Fight for Social Justice: Fair Wages

Fight for Social Justice: Fair Wages

              One similarity that black and latino communities have in common is the fight for social justice in particular the fight for better salaries. One organization that has come to the forefront in this fight is Fight for 15 with the hashtags #Fightfor15, #strikefastfood, and #livingwage. Much of the Fight For 15 movements membership are blacks and latinos, single mothers of all races, and senior citizens that have been forced to go back to work.


             According to their website’s about page (http://fightfor15.org/en/about-us/) the Fight for 15 was started by the Workers Organizing Committee of Chicago, Illinois as a grassroots movement that was in November of 2012 to fight for a better living wage of $15 per hour for fast food workers.


              Their plight has grown national to cities across the United States from coast to coast from Los Angles to Boston and New York City. Much of their fight is aimed at the major corporate chain restaurants, i.e. McDonalds, Burger King, Dunkin Donuts, Pizza Hut and a like. Companies that are making billions of dollars and could afford to increase the wages of its workers.


              Fight for 15 offers some interesting facts: the average fast food worker is 28 years old, 78% of them are the main wage earner in their families, 52% of them are on public assistance, 26% of the are parents. This insight provides ample data for the need for a wage increase to $15 per hour.

               
            Much of the faces that have come to represent these facts on their website are that of blacks and latinos. For example one voice for the movement is that of a black Burger King employee Dwayne Mitchell. He states, “I’m the sole provider of the household and can’t manage with a $8.25/hour wage. I’m not using government programs, which only makes it more stressful to sustain my 2 daughters, siblings, mom and grandmother. I feel that given how hard we are worked, fast food workers deserve to show something for it. With $15 I could finish college and become an example for my children.” Another voice is Guadalupe Vazquez who works at McDonald’s. She states “I’m fighting for 15 because the wage they pay me is not enough to pay rent and buy the things my children need.”

           
               As of September 1st, 2014 the United States Department of Labor website reports (http://www.dol.gov/whd/minwage/america.htm) that there are no states presently that offer a minimum wage rate over $10 per hour. Washington State comes the closet with minimum wage rate of $9.32 per hour and lowest minimum wage rate being in Wyoming with $ 5.15 per hour. As of 2009 the federal minimum wage rate has been 7.25 per hour. How the hell is Wyoming getting away with a minimum wage rate of $5.15 per hour is beyond me to understand? They also report that the average fast food worker makes about $9 per hour. But keep mind that the average fast food employee works part time.


            The fast food industry’s answer to the demands for $15 per hour was explained by Stephen Caldeira President of the International Franchise Association in a CBS News report, where he said “A higher main wage is ultimately going to mean higher prices for consumers, less money for franchises and ultimately loss jobs for the people that need them the most.”


              This has been a long running excuses for not paying people a decent wage I find it hard to believe since these large fast food companies are multimillion-dollar conglomerates that can spend money on million dollar advertising campaigns, pay their executives large salaries and the like but not invest in their work force that helps them to make so much money.

Activism & Social Justice Latinos in Social Media

Activism & Social Justice

One thing that I noticed while doing the readings on Activism & Social Justice is that is the use of social media as means to a call to action that is similar in both the latino and black community. A call to action that manifested itself in offline protest and using social media as an outlet to have the voice of the community be heard.

The use of social media to retrieve real life results can be seen in the case of “After the Arab Spring, Comes a Boricua Winter” by Christina Constantini. Where Constantini writes about the people of island Puerto Rico voicing their disapproval of the slandering of murder victim Jose Enrique Gomez on the television show Super Xclusivo character “La Comay”. Which is puppet like character that talks about the private affairs of Puerto Ricans on the island.  Viewers organized on social media and took their protest to the shows sponsors that removed their advertising from the show. These companies included Walmart, Dish, AT & T and Borden. It is clear to see that these companies have heard the message of the community and have responded in support. 

A Spanish translation of Walmart’s stated reads as the following “Walmart is a committed to improving Puerto Rico's quality of life. In response to the controversy that arose from the "SuperXclusivo" program, we have decide to cancel our advertising plans for the show. We reiterate our commitment to Puerto Rico and the communities we serve.”

