In general, I think more bloggers should engage in collaborative efforts, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, political affiliation, and etc. Those aforementioned things, however, can be used as vehicles for collaboration. I contend that African-American bloggers need to increase their influence in the blogosphere by joining forces through collaborative blogs, guest blogging, visiting one another’s blogs regularly (not every now and then), comment on one another’s blogs regularly (not every now and then), find mediums like Twitter, Facebook, email, telephone, and etc. to discuss blog posts ideas and future directions for one another’s blogs, and etc. Now, this is not an effort to try to increase my own readership, especially since I will soon be well over 100,000 readers in just my first year of blogging, I just want African-Americans to have a greater influence in the blogosphere.
Many Black people have a problem with sharing and helping one another. It seems like many African-Americans are concerned about not letting others outdo them, which ends up causing us to divide and conquer ourselves without any person to blame for this but ourselves. In my little over 6 months of blogging, I have had the pleasure to read the writing of some tremendously talented Black writers like The Realest Dude in the Room (http://realestdudeintheroom.com), I Likes It Raw (http://ilikesitraw.com), Uptown Notes (http://www.uptownnotes.com), New Black Man (http://newblackman.blogspot.com), The Black Sphere (http://theblacksphere.net), Pampered Sweet Tooth (http://pamperedsweettooth.blogspot.com), and many more. These previously mentioned Black bloggers provide a diverse range of topics, interests, ideas, and approaches that represent some of the best of what Black bloggers have to offer.
Unfortunately, Black bloggers are not as organized and collaborative as White bloggers, which results in much our talent not being given the recognition, focus, and attention it merits. It is up to Black bloggers to change this problem. No one is going to take us more seriously until we start taking ourselves more seriously. When you visit the aforementioned bloggers, you have an opportunity to see why Black bloggers need to be more visible and heard. For those who say that Black males are not doing anything but getting into trouble, I would like you to know that all of the aforementioned Black bloggers except for one are Black males.
One of the ways in which we can work to remedy this problem is by encouraging more Blacks to start blogging. Without a doubt, most African-Americans have something valuable to offer and say to America, so we need to encourage them to begin blogging immediately. Blogging gives them a free opportunity to get their voice acknowledged nationally and internationally. If anyone needs assistance with starting a free blog, then just contact me and I will help you to get started.
In closing, I just want to say that Black bloggers need to find ways to collaborate to increase our readership and impact in the blogosphere. I am not for us simply carving out our own “Black space” within the blogosphere, but I am for us having much more significance and power in the blogosphere. I hope that Black bloggers will soon unite!
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Revolutionary Paideia 
I enjoyed reading your blog about black bloggers uniting virtually. There’s a question that I would like to pose. Do you think that black people can unite virtually in black and white media with words when there is a daily challenge of dealing with “crab in the bucket” mentalities and uniting in person?
I think that Black bloggers can unite in both spaces (virtually and face-to-face) if they make a commitment to serve something greater than themselves. The “crab in the bucket” mentalities will always be there. I have had a number of people, including while I have started blogging, that have demonstrated their crab in the bucket mentalities, but I believe that we can unite enough Black bloggers together to make a significantly more powerful impact in the blogosphere.
And don’t forget Thomas Sowell. Although a professional writer and columnist, his very popular articles can be found here: http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell
My thought has been that blogging is already substantially color blind. I believe general topics (politics, people, technology, lifestyle, etc.) will gather bloggers of interest in all colors.
But of course, to blog, you need to write well. If we could all write as well as you, Antonio, everyone would blog!
“Many Black people have a problem with sharing and helping one another.”
…and therein lies the problem with us. I’ve found that to be the case with not just blogging but with everything in life concerning my people. We do not like or even want to help anyone for fear of losing our own shine. Hell, many of us won’t even answer a goddamn question let alone help someone else.
One time at a gas station, I asked these brothers where they had gotten the chrome done on their motorcycles. They looked at me like I asked for $1000 and didn’t say a word to me.
Article was very on-point.
That’s true, Curtis! Black people could make so much more progress if we would work together. We, Black people, are stronger, better, and wiser when we are united. When Black people decide to fully unite, we will pose the greatest united front in world history. Thanks so much for reading and your response.