Afrosphere

Afrosphere is a play on the word Blogosphere which relates to all blogs and their interconnections within the African continent. The word Afrosphere has also been used to describe the African American blogosphere.

History

The genesis of the AfroSpear/AfroSphere movement can in many ways be contributed to many bloggers, blogs and websites of African descent throughout the African Diaspora. Bloggers like AfroNetizen, African American Political Pundit, Jack and Jill Politics, Black Commentator Booker Rising, Prometheus 6, Mirror on America and Francis Holland had for many months expressed the need for inclusion of black bloggers into the majority blogosphere discussion on all issues impacting Americans. White bloggers in many ways refused to hear the outcry of black bloggers and even met in the middle of the an historic black community of Harlem, N.Y. with former President Bill Clinton, to discuss politics.

Members of the White Blogosphere coming into the black community, and only inviting one black person, (who was not able to attend for personal reasons) was considered by many black bloggers an insult to black bloggers and to black communities.

The picture of all white bloggers in Harlem, with Bill Clinton talking politics, when black voters are a critical base of the Democratic Party insulted black bloggers from the conservative La Shawn Barber, the Moderate The Republic of T and the liberal Steve Gillard and The Culture Kitchen created early discussions for a chain of change in the Blogosphere.

Enter Black Internet Social and political activist Francis L. Holland, who wrote a groundbreaking post in MyDD: Blackosphere & Whitosphere: Silence is Never Golden on Feb 15, 2007 which provided additional emphasis for a coming together point for bloggers of African descent to further discuss issues of importance to the African diaspora in a collective manner. The "White-News" vs. the Blackosphere became to topic of conversation in the black blogger community. The term whitosphere made popular by Francis L. Holland is used even today.

Bloggers like The Field Negro, Jack and Jill Politics, African American Political Pundit, Asabagna, Aulelia, P6, Skeptical Brotha, Republic of T, BygBaby, Culture Kitchen, Angie, The Free Slave, and many other bloggers continued the discussions at the Republic of T's blog after his blog post "The Republic of T. Blogging While Brown, Part III" on March 30, 2007 with Black bloggers, Rikyrah, ecthompson, Electronic Viillage, Mark Bey, Dr. Lester Spence, Bronze Trinity and many other bloggers contributing to the discussion. Through further discussions on other black blogger platforms such as The Free Slave the AfroSpear name was agreed upon.

The overall the origins of “AfroSpear” started from a discussion group of black bloggers from around the world who had an interest in developing a community of African/Black progressive minded bloggers. The word AfroSpear came black blogger discussions regarding a name for a group of black bloggers who did not want to limit their engagement to the continent of the United States, but also wanted to connect with bloggers from throughout the African Diaspora.

Seeing the need to water of the AfroSpear seed, and take it to the next level, a smaller ad-hoc black blogger group moved forward and began planning beyond the creation of a name and concepts into a baseline model of the AfroSpear. It developed into an idea to create a diasporic-wide think tank type blog comprising of 6 bloggers: 3 women and 3 men. The vision was that it would focus on discussing issues, exchanging ideas and creating strategies, with the objective of developing concrete and viable solutions to tackle the concerns relating to those of African descent worldwide.

The 6 who initially started the AfroSpear blog had developed a relationship by exchanging ideas and having discussions and respectful debates on each others blogs. They didn’t always agree, but what they had in common was their love for their community and a commitment to the progress of those of African descent, both near and far. They came from 4 different countries on 3 continents. They brought a variety of experiences, perspectives, ideas, beliefs and values in an effort to foster understanding, wisdom, knowledge and strength.

The Afrospear is a part of, connected to and add a collective voice to the variety of other Afrocentric/Black individuals, conglomerations and collectives out in the AfroSphere. To the best and the brightest for the progress of people of the African dispora. Original moderators and Contributors of the Afrospear included, Adrianne, Asabagna, Aulelia, BelizeBound, Field Negro and Kizzie.

Today the Afrospear and the Afrosphere of bloggers have worked on organizing The Jena 6, and Shaquanda Cotton and have helped spread word about the Jena6 while at the same time AfroSpear Members Mark Bey and Bronze Trinity organized the African American Bloggers Association and it's Solutions Blog.

