(Photo Credit: Freelance Folder)
WordPress showcases a number of blogs each day on Freshly Pressed, but there is a conspicuous lack of diversity in the bloggers featured. When one examines the bloggers that WordPress staff members elect to feature on Freshly Pressed, those bloggers are overwhelmingly White. One hardly ever finds a Black or other racial and ethnic minority blogger being featured on Freshly Pressed, and this is quite unfortunate, considering numerous minority bloggers using WordPress deserve to be featured. One of the fundamental reasons why many minority bloggers aren’t being featured on Freshly Pressed is WordPress has a staff deficient in diversity, especially when it comes to staff members who curate Freshly Pressed.
If one reads Freshly Pressed, he or she may come away with the idea that most of the really good or great bloggers using WordPress are White. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
Since I’m penning this piece about the dearth of racial diversity in those featured on Freshly Pressed, WordPress staff members will never select me. If WordPress staff members never elect to feature me, I will be fine with their decision. I have a highly successful blog and a large readership. I will survive. Unfortunately, many minority bloggers, especially Black bloggers, using WordPress need to and deserve to be showcased on Freshly Pressed. A number of successful Black bloggers use WordPress and have been nominated and/or won awards for their blogs, but WordPress continues to ignore the success of their blogs.
One has to wonder if WordPress really even cares about Black bloggers, their blogs, and the issues that matter to them.
Freshly Pressed is becoming increasingly boring to read. While WordPress staff members can assert that there are multifarious topics curated on Freshly Pressed, they cannot point to a significant number of those sundry topics being composed by minority bloggers.
As a means of demonstrating that they’re not biased to minority bloggers, I would recommend that WordPress staff members put me on its staff as a Curator. I don’t need or desire to be paid. I certainly have the qualifications to be a successful Curator and have an academic and professional record, which includes being extensively published, that would offer some much needed diversity to the WordPress staff.
While I very much love WordPress and posit that it’s the best blogging platform available, the way in which blogs are being curated for Freshly Pressed is unfair and unappealing to many minority bloggers. It’s my hope that WordPress will begin to feature a tremendous number of minority bloggers on Freshly Pressed.
Many minority bloggers simply see Freshly Pressed as a boring showcase of blogs.
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Revolutionary Paideia 
Although this post was informative I am not sure if it’s totally correct. Are you just skimming through the Freshly Pressed line up and making your judgement based solely on the picture next to their name……half the time it’s a cartoon figure, an animal or something related to the blog itself and in some cases the author of the blog doesn’t reveal him/herself, we are left to wonder what he/she looks like. Do you than base your assumption that this faceless author is white just because his or her name?
I did a little research of my own …..
http://wondermentetc.com/about/
(congo adoptions)
http://laguerapecosa.wordpress.com/2013/08/05/pros-and-cons-of-spanglish-use/
(author is Hispanic)
http://crystalstmarielewis.com/2013/07/31/on-christian-fundamentalisms-ongoing-effort-to-win-custody-of-jesus/
wow…look at that, she’s not white….. (6 days ago)
http://irasciblejots.wordpress.com/about-2/
Hmmm….not white…..(6 days ago)
http://blog.ted.com/2013/08/07/5-african-artists-returning-to-their-rootsmafundikwa-companion-piece/
many contributors….some white, some asian…..but still NOT all white
My question is….are you just sore because you haven’t been recognized by the Freshly Pressed Crew??
Come on….Smile……..
I’m certainly not sore over not being featured on Freshly Pressed. Actually, I was featured on WordPress for the #2 Fastest Growing Blog about 2 or 3 years ago. I’ve thoroughly followed who has been selected for three years, and went to their blogs and discovered that they were not minorities. You have selected a hand full of bloggers that have been featured, which is inadequate. For at least three years, the overwhelming majority of the featured bloggers have been White. I have went to the blogs and checked them out for the past 3 years. I haven’t been blinded by the images people put up. Yes, sometimes it’s tough to tell if the blogger is White or Black, but most of the time the bloggers featured clearly present their racial composition. What’s also clear is the lack of serious racial minority inclusion on the WordPress staff. So again, I have been featured on The Fastest Growing Blogs — #2, in fact. I’m pointing out something much more important and greater than me: the importance of racial diversity.
