Shame On You Black Media!

I never envisioned that I would ever have to say this or write this.  But here goes.

I am sorely disappointed in Black media.

Why?

Because they are not loudly calling out abuse, mistreatment, and scams in our communities when it is Black people abusing, mistreating, and scamming other Black people, particularly when Black women are the target.

In other words, Black media will have a collective bird when white people lie on us, disrespect us, abuse us, or mistreat us.

However, there is collective silence from the Black media when it comes to when Black people abuse, mistreatment, and scam one another, especially when Black women are the target of the abuse, the mistreatment, and the scam.  This is one of my major frustrations with us as Black people and with Black media when it comes to charlatans like Umar Johnson.

I know there may be a touch of ego involved.  After all, it would be difficult to admit being fooled by a clown like Umar Johnson.  However, at least in my opinion, there are times when one needs to put one's ego aside for the greater good.  It might be helpful to explain to people how one starts a school using legitimate methods.  It might be helpful to have articles to illustrate and educate people on how a person or persons who are sincerely working to open a school would behave, what they would show the public, how they would recruit board members, etc.

They haven't.

We need to call them to task for this.

So here we go.

Roland Martin

I put Roland Martin on the list first because, as a part of TVOne/RadioOne/UrbanOne network, he had the most reach into Black people's homes all over the United States.  In fact, he had Umar Johnson on his radio program.  Recall that it was on Roland Martin's radio program that Umar Johnson infamously lied about being celibate.

Now, I don't expect Roland Martin to care about Umar Johnson's sex life.  I don't care about Umar Johnson's sex life.  What I care about, and what Roland Martin should have considered, is the character of a person who would tell such a stupid lie.

Did Roland Martin, the producers of his TV show, or anyone on the network bother to vet Umar Johnson, his school, his credentials and his track record before bringing him in front of Black people?

I'm willing to say, no, they didn't.  And I actually hope I'm right because I hope that the folks at TVOne/RadioOne/UrbanOne network are smarter than that...or maybe not.  After all, they put Umar Johnson on their network without checking him out.  It's clear because TVOne/RadioOne/UrbanOne advertised Umar Johnson as a child therapist, which is a licensed position.  Umar Johnson doesn't have a license, has NEVER had a license, and according to the state of Pennsylvania, he can NEVER obtain a license.

Did TVOne find out if Umar was really a child therapist?

The Breakfast Club

The Breakfast Club is part of the iHeart Radio network.  So, technically, it's not Black media.  However, the Breakfast Club has a large following of Black people, so I'm including them in my diatribe.

Umar Johnson was on the Breakfast Club twice, as far as I know.  He was a sensation.  He sounded highly intelligent.  He sounded like he knew what he was talking about.  However, upon further examination, especially in the last interview in which he claimed that Fidel Castro was of Italian, and not Spanish, descent, Umar Johnson faltered.

By the way, there is no documentation that I've found to prove that the Castro family of Cuba have Italian ancestry.  If someone has valid documentation to prove otherwise, please share.

Now, I don't know that I blame DJ Envy, Charlemagne the God, or Angela Yee.  I do blame the producers of their show for not adequately doing their homework.  Did anyone on the staff of the Breakfast Club do even a modicum of research on Umar Johnson before having him on their show, thereby giving him a platform to lie to their audience about his fictitious plans to start a school?

Black Enterprise

Black Enterprise is even more disappointing because Black business is what Black Enterprise is about.  It's what they do.  It's their 'thang,' if you will.  I remember Earl Graves, Sr. and his print magazine.  In fact, I used to subscribe.  I found it quite interesting to learn what Black business people were doing.

I don't know what happened to Black Enterprise nowadays but clearly the journalistic standard has gone way down.  I don't know when this slow slide downward began, but I'm willing to speculate that it started when the great Earl Graves, Sr. left the helm at Black Enterprise.

As it stands now, Black Enterprise is linking an article they wrote on Umar Johnson and his pretend school to Naturally Moi.  Naturally Moi, as far as I can tell, is a celebrity gossip/current event website.  Now, I don't know the author, Kevin L. Clark, but if I were to speak with him face-to-face, I would call that journalism, well, lazy.

I wonder if Mr. Clark asked to see a business plan, see a curriculum outline, meet educators who might be working with Umar Johnson or meet members of a board of directors.

Or...did Mr. Clark just take Umar Johnson's word for it?

Rock Newman

Rock Newman is a staple in local Washington, DC media, thanks to Howard University.  He's had many interesting guests from various walks of life from academia to the world of hip hop.  I've watched a fair number of his interviews and have enjoyed them and learned from them.

That fact that I find Rock Newman to be highly intelligent and informed makes the idea that I feel compelled to critique him on his entertainment of Umar Johnson all the more hurtful to me.  Yet I must.

I wonder who does research for Rock Newman's show.  How is it that someone, on the campus of Howard University, no less, did not properly vet Umar Johnson before giving him such a platform?

Conclusion

Where are the researchers?  Where are the fact checkers?  Who vets people who appear on these television/radio programs?  Black media has to do better.  And we have to demand that they do.

After all if we can't depend on Black media to warn Black people about a fungus among us, who can we count on?

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