On August 02, 2007 the Afrosphere Bloggers Association was launched [http://bronzetrinity.efx2.com/view/98661/Announcing-the-Launch-of-the-Afrosphere-Bloggers-Association/] as an organization to help the black community to grow and prosper and became the first organisation to use the word in its company name.

In 2007 bloggers, and podcasters of the Afrosphere played a significant role in publicising and organising activism in response to the Jena Six [ [http://solutionsforourpeople.wordpress.com/2007/08/30/afrosphere-bloggers-ask-media-to-cover-jena-six-story/ Afrosphere Bloggers Ask Media To Cover Jena Six Story « THE SOLUTIONS BLOG ] ] On May 16, 2008, AfroSpear member Atty. Francis L. Holland broke the story of the Democratic National Convention's (DNC) virtually all-white state blog pool, where some 53 of 55 state blogs chosen to sit among the delegates on the floor of the Democratic National Convention were white, with only two Black or Latino blogs chosen. The DNC state blog corps story was first covered in the mainstream media by reporter Karen Brooks of the [http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/politics/national/stories/052108dnpolpoliticalblogs.123168d2.html Dallas Morning News] . Atty. Francis L. Holland and D. Yobachi Boswell, both coordinators of the Afrosphere Action Coalition issued a series of press releases and gave a series of interviews to the mainstream media on the issue, after which the story was covered in the [http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/shared-blogs/ajc/politicalinsider/entries/2008/05/21/bloggers_of_the_afrosphere_thi.html Atlanta Journal Constitution] , the [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/26/AR2008052602184.html?hpid=topnews Washington Post] , [http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/2008/05/whats-new-15.html USA Today] , [http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-raceinamerica-storygallery,0,5329741.storygallery The Chicago Tribune] , [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/30/MN1T110MF0.DTL The San Francisco Chronicle] , and [http://www.politico.com/blogs/michaelcalderone/0508/Is_the_DNC_excluding_black_bloggers.html Politico] .

Partly as a result of these actions, as well as a generalized afrosphere campaign of e-mail contact with the DNC and intense media attention, six AfroSpear blogs and an additional three afrosphere blogs that had applied for credentials were credentialed to cover the 2008 Democratic National Convention (see [http://www.demconvention.com/credentialed-blogs/" DemConvention.Com for complete list)] as part of the Convention's "general pool" of blogs, but not as part of the state blog corps, which remains virtually all-white.

AfroSpear blogs admitted to cover the 2008 Democratic National Convention in the general pool were L.N. Rock's "African American Political Pundit"; Pam Spaulding's "PamsHouseBlend"; Shawn Williams' "Dallas South"; Gina McCauley's "What About our Daughters?"; Jill Tubman and Baratunde Thurston's "Jack and Jill Politics". Additional afrosphere blogs selected included "Culture Kitchen" and "Georgia Unfiltered". [http://www.demconvention.com/credentialed-blogs/" DemConvention.Com]

Tracking

Sites such as Afrigator, KenyaUnlimited, Muti and Global Voices Online track the interconnections between African bloggers through the use of RSS feeds.

References

See also

*Blogosphere
*Racial Segregation
*Racial Discrimination
*Civil Rights Movement
*Black Power
*Self-determination

