Michael Baisden Vs Black Bloggers

…A fight that shouldn’t even have to be.

I finally had to publicly address the Baisden situation today: Michael Baisden and The Family Kicked it at Atlanta Fundraiser As Controversy Swirls

A fellow blogger, I assume Black Blogger, chided the AfroSpear group with taunts such as “Dear fellow diplomatic and tactful Black bloggers”; and stated that “Y'all can be all "We Are the World" if you want to, but it is what it is. Old media is terrified of Black bloggers.”

She finished her tirade with “Ridiculous. Was there EVER any debate as to whether or not Black bloggers should publicly confront this idiot Baisden? Toughen Up people!”

I don’t repost her whole statement, because while the accusations contained there in regarding Mr. Baisden are probably more likely true than not, it is unproductive public rhetoric, and it’s beside the point of how we conduct ourselves in response.

As I noted in the BlackPerspective.net piece:

“I was always troubled that he hadn’t given any specifics on these points, but I kept quiet on it as to not unfairly disparage the brother; and as not to cause bickering and suspicion that would hurt the movement. I only wish Mr. Baisden shared my sense of prudence.”

See, the movement, not my personal ego is the issue for me here.

We had our own little behind the scenes drama amongst the organizers in Nashville right after the Jena trip; but most people have no clue any schism even existed; and we’ve been able to move forward, for the most part, working together with the collective effort that allowed us to organize 10 FREE busses to go to Jena in the first place; because we didn’t put each other on blast publicly to where our egos wouldn’t allow us to come back together. And, we didn’t destroy one another’s reputation to the public where we all may have ended up looking bad, and destroying all grassroots leadership credibility in the city.

That’s why my answer to the blogger who taunts the Afrosphere for not operating as bombastically as she, was as follows:

“The issue isn’t about taking vengeance as bloggers. It’s about protecting the cause from infighting that will discourage the masses who are hard to encourage to fight in the first place; and now finally having been turned on may subsequently be turned off by this.

Put your blogger pride aside for a second. If your pride as a blogger is the most important thing to you here then you’re just as wrong and as dangerous as Baisden and what he did.

And yes, responsible, intelligent people in a coalition such as the AfroSpear talk to each other instead of just going off half-cocked like a bunch of wild banshees.

We don't need internet gangsterism or teenage emotional retorting; we need thoughtful and calculating strategy to forward the movement.”