Welcome!  

Another voice is always great.  I look forward to your perspectives.  (Also, interesting, is the "action project" element on the page.)  

I'm only thinking out loud, but clearly, the low hanging fruit, in terms of accomplishments, should be the first things to go after, in terms of legislation.

Number one - some form of national health care, that doesn't sell out to big corporations.  

Secondly, things that benefit families, again, over corporations.

Third, education legislation that works.

You linked to a Francis Holland blog page!

It may be well worth abandoning MYdd. Something that I will have to think about. I always liked it here, more than KOS and several other blogs.

But in light of Jared as a front pager - I may have to leave.

In memoriam.

Jared, thanks for your thoughts.

I can imagine many issues on which the progressive blogosphere and Afrosphere can work together.  In addition to the political bread-and-butter issues like health care, education, etc. (as noted above), there are a variety of cultural issues that come to mind.  For example, what can we do to strengthen socially conscious hip hop?  What can we do to support minority owned businesses?  What about addressing the problem of violence within inner cities?  And so on.  I'd love to see our two communities working together on some of these issues.

Incidentally, you didn't mention it above, but I'm sure some folks here might be interested to see this, which I just caught on Jack and Jill today: http://rsspect.org/.  It's an aggregator of black blogs.

Hands up to MyDD for allowing a diversity of views to the frontpage.  That is amazing and should be commended in the blogosphere.

While there are some goals that are unique to the African American community as a result of circumstance, I think, for the most part, progressive issues are common to both communities.

Personally, I do not like to look at it as entirely separate but more like an extension of one another.

I think MyDD has really been taking the lead on innovation in the netroots and blog and I have come to enjoy this site immensely.

Great job Jared, Matt, and MyDD.  This is beginning to feel like a very inclusive progressive community.  Kudos!!!!!

Lovingj - there is nothing diverse about choosing a front pager to represent the face of MYdd that has a candidate affiliation. Which should be disclaimed  on every post Jared makes not just the ones about candidates..

Nothing any which way you slice it, and quite frankly it has and will be a damaging blow to the the diverse political blogosphere concerning Mydd.

No matter how many times I disagreed with Matt, or Chris I still respected this website. I am not sure that will continue.

It looks like francislholland still reads MyDD:  Intrepid Jared Roebuck Brings the AfroSpear to MyDD.

I think this is a good (and tough) question.

One one hand, you would say that simply by virtue of being a place for progressive discussion and activism this overlaps in a significant way with black issues.  But on the other, that totally ignores the way that issues tend to take on a white hue unless there is a concentrated effort to make them otherwise.

The most important thing, I think, is simply to ensure the growth of the "progressive" blogosphere while at the same time ensuring that there is ample space for the "Afrosphere" to exist on its own.  There should of course be overlap, and ideally the amount would grow organically over time.  But the "over time" part is probably important - I think it has to happen as a long-term process where the voices of those not normally heard filter in on a wide range of issues but are heard loud and clear in a few targeted areas.

Basically, pick a few battles where you will make an effort to get the wide-ranging progressive netroots motivated to act, and use that as the foot in the door.  Individuals should never feel obligated to post in a place like this if they would feel more comfortable writing their own blog focused on issues that are personally more important to them.  Not to say that anyone here should ever make them feel unwelcome, but there should always be a recognition that "bottom up" activism has to really be bottom-up.  Places like MyDD and Kos are the establishment in that sense (even if not in many others).

As for finding areas to work on, some of the suggestions above are very good.  Bringing to attention the racial components of policies that we can generally agree on (health care, education, etc.) should be a priority.  Emphasizing the importance of these issues to politicians interested in gaining the support of the netroots is important.  It's probably important enough that it would be worthwhile for everyone to make a serious effort to post about these issues more than they normally would - a kind of affirmative action in emphasis.  

For individual members of the MyDD community, take the time when thinking about issues to contemplate the role that race plays in them.  Imagine how you might think about them from a different standpoint.  Think about how that might change both your assessment of the issue and (especially) the way you rank the importance of different goals.  

One example: I know people around here care A LOT about Iraq.  I'm one of them.  It's a really big deal and should be at the heart of the progressive movement right now.  But at the same time, it is not difficult to imagine folks who might not rank it as a particularly high priority.  For a worker whose job has been outsourced, who has a kid in need of medical care but doesn't have health insurance they might consider Iraq to be a secondary concern behind the economy and health care.

For a pregnant woman living in a rural area hundreds of miles from the nearest abortion provider, working at a job that won't give her time off, with a family who would disown her if they found out she got an abortion, that might be the most important issue.

On the reverse side, a black woman who is deeply religious may be strongly against abortion.  While we might disagree on that issue, it should not necessarily make her feel excluded from the progressive community on many other issues.  Especially since this is precisely the kind of person who might be most receptive to the Democratic approach to abortion - provide health care, education, etc. designed to improve the lives of women and potential mothers so that they feel less pressure to have an abortion.

Three final, related thoughts.  First, the netroots exists on the net, obviously.  And there are a lot of people who might be interested in the issues here, but simply do not have access, or the free time, or even the education to make a place like this accessible.  If we want to enrich this community, part of what we need to do is change that basic fact.

Second, as much as many folks here love this type of community, there is really no way it will stop being the predominantly white place that it is anytime soon.  As such, there may be many folks who just have no desire to come here (or places like this).  We should accept that choice by individuals, even as we do our best to make changes on a group level.

Third, racial politics is local.  This is true for all kinds of politics, of course, but is especially true here.  The question of who is president matters, but it might matter quite a bit less than who is mayor to someone living in the city.  And even beyond that, politics happens in communities, not just in the government.  The netroots can be a part of that, but it simply cannot be a replacement for actually organizing in your physical location.

I don't have any good suggestions on this point, but I think it does need to be said.

Amen to that Baldrick.

Frances Holland?  You know he was autobanned from Daily Kos?

Not a credible source at all.

He spews anti-Edwards stuff and did in the past.  Edwards is white.  His position is we must have a woman or black candidate.

Is that your position?