It’s an extremely unfortunate thing when Blacks look at one another as enemies and attempt to stifle any success the other may have. This is an example of the crab in the barrel syndrome that seems to wag its ugly tail amongst African-Americans time after time, after time.
On Wednesday the Indianapolis Star published an article titled “Business magazine joins Recorder family,” which highlighted this publication’s purchase of the Indiana Minority Business Magazine in June.
The article by Star correspondent Ashley Petry was well written and even included some key secrets to success for business owners. However, there was one element of the article that I have an issue with and that was a comment by Darla Williams, an Indianapolis attorney who publishes the Indiana Black Pages and is also a major force in an online Web site that’s notorious for slandering local Black leaders, particularly Democrats.
In the article Petry writes that Williams attributes the declining advertising sales of her publication to the Recorder and the Indiana Minority Business Magazine because the two publications “take more than their fair share of the advertising dollars budgeted for minority publications.”
Williams goes on to say, “In my opinion, they do not have a publication that is all-inclusive. They gather up ad money, and they prevent others from participating.”
While Williams is certainly entitled to her opinion it saddens me that she would publicly denounce two historic publications that are staples in the minority community. Williams’ statement was at minimum inaccurate and unfair. While I appreciate the Star’s efforts in writing the story, it would have been great if they could have gotten a more qualified and respectable source than Williams.
The thing that’s unfortunate is that the Recorder’s purchase of the Indiana Minority Business Magazine is even an issue. To assume that these two publications are monopolizing advertising dollars is iniquitous simply because they’re owned by the same entity, George P. Stewart Publishing Co.
My question to Williams is are the Star and Indiana Business Journal monopolies because they have multiple publications under their umbrellas? Why is it an issue when a Black publication expands its brand and why must a fellow African-American frown upon something that’s obviously positive and benefits the community?
There used to be a time when Blacks were united with one another and if they weren’t it was for a very good reason – not because of something that could be perceived as envy or jealousy. There once was a time when whites openly targeted Black individuals and businesses, especially when these people and companies were advocating for the community: thank Medgar Evers, Martin Luther King Jr., or any of the countless volunteers who lost their lives trying to register Blacks to vote or educated the community about their civil rights.
Now whites don’t have to worry themselves with denouncing positive Black entities, because we’re doing it to ourselves.
As a people, we’ve got to stop perpetuating the stereotype of Black-on-Black crime, Black-on-Black ostracizing, and intra-racism. I’m not saying we have to accept everything that the other says or does, but let’s be careful with how we present our views against one another. Let’s be mindful of the larger picture; which is that we’re all one in the same. We’re all related, we’re all family. As cliché as it sounds, the old adage is true: united we stand, divided we fall.
