Mark Anthony Neal's Blog, page 985

Why America Still Hates LeBron: The Natural, Horatio Alger & the Myth of Hard Work

Why America Still Hates LeBron: The Natural, Horatio Alger, & the Myth of  Hard Work by John “JD” Roberts | special to NewBlackMan (in Exile)
As the dust settles on LeBron James winning his first NBA Championship, many Americans still dislike LeBron.  It is not even a debate-worthy topic anymore because many public opinion polls have overwhelmingly supported the idea that the general public dislikes James.  But why the hate?  By all accounts, LeBron is charitable, helps kids, loves his mama, does not appear disrespectful to his fiancée, and does not get in trouble with the law.  As a reformed LeBron hater myself, my dislike of LeBron has made me reassess America’s approach to sports and my own.  No matter how many wedding photos LeBron poses in, babies he burps, or little old ladies he helps cross the street, Americans outside of South Beach on the whole seem to not accept LeBron as their NBA superstar.  However, it is not simply because of “The Decision,” or as one guest pundit on NPR recently proposed, LeBron’s inappreciativeness, which in and of itself is (probably) a misperception.  Instead, LeBron is a victim of his own identity, an extraordinarily gifted black athlete that America has perceived as not having worked hard to get where he has gotten in the NBA.
At St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio, LeBron exploded onto the scene as a freshman, averaging 21 points a game.  As he progressed through high school, he improved his game and stats steadily as he grew into his eventual 6’8”, 250 pound frame.  Tracked by Five Star and playing in the AAU circuit, early on he was well known, establishing himself as an athletic talent able to dominate his competition.  While comparisons of any athlete to Michael Jordan are often unfair, there is one comparison here to LeBron that is quite illustrative.  Even (and I would argue especially) when Jordan was at the height of his playing career, dominating his competition on the way to six NBA Championships, announcers obsessively brought up Jordan’s struggles and hard work to make his high school basketball team.  The level of adversity he experienced and the hard work Jordan put in to make his high school varsity team hides the fact that he had a growth spurt between his sophomore and junior year and regularly ran roughshod on his junior varsity competition in his sophomore year.  That part of the narrative does not complement the overall goals of the media’s message to its audience, one which the average American audience always wants to hear: stars like Michael Jordan got to the pinnacle of their professions through hard work, adversity, perseverance and dedication. 
While LeBron James’s early personal life presented him with plenty of adversity off the court, his “athletic life” was never a problem.  He was on the radar of college and NBA scouts since junior high school.  Some people like LeBron James are naturally gifted athletes.  Some people like Michael Jordan are naturally gifted athletes, but also have the historical narrative on their side of hard work and adversity.  Some people are the underdogs, and those are truly the most beloved athletes in America, almost wallowing and basking in the accidental glory of their hard work and adversity.  Why is America so hard on the naturally talented athlete though?
Obviously, the American public can identify with an underdog and cannot readily identify with a superiorly gifted athlete.It does not matter that LeBron has dedicated himself to hone his skills through practice and hard work.  LeBron James could not excel in the NBA by only driving to the hoop for a dunk or a layup and bulldozing his opponents.  If that was LeBron’s only strategy, defensive schemes could be crafted by NBA tacticians to stop him.  He has had to craft a jumpshot, free throws, and moves in the lane through many years of practice, and he has conditioned his body through training and weightlifting.  His hard work is superseded by his body; an impossibly strong, agile and swift body that happens to be black.
If LeBron were white, he would be venerated as a freak of nature.  He would be an awesome dominant force that had inexplicably been born to dominate the NBA, and the NBA fans would love him for it.  It would not matter how much work he had put into his game, because he would be a white superman that dominated his opposition effortlessly.  His decision to take his talents to South Beach might be lauded as a shrewd decision in his search for a championship and better marketing opportunities.  Instead he (along with many other black athletes, particularly in the NBA and NFL) has been seen as an extraordinary talent in a long line of naturally gifted black athletes.  African Americans have attained the stereotypes in the second half of the 20th century as (always) fast, (always) strong, and (always) able to jump high. 
These stereotypes on the surface seem favorable or benign, but they are not, because they make black Americans who cannot do these things less than the stereotypical “average,” and reduce blackness to physical attributes and athletic performance.  In this case, ideas of supposed black “natural gifts” are again deleterious and destructive, but in an opposite direction from the naturally gifted athlete, hemming black Americans into a box of athletic superiority, a role impossible to achieve for most.  Whiteness has been tied in sports to hard work and work ethic, while blackness has not.  Instead, blackness has been linked to natural ability, which is somehow (coincidentally?) inferior in the minds of American fans.