External links

* [http://thedailyvoice.com/voice/2008/06/should-black-parents-adopt-whi-000781.php The Daily Voice: "Should Black Parents Adopt White Kids?"]
* [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91554108 NPR News and Notes: R. Kelly Cleared, with "There Already"]
* [http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/politics/national/stories/061308dnmetbloggers.25e4de6c.html Dallas Morning News: "African-American Bloggers Seek Larger Presence at Democratic Convention"]
* [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91157801 National Public Radio "News and Notes": Desmond Burton of "Afronerd", Baratunde Thurston of "Jack & Jill Politics", and Carmen Dixon of "All About Race" on "What's Next for Obama?"]
* [http://pajamasmedia.com/instapundit/archives2/019919.php Instapundit: "Black Bloggers Fighting to Make Voices Heard"]
* [http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-raceinamerica-storygallery,0,5329741.storygallery Chicago Tribune: "Black activists go blogging in challenging status quo"]
* [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/30/MN1T110MF0.DTL San Francisco Chronicle: "Black Bloggers Fight to Make Voices Heard"]
* [http://www.demconvention.com/credentialed-blogs/ DemConvention.Com: "Blogs Credentialed For The Convention"]
* [http://www.politico.com/blogs/michaelcalderone/0508/Is_the_DNC_excluding_black_bloggers.html Politico: "Is the DNC excluding black bloggers?"]
* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/26/AR2008052602184.html?hpid=topnews Washington Post: "Democrats Convention Pool - Is it all wet? - Bloggers Say DNC List Lacks Racial Diversity"]
* [http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/shared-blogs/ajc/politicalinsider/entries/2008/05/21/bloggers_of_the_afrosphere_thi.html Atlanta Journal Constitution: "Bloggers of the ‘afrosphere’ think they’ve been shut out of the Democratic National Convention"]
* [http://articles.latimes.com/2007/10/18/news/na-blogger18 Los Angeles Times: "Blogger goes into ‘the fields’"]
* [http://www.pbs.org/idealab/2007/10/social-networks-or-social-bubb.html PBS Idea Lab: "Afro-sphere"]
* [http://fm4.orf.at/connected/220249/main Radio FM 4, Austria: "Black Women in Europe]
* [http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1007/6131.html Politico.Com: "BlogJam: DallasSouthBlog.com"]
* [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14731346 NPR Bloggers Roundtable: "Jena and Jesse"]
* [http://www.cbc.ca/searchengine/blog/2007/09/this_weeks_show_sept2707_links.html#more Radio One: "Afrosphere"]
* [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/francis-l-holland Huffington Post features AfroSpear's Francis L. Holland as guest blogger]
* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/02/AR2008050200936.html Washington Post: Gina Williams, "What About Our Daughters?"]
* [http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/DN-jenawilliams_22tex.ART.State.Edition1.425459c.html Dallas Morning News: "Dallas blogger helped spread word about Jena"]
* [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14586563 NPR: "Protesters Call for Justice for Jena 6"]
* [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14658077 NPR: "Jena Six' Story Gained Momentum Online"
* [http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-US&brand=msnbc&vid=801dd038-d1d2-4322-8aa7-211dd8872684 AfroSpear's Shawn Williams, "Dallas South Blog", interviews on MSNBC concerning organization of 2007 Jena Six March, Jena Louisiana]
* [http://www.ebonyjet.com/technology/buzz/index.aspx AfroSpear's Adrianne G. George wins Ebony Jet "Weblog Award"]
* [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/inrock AfroSpear's L.N. Rock, "African American Political Pundit" as guest blogger at Huffington Post]
* [http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-jena_blog_web19,0,4309628.story Chicago Tribune: "Blogs help drive Jena protest"]
* [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14351405 then AfroSpear's Gina McCauley on NPR Blogger's Roundtable]
* [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12819222 AfroSpear's L.N. Rock on NPR Blogger's Roundtable]
* [http://video.nbc5i.com/player/?id=120201 Afrospear's Eddie G. Griffin (BASG) protests D.L. Hughley concert in Ft. Worth]
* [http://video.nbc5i.com/player/?id=120201#videoid=120495 NBC5i.com Afrospear's Eddie G. Griffin (BASG) protests D.L. Hughley concert in Ft. Worth]
* [http://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/2007/06/15/Hughley_faces_possible_Texas_boycott/UPI-13191181954410/ UPI cites AfroSpear's Eddie G. Griffin]
* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/02/AR2007050202813.html?hpid=artslot Washington Post cites AfroSpear's Jared Roebuck's "Lies Before Breakfast blog"]
* [http://www.afrigator.com/ Afrigator - An aggregator for sites across the African continent]
* [http://www.akopo.com/ An african blogging platform]
* [http://www.kenyaunlimited.com/ KenyaUnlimited - Kenyan Blogs Webring]
* [http://www.muti.co.za/ Muti - African social bookmarking site]
* [http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/-/world/sub-saharan-africa/ Global Voices Online - International network of bloggers that summarizes what is going on in the blogosphere in every corner of the world]
* [http://solutionsforourpeople.wordpress.com/2007/08/30/afrosphere-bloggers-ask-media-to-cover-jena-six-story/]