In addition "SuperXclusivo" which was on the island’s top programs was cancelled from WAPA network.

Another markers of social media that manifested into real life protest was highlighted in posting from Aljazeera.com website the Stream titled “Can social media tackle Puerto Rico's crime wave?” (http://stream.aljazeera.com/story/201212110143-0022434) It was the holding if of signs that read  "Todos Somos José Enrique" which translates to "We are all José Enrique". The hashtag #Todos Somos José Enrique also accompanied many posting Everyone from the regular Puerto Rican standing both singularly and in groups, even singer Ricky Martin joined the cause holding a  "Todos Somos José Enrique" sign.

This is similar to the signs that were used during the protest of the killing of Travon Martin where people posted photos of the themselves wearing hoodies social media with the caption with the hashtag #I am Travon Martin. Everyone from the regular person to celebrates of all kinds for example movie star Jamie Fox to the Miami Heat Basketball team upload photos of them selves with hoodies. Some people were going as far superimposing the face of black icon in hoodies for example Martin Luther King to further the point. This alignment transference of self to another self is sign of unity.

Social Media Activism : Bring Back Our Girls

Bring Back Our Girls

A recent anomaly on my Facebook stream is a post on Bring back Our Girls that was at the same time as our reading “Is the Bring Back Our Girls Movement a Failure?” by Demetria Irwin from May 18,2014 (thegrio.com/2014/05/18/is-the-bringbackourgirls-movement-a-failure). The posting on my stream was titled “Remember #BringBackOurGirls? This Is What Has Happened In The 5 Months Since” written by Charlotte Alfred on huffingtonpost.com/TheWorldPost Posted on September 14,2014 and updated on September 19,2014 (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theworldpost/ , Posted: 09/14/2014 11:57 am EDT Updated: 09/19/2014 9:59 am EDT ) and posted on Facebook on September 16,2014. The World Post is partnership with Huffington Post and Berggruen Institute on Governance. For my edification I had to go the The Berggruen Institute website find out who and what they are all about. On their website they describes themselves as the following “The Berggruen Institute is dedicated to the design and implementation of new ideas of good governance -- drawing from practices in both East and West -- that can be brought to bear on the common challenges of globalization in the 21st century.”

On the Facebook post there were 553 comments and it was shared by 23,651 people with that many shares and comments there is a wide range of reactions. The remarks span from the political discourse in the Ukraine to the Ebola virus outbreak in Africa to Ferguson, even recent topical trending talk for in stance the ice bucket challenge. The two posts share the same sentient that a hashtag activism by itself cannot make the total change. But in some cases it works very well. In the section “Hashtag Activism Successes” of thegrio.com text Alfred points out some victories outcomes.

“Hashtag activism seems to work best when it is tied to some type of public relations nightmare that could negatively impact a company or person’s finances. When IAC public relations executive Justine Sacco tweeted an insensitive, racist “joke” about AIDS,  Black Twitter took her to task with the #HasJustineLandedYet hashtag. Sacco was en route to South Africa, and the by the time she landed, she was out of a job. IAC is the umbrella corporation for a slew of companies, including Match.com, Vimeo, Tinder, the Daily Beast and many other popular brands. The digital media powerhouse was not interested in keeping an executive who made potentially brand damaging comments. Score one for hashtag activism.”

Now I’m not going to get into the fact the that the Nigerian military seemed to be incapable of getting the girls back. And that leads to the question why? when getting some support was offered to provide assistance. Or the fact the Nigerian military actually stated that they know where the girls are being held on national television. And the fact the girls have not as of this posting have not be returned. Because that is not what this blog post is about as a whole.

When I shared the story on my Facebook page the comments were not as many as a big media outlet such as The Huffington Post, but I still received a passionate share of voices to the post. One post being from my friend Eddie Hussein Nwabuoku who is actually from Nigeria, and well versed in the geo political state of his home country. He states “If anyone expected a mere Twitter hashtag to result in the return of those girls, they are high on something. As someone who lived in that part of the world for yoinks, I can tell you categorically: One does not simply walk into that area of Borno state of Nigeria”. His post is accompanied by a meme that helps to bring his point home that the problem is bigger than any hashtag can ever solve. 

