THE GANTT REPORT, by Lucius Gantt
Most of the people that I know feel that 2022 was not a very good year. Poor people appear to be getting poorer while the world’s billionaires made more billions.
When multi-national corporations faced supply chain problems, virus adjustments and lockdowns, companies like airlines got bailouts and other government assistance.
So, what did the airlines do, they laid off or fired workers and that move resulted in thousands of flights being cancelled and delayed during the busy holiday traveling period. I hope your families made it to their holiday destinations.
To make a long column short, Gantt Report readers know that almost everything that happens in America is about the dollar, the scratch, the cheese, the paper or the money.
Once again, our oppressors and enemies have tricked us. Powers around the world have convinced us that the white way is the right way.
Our voices and our words have always been some of our strongest weapons. Where would we be without strong Black voices and ancestral words of wisdom from Black abolitionists, freedom fighters, civil rights activists and community rabble-rousers?
We would be where we are, on the white man’s social media platforms that forbids, bans, blocks and diminishes posts that paint the truer pictures of Black life in America and around the world.
The ku klux klan, stormtroopers, proud boys, oath keepers and other groups that hate you can post anything they desire but you can’t post about slavery day atrocities, you can’t post about lynchings, burnings, hangings and racist medical experiments.
I got ban warnings because I wrote about the Atlanta Crackers (a baseball team named by whites) and referred to a long-time buddy and home boy as my “ace boon coon” (a term of endearment that my elders used frequently to describe friends).
All media companies are struggling. Many so-called major media companies have cut costs by firing staff, decreasing print numbers and limiting distribution.
When major media catches a “cold”, Black media catches Covid 19, the rocking pneumonia and the boogie woogie flu!
Many Black media companies, such as newspapers, magazines and broadcast stations are being sold to Cubans and other non-Blacks but the new businesses are masquerading as being Black owned. Think BET, for instance.
Well, The Gantt Report doesn’t have to be in a hurricane to tell which way the wind is blowing.
When media changes, TGR has to change too.
The idea that Black people can’t tell when one column is widely read, strongly researched and is unapologetic, unadulterated and factual and some other columns that parrot commentaries stolen from closet klansmen, Uncle Toms and Jemimas writings are better because they read the way Becky and Bubba prefer, should be discredited.
If you don’t know, I know a lot about Black media. I know how to reach Black newspapers nationwide and worldwide but unlike other columnists, I never send TGR to every paper. TGR only goes to publications and individuals that want it.
I wish the Black females that publish or own Black papers would read Ida Wells, Delilah Beasley, Michelle Bernard, Stella Foster and other great Black female columnists. Those women were Black media writers that should be read.
Today, more than a few publishers merely rubber stamp each other by printing articles and columns from other writers in other papers. This practice makes most Black newspapers look pretty much the same.
Some Black community newspapers don’t look to please readers in Black communities. They seek to please white people and white advertisers.
Well, white advertisers want eyes on their ads and that is why Black newspapers are required by advertisers to have a digital presence, websites and social media profiles.
In that regard, TGR will be changing with the times. Don’t worry, the newspapers, and individuals, that feel The Gantt Report has value will continue to get columns, others will not.
Good luck to Black media owners that decide to only publish information acceptable to the exploiters and oppressors of Black people.
I’m not with that. I got a lot of stuff on my table. I’m starting final layout work on my new book, “The Light is the Truth” and I’ll be upgrading my website to house the TGR archives which will make every TGR column available to everybody. This will take months, but I hope TGR lovers will stick with me.
Personally, I will never seek to be on your favorite social platforms but TGR will be there for you to read and enjoy, uncut, unbossed and unbought.
God willing, TGR might get more followers than many of the watered-down, bowed down and toned-down media that was once loved and appreciated by the world’s Black masses.
I love you all, thank you for your support. Keep reading and buying the true Black newspapers and magazines!
Lucius is a contributing columnist to NNPA newspapers around the nation, and the author of “Beast Too: Dead Man Writing,” available on Amazon.com and from bookstores everywhere.