Access Denied Equals Anger

by Leroy Moore

Audre Lorde once wrote that anger is full of energy and knowledge and if we don’t listen and speak this anger it’ll eat us alive. On September 21, 2000 small and independent media spoke their anger at the National Association of Broadcasters convention outside the Moscone Center of San Francisco. The question is, did NAB inside listen to the anger of the protesters outside the convention?

As a revolutionary poet and founder of Disability Advocates of Minorities Advocates (DAMO) I’ve had many experiences with being censored at cultural events, being blacklisted at mainstream radio stations and being called "too radical" by many local newspapers, liberal and conservative. So when I found out about the NAB protest I jumped at it- but with my eyes wide open.

Just like the Democratic and Republican conventions, the NAB convention had two sides. One side was what happened inside of the Moscone Center, while the other side was what was going on outside. I and my POOR News co-workers had the opportunity to check out both sides of the NAB convention. Approaching the protest outside I felt at home. There was a rainbow of people holding up powerful signs of their dislike of NAB and the lack of access to the media for poor, people of color and other minorities.