The currently recommended
The Politics of Peter Daou's List raises a question about the
presumptive homogeneous ethnic composition of bloggers in general and Dkos bloggers in particular.
It's an interesting point that most progressive/liberal groups grapple with on a routine basis.... namely "where are the people of color?" It shows up in various ways and often leads to a lot of soul searching (no pun intended) but rarely does it lead to searching for soul (ok maybe the first one was an intended pun...who knows the unconscious is a strange beast).
Anyone who follows my ramblings knows I am a big believer in breeding outside the kennel. If diversity is a serious value, then you have to do more than invite folks to show up, or even worse expect folks to show up. You gotta put yourself out a bit. You gotta go the extra mile. You gotta get out more. Show a little class and extend yourself.
If that sounds like work, prepare to be surprised by how much fun this is. Let me give you a taste .....
First off .... explore your world. Maybe you are a bit nervous about hoping the IRT to Harlem and wandering around 125th street after dark. Ok... we didn't all grow up in that neighborhood so I can't fault you for that. But the beauty of the net is you get to wander into places you would never dream of going. So lets wander a bit shall we?
Interested in black bloggers?
Let's start at Black/African American Bloggers at Blackrefer.com
You could go visit blog #5 Afroblog. The brother has nothing on his site, except "Hello World". Why? because he just launched the site on Sept. 14th! Talk about a welcoming party. Want to blow his mind? Drop by for a meet and greet. I registered and dropped in a comment already. It didn't post, but he might have configured it so posts go to him first. We'll see what happens.
The "Hello World" opening gives me the warm and fuzzies because any C programmer worth his salt recognizes that line as the first program you write. You know the guy is tech savvy if he opens with that. I wouldn't recognize the guy if I was stuck in an elevator with him, but we already have something in common. Ain't the net wonderful? Sure, it might be something the blogging software puts in as a default, but hey...it's a conversation starter and that's all that really matters.
Besides, he is not lacking for content. Scroll down the menu bar on the right hand side and check out his blogroll.
The Black Report
Black Informant
Black Electorate
And that is just the beginning.
If you go over to Alexa you can check out the surfing habits of folks who visit these sites. Want to know what other sites people who go to black electorate look at? Let's look at the
alexa results for blackelectorate.com
Whoah!
People who visit this page also visit:
The Black World Today
Cultural Urban News Site
Call and Post Newspapers
BlackWebPortal News & Information
BlackState.com: Loved & Feared
Black Press USA
Black News
Black My Story
The Final Call Online
Emerging Minds
African-American News & Issues
Africana
The Black World Today
NeoBlack.Com
Redding News Review
Afro-Netizen
Davey D's Hip-Hop Corner
Diversity Inc.
Black America Web
AlterNet.org
Step on my link and you will get to a page with links to all those sites. All that info took me ...about 20 minutes to cull together, copy, paste and edit for your viewing pleasure. And now you have a entre to probably 80% of the political discourse going on among black bloggers. At worst, you are maybe one or two links away from any hot spot.
Let's look at Latinos, shall we? Better yet.... why don't you post something to share with the rest of us?
In the spirit of "Survivor", let's not forget our Asian friends. Hell, anyone got some good Native American sites? Any indigenous people's sites anywhere on the planet? Don't be shy. My blog is your blog... feel free to pull out your faves. Welcome to Show and Share Time!