Faith in Action

Yesterday I was on assignment to cover the Pennsylvania Primary for My Urban Report.com. I have to tell you that I am an Obama supporter, but I had our team out getting un-biased coverage of all candidates—we even reached out to the Republicans and interviewed a McCain supporter.

Our reporter, Adrienne Hall asked four questions:
1. Who do you support and why?

2. What issues are important to you in your decision to support the candidate?

3. Do you think the (mainstream)media has been doing a good (fair) job in covering the candidates and the issues?

4. Is there anything else you’d like to add?

I thought these questions were fair and gave each side to present their case. The interesting thing that came across is that a majority of Hillary Clinton supporters wanted to know the questions in advance and where was this going to air and why where we there? Of course, you know where I am going—the race card. Yes, our crew was all black and one of our workers had a Barack shirt on at first, but I intentionally asked him to wear another one so people wouldn’t feel the bias. Does every African-America support Obama? No—we have evidence here when we interviewed Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs-Jones of Ohio. (see photo)

The interesting part was that most of the Obama supporters both white and black didn’t ask for the details of questions at all. Is there really a racial divide in our Democratic party and we are just too scared to talk about it—that is another blog post in itself, so I digress.

For those of you who are skeptical, I am looking to partner with a another production company out of Charlotte, North Carolina (who happens to have an all white crew) and they will ask the same questions and represent myurbanreport.com during the May 6 primary in North Carolina.

Chip Dizárd is the Co-Founder and Creative Director of Absolute Presence, a web site development firm that began in 2002. He has worked on many diverse projects and clients which include church and ministry web sites, political campaign, business and most recently in May of 2007 his firm designed and implemented the official web site of the City of Baltimore. Visit Absolute Presence today! (He’s also a blogger.)

That’s right ladies and gentlemen. Despite the tumult that she has recently experienced in her own past marriage(s); “Dr.” Juanita Bynum will now be giving counsel to those couples who are planning to move forward with divorce proceedings on the Divorce Court television show. (Only in America can you have television shows centered around failed marriages. How does our society create a market for this mess!?)

I’m not one who totally discredits the marital counsel of those who have been divorced. Certainly, some of those individuals have learned much about marriage and themselves making them perfect candidates to point out potential potholes for others. However, I remain concerned that the wounds in “Dr.” Bynum’s relationship are still too fresh…too new to be able to counsel in a balanced and thorough way. (Even Star Jones - after her Bynum-esque wedding of the century went the rational route and is now engaging in a quiet divorce and is asking for “privacy with her thoughts“. That’s what newly divorced people do! They go sit down somewhere and get themselves together. They don’t call a press conference the day after the marital explosion claiming to be a spokeswoman for battered women across America!)

Wait. There’s more. According to this report, Bynum will also be talking about her divorce on the show. Talking about how she loves herself more now (nooooo really?), how she’s “done”, and how the rumors about reconciliation are false. Though her appearance on the television show could affect the mediation that she and her estranged husband are presently engaging in; Bynum will be on the set and in front of the cameras anyway.

Her marketing machine continues to roll full speed ahead. Bynum is certainly an ambitious sista who is striking while the iron of her own celebrity is hot. She seems to be jumping on every opportunity to get in front of a camera, call a conference, or sell a product.

I don’t know folks. I know I’m biased against Bynum for a number of reasons so perhaps I’m being too harsh and a bit unfair. I know I’m not one that’s interested in building a marketing empire that’s centered on me, but is there anything wrong with her doing it? Maybe I need to cut the sista some slack.