JPC Establishing the Brand - Some Answers?

Fernando, T.:  I will try to address your questions, as they are similar in nature. Yes, Ebony/Jet does have an on-line presence. You can browse the covers, even read old issues, seeing the “news of the day”, it is quite interesting.

Modern day African-Americans at large remain excluded from conversations going on in America. Many studies have shown that all things being equal a Black person will not get the job, will not be rented/sold the apt./house. Will be charged a higher interest rate when buying a car. Again, this is with everything being equal but the color of skin.  More importantly however may be the “images” we are all are shown. When communicators are trying to indicate the ugliness of a situation, of poverty, drug addiction, criminality etc., more often than not the “images” are those of Black people. This, even if the piece is not about Black people in particular. It is very negative and has a profound effect on a culture both Black and otherwise. JPC shows US the beauty, the true potential in all of us. The “don’t believe the hype” of it all. That may be one reason these publications have retained popularity. The other may be that JPC tapped upon one of the foundations of Maslow hierarchy of human needs that being “Esteem”. (See below)

Dre and Nicki do corporate commercials and appear on GMA respectively but have no doubt they are there because they make money/garner ratings=make money for others, lots of it. (Not ignoring their individual talents/accomplishments.)

Speaking on Black radio President Obama has said “I may be president, but I still cannot get a cab in NY”.  In addition, I’ve never in my life heard/read so many racist viewpoints expressed publicly until a “nigger” became President. It’s must be just awful for the leader of the free world, the “greatest country on earth” to endure this. It also says a lot about us as a nation. Imagine his disgust at being called “articulate” a Harvard grad no less?

Historically, the damage done to displaced Africans worldwide and ALL Americans because of the legacy of savage and inhumane decisions made by others others still has profound ramifications on our nation (and the world) as a whole. African-Americans don’t really even know where we came from or who are family really is.

One may want to think these issues were so long ago as to be forgotten, I thought so too, until the day it dawned on me that I was born without civil rights. Perhaps my lot and I are the last of a dying breed, those whose birth predates the modern Civil Rights Act of 1964. The last vestiges of slavery if you will. Federal laws had be enacted for Blacks to be treated with some shred of dignity. I will never forget the “images” I saw on the news as a child. Well meaning and well dressed “Colored” people men and especially women and children being painfully blasted by water hoses and attacked by dogs. “For what?” I would wonder as a kid. As an adult found out why; simply for wanting a place at the table that they help build. IMAGINE THAT?!

 

                                         Could JPC have known they were fulfilling these needs?

Works Cited:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act_of_1866

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act_of_1964

http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/history/35th/1990s/civilrights.html