Also, what you did is not research. It was a quick and unrepresentative random sampling to justify your point. I have thoroughly investigated this issue over the past three years.
Antonio let me go ahead and rifle off the counters that the standard, willingly ignorant, white troll of the internet does with posts like this one. Here are the reasons why the black bloggers on Freshly Press is little to none (using the same arguments I saw for why the new Dr. Who is an old white man):
1. They select the best blogs available… diversity be damned, maybe black people need to write better?
2. Blacks are only like 10% of the country, so your wanting more black bloggers to be featured is a bit silly.
3. How do you know that the blogs featured aren’t written by black people? Just because their avatar is white doesn’t mean that’s them.
4. Why must everything be about race! Obama is President get over it.
Lol, carry on sir. I hope I covered all of the non-excuses in case anyone was looking to post them.
LMBO! Exactly! She is certainly a simple White troll. She was trying to base everything about my piece on me being mad that I’ve never been featured on Freshly Pressed. Little did she know that I was once featured by WordPress on the Fastest Growing Blogs two or three years ago. I made it clear in the piece that it was about other minority bloggers being featured and not me. She simply should have been honest and expressed that she didn’t like me bringing up race in relation to Freshly Pressed.
Playing the racist card ey?! Well I’m not sure about that, but I am starting to believe that the people who select the stories for freshly pressed are a bunch of snobbish idiots. While several posts from our blog were sent in, usually there wasn’t even a reply from the moderators. I’m not claiming our posts are better than the selection made, but at least some common decency would be nice right?!
So I support you fully on taking them on. We will do the same this week or smt in a post. Viva la revolución! 🙂
Not one time did I mention that they were racist. What I did point out is a lack of racial diversity in the selection of bloggers who are featured on Freshly Pressed. I agree with you that they should have issued a reply to your submitted posts, since that is the courteous thing to do. I do have to question the authenticity of your support for my challenging of WordPress because you suggested that I was playing the racist card, which I did not do. It seems to me that the WordPress staff is not interested in featuring many minority bloggers. This does not mean that they are racist; it just means that they are demonstrating a lack of interest in showcasing bloggers from a wide range of racial and ethnic backgrounds, which is quite unfortunate since there are many excellent minority bloggers using WordPress. I am glad that you will be taking them on in some way this week too.
Fair enough! Either way you have our full support! 🙂
Awesome! I can respect that. I appreciate your support.
So I’m a blogger who USED to browse through freshly pressed, and I would have to agree that about 95% of the bloggers featured were white. I think they need to shake things up and add someone people of different color. We have a voice and we need to be heard!!!
AMD you should’ve known someone white, would come to the difference of this post. But I’m sure you would’ve …..its something in the water. Simply agree to disagree. Soon as we say something regarding race or discrimination there will be a person not of color to point out, “I Have Black Friends”, “I voted for Obama” etc, and we are supposed to say “oh okay”.
Excellent post, well written like always!
BTW: I’m not a racist!!! 🙂
Thank you very much! Yes, I knew that there would be Whites within the blogosphere and within the WordPress staff who would disagree with my piece simply because they want to deny the lack of racial diversity in the selection of those featured for Freshly Pressed. As I communicated to the two White respondents to this piece, I never called the WordPress staff racist; I simply pointed out the lack of inclusivity in regards to race when they feature bloggers on Freshly Pressed. It is my hope that this piece will lead to greater inclusion of Black bloggers and other minority bloggers on Freshly Pressed — not simply a handful here and there. I am even willing to lend my time for free to WordPress to help curate Freshly Pressed to add greater inclusion of racially diverse bloggers who are featured. I very much appreciate your response to this piece.
Your very welcome!!
Oh, by the way, I know you’re not a racist! LMBO! 🙂
Lol cool yayyy!!!
🙂