#socialmediablacklatinohunterCUNY

Digital Divide #socialmediablacklatinohunterCUNY

Digital Divide

My position on the “Digital Divide” is that it is not just a divide of access to the internet but, of race, class, health, education, influence, environment, money. Many of the inequalities that have plagued black and latino communities around the world are also reflected in the “Digital Divide”.

As I was reading Professor Shivers’ piece “Threading Disparities in the Digital Divide”, race, class, health, education, influence, environment, money and access became common themes that surfaced. These are partially seen in the Black and Latino community of The Hunts Point Area of the Bronx, New York City and The Bay Area of California.

Let start with the problems that are happening in the Bay Area of California where tech companies are parking private buses in poor and unprivileged areas for their employees to get to work in Silicon Valley. They have met with protesters who don’t think that the tech companies are being responsible in their operation of these private buses. There are many problems that manifest with the buses. One being that the buses are idling in these neighborhoods polluting in the community.

Some tech companies make the argument that the private buses run on bio fuel or other low emitting fuels, but if they are bringing more vehicles in to the community, it can only make more pollution, period.

These buses have been able to operate without notice for some time, which speaks to the “influence” on and “access” to city government the tech companies have. Much of the residents of these areas are poor or people of color.

These private buses also take advantage of the city bus stops to pick up passengers. This also causes an effect on other city resources for, example reducing access to bike lanes, double parking that delays city buses from making their appointed stops, etc. All at the low cost of nothing, which really surprises me considering that these tech companies are making so much money. As of late the city has begun to charge them a nominal fee, which might not have come about without public protest.

 Other problems of the “Digital Divide” in the Bay area include that the tech boom has contributed to a gentrification boom in that it has left many of the Bay area’s poor and elderly residents without a place to live. The same can be said for some small business owners that used to be plentiful in the Bay area, but now cannot afford the over inflated rents for a storefront.

Tech’s private buses point out health concerns that are similar to those of the Hunts Point area of the Bronx, New York. This is the home of the Hunts Point Terminal Market, where almost daily idling caravans of trucks wait to enter the market.

You may be wondering what does the Digital Divide have to do with the Hunts Point in the Bronx, New York? Well there is a new player in the game in the form of the online grocer Fresh Direct moving into the market. With easy access to the Cross-Bronx and Bruckner Expressway it becomes a very desirable location.  Their trucks will cause more pollution to a population that has largest cases of asthma in New York City according to New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s study from 2007 and 2008.

In addition to many of Hunts Point residents being poor and people of color, many of their homes are not wired for the internet or broadband access, a problem similar to some of the residents of the Bay Area. Less than 50% of Hunts Point residents have internet or broad-band access according to story posted The Environmental Justice in Action Blog on May 22,2014. So it is safe to say that they are not the bulk of Fresh Directs consumer base.

According to a report that was posted on Techwire.net on August 18^th, 2014 from the utility commission, the amount of internet and broadband access in the North Bay is “3.2 percent of Marin’s households are either underserved or fully unserved for broadband. Sonoma is 1.8 percent underserved or unserved and Napa 1 percent. The remaining six counties are under 1 percent.” Most of North Bay and Hunts Points residents are black and latino. All this looks like a digital version of the haves and the have, nots.

#socialmediablacklatinohunterCUNY

The Bio of Black Robb

The Bio of Black Robb

           As a Media major at Hunter College I was attracted to the Social Media In Black and Latino Communities course is because social media is what is ever-present in the world of media today and it is not presenting any foreshadow of decreasing it’s acceleration. In fact it is showing the tell tail signs of most of the technology that we are seeing today by changing to fit the need and wants of the communities that use them. Because if they don’t they will suffer the fate the social media fore-parents. Which is that people will just move on to something new. Also since I will be working in the media industry I have to have the most accurate understanding of the field of social media. To be able to see the saintly and devilish from point of view of scholar that has planted the seeds of intense study on the subject. To become an expert that is called when needed, knowledge that can’t be denied. Which can also lead to creating a livelihood for myself. Also I’m a black person that uses social media for personal and work.

