The market has a wide array of magazines - some technical and others for entertainment - rarely are the magazines racial or depicting racial discrimination. The African American magazines are no exception either - they are both a source of information as well as entertainment with and inherent sense of belonging for the black community. This makes the African American magazine a constant source of inspiration globally for all communities to observe and replicate not for a sense of isolation but rather as a sense of belonging and as a sense of identity for segment of the people There are mixed feelings and divided opinions on the African American magazines with one school of thought being that with the inception of these magazines the blacks have segregated themselves from the rest of the community and it is akin to reverse discrimination. The other school of thought is the stronger lobby and of the opinion that this is a misconception considering that the black magazines are more of a need of the black community rather than a source of discrimination.



The Black Media Wonder

The power of the media can scarcely be undermined considering that using the modality of the black magazines the black community hopes to communicate black related issues through the black community. The communication at no point of time would go beyond to include the hate for other communities so the concept of reverse discrimination is a misconception. The real time situation being that the mainstream magazines do not cover African American issues - whether they are related to police brutality or even civil rights issues. These are best addressed using the power of the media - the black community magazine. It is ironical that the mainstream magazines limit the communication to all white issues at all times and this makes it imperative that the black community publishes all black magazines. It is injudicious to believe that the black community excludes the whites from the black magazines - rather it is only relative to the black community and civil rights issues. On the contrary it is the mainstream magazines, which exclude the blacks from all issues.

Synergising Diversity

The concept of having a all black magazine publication which discusses all black issues is more of a cultural issue rather than a racial one - for the black magazine discusses all black issues but invites all to comment or read the issues and bars none. To exemplify the concept - a Chinese restaurant serving an all-Chinese cuisine by a Chinese staff is scarcely racial - rather it is cultural. It is not without reason that the black magazines are supported by Corporate America - be it Coca Cola or Wal mart This further enhances what most communities know - that black magazines are an source of inspiration to the black community and not a phenomenon of racial discrimination or it would have scarcely found support in Corporate America even if the corporate world stands to make profit from the black magazines.

On the contrary there have been instances when the black magazine has been published in collaboration with the white community further exemplifying the peaceful co - existence between the two ethnically diverse communities with a mutual sense of respect and admiration. Commercially the need of the hour being a black magazine which would also advertise black businesses in addition to addressing black issues. The black businesses, which need to be addressed, are of the likes of - publishing and printing and there is more to the black magazine than just black issues.