In many ways, LeBron’s life has mimicked Bernard Malamud’s book The Natural.  Roy Hobbs experiences a miraculous baseball season fifteen years after he was shot by Harriet Bird.  With his team the New York Knights, he performs superhuman feats on the baseball diamond after he takes over for the Knights’ former star Bump.  As Hobbs’s fame and profile grow, journalist Max Mercy seeks to discover what is really the story behind Roy Hobbs.  In the end of the book, corrupted by his desire for fame and wealth, and concerned about his own glory, Hobbs reneges on throwing the baseball game and tries to win, but strikes out anyway.  Throughout the book, Hobbs is infatuated by a beautiful woman named Memo who barely likes him over a woman named Iris who loves him dearly.  How does this book (notice the now famous Robert Redford movie adaptation is MUCH different than the book) compare to LeBron’s situation?  No matter how the public feels about the appropriateness of “The Decision,” LeBron spurned Cleveland to seek more fame and glory with another team (Memo vs Iris). 
In the 2011 NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks, he became so worried with the weight of failure that he disappeared in the 4th quarter of those games and averaged well below his season average points per game (worried about his name and his own glory, Hobbs strikes out).  After The Decision, it is obvious that LeBron is consumed with how the American public sees him (Hobbs wants to be loved by Memo and she does not love him back).  His commercials for kids staying in school, the highlighted charity work (including The Decision money going to charity), the half-hearted Nike Role Model Campaign, and the impromptu posing with people in their wedding photos all smacks of a man who wants to be liked by a public that will not accept his overtures.  LeBron has been lauded all his life for his extraordinary natural talents, but he has recently come to the realization that despite those accolades, people seem to not like him.  Is it because of his talents he took to South Beach, or his personality?        
I would argue that the hard work and/or adversity narratives are what LeBron has lacked until recently.  The 2011 NBA Finals loss by LeBron and the Miami Heat provided the adversity needed for his 2012 NBA Finals win, leading to what I predict will be LeBron’s eventual “redemption” with the American public over time.  Americans require hard work and adversity to legitimate their love of superstar athletes, but where does this need originate?  
The need to overcome something through hard work and adversity is seemingly encoded in America’s DNA.  It does not matter how authentic the narrative really is for America’s historical trajectory.  From Frederick Jackson Turner’s “The Significance of the Frontier in American History,” to Hollywood, to the more formative influences of Horatio Alger’s youth books, America has hungered to believe that hard work, adversity, “rugged individualism,” and a little bit of luck have made America great.Does the coal miner work as hard as the successful entrepreneur?  The most important point in the case of LeBron though is the association of the have nots with hard work.  The consequence of this idea is questioning those naturally gifted individuals’ (intelligence, athleticism, appearance) work ethic.  If one’s work ethic is questioned, one’s status as “deserving it” is questioned.  America rejects those viewed as not “deserving it.”  Therefore, America up until this point has rejected LeBron James as their NBA superstar. 
Having come to the end of this article and realizing I might have written what could be perceived as Atlas Shrugged: The Athlete’s Edition, I would like to instead reiterate my main point, which are the fallacies America has created when it comes to pro sports.  Extraordinary athletes like LeBron James have been groomed early in their high school careers based on their natural abilities, and then are faulted for their status as venerated athletes when they eventually turn pro. 
The very system of sports, which has created an unfathomable amount of wealth for owners and athletes, is fed by the dollars of the average working stiff/fan, who believes NBA players like Brian Scalabrine work harder than LeBron James because one player is more like them than the other.  Narratives are constructed to demonstrate how each athlete deserves to be where they are, regardless of the truth behind that narrative or the narrative’s motivations.  These narratives are historically constructed by American circumstance, which includes a heavy dose of racism, classism, Social Darwinism, and Horatio Alger tales along the way.  The construction of these narratives often does not favor black athletes, and definitely does not favor a superiorly gifted black athlete like LeBron James. 
Players get built up by the media and the fans to be summarily torn down for not working hard enough, not having enough heart, or not having enough natural ability as they get older.  If I had anything to tell LeBron James, it would be to keep working hard, stay out of trouble, and let the haters (like myself, before I reformed) hate.  No matter what LeBron does, it will be the media and the American public that constructs his historical narrative for him.                                                                 ***
John (J.D.) Roberts is a PhD student in the History Dept at UMass-Amherst. He focuses on drug trafficking history in Latin America, but has researched and written on a wide array of issues globally, particularly globalization and illegality.

