NABJ - fulfilling its Promise?

Dear friends,

I remember back in the early 80s, when I was the big man on campus at Temple, NABJ (National Association of Black Journalists) held a conference there.

It wasn’t a very big organization then and the agenda was fairly progressive. Unfortunately, times have changed and the group that exists today under that name is far removed from the activism of its predecessors.

Having been in the movement for all of my life, basically, since the early 60s, growing up in an activist family, I’ve either organized or rubbed elbows with many of the now renowned icons of the movement. The most significant lesson that I was taught and continue to advocate is: we must inform to inspire. NABJ must create a forum on the Internet where African American people will go to share dialogue - not the racist controlled media outlets like MS NBC and the Grio that offer analyses that are often laughable. Moreover, and it will become more apparent when Obama is no longer in office, NABJ can show leadership in the same context as the great Dr. DuBois did, when he started the Crisis magazine - which was quite revolutionary in the early 20th century.

Finally, African Americans in the spirit of our beloved brother Malcolm X and his mentor the Honorable Elijah Muhammad must: Do for self!. That is, we must leave Facebook and other forums in droves of millions and start our own Internet network that joins us with our people around the world.

G. Djata Bumpus