Last week, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean announced the state blogs credentialed to cover the national convention. In a press release, Democratic National Convention Committee CEO Leah Daughtry trumpeted:
The members of the DemConvention State Blogger Corps represent a broad spectrum of voices that illustrate the "big tent" nature of our Party. Many of these blogs are vibrant communities, well respected in their home states and committed to ensuring that all voices can be heard in the political process. I'm excited about the roles these bloggers will have in engaging an even broader, more diverse base of people from around the country in conversations not only about the Convention, but about the future of our nation.
Black bloggers do not share Daughtry’s excitement. They are outraged over the lack of diversity. BTW, Daughtry is the daughter of the Rev. Herbert Daughtry of House of the Lord Church in Brooklyn. A longtime community leader, Rev. Daughtry was arrested during the recent pray-in for justice for Sean Bell.
Francis L. Holland of the Afrospear is leading the charge. Disclosure: I’m a member of the Afrospear but I don’t have a dog in this fight for two reasons.
First, I’m not a state blogger so I didn’t apply. Second, I expect to be credentialed through the DNCC Press Gallery as a member of the Black Voices political team.
In a post headlined "Jim Crow Blogging at the Democratic National Convention?," Francis wrote:
I'm concerned that virtually all of the state blogs selected by the Democratic National Committee to cover Denver are white. Of course, it remains possible that one of these white blogs will bring a Black person along as a blogger. But, Black bloggers and voters are not willing to wait until we arrive in Denver to find out whether a group of virtually all-white blogs will also send a group of all-white bloggers to Denver. We strongly suspect that we already know the answer, and it is totally unacceptable to us. Do any of these all-white blogs even have any Black bloggers who might participate? That's something we need to know before Denver.
The controversy has been picked up by the mainstream media, including the Dallas Morning News and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The Democratic Party’s racial divide has metastasized from the voting booth to the blogosphere.
