Fairly recently, one of my African-American friends surprisingly expressed the same opinion. She too concluded that Caucasions are correct, and that Blacks should not segregate themselves by means of Black newspapers, Black news television, etc. She insisted that this only encourages racism and discrimination. After hearing this, I took the initiative to provide some clarity to her because I have a full understanding of why Black news mediums are not and cannot be racist, but are actually necessities to the African-American community. This is what I told her:

There are 5 reasons why Black news mediums are not and cannot be racist or discriminative:
1) Black news mediums do not promote hatred towards other races. True - Black news mediums do primarily cover Black issues, but they don't teach or encourage hate towards other groups. The truth is that mainstream mediums like CNN, People Magazine, and New York Times don't cover African-American issues in depth - civil rights, police brutality, etc; They mainly focus on white American issues. If we don't create our own news mediums, how else are we supposed to be informed about our issues? This very same concept is widely used by Hispanics, Asians, and other minority groups. Also, whites are not excluded from our publications. The reality is, though, that if you are covering Black issues, not very many whites will be involved. The same is true for any other ethnic publication. If you are covering Hispanic issues, not very many whites or blacks will be involved.

2) Black news mediums are simply cultural-based. Just because you specify an ethnicity does not mean that you're being discriminative towards others. For instance, we don't take offense when we see a Chinese restaurant. When you go inside, all the employees are Chinese and they only serve Chinese food. However, we know that this is not racist - it's culture. All are invited to come in and eat, regardless of their race. Likewise, Black news mediums are run by Black people and they cover Black issues. All are invited to read Jet Magazine, watch BET, or log on to BlackNews.com

3) Black news mediums are heavily supported by white-owned corporations and organizations. Every year, companies like Toyota , Coca-Cola, Wal -mart, and Verizon spend hundreds of millions of dollars to advertise in Black newspapers, in Black magazines, on Black television stations, and on Black radio stations. If these mediums are racist, then why does Corporate America support them so heavily? Well, you might say Corporate America recognizes the profit opportunity. This may be true, and it may be their sole reason for supporting Black mediums. However, you have to consider that even the Federal government supports these mediums - Fannie Mae, United States Army, Dept of Transportation, etc. None of these are interested in making profit.

4) Many Black news mediums are co-founded by white-owned corporations. AOL helped to launch Africana.com. Tribune Company founded BlackVoices.com. Even Community Connect (an asian -owned company) initiated the launch of BlackPlanet.com. AOL, Tribune Company, and Community Connect are all publicly owned companies with tens of thousands of white investors. Black news mediums cannot be racist if non-black companies and non-black individuals are responsible for their existence.

5) Black news mediums are being taken over by white-owned corporations. BET was sold to Viacom for nearly 3 billion dollars. True, Viacom may only be interested in profit, but they would never risk their creditability with their investors by buying a racist cable network.

After explaining this to her, my friend admitted that all of this makes a lot of sense. I also helped her to appreciate that not only do we need these mediums to cover Black issues, but that we also need them to keep Black businesses prevailing. For instance, Black newspapers and magazines enable black-owned marketing firms, PR firms, freelancing firms, printing firms, and photography studios to stay in existence. Never thought about it that way, now did you?

Dante Lee is the founder and president of California-based, A.S.J. Media Group - an ethnic marketing and public relations firm. The company owns and manages BlackNews.com and BlackPR.com, and has plans to launch LatinIssues.com - a Hispanic news site, and DiversityCity.com - a diversity news and resource site. Contact Mr. Lee at dante@asjmedia.com or at (562) 209-0616.