Mel Hopkins

Yes, this young lady Marley is a media darling right now.  I find it intriguing how some gain media attention and others don't.  The answer simply isn't having a great publicist.

I can provide many examples of entities or individuals that deserve coverage but don't get it, while others get plenty of coverage.

Over the years I've watched a few people "blow up" seemingly overnight.  Each one of these people have been grinding for years, but just made it big one day.

The one common factor was what we've come to call as the exclusive "white co-sign."  Now the white cosign alone is not sufficient, but it is required whenever you see a Black person blow up.

As a result of this, I believe many authors who are trying to make it bg or have already made it big begin to marginalize Black institutions in favor of white ones.  This tends to bolster the white ones while weakening the Black ones.

Case in point; some black writers will do anything to attend AWP (which will be in Oregon in 2019) They hold in it high regard.  While the National Black Writers Conference (NBWC), held every two years in Brooklyn, is treated like the red-headed step child. 

I say this because each year at least one, usually more top author, will accept an invitation to be honored and then cancel their appearance at the last minute!  You know, after books have been orders, programs have been printed, flyers mailed, press releases issued, etc.

I can think of at least two who cancelled at the last minute but attended AWP with bells on.  This year AWP was the week before, two years ago AWP conflicted with the NBWC.  The year it conflicted a couple of writers reneged on the attending and went to AWP instead.

Disclaimer: These thoughts are Troy Johnson's. In no way are intended to represent the sentiments of the NBWC or it's organizers.

I can think of many similar examples.  What does this have to do with Marley?  Black people did not choose to elevate Marley (as far as I can tell), over the other young people to work to encourage literacy.  This is not to say that Marley is not deserving of attention, it is that we don't seem to be driving who does.

Of course part of the reason is that we don't many platforms that are greatly respected, which point the nature of the problem I just described a death spiral ensues--one problem reinforces the other.

At some point, we have to elevate our own institutions or we will never control our narrative. 

Look, if Marley can get it done, so can we.

I have to cosign everything you've written here @Troy ! This is exactly why I re-focused The LeadStory.org to read "Resurrecting Buried News"... and by the way, you also got a cosign from Publishers Weekly too.  So this means we have to just keep pushing until black folks hold our coronation lol.   

One thing I've noticed is these media darlings usually jump off a platform ... keep listening to her mom (Janice Johnson Dias)  and around the 3:47 mark -there might be a clue. 

With this in mind, I also I think they have to first get the cosign of black community... Marley Dias is a product of her network.  

Another way the black community promotes its own to the mainstream is protest.  For example, it took him years but I doubt if Dapper Dan would have got that Gucci shop in Harlem if black folks didn't cry foul when Gucci bootlegged Dapper Dan's designs.   

Another thought, are those authors published by one of the big 5? Maybe they had to appear and don't have the leverage to say otherwise... If that's not the case, then they're doing it bass-ackwards (if my theory holds)

Speaking of which, black authors may need to negotiate better contracts.   I'm reminded of Roxane Gay telling SS to shove it when they decided to publish that Alt-Reich dude's book.    

But back to the topic, overnight sensations, I think black people have the best platform in America , black people.  I hadn't even thought of it that way until your response... Now you got me thinking..

"...pushing until black folks hold our coronation lol."  That is indeed funny.

This video helps me understand why this particular young lady got so much attention -- thanks for sharing this.  Black Thought, and the Roots have the white-cosign,  You can;t be the house band on the Jimmy fallon show without that credential.

It is interested that you would mention the PW article a few months earlier this article ran in the Philadelphia Daily News (print and online).  Maybe when i'm quoted more frequently in mainstream, national publications. I'll earn my white co-sign badge and get some coverage by my own people LOL! 

Seriously, why aren't mainstream Black-owned publications all over the coverage of Black owned bookstores!  Black-owned publications have more of an incentive to do so than the Philly Daily New or PW! 

Wouldn't it be nice to walk into a Black-owned bookstore and be able to buy the latest issue of Black Enterprise, Ebony, or Essence magazine? Wouldn't is be nice to be able to pick up the local Black-owned newspaper any of the others from the major cities?  How many of the nation's Black-owned bookstores can this be done in?  Probably none.

All of the authors I was referencing are published by mainstream publishers and are large enough that they dictate where they appear. They are as large (in terms of prominence  as Roxane Gay).

Keep thinking @Mel Hopkins and let me know what you come up with Mel.  I'm intrigued with the prospect of Black folks being their own platform.