Social media can be both “a gift and the curse,” said California-based Tonya McKenzie, the founder of her own PR communications firm, Sand & Shores Communications, since 2015.
Social media can be a place to bounce off ideas, to discuss and argue respectfully: “I like to engage in discourse. I like to hear what other people have to say, because it allows for us to know one another,” said McKenzie.
“I’m not going to agree with everything, but it opens us up to other ideas, possibilities and angles that we may have missed.”
We recently reached out to McKenzie after a series of her posts, which we edited for clarity and space:
Item — “Black athletes are 74% of the NBA and 58% of the NFL. So why are White pundits still dominating the commentary on our behavior, tone, and leadership?”
McKenzie pointed out, “In all honesty, they have not taken the time or done the work to understand Black culture enough for them to not be offended or afraid of what that looks like. I believe that they are still the default setting for authority in media.
White pundits are still the authority… They don’t live or understand [Black people]. The media outlet reaps the benefits – who’s going to stop them, right?
“It’s great for clicks,” she added.
Item — “94% of WNBA players have college degrees – the highest of any professional sport. So why does women’s sports coverage still sound like amateur hour?”
McKenzie reiterated the importance of informed sports folk, especially those regularly on television, radio, and all forms of mainstream media, when it comes to talking women’s sports, and especially Black females in sport.
“I think unfortunately a lot of objectivity has left sports media,” she continued. “It’s really about entertainment. It’s not being treated as journalistic or with some level of integrity.
“A lot of people that are covering women’s basketball right now never even played sports. They don’t know anything about Black women, which obviously dominate the sport, and they have never coached women,” reaffirmed McKenzie. “They don’t know how to talk to or about them.”
Black female athletes also have been the targets of hate in social media: “Social media is breeding ground for all types of evil,” McKenzie recently posted.
She later added, “It’s very demeaning and disgusting. I’m a public relations professional, so I always look at narrative. So, a lot of people try to demonize [second-year WNBAer] Angel Reese… People aren’t fact checking. They just let people tell them anything and run with it because it’s easier than thinking, than processing information, than validating [it].”
Item — “So why do Black coaches still get treated like hype men, not strategists?”
“[There is] underrepresentation in the newsroom, underrepresentation as media executives,” explained McKenzie. “There’s still a level of gatekeeping. There’s a fear of Black leadership, of Black people taking over and taking up too much space because they’re uncomfortable in it.”
McKenzie advocates for more Blacks in sports media. “We need more people in spaces that will educate, elevate and give back and continue to hold accountable those that are treating us badly,” she surmised.
“We need to teach people how to treat us… We need more people, and obviously in leadership.”
McKenzie regularly holds webinars for parents and teens who are active on social media, her latest scheduled for June 26. “I think we continuously have to build our own and amplify Black media,” she said.
Charles Hallman welcomes reader comments to challman@spokesman-recorder.com.
