Chicago Tribune updates Shaquanda Cotton case and power of African-American Blog Community
The Chicago Tribune and Howard Witt were really the catalyst for the nationwide interest in the story of Shaquanda Cotton.
Check out the front page Chicago Tribune story here detailing how the sentences of 4,700 delinquent youths now being held in Texas' juvenile prisons might have been arbitrarily and unfairly extended by prison authorities. Many of them, including Shaquanda, could be freed very soon.
Also take a look at a commentary Mr. Witt has written regarding the Power of the African-American Internet Community. In his article that also appears in Tuesday's Tribune, Mr. Witt refers to the Black Blogging Community as "a new, 'virtual' civil rights movement out there on the Internet that can reach more people in a few hours than all the protest marches, sit-ins and boycotts of the 1950s and 60s put together. There's no doubt the power of this medium has been displayed over the last few weeks.
Even here at Dallas South, the effects have been shocking to say the least. Over the last week, traffic on the site has increased 400-500%. This includes the two days with the highest number of unique visitors and page visits since I started the blog last June. There have been a number of blogs that have linked to the articles and made comments here, including Chittlin's and Chopsticks, Ft. Wayne Independent African-American Woman, The Anti-Essential Conundrum, as well as Black and Bible Beautiful. Add that to local Dallas blogs and podcasts like Dallas Progress, Blue Island, Now That's What I'm Talkin' About!!! and others, and you've got yourself a ready-made network for exacting change.
I have to agree with Mr. Witt's opinion that newspapers are still relevant. I continue to subscribe to the Dallas Morning News and still feel it is the avenue that provides the most complete day-to-day account of events as they happen. The Internet media, whether it is DallasNews.com or Pegasus News , can provide for immediate reaction although some purists still feel like they need more. And the papers employ more (though dwindling) full-time staff while many bloggers have other jobs.
But the reality is this generation didn't grow up seeing their parents reading the paper, but watching the 5 o'clock news. And though my son does see my wife and I reading the paper, we never watch the evening news and he probably has more vivid memories of us sitting in front of the computer.
Yes America, Black Folks have computers. Yes America, we know how to use them. I blog and I'm proud of it. But uh, I could still use some advise on improving my SEO.
