AfricanAmericanLa.com
When you read an email address like http://africanamericanla.com you would think that this is a commercial Web site developed by self-described “African Americans” for commercial purposes. What you will really find is a government Web site run by city officials—the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department.
At the bottom of the page, you may still see commercial logos like that of Target.com and strangely but surely the African Market Place—an event that is also under the auspices of the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department.
Now all you need is a few colored appointees of the City of Los Angeles to ceremoniously parade—some even bearing dreadlocks—and allow “us” to assume that this is what it means to be empowered and self-sufficient. All this means to me is that an ‘enemy force’ that was once independent gave up fighting and allowed themselves to be captured by the dominant authority of the region most likely because they were starved into capitulation with supply lines cut. This address should be africanamericanla.gov for the sake of accuracy and honesty.
One would assume that africanamericanla.com would in some small part a news source to capture recent events. You would think that there would be a posting about where to donate to the people without homes in New Orleans. To jump all the way out of L.A. and into the social circles of Omar Waslow, blackplanet.com does make some mention of the crisis while his buds over at netnoir.net are clean and free from the news.
So let me not take an accusatory tone here. Let me appeal to the egos out there with self-deprecating whining: ‘Am I so elitist that I am unaware of a local news site that can tell me where to donate for the New Orleans relief effort?” And when you read ‘local’ you will have to fill in ‘Black’—so where is the Black Southern California local news outlet that is online?
I take a look at, say, http://www.losangelessentinel.com, and I find a badly designed heap of graphics that is self-absorbed with colors and motion, still fascinated with the accomplishment of just being on the Web. I can keep on looking but I am sure that this is typical so what’s the point.
So my whining questions were couched in false ignorance. I hear from word of mouth the my local place to donate to the people of the man-made flood is at KRST Unity Center of African Spirituality, 7825 South Western Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90047— (323) 759-0448. So much for the high tech Web and excellent Blackness.