(ThyBlackMan.com) Lately there has been a beautiful challenge on Facebook whereby people are posting the Ebony cover of the month and year they were born. There has been so many beautiful, and nostalgic, covers that the challenge has made so many happy. It’s one that I hope continues for quite some time because the images are positive. It reminded us of an Ebony that cared about black love, black family, black community, real black issues, black education, black entertainment, black pride and black excellence in many different endeavors. We can look back and see that we had publications for us and buy us that showed who we truly are. Though this challenge is wonderful it is very important to realize this Ebony no longer exist. It very well may be gone for good.
When we no longer own the publication we no longer own our stories now how we are portrayed. We can no longer trust the publication continue to showcase all the areas I previously mentioned. What we can hope for is that there is still some manner of a positive depiction via the writers. Then we realize the creative freedom of the writes 
may very well be stifled. It is hard to be a freelance writer in 2018, and for a living some writers may find themselves in a situation where they have to sell their pen to the devil to put food on the table. This is unfortunate because our people don’t fully understand just yet that Ebony as we know it is gone. Some have fallen into the drama/gossip abyss that has become Ebony.
It is no secret that Ebony is no longer black owned, and it currently cares nothing for its major reading bases. The publication now feeds divisiveness and lots of drama and the area most affected is relationships. How many articles are they going to publish pitting black men and women at each other’s throats? How many more outlandish relationship topics will we see that drive a wedge or make you feel like you are reading a situation off the Maury Povich, or Jerry Springer, show.
So now we have articles about a woman in a relationship for six months only to find out her boyfriend, with whom she has been intimate with, is her brother. We have many articles about the transgender woman that didn’t disclose her truth being attacked and the readers are pitted against themselves in the comment section. Before you say but these are issues we need to address…there is a difference between being messy, and informative about addressing matters that may be taboo in community.
The bottom line is the legacy we have known Ebony to have is what is under attack. If you take a moment to look at the covers from the past and the topics this is what disappeared. People are affected by what they see, hear, and definitely by what they read. Ebony is no longer in our hands and they have moved to an agenda that is deceptive and not geared towards our upliftment. What can we expect honestly? I will take the time to enjoy the black from the past in hopes that it will inspire new black publications that can uplift black community while attacking the issues we face in an informative manner.
Black love is a necessity. I take comfort is seeing comments that call Ebony our for these articles that attack our love and mean us no good. It’s sad that I have to say I would never by another magazine from Ebony while they continue on this path. So sad, but I’ve had enough.
Staff Writer; Christian Starr
May connect with this sister over at Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/christian.pierre.9809 and also Twitter; http://twitter.com/MrzZeta.