Basic Black: The Black Church, Hip Hop and Gay Marriage

Watch Basic Black Live:The Black Church, Hip Hop and Gay Marriage on PBS. See more from Basic Black.
Basic Black Live :
From President Obama’s support of same sex marriage to the dominating influence of hip hop culture, the black church finds itself on the front page of a national conversation about its identity, relevance, and impact. Will support for Obama's presidential bid fade in the upcoming election? Has the church adequately addressed the needs of a younger generation? Is this an opportunity for new voices to emerge in the evolution of the black church?

Our panelists:
- Callie Crossley, host and executive editor, The Callie Crossley Show, 89.7 WGBH Radio
- Kim McLarin, assistant professor of writing, literature and publishing, Emerson College
- Emmett Price III, author, The Black Church and Hip Hop Culture, assistant professor of music and - African American Studies, Northeastern University
- Rev. Paul Robeson Ford, Senior Pastor, Union Baptist Church, Cambridge, MA
- Michael Curry, president, Boston chapter of the NAACP[image error]

Sisters Action Media on Authenticity & Diversity in Teen Magazines

FAANMail:  In this short documentary, Sisters Action Media questions Seventeen Magazine which has claimed to show "real, authentic" girls and diversity in their Magazines.

This video was made in support of The Keep It Real Challenge. Learn more about this 3 day campaign at http://bit.ly/KeepItRealToolkit.

Sisters Action Media is FAAN Mail's pilot youth media program for teen girls Philadelphia.

http://sistersactionmedia.wordpress.com/
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Athletes and Race in the Last Century

The Leonard Lopate Show (WNYC-FM)
Athletes and Race in the Last Century
Theresa Runstedtler and David J. Leonard discuss race in sports. Runstedtler is the author of Jack Johnson, Rebel Sojourner: Boxing in the Shadow of the Global Color Line , about the first African American World Heavyweight Champion (1908-1915) and his battles with racism around the world. Leonard is the author of After Artest: The NBA and the Assault on Blackness , about the 2004 “Palace Brawl,” a fight between NBA players Ron Artest and Ben Wallace that dramatically altered outside perceptions of the sport.[image error]

Season 2.0 Premiere: "Black Folk Don't": Swim

Black Folk Dont  Back by popular demand, and with topics by the people Black Folk Don't brings new topics to a new city, New Orleans! First, what's the deal with black folk and swimming? Do they do it? Or are the assumptions true? Tune in to new episodes every Tuesday, and share your thoughts @blackfolkdont on Twitter. A special presentation of BlackPublicMedia.org, directed by Angela Tucker, and supported by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

"Who's Illegal?": Jasiri X feat. Rhymefest

Jasiri X  Who's Illegal *Free Download* http://jasirix.bandcamp.com/track/whos-illegal-ft-rhymefest

In response to repressive anti-Immigration legislation SB1070 and HB56, Jasiri X, Rhymefest, and Paradise Gray traveled to Arizona and Alabama courtesy of the Sound Strike to see first hand how these unjust laws break up families, fracture communities and destroy lives.

"Who's Illegal?" asks the question, can a nation on stolen land, built by stolen people define another group of human beings as illegal? "Who's Illegal?" was produced by GM3 and directed by Paradise Gray.

Dr. Treva Lindsey: A Perspective on Women's Opportunities in Hip-hop

Professor Treva Lindsey (University of Missouri at Columbia) at the Hip-Hop Literacies Conference at Ohio State University (May 2012).