          In the past I have been a Social Media intern at from Frank 151, which is hip-hop, skateboarding, culture, music, etc. publication and publicity and creative company.  Where I interacted with the Frank 151 online community. My other interaction where to promote the Frank 151 or get people to purchase item on the FranK151.com website. But I never got to the point where was real conversation happening. A few comments here and there and it would end. Plus I had to write in a voice that was not mine. Yes I did understand the culture of Frank 151 as reader and member of the community. But the Frank 151 voice was a white male voice. So you can where I had to trailer my writing style to fit into Frank 151’s expression.

          At present I am also one of the Producer’s of the Bronx International Film Festival where I do all the Facebook and twitter post for festival. So you can see where this class would be put into use insanity. Besides updates on the festival my post are mostly on using articles on filmmaking, technology and some Bronx events pulled for their Facebook feeds or websites for example Indiewire.com. Using our Facebook and Twitter to pass along information on to our filmmaking/film festival community.

Lastly this class give me greater insight into the world of social media from within the black and latino communities. How in the macro sense how the whole community express how we feel about certain topics that directly effect our communities.  In the micro sense who are the influencers, advocates and etc that are the voice of these ethnic social media spaces. What are they saying?  Why do people listen to them, Who are their distracters? How are they seen outside the community? Because we are part of so many communities for example especially living in New York city. Where there are multiple layers of experience that have to navigate on daily bases. This class will provide me with rock solid footing in the starting blocks.

Black Robb

blackandbrownnews.com

blackandbrownnews.com

As we learned in class online journalism is made up of not just text on the screen or on your digital media device, it has multi-media elements. These elements can consist of a photography, info-graphics, video, sound recordings, etc. There seems to be no limit to how you can cove a story in the new world of online journalism. For this newborn child of media the field is wide open. So how does an online media outlet traverse this new arena and deal with this fast changing landscape of digital media? Even more than that how does a online media outlet that serves a minatory community deal with it? For an answers to that other questions and more I turn to Blackandbrownnew.com and it publisher and founder Sharon Toommer.

As journalism evlousi   some people see blogs as the voice of the community as community in a sense. How do you think that is going to fit ?

Sharon: Not all blogs are equal some are escordinary well written well information pieces. Always what our concern is and what my concern is not just with blog but with new in general I see journalistic outlets doing it, the passing around of bad information. But I think there is place for voices that we never heard from before.  

Why separate yourself (blackandbrownnews.com) from a blog?

There are principles of journalism. We have writers that write stream of consciousness and that’s what   bog is. But we go thou the steps of vetting and not all blogs do that. Blog you can just in front of you computer and write whatever you want and its your fact. But its not really your fact, you did have al the information you didn’t check with as many sides as possible. In opinion is different from reporting. There is editorial and there is reporting I think reporting is still a necessary part of the democracy.

Who is doing it well?

We have writer that I like a lot Dádìsì Idọwú Ọlùwátọsìn and I like him because he is very careful. He is an option writer he write commentary but he treats it as very important rule and so he is careful in not what he say or how he says, if he is citing facts he has done the do diligent. If he is making statements he is backing it up. I think all of that is very important partially with a community that suffers from to much bad information. We are inundated with a lot of lifestyle like entertainment so we need creditable information. You know be creditable.

What biggest lesson you have learned via technology?

Always stay I mean this notation of putting it out there and just seeing how it goes. Always be looking be nimble be really flexible flexible and not so wedded to any one thing, because things are rapidly changing. I hear it referred to as the wild wild west and it is. So if your stagnate you just become irrelevant. So always be open. Even if it’s something I would wan to do I always have people that say way we should do it and that helps us to stay relevant.

A lot the rules of online journalism are still be written. How is this effecting what you are doing?

