Thanks to the intrepid fighting spirit of amiga Liza Sabater, I've been credentialed to attend the Democratic National Convention in Denver from August 25 through 28, as a member of the CultureKitchen crew. It's an exciting opportunity to take part in what is likely to be a historic event; so I'll be bringing my laptop and camera and as keen and critical an eye as I can muster to the scene, and doing what I can to share some of what I see. I'm guessing that Liza and I, along with three other members of the CultureKitchen team who are also collaborators on The Sanctuary — Kety, Kyle, and Nezua — will bring a somewhat non-conventional perspective to the party.

And so, for the first time in my 4 years of blogging, I've added an Alms Bowl to my Zuky sidebar where I'm accepting contributions from readers and supporters. Amigo Nezua (who whipped up the beautiful Donate button; thanks bro!) and I are tag-teaming our fundraising efforts, so we'll pool whatever we come up with in order to help finance our trips to Denver. If you see value in what we're doing and can spare a little something to chip in to the cause, it's most appreciated. This bloggy Buddhist bows before you with respect and gratitude and an open heart.

Getting back the convention itself, the DNCC is boasting about the record number of blogs that have been credentialed, but it's been a controversial and typically racially-fractured process. Especially since the Democratic Party appears to be poised to nominate its first ever African American presidential candidate, you'd think that organizers would be doing whatever they could to enlist a diverse group of bloggers. But the first 55 blogs that were announced as members of the "state blogger corps" were almost all white. Not a single Afrosphere blogger made the cut. According to the Washington Post:

"OK, folks, black bloggers to the back of the bus," read one post on the African American Political Pundit, one of the more prominent national black blogs. A posting on Georgia Politics Unfiltered, a state blog, read: "Jim Crow raises his ugly head . . . at the Democratic Convention." The protracted primary has been like a bottomless glass to thirsty national and local bloggers -- so much to blog about! -- and about 400 of them have applied to attend the convention. Although four years ago the credentialing of 30 bloggers in a single pool was a historic event, this August there are two blogger pools: a State Blogger Corps and a General Blogger Pool. The State Corps is considered the more elite; its 55 bloggers will have floor access all four days, sit next to their state delegations and be hooked up to the Internet. Those not chosen for the State Corps are competing for spots in the General Pool, which will have rotating floor access. The State Corps list was announced nearly two weeks ago; the General Pool list, DNC officials say, will be released this week. Natalie Wyeth, spokeswoman for the convention committee, says criteria for selecting State Corps bloggers were readership, online ratings and focus on local and state politics. The General Pool will also be selected on the basis of readership and online ratings, she adds, with an emphasis on bloggers covering "national politics to niche issues of interest to specific communities." Race was not a factor in the selection of the State Corps, Wyeth repeatedly says.

Haven't we seen this movie before? The white liberal blogosphere has become positively legendary for its racial dysphoria and cluelessness. If race is "not a factor" and you end up inviting an all-white list, what are you saying? I guess we're back to the question that Brownfemipower once ironically posed in a now-classic guest-post, "Where are all the bloggers of color?" And I guess some white liberal bloggers still haven't figured it out. It's a good thing that Liza, among others, never quit fighting; otherwise who knows just how melanin-lite the final list of credentialed bloggers might be. Most of us bloggers of color will be lowly "general pool" bloggers with limited access, but so it goes. In any case, I won't really be there to lobby or schmooze, so it might not really matter for me. I hope to get a sense of what's going on both inside and outside the convention hall. I hope to catch the action not only on the big stage but also in the margins and corners. I'm interested in hearing out not only the party faithful but also the party skeptics and the dissenters. That's the kind of thing I'll be up to when the time comes in August. [ Cross-posted at Zuky ]

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