The Black Athlete: From Jack Johnson to Metta World Peace @ The Brecht Forum 6/26

The Brecht ForumJune 26, 2012 @ 6:30 PM
The Black Athlete: From Jack Johnson to Metta World Peace  Theresa Runstedtler in conversation with David J. Leonard Moderated by Marc Lamont Hill  Sports are central to American public life in the twenty-first century – evidenced by the power and profitability of ESPN, the congressional hearings about steroids, and the ubiquity of sports programming in the mainstream media.  Of course, this is nothing new. From Jack Johnson to Jackie Robinson, and from the 1968 Olympic protest to the 2004 Palace Brawl in Indianapolis, sports have always been more than just a game. Drawing from their recently published books – Jack Johnson, Rebel Sojourner: Boxing in the Shadow of the Global Color Line and After Artest: The NBA and the Assault on Blackness – Runstedtler and Leonard will explore the history of black athletes, reflecting on how race and racism have shaped and continue to define American sports culture.
 
A former professional dancer/actress from Canada, Theresa Runstedtler chose to shift her passion for popular culture from the studio and stage to the classroom. She graduated with a PhD in African American Studies and History from Yale University in 2007, and she is now an Assistant Professor of American studies at the University at Buffalo (SUNY). For the 2011-2012 academic year, she will be a Mellon postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania.

David J. Leonard is associate professor in the Department of Critical Culture, Gender, and Race Studies at Washington State University, Pullman. With a B.A. in Black studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a master's and Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, he has dedicated his career to interdisciplinary scholarship, transformative teaching, and research that underscores the continued significance of race within popular culture, the structures of politics, and society at large.

Dr. Marc Lamont Hill is one of the leading hip-hop generation intellectuals in the country. His work, which covers topics such as culture, politics, and education, has appeared in numerous journals, magazines, books, and anthologies. Dr. Hill has lectured widely and provides regular commentary for media outlets like NPR, Washington Post, Essence Magazine, and the New York Times. He is the host of the nationally syndicated television show Our World With Black Enterprise, which airs Sunday mornings on TV One and broadcast markets around the country.  He also provides regular commentary for CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News Channel, where he was a political contributor and regular guest on The O’Reilly Factor. An award-winning writer, Dr. Hill is a columnist and editor-at-large for the Philadelphia Daily News.

Sliding scale: $6/$10/$15
Free for Brecht Forum Subscribers[image error]

Hammer Conversations: Amiri Baraka & Kellie Jones

Hammer Museum 
Now Dig This! curator Kellie Jones and her father—renowned poet, playwright, and activist Amiri Baraka—discuss their collaboration on Jones's book EyeMinded: Living and Writing Contemporary Art, which investigates various perspectives on art making throughout different generations. Jones is associate professor in the Department of Art History and Archaeology at Columbia University. Her writings have appeared in NKA, Artforum, Flash Art, Atlantica, Third Text, and numerous catalogues. 
AmiriaBaraka is the author of more than 40 books of essays, poems, drama, and music history and criticism. The former Poet Laureate of New Jersey, he has received numerous honors including fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment of the Arts, the PEN/Faulkner Award, and an Obie Award for his play Dutchman (1963).[image error]