I stick with the core (principles). Yes you have a online publication and you can publishing ever hour. But we don’t have the capacity for that.  There use to be a time back in the olden days when people would get their news once week. Hence we have the Brooklyn town crier. But I think if you stick with these core principles then there is so much more that you can toy with and that you always keep the reader best interest ahead of yours. Any example is that we are not going to get the story first but we do want to get it right.  We might be a day late but we don’t want to be the once correcting what we wrote the day before.  And that is more challenging in this arena of  it happened a minute ago and its already out there. An example was and this is relatively old example was Michele Jackson’s death. We kept on hearing conflicting reports is he dead or is he alive. So we didn’t post it until the medial examiner (said he was dead). Not when TMZ put it out but when the medial examiner. Not saying that TMZ doesn’t get it right because a lot of the time they do.  But how they get their information. They pay for their information that is not a principle of journalism. But you know we are moving into that arena where these intuitions are paying. But you have to question when exchanges (hands).                     

FUNDING Part 1

             FUNDING Part 1     

      

Project funding was the topic of the April 10,2012 StoryCode Immersions at the Film Society Lincoln Center. The immersions hosts were Mike Knowlton of StoryCode and Sparrow Hall Author and New Media Innovator.  Done in two parts, Knowlton’s presentation was focused on the providing an overview of funding, Hall jumped in for part two of the immersions talking about brands. That being said I’m going to break this blog posting into two separate posts so I can cover both aspects of the immersion adequately. Lets start with first kind of funding anyone ever has self-funding.

SELF-FUNDING

Just as the name says self-funding come from you. You are taking your hard earned money and putting it into a transmedia project. When self-funding consider putting together several different budget. Really learn how to work a budget. Ask other people that have self-funded projects about what the have learned about how to use their own money. Sharing what you doing in a open source, meet up environment is all so help to self-funders.

CROWD SOURCE

A new trend in funding is Crowd Source funding. This is when you get a group of people that you don’t know donate money to your project’s goal. You have a certain amount of time to reach this goal. If you reach the goal amount in the allotted time you get the money. If you don’t you get nothing. Two of the biggest crowned sourcing web sites are indie go-go (indiegogo.com) and kickstarter (kickstarter.com).  A first glance they both look almost the same the theoretically. But big different between the two are how much money they take from you’re the funding.  Indie go-go takes 9% if goal not met; 4% if met. Kickstarter only funds if met, at 5%. But you really need good strategies to get people to notice you project. One is to ask people early in the week. Researching, having a team, an amazing video, having your campaign come out in phases, partnering people that make you project more visible is also effective.

INVESTORS/ VENTER CAPITALS (VCs)

When using investors/VCs remember that it is more about value position and less about story. Perfect your elevator pitch to take advantage of sudden opportunities. Preparing an investor deck will show that you are thinking with an investors/VCs mind and will separate you from others. Investors/VCs are less likely to fund experiments so business model is paramount. Showcasing any new technology that you inventing is always attractive especially if you can use in any future projects.

MARKETS

Markets are events where you pay to shop you project for funding to possible funders. Examples of markets are Power to the Pixel - Pixel Market and the BANFF Co-Production and Co-Venture Business Market. When dealing with markets you should expectations that a realistic. Have Headphone if you plan on playing you trailer or video.

CONFERENCES

Now I know the sound crazy but your goal at conferences are to increase your contacts so you can follow towards setting up meeting that could get you funding. This is also a good place for your evaluator pitch. Some upcoming conferences included StoryWorld - SF in 2011, LA in 2012, Ad: Tech - Fall NY / Spring SF, Digital Hollywood - Fall NY / Spring LA, and StoryCodes own Hackathons - TechCrunch / StoryCode in May 2012.

GRANTS / LABS

Getting funding from grants and Labs are very difficult in the U.S. doe to stiff competition. Canada and Europe on the other hand has government allocated   funding transmedia projects so you should consider bringing in a Canadian Co-production. Some leads for grants are http://creative-capital.org, Tribeca New Media Fund, Sundance New Frontiers. If you thinking about going the Canada and Europe route you can information on the  http://kulturvulturz.tumblr.com/post/12332547408/where-i-correct-the-rumors-regarding-transmedia-money blog.

In Funding Part 2 I break down Sparrow Hall's half the Immersion where he talks about funding working with brands.