Room Eight New York Politics is six years old this month. I guess congratulations are in order for Ben Smith and Gur Tsbar. After all, as editors, they had the foresight and vision to launch this website. Thanks to the contributions from like Gatemouth, Larry Littlefield, Jerry Skurnik, Judge Boyajian, Manny Burgos, Mary Alice Miller, Yoda, Vincent Nunes, Dominic Carter – and all the other prolific contributors over the years- this site has grown exponentially.
This is far from being a perfect site. Between the trolls and the spam we leave a lot to be desired. And we sure need to recruit new writers/contributors; especially young ones. I have been saying this for years now. Back in the day when the newly-born Room Eight had unlimited potential, scope and vision, it enticed elected officials to blog along. Those contributions have now come down to a trickle and I wonder why? We need to find out what the problem is. Our readership has grown but our contributors haven’t: not really.
We can’t afford the luxury of expelling contributors (Nunes) just because they offer a different viewpoint. We need to look into the possibility of offering internships to budding journalists from high schools and community colleges. We need to advertise. We also need to look for corporate sponsorship and ways to eliminate spamming. I have argued in the past for a more stringent security/ identification policy on commenters; too many abuse their privileges. There are many things we need to do here folks.
We need to re-evaluate where we go from here. And I am talking to everyone: not only the writers/contributors. I am also talking to our loyal fans worldwide. There is a need for more blog sites like this one: a pressing need. Sites like these are alternatives to mainstream media (MSM). Sites like these can further inform voters, and edify those who seek the full picture and not the corporate-driven political spin.
Take a look at this video I now present. It deals with a story that mainstream media has been ignoring. It deals with an issue too many whites refuse to engage, and often try to ignore: racism.
The video is entitled: Police Plant Evidence in Utica, New York. It shows a white police officer blatantly planting cocaine in an auto stopped for a traffic infraction: in order to frame a black driver.
This story may or may not get to the MSM front burner. It should have been there from the day it was exposed. It is a painful video to watch when you consider that we are heading towards two million blacks (male and females/including black-Hispanics) imprisoned in this country.
In this country whites tend to dismiss the cries of racism in a routine way. To most whites the cries are from those who whine and try to play the system for sympathy. Whether is comes from respectable organizations like the ACLU, CORE, or the NAACP, there is a tendency to dismiss racist charges as dramatic concoctions from perennial lawbreakers.
In New York City, members of the police department (NYPD) routinely stop and frisk black and Hispanic youngsters, with no regard for their constitutional rights protecting against these stops, searches and illegal seizures. Sites like this one (ww.r8ny.com) can highlight these types of atrocities amongst other things. Sites like these have a big role to play in getting us to a more fair and just society.
Stay tuned-in folks: we still have a lot of work to do on Room Eight New York Politics.