#InTheBlack Launches to Highlight Black Spending Power

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#INTHEBLACK LAUNCHES TO HIGHLIGHT BLACK SPENDING POWERThe Consortium to Launch a Multi-Media Initiative Highlighting the Power of the Black Consumer and the Strength of Black MediaNEW YORK – June 25, 2012 – BET Networks has partnered with HuffPost BlackVoices, Black Enterprise, Burrell Communications, Cable Advertising Bureau, Essence Communications, GlobalHue, Inner City Broadcasting Company, KJLH Radio, Johnson Publishing Company, National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters, Nielsen, North Star Group, National Newspaper Publishers Association, One Solution, Radio One, TV One, Interactive One, Reach Media, Steve Harvey Radio, TheGrio, The Root, The Africa Channel, UniWorld Group, Vibe Media and Walton Isaacson to create a history making black media and marketing consortium. The consortium is launching a revolutionary #INTHEBLACK campaign to encourage increased investments in the African American consumer marketplace while helping companies reach the African American audience more effectively.   The consortium will use its collective resources and strength to speak to the advertising community and consumer audience to raise awareness and create a sense of urgency around the economic opportunity the black consumer segment presents. African American media has the unique ability to reach the African American consumer base directly and is an important resource in identifying and establishing trends within the black community. #INTHEBLACK aims to amplify the value of engaging African Americans through black targeted media and agencies. African Americans represent over 42 million strong consumers, product talkers and brand influencers with a buying power of nearly one trillion dollars annually. By 2015, African American buying power is estimated to gain a whopping 35% hitting 1.2 trillion dollars, up from $913 billion in 2008.* African Americans are mega consumers beating out all other ethnic groups in the consumption of automobiles, wine & spirits, baby care products, groceries, health and beauty products, personal care products, apparel, electronics, movies and travel and entertainment. “We are excited to partner with some of the nation’s most influential media and marketing groups to highlight the growing economic opportunity of the Black marketplace. As a collective, we are better positioned to demonstrate the value of targeting the black consumer audience and partnering with leading brands to help them succeed” said Debra Lee, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, for BET Networks.African Americans are crucial to the consumer economy and their sphere of influence is growing rapidly:·       With buying power of nearly one trillion annually, if African Americans were a country, they would represent the 16th largest economy in the world (slightly smaller than Canada but larger than Australia) – Nielsen 2011 State of the African American Consumer·       Between 2000-2009, African American homes have experienced significant growth among households earning $75,000+ (up 63.9%) and households earning $100,000+ (up 88.7%) – Nielsen 2011 State of the African American Consumer·       Nearly one out of every seven babies born in the United States are of African American descent – National Center for Health Statistics based on CDC’s National Vital Statistics 2010o   There are 1,702 African American babies born daily; more than half a million AA babies (623,029 babies) join our population every year – Source:  US Census Statistical Abstracts- Live Births, Birth Rates and Fertility Rates.Every hour on the hour, there are 71 African American babies entering the world’s population– Source:  US Census Statistical Abstracts- Live Births, Birth Rates and Fertility Rates.
#INTHEBLACK will be keeping consumers informed on companies that are exemplary leaders in supporting and working with the African American community. For more information or to find out how you can help, visit areyouintheblack.org.* GfK MRI Doublebase 2011 African American Volumetrics Category Expenditure Data About BET Networks BET Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIA, VIAB), is the nation’s leading provider of quality entertainment, music, news and public affairs television programming for the African-American audience. The primary BET channel reaches more than 90 million households and can be seen in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom and sub-Saharan Africa. BET is the dominant African-American consumer brand with a diverse group of business extensions: BET.com, a leading Internet destination for Black entertainment, music, culture, and news; CENTRIC, a 24-hour entertainment network targeting the 25- to 54-year-old African-American audience; BET Digital Networks - BET Gospel and BET Hip Hop, attractive alternatives for cutting-edge entertainment tastes; BET Home Entertainment, a collection of BET-branded offerings for the home environment including DVDs and video-on-demand; BET Event Productions, a full-scale event management and production company with festivals and live events spanning the globe; BET operates in the United Kingdom and oversees the extension of BET network programming for global distribution.
About HuffPost BlackVoices HuffPost BlackVoices (blackvoices.com) is a leading source of news, cultural trends and opinions addressing issues with unique impact or interest within the African American community.
 HuffPost BlackVoices has over 4 million monthly unique visitors (comScore May 2012) who are highly engaged posting over 225,000 monthly comments and is part of Huffington Post's award winning breaking news, opinion and socially engaged community for opinion and conversation. HuffPost has over 30,000 bloggers -- from politicians, students and celebrities to academics, parents and policy experts -- who contribute in real-time on the subjects they are most passionate about. 
About Black Enterprise BLACK ENTERPRISE is the premier business, investing, and wealth-building resource for African Americans. Since 1970, BLACK ENTERPRISE has provided essential business information and advice to professionals, corporate executives, entrepreneurs, and decision makers.
About Burrell Communications Burrell is a diverse and award-winning, business-building agency. It is not a coincidence that our clients are leaders in their respective categories – or that the communications we develop on behalf of our clients are regarded as some of the most impactful and most insightful in the industry.  A key reason for our success is our best-in-class approach to strategy which guides our thinking in every discipline.
About Cable Advertising Bureau (CAB) The CAB is dedicated to providing advertisers and agencies with the most current, complete and actionable Cable television media insights at the national, DMA and local levels.
About Essence Communications ESSENCE is Where Black Women Come First for news, entertainment and motivation. ESSENCE occupies a special place in the hearts of millions of Black women-its not just a magazine but her most trusted confidante, a brand that has revolutionized the magazine industry and has become a cultural institution in the African-American community. Founded in 1968, Essence Communications Inc. (ECI) launched ESSENCE, the ground-breaking magazine created exclusively for African-American women in 1970. For 42 years, the company has flourished and expanded beyond the pages of its flagship magazine to generate brand extensions such as the Essence Music Festival, Women Who Are Shaping the World Leadership Summit, Window on Our Women (WOW I, II & III) and Smart Beauty I, II & III consumer insights, the Essence Book Club, Essence.com, and ventures in digital media (mobile, television and VOD) via Essence Studios. The ECI corporate headquarters are in New York City, with offices in Chicago, Los Angeles and Detroit.

