Oaklandside's Attack On Derreck Johnson In The Oakland City Council Race Was Racist
Oaklandside's Attack On Derreck Johnson In The Oakland City Council Race Was Racist - Video
Oaklandside's Attack On Derreck Johnson In The Oakland City Council Race Was Racist The Oaklandside, a new online publication by the person who owns Berkeleyside and that has a $1 million grant from Google, owes Derreck Johnson, a candidate in the Oakland City Council race for the At-Large Seat occupied by Rebecca Kaplan (who I endorsed), an apology (and just maybe a chunk of that million). It's recent post attacking him for filing bankruptcy was nothing short of racist in my view as an Oakland black media entrepreneur in the time of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. And, as a momentary aside, I'm proud to report that Zennie62Media's OaklandNewsNow.com that you're reading is twice the size of Oaklandside in online traffic, and with a fraction of it's budget. And it's black owned and operated, whereas Oaklandside has a black editor, but is white owned, and the person who wrote the post is white and male. Anyway, Oaklandside accused Derreck Johnson of being so proud as a black man to run television commercials saying he's “successful”, that he needed to be taken down a notch by getting out “the truth”. The truth as Oaklandside saw it. The truth as Oaklandside was presented with by a source. I say that because I know where the information came from, and who gave it to Oaklandside, regardless of what it claims. Moreover, it's no secret: bankruptcy information is publicly available, folks. What Oaklandside did was simply make phone calls around town to form a story around the information it was given. If Oaklandside were truly interested in “the truth” it would have produced an article with information about the businesses of all of the candidates, without sensationalism. If Oaklandside was were truly interested in “the truth”, it would have worked with Mr. Johnson to run a positive story about what problems he experienced as a black man keeping his business going. The story Oaklandside's racist lens caused it to miss was one that needs to be told at a time when everyone from Facebook to Google has some kind of initiative focused on financing black businesses, in the wake of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Think about it. As Marcus Burke put in for The World Economic Forum “Following the murders of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and many other Black people at the hands of police, companies have started to take a stand against systemic racism.” Obviously, Oaklandside showed itself to be completely tone-deaf to the times. In these times, America is beginning to wake up to the media racism that has worked to constantly paint blacks in a negative light. The kind of media racism that has been active in Oakland and San Francisco Bay Area media for far too long. And, let's face it, the kind of media racism that was served up to feed the desires of some in Oakland who are white for the most part, and just don't want to believe anything positive about anyone black who dares say they're successful, or holds a title. Those persons want to push blacks into the familiar image of being poor, downtrodden, and criminally inclined. The kind of media The Oaklandside produced makes them oh so happy. Sad stuff that must stop. In that, I must say it's great The Los Angeles Times called out its own history of racism. But, even then, The Los Angeles Times leaves out the racist lens that's still applied today, and one that Oaklandside uses. Moreover, one would think that other mainstream media news publications would follow the Los Angeles Times' lead, but to this date, crickets. For many who are white, racism only exists when the n-word is used or a black person is physically harmed. But real racism is evident in all aspects of life, and in many ways, and in media, it's expressed in how blacks are portrayed. As I saw it, here's the truth: Derreck Johnson did establish and run a business in Oakland that employed people, most notably black ex-prisoners who needed help. Stop it right there: that's the success story that should be told, and that Derreck has the right to crow about. It's clearly a story Oaklandside didn't even think to try to tell, even though it was starring them in right in the face. Oaklandside was way too focused on putting a cyber-knee in Derreck Johnson's online neck. I got wind of this via a phone call from a friend. I called Derreck Johnson and we talked extensively. I told him that my first introduction to him was from an email from Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf. I said it wasn't the first time she advanced a candidate to challenge Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan. I also told him that, for those reasons, I thought of him as a Manchurian candidate. He laughed and understood and because I gave him a video platform to talk about running for office and himself. I never sought to put him down. Blacks in America have had enough of media racism. Stay tuned.
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https://youtu.be/g__gdRYMCrY
Oaklandside's Attack On Derreck Johnson In The Oakland City Council Race Was Racist The Oaklandside, a new online publication by the person who owns Berkeleyside and that has a $1 million grant from Google, owes Derreck Johnson, a candidate in the Oakland City Council race for the At-Large Seat occupied by Rebecca Kaplan (who I endorsed), an apology (and just maybe a chunk of that million). It's recent post attacking him for filing bankruptcy was nothing short of racist in my view as an Oakland black media entrepreneur in the time of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. And, as a momentary aside, I'm proud to report that Zennie62Media's OaklandNewsNow.com that you're reading is twice the size of Oaklandside in online traffic, and with a fraction of it's budget. And it's black owned and operated, whereas Oaklandside has a black editor, but is white owned, and the person who wrote the post is white and male. Anyway, Oaklandside accused Derreck Johnson of being so proud as a black man to run television commercials saying he's “successful”, that he needed to be taken down a notch by getting out “the truth”. The truth as Oaklandside saw it. The truth as Oaklandside was presented with by a source. I say that because I know where the information came from, and who gave it to Oaklandside, regardless of what it claims. Moreover, it's no secret: bankruptcy information is publicly available, folks. What Oaklandside did was simply make phone calls around town to form a story around the information it was given. If Oaklandside were truly interested in “the truth” it would have produced an article with information about the businesses of all of the candidates, without sensationalism. If Oaklandside was were truly interested in “the truth”, it would have worked with Mr. Johnson to run a positive story about what problems he experienced as a black man keeping his business going. The story Oaklandside's racist lens caused it to miss was one that needs to be told at a time when everyone from Facebook to Google has some kind of initiative focused on financing black businesses, in the wake of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Think about it. As Marcus Burke put in for The World Economic Forum “Following the murders of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and many other Black people at the hands of police, companies have started to take a stand against systemic racism.” Obviously, Oaklandside showed itself to be completely tone-deaf to the times. In these times, America is beginning to wake up to the media racism that has worked to constantly paint blacks in a negative light. The kind of media racism that has been active in Oakland and San Francisco Bay Area media for far too long. And, let's face it, the kind of media racism that was served up to feed the desires of some in Oakland who are white for the most part, and just don't want to believe anything positive about anyone black who dares say they're successful, or holds a title. Those persons want to push blacks into the familiar image of being poor, downtrodden, and criminally inclined. The kind of media The Oaklandside produced makes them oh so happy. Sad stuff that must stop. In that, I must say it's great The Los Angeles Times called out its own history of racism. But, even then, The Los Angeles Times leaves out the racist lens that's still applied today, and one that Oaklandside uses. Moreover, one would think that other mainstream media news publications would follow the Los Angeles Times' lead, but to this date, crickets. For many who are white, racism only exists when the n-word is used or a black person is physically harmed. But real racism is evident in all aspects of life, and in many ways, and in media, it's expressed in how blacks are portrayed. As I saw it, here's the truth: Derreck Johnson did establish and run a business in Oakland that employed people, most notably black ex-prisoners who needed help. Stop it right there: that's the success story that should be told, and that Derreck has the right to crow about. It's clearly a story Oaklandside didn't even think to try to tell, even though it was starring them in right in the face. Oaklandside was way too focused on putting a cyber-knee in Derreck Johnson's online neck. I got wind of this via a phone call from a friend. I called Derreck Johnson and we talked extensively. I told him that my first introduction to him was from an email from Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf. I said it wasn't the first time she advanced a candidate to challenge Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan. I also told him that, for those reasons, I thought of him as a Manchurian candidate. He laughed and understood and because I gave him a video platform to talk about running for office and himself. I never sought to put him down. Blacks in America have had enough of media racism. Stay tuned.
via IFTTT
https://youtu.be/g__gdRYMCrY
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