One minor misfortune was the lack of minorities.
March 18th, 2006
Some of the smartest people I’ve ever had the pleasure to share a room with were at the
What wasn’t there was even a single face that wasn’t white.
About 1/3 of the room were women.
There were some young people.
A few older folks.
At least one bald guy.
But not a single
Or
Or
From today’s Summit, patient you’d have to assume that only Caucasions use computers.
Where were our minority voices?
Our black
Our Palestinian pundits?
I know there are some out there (although I wish there were more).
Were they uninterested in joining the conversation?
Did they feel left out or uninvited?
There was no purposeful prejudice on display, buy cialis today.
No one was stopped at the door.
Or told to blog in the back.
Everyone was free to come.
And I’m sure my fellow bloggers would have welcomed a broader spectrum of people…and professions…persuasions and perspectives.
But they didn’t show up.
And their loss was our loss, too.
15 Comments Add your own
1. Casper | March 18th, 2006 at 8:38 pm
I noticed the same thing. But when I think about it, off the top of my head, not one local minority blogger (not counting Eugene Kane or anyone else who blogs as an extension of their journalism career) comes to mind.
Do you know of any?
2. Administrator | March 18th, 2006 at 8:51 pm
Well, Dennis York appears to be a member of the Sock Puppet minority.
Is Ragnar Indian?
And, I suppose that’s my real complaint, where the hell are the minorities? Why don’t they blog?
I don’t think there’s ever been a more equal opportunity forum than this.
Why aren’t more minorities taking advantage of it?
3. triticale | March 18th, 2006 at 10:19 pm
Wasn’t there a black lesbian blogger from Madison? She seems to have hiatused out tho.
I completely failed to consider the whiteness of the crowd. Most of my neighbors are black or asian, but when I sit in rooms like that the crowd is usually white. What I noticed is that the beards and occasional piercings were generally on the conservatives, and I was the only actual longhair there.
4. Jenna | March 19th, 2006 at 9:37 am
Elliot, I don’t know your background, but is this your first year in Wisconsin? Have you seen our state? We’re whiter than snow. Seriously. My entire elementary and middle school was white–I didn’t go to school with a “minority” kid until high school–and then there was only one.
Perhaps they didn’t show up just because there aren’t many out there.
That, and why does it matter anyway? It’s not like they were barred.
5. Aaron | March 19th, 2006 at 9:50 am
Invisible barriers, Jenna. They’re everywhere.
Put on your dark, liberal shades and you’ll see them.
6. Administrator | March 19th, 2006 at 9:54 am
Nope, they weren’t.
I made sure I pointed that out.
And I don’t think the absence of minorities was anybody’s fault.
Nor do I think we should start an outreach or preferences program.
But I do think it’s a relevant observation. What is it about blogging in Wisconsin that appeals so strongly to whites, but seems to leave everyone else cold?
Personally, I’d be interested in reading blogs by local people who come from different cultures and perspectives than my own.
And there are minorities in Wisconsin. Of the six people in my office last week, there were two white guys, one white women, one Chinese woman from the Phillipines, a black man, and a Chinese guy who was born in China.
It makes for interesting conversations over lunch.
By the way, where the hell were you, yesterday? I was looking forward to meeting you.
7. Jenna | March 19th, 2006 at 10:00 am
What is it about blogging that appeals so strongly to whites, but seems to leave everyone else cold?
That’s just it–there’s nothing that “appeals” to white people but not minorities, its just that there are far more white people in Wisconsin, and therefore more to blog. As well, the conference was under-attended by all bloggers, so the already-few minority bloggers weren’t there.
I had other stuff I had committed to yesterday, so I couldn’t make–very disappointed about that-looked fun!
8. Administrator | March 19th, 2006 at 10:02 am
Apparently you forgot to put up the Anti-Loony-Leftist Barrier, Aaron.
Ed Garvey still managed to get into the room. ;)
9. tee bee | March 19th, 2006 at 8:32 pm
Elliot, there was also the complaint that there were too few liberals.
I wonder if they don’t see WisPolitics as being a right-leaner. It sure seems conservative to me. Which, by the way, doesn’t generally attract too many minorities.
Is that an excuse? Nah. I think they should have come anyway, to represent and extend conversations, if not drawbridges.
Wis is pretty snowy, but there is a significant boom in minority influx. Things will change – and who’s to say they aren’t out there? We assume we have a finger on all the cheddarsphere, but it’s not that simple.
10. Sara O. | March 19th, 2006 at 10:17 pm
Ex-squeeeeze-me. Sara O. (Oui, the Hello Kitty Sara O. from some vanity press publication thankyouverymuch…mucho?) is Hispanic. First generation Mexican (on both sides) to be born on American soil, to be exact. That I’m probably lighter skinned than half the folks at the summit (and that you probably missed me) probably has to do with the residents of this fine state being so deprived of warm days and sun that they take to sunbathing as soon as the temperatures break 40 degrees. And, for the record, I would never utter anything along the lines of, “But are any of you bloggers doing any real reporting?” Signed Sara O., a firm believer in citizens’ media, citizens’ journalism, et cetera who was once verbaly pelted by less forward-thinking journalism professors for saying that blogging can be form of journalism. if it informs, it’s journalism. C’est tout pour maintenant. A la prochaine!
11. Tim | March 19th, 2006 at 11:40 pm
Estimated figures for 2005 from census bureau:
White 88.9%
Black 5.7%
Latino 3.6%
I was surprised by that. I live in Milwaukee, so minorities are very commonplace. I grew up in West Bend. There had been a black person there, but he had been lynched in the late 1800s. I left West Bend in late 1978. Aparently there is a relatively substantial Latino population and some blacks now.
12. Clint | March 20th, 2006 at 6:43 am
There were not any minorities there for the same reason that Mini McGee is still in office. As a stereotype, are black citizens in Milwaukee politically energized enough to blog on politics, or do they let King Hollaway and Mini McGee represent them?
I read in someone’s recap that Kane and the Spice Boys were extending special invites, but they obviously did not show up. And why should they, they already know everything, just ask them.
13. Administrator | March 20th, 2006 at 10:53 am
Sara! I would have loved to meet you.
Sorry I missed yah.
14. Casper | March 20th, 2006 at 2:13 pm
Sara, I think you were sitting a couple of seats away from me. I figured it was just a good tan. Sorry.
15. Sara O. | March 20th, 2006 at 3:30 pm
Yah, I thought the conference would end at 3 and had budgeted my time until 3:30. (Had to be somewhere at 4.) When the thing ended at 3:30, I bolted. But, for reference, I sat in the back (in front of Mandy, the Journal Sentinel employee responsible for getting blogs onto JSOnline), wore glasses, and was fanning myself for half of the event.
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