Read more: http://www.essence.com/about/#ixzz1ylWyDzWq
About GlobalHue GlobalHue is a full-service marketing communications agency with total market and cultural expertise. The agency handles total market work for the Jeep brand and OneMain Financial. For decades, GlobalHue has been acknowledged for its multicultural expertise, and, most recently was recognized as the "Multicultural Advertising Agency of the Decade" by Adweek. The agency has 300 employees and boasts several blue-chip clients, including Chrysler Group LLC, Verizon, Walmart, U.S. Navy and OneMain Financial. For more information, go to www.globalhue.com. 
Visit GlobalHue on Facebook atwww.facebook.com/GlobalHue 
Follow GlobalHue on Twitter at @GlobalHue About Inner City Broadcasting Company Inner City Broadcasting Corporation, also known as Inner City, is a New York-based telecommunications company founded in 1971 by Percy E. Sutton and a group of prominent African-Americans.  Focused on radio, Inner City has also owned and operated the famed Apollo Theater, produced the hit television show, "It's Showtime at the Apollo," owned and operated cable systems in New York and Philadelphia, and invested in cellular communications.  Its' two flagship radio stations, WBLS-FM and WLIB-AM, continue to represent the voice of black New York.
About KJLH Radio KJLH’s primary listeners are Adults 18+ with 61% women and 39% men. KJLH reaches consumers who are educated and contribute billions of dollars into the Los Angeles market.
About Johnson Publishing Company Founded in 1942 by John H. Johnson, Johnson Publishing Company (JPC) is the preeminent publisher of EBONY and JET magazines and owner of Fashion Fair Cosmetics, a global prestige cosmetic brand for people of color. JPC is committed to celebrating the vibrancy of Black culture by operating trusted brands and delivering products of the highest quality that celebrate, inform, engage, entertain, inspire, and enhance the lives of people.
About The National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters The National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters (NABOB) was organized in 1976 as a response to the abysmal underrepresentation of Black Americans in the communications industry.  Since its inception, NABOB has grown into a major trade association representing the interests of 225 Black-owned commercial radio stations and 8 commercial television stations around the country.  Additionally, NABOB counts among its associate membership: law firms, station brokers, national rep firms, financial institutions and a variety of other organizations involved in broadcasting, cable television and wireless services. As the voice of the Black broadcast industry, NABOB has been instrumental in shaping national government and industry policies to improve the opportunities for success for Black and all other minority station owners.
About Nielsen Nielsen Holdings N.V. (NYSE: NLSN) is a global information and measurement company with leading market positions in marketing and consumer information, television and other media measurement, online intelligence, mobile measurement, trade shows and related properties. Nielsen has a presence in approximately 100 countries, with headquarters in New York, USA and Diemen, the Netherlands. For more information, visit www.nielsen.com.
About National Newspaper Publishers Association The National Newspaper Publishers Association(http://www.nnpa.org), also known as the Black Press of America, is a 69-year-old federation of more than 200 Black community newspapers from across the United States. Since World War II, it has also served as the industry’s news service, a position that it has held without peer or competitor since the Associated Negro Press dissolved by 1970. In 2000, the NNPA launched NNPA Media Services– a print and web advertising-placement and press release distribution service. In 2001, the NNPA, in association with the NNPA Foundation, it began building the BlackPressUSA Network– the nation’s premier network of local Black community news and information portals. The BlackPressUSA Network is anchored by BlackPressUSA.com– the national web portal for the Black Press of America.
About Radio One/ TV One/ Interactive One Radio One, Inc. (http://www.radio-one.com) is a diversified media company that primarily targets African-American and urban consumers. The Company is one of the nation's largest radio broadcasting companies, currently owning or operating 54 broadcast stations located in 16 urban markets in the United States. As a part of its core broadcasting business, Radio One operates syndicated programming including the Russ Parr Morning Show, the Yolanda Adams Morning Show, the Rickey Smiley Morning Show, CoCo Brother Live, CoCo Brother's "Spirit" program, Bishop T.D. Jakes' "Empowering Moments", the Reverend Al Sharpton Show, and the Warren Ballentine Show. The Company also owns a controlling interest in Reach Media, Inc. (http://www.blackamericaweb.com), owner of the Tom Joyner Morning Show and other businesses associated with Tom Joyner. Beyond its core radio broadcasting business, Radio One owns Interactive One (http://www.interactiveone.com), an online platform serving the African-American community through social content, news, information, and entertainment, which operates a number of branded sites, including News One, UrbanDaily, HelloBeautiful, Community Connect Inc. (http://www.communityconnect.com), an online social networking company, which operates a number of branded websites, including BlackPlanet, MiGente, and Asian Avenue. In addition, the Company owns a controlling interest in TV One, LLC (http://www.tvoneonline.com), a cable/satellite network programming primarily to African-Americans.
About One Solution One Solution (OS) is the strategic and integrated marketing division of Radio One, TV One and Interactive One. The combined media assets reach 82% of the African American audience.  OS develops best-in-class integrated marketing programs that enable leading brands and marketers to achieve and exceed their business objectives through strategic integration, and deeper insights and connections with consumers.
About Reach Media REACH Media Inc. may be the most effective media platform to REACH Black America. Founded by the nation’s No. 1 syndicated urban radio host, Tom Joyner has created a company built on the solid foundation of one of the most powerful communications and marketing vehicles in the country, The Tom Joyner Morning Show, which airs in more than 100 markets and reaches an audience of over eight million listeners—approx 1 in 4 African Americans.
About Steve Harvey Radio The Steve Harvey Show is uplifting, inspirational, motivating, and covers topical issues and community concerns that touch everyone. It combines heart, humor, great music for grown people and hot celebrities from the entertainment and sports world plus interviews from a variety of engaging guests.
About TheGrio TheGrio.com is an NBC News website dedicated to stories and perspectives which affect and reflect the African-American community. Launched in 2009, TheGrio reaches over 2 million users monthly.
About The Root The Root is the leading online source of news and commentary from an African-American perspective. Founded in 2008 under the leadership of Prof. Henry Louis Gates Jr. of Harvard University, The Root offers a unique take on breaking news, provides solid analysis and presents dynamic multimedia content. The Root raises the profile of black voices in mainstream media and engages anyone interested in black culture around the world. The Root is owned by the Washington Post Company. Visit us at www.theroot.com, on Twitter @TheRoot247 and on Facebook.  
About UniWorld Group Founded in 1969 by Byron Lewis, UniWorld Group, Inc., is the longest-standing full-service multicultural marketing agency in the United States. The agency continues to be a trendsetter, poised to connect forward-thinking brands to the $2 trillion spending power of multicultural consumers while pushing the envelope with innovative ideas and fresh solutions for the general market as well. UniWorld Group also has a strategic alliance with WPP, one of the world's largest communications services groups. For more information on UniWorld Group, Inc., visit www.uniworldgroup.com.
About Vibe Media Vibe Media is the parent company of Vibe magazine, Vibe.com, VibeVixen.com, Uptown magazine, UptownMagazine.com. Vibe Media is a vertical content and advertising network which represents over 25 websites, several publications, direct mail, TV shows and media platforms reaching over 19 million consumers per month. As the premier destination for urban entertainment and media, Vibe Media creates solutions for advertisers looking to engage consumers via music, entertainment, culture and lifestyle 18-54. www.vibe.com
About Walton Isaacson Walton Isaacson is an advertising and marketing agency that focuses on channel agnostic creative. WI was founded in late 2005 by industry veterans Aaron Walton and Cory Isaacson in partnership with Earvin 'Magic' Johnson, with full service offices in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York City.
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CONTACT:
Sheikina Liverpool, 212.205.3073sheikina.liverpool@bet.net[image error]