Eddie, Shawn, AAPP, Francis & Pam in Dallas Morning News

Karen Brooks, staff writer for the Dallas Morning News, has published an article there about the lack of diversity in the Democratic National Convention’s state blogging corps.  She quotes the AfroSpear’s Francis L. Holland, Esq., African American Political Pundit, Shawn Williams of Dallas South, and the afrosphere’s Pam Spauling of the PamsHouseBlend blog.

By now, most afrosphere and whitosphere readers know the contours of this controversy:  The DNC drafted and implemented selection criteria for its Denver Convention state bloggers corps which criteria  foreseeably and predictably produced a virtually all-white state blogger group to cover the floor of the Denver Convention.

But this roundup comes courtesy of Kenneth Quinnell, Florida Progressive Coalition Blog.

The Francis L. Holland Blog – Jim Crow Blogging at the Democratic National Convention

The Dallas Morning News article says:

AUSTIN — Democrats consider affirmative action a cornerstone of their national agenda, but some minority bloggers say the party isn’t practicing what it preaches.

Last week, the national Democratic Party announced that 55 online writers had been chosen for the “State Blogger Corps,” to cover the convention in Denver in September.

But some members of the self-titled “afrosphere” — blogs written or published by African Americans — are angry that the “State Blogger Corps” appears to be mostly white, particularly since the party appears poise to nominate a black candidate, Barack Obama, for president.

“OK, folks, black bloggers to the back of the bus,” read the headline on the African American Political Pundit blog.

( . . . )

A second round of blog credentials will be announced before the end of the month, party leaders said, and minority bloggers will be purposely included in that selection.

It’s unclear exactly how many of the state bloggers are white and how many are minorities because the bloggers weren’t required to identify their race when they applied.

But the blogs don’t appear to be self-identified as written or owned by African Americans, as opposed to blogs like the African American Political Pundit or attorney Francis L. Holland’s numerous blogs, which feature his picture.

He called the list “tremendously embarrassing and harmful to the Democratic Party.” The delay in announcing the minority blogs, he said, is hurting their ability to raise money for travel expenses and get vacation time.

“November’s voter turnout depends on August’s blogger outreach,” said Mr. Holland, a member of a national and international black bloggers’ coalition called “The AfroSpear.” “Blogs address constituencies, and it simply is not possible for blogs that are all-white to effectively reach diverse Democratic constituencies.”

( . . . )

The debate picked up steam over the weekend, on blogs written by both whites and African Americans, in posts and in comments.

The issues prompted Shawn Williams, who writes the DallasSouth.com blog, to write to U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Dallas, to complain about the lack of diversity among the chosen bloggers.

Pam Spaulding, an African-American blogger in North Carolina who has applied to the general pool, suggested on her blog — Pam’s House Blend — that minorities don’t blog about state and local politics as much as white people do, narrowing the pool.

A Hispanic blogger from New Mexico agreed and wrote that their blog was passed over in favor of a blog run by a white woman, but didn’t see any discrimination in a majority Hispanic state.

( . . . )   Dallas Morning News

Hopefully, the attention that whitosphere, afrosphere and latinosphere bloggers nationwide are giving to this issue, as well as increasing attention from the public, will prompt the DNC to rethink the political wisdom and utility of creating a virtually all-white bloggers corps to cover the floor of the Convention.  If not, then once again our national convention will be an international symbol of ongoing color-based exclusion, even as Barack Obama is nominated to become the next president of the United States.