Public Enemy’s Chuck D used to say that rap music was “black people’s CNN” -- a medium for communicating news and ideas that couldn’t be expressed on mainstream television.
In Chicago, we have CAN-TV to fill that role. The city’s public access network is black people’s WTTW. If WTTW stands for “Wilmette Talks To Winnetka,” CAN-TV is the South Side talking to the West Side. Its schedule is dominated by preachers, dancers, musicians and activists who can’t even make the local news at 7 a.m. on Sunday morning. Among the shows: Can I Step With You?, Muhammad and Friends, The Jubilee Hour, Rainbow/PUSH Coalition Saturday Morning Forums, and Underground Railroad.
Now add Carol Moseley Braun to that schedule. Moseley Braun’s underfunded campaign has cut two TV ads, but can’t afford to air them on commercial television. So they’re running on CAN-TV.
In the first ad, Moseley Braun recites her resume, while supporter Danny Davis stands behind her: University of Chicago Law School graduate, Assistant U.S. Attorney, state legislator, first woman elected to countywide office, as Recorder of Deeds, U.S. Senator, Ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa.
“We’re going to bring black, white, brown back together again to make Chicago the best city it can be,” she says.
The second ad shows Moseley Braun meeting voters, while she speaks over a funk soundtrack.
Politics
“I love this city, I love the people, and I have the skill set and the experience to help put Chicago in the right direction, to prioritize the neighborhoods, to give people hope that we can have a city that is livable, where there’s public safety, where the children can walk to school in the neighborhoods the live in, where businesses are created in the neighborhoods and communities where people can have jobs. We can do these things with vision for the best Chicago can be.”
Carol Moseley Braun began her political career beneath the gaze of Big Media, writing “Springfield Report” columns for neighborhood papers like the Hyde Park Herald and the Daily Calumet. That’s where she’s ending it, too.
