by Lawrence A. Robinson
As one of the faster growing urban communities in the nation, minorities in Central Florida lack control of their media and communications. They are force fed what main stream media wants them to know. This system controls what we think about, what we talk about; but most importantly, what issues we act on.
Knowledge is power. Lack of knowledge gives the power to someone else. Central Florida minorities are controlled and manipulated based upon information that they receive or don’t receive. What is needed is a communications system that targets the needs of minorities. A system that will replay over and over again the good news, as well as the alerts that we need to know about. A communication system that will ask questions, and then explain to the rest of us what the answers really mean.As a fast growing macro community within Central Florida, minorities are wholly ignored in the main stream media. They receive information that does not pertain to them over and over again. It is well known that the average person needs to hear, see or read the same information several times before it takes hold. Maybe this is why we see the same story about Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie hour after hour, day after day on the major networks like CNN and FOX News, and also on our local channels.
Is this really news? When Paris Hilton was on her way to jail, it was the top news story on CNN. When she got out, Larry King was bragging that he got the first interview. Is this information worthy of top billing? Do you really need to see Brittany’s panties several times a day? Is this really that important to you?
When one is inundated by stories such as these, day after day all day long, it becomes obvious what the main stream media calls news. Maybe these are the types of stories that are important to them. The fact is, seldom does the mainstream media overly report stories that are important to us. When something positive and important does happen in the local community, we may hear about it once. There are lots of issues in our community that we should know about so that we can create a movement to make a change.
For instance, did you know that in the City Of Orlando’s District 6, for the month of June 2007, there were more than 20 people reported missing. Many of whom are teenagers. Only 14 of these cases were solved. Why didn’t we see that on the news instead of Rosie O’Donnell fighting with Donald Trump? Is it because the people who live in District 6 are not important enough?
I don’t much care about who Anna Nicole’s baby daddy is. I would like to know why the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority, rejected the contract of the Orlando Hometown Concession Group, a local minority corporation, who has held the contract for ten years, and instead gave it to a group in Spain.
I don’t need a daily account of Paris Hilton 21 day jail stay. I don’t care what her mamma said. I want to know why the new police sub station in Orlando District 6 is closer to Metro West than to Washington Shores.
I don’t have time to watch the Simpson’s movie. I want to know if the money we are spending on ‘Midnight Basketball’ can instead be spent to put a kid in trade school.
Those are the types of stories that I would like to see on the 6 o’clock news on every station, every day for a week.
Whoever is deciding what is presented on the local news, does not seem to be concerned with what is in our best interest. We need to create our own mechanism to create a buzz that is important to us. Getting hourly updates about how much money the Simpson Movie made last weekend, just doesn’t cut it for me.
We want to find a way to improve our communications. We need the ability to receive the information that is important to us on a timely basis.
Please send me a note, care of this news paper with your thoughts. Otherwise, for the next several months, we’ll get daily updates about Nicole Richie’s pregnancy.
I feel your passion . My question is this: if we stop expecting and asking them to represent us and began as you have to move towards representing ourselves whenever and where ever we can , would we be respected more ? We used to have our own. Not to say that segregation was a thrill ride but we still had our own. I think we have come far enough to stop asking for their scraps of attention. Let’s move on. Age has taught me many things. One of those jewels is this…..if you want something find the means to getting it. Ask very few people for help….do as much as you can on your own. As you’re making your way towards what you want, some folks are going to notice that you ain’t asking them for help. They will be amused, then annoyed and then amazed. When they reach amazed……and ask you to let them do something for you then decide if you really want it. You will probably discover a lot about what you have going on for yourself and that maybe you have bought into other’s perceptions and lies about you for too long. That maybe you really have sold yourself short and it’s time to know who you are, what you can really and that you just won’t accept their scraps anymore.This is my push for US. We actually have so much to us that if we could just for a moment feel that power it would unkink every curl on our heads. We would never Jeri curl again.