On most days being a journalist in the United States is not nearly as dangerous as being a taxi driver. Outside the U.S. the killing of journalists – the killing of the messenger, if you will – is more commonplace.
Last week, for the first time in several decades, an American journalist was assassinated in the line of duty in Oakland, California. A masked gunman shot to death Chauncey Bailey, the editor of Oakland’s Black weekly newspaper, The Oakland Post. A 19-year-old member of a splinter Black Muslim group has confessed to the slaying. Hardly anyone believes he acted alone. [[The young man's group is not affiliated with the Nation of Islam.]]
West Coast media have paid attention to this. So has CNN. So has Farai Chidaya, host of National Public Radio’s daily program, News and Notes. Richard Prince, the online columnist has been all over this story (http://www.maynardije.org/columns/dickprince).
But where there should be outrage-tinged coverage among other media, there has been no coverage at all. When will Black + American yield equal treatment? When will Black life be as valued as that of Whites? Had a White editor been gunned down on an American city street, most likely because of a story on which he was working, wouldn’t that editor’s name – or at least the incident – be the subject of conversation and protest across this land?
Contact your local media and ask what’s going on.
Showing posts with label Race. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Race. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
I’m Cheering for Barry Bonds!
Even though this San Francisco Giants player is two home runs shy of tying the record set by Hank Aaron in 1974 and may do so during the current series against my beloved Atlanta Braves, I’m cheering for him to tie and break the record.
Probably because so many others – especially white people – are rooting against