The Power structure is not going to save us – never has and never will. We have to take things into our own hands and save ourselves.
-- Camille Cosby

Last evening’s nightly news programs and “magazines” – Hardball with Chris Matthews, Hannity and Colmes, Anderson Cooper 360°, and all the other programs with professional talking heads – covered one story and one story only – the latest adventures and calamities of O.J. Simpson.

After covering Orenthal James as the main topic, blood for oil – oops – the war in Iraq was the topic. If not those 2 items, the talk was of President Bush’s nomination of Michael Mukasey for Attorney General and General Petraeus’ “it’s working” surge. Or, switch to another talking heald and it was MoveOn.org’s bashing of Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton’s new take on an old universal healthcare plan. If none of those were the topics, it was certain to be Iran’s nuclear arsenal, Greenspan’s criticism, Blackwater’s ban, a polygamist’s trial, ACLU’s support of Larry Craig, or another recalled brand of bagged salad for suspected E. coli contamination. All important issues and events with very significant ramifications.

But did the atrocious events in Jena, Louisiana appear as anybody’s story or even as an item on the ticker tape rolling across the screen?

Even Black Republican and 2 time candidate Alan Keyes made the CNBC ticker tape for his entrance as a candidate into the 2008 presidential race.

Is this just another indication of how Black people are marginalized and ignored, or was I just watching the wrong channels?

Isn’t the social injustice, spurred by a racist district attorney in a small town of about 3,000 people, that impacts not only the victims and their families but the country as a whole, newsworthy? Isn’t it worthy of the same, if not more, fanatical media attention that Kevin Federline got being the target of an assassination plot? When thousands of Black and white people will converge on a city the size of Jena to ensure their presence is felt and voices heard regarding the inequity of the charges and treatment of Black students and people, doesn’t Sally Field’s cursing and political banter at the Emmy’s Sunday night pale in comparison?

Face it, nobody’s talking about Black people or what’s important to us, so you know nobody’s coming to save us. Don’t look for nobody. Don’t hold your breath for ‘em.

Which is just as well because nobody knows what we need better than we do. History has proven time and again that the only way we’ll realize freedom and justice is to go get it for ourselves – which is what we’ll seek on September 20 in Jena. The only way we’ll grasp economic security and social stability is to build for ourselves with our own pooled capital and resources, then spend our dollars among ourselves. We can’t wait for others to do for us what needs to be done by us. The mainstream news media won’t do it and local, state and federal governments certainly won’t do it. Besides, self-help doesn’t need the help of the media or any administration.

Stay tuned in to Tom Joyner, Michael Baisden, Russ Parr, NPR’s News and Notes with Farai Chideya and the entire roundtable, Steve Harvey, and all the other Black media outlets who have kept the Jena Six issue at the forefront of America, even and especially without the conventional radar.

Sadiqqa © 2007