from their own points of view, it will stem growth and maturation of black people who will not only be on-air talent but the ones making editorial decisions on what stories actually get covered. Many of those blacks currently forced to prostrate themselves at corporate media altars could become “shot callers” under the Watts paradigm.

Here's a message from JC Watts:


Reparations means combating propaganda. And, to wage a strong battle we need community support. So, I hope you support the Black Television News Channel and other means by which we can control (or at least shift) the image portrayed of our people. Maybe if we can inject our perspective in the debate, people may find black empowerment easier to embrace!

Come and Get Your Reparations!