Where I Be

Obama '08: Winning the black battle against media?
Black History Month Panel on the Media and Black America

America's unprecedented obsession with Barack Obama has taken over
television, radio, and printed media in a way never seen or heard before in America's history. How does the American media's creation of the black
experience affect Barack Obama's candidacy? What does Barack Obama have at stake in American media's representation of the black experience? How is the media's portrayal of Obama's "blackness" a departure from the usual? Why do Black people refer to Barack Obama as "Barack", while others refer to him differently? Please join us as we try to answer these questions and address the issues that appear when Barack Obama's presidential campaign, Black America, and the media collide.

Panelists:

Darnell M. Hunt, Ph.D.
Director, Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA
Professor of Sociology

Dennis Rome
Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Wisconsin at Parkside

Larry D. Lyons II
Ph.D. Candidate in English, Princeton University Graduate School

Paula W. Matabane Ph.D.
Professor of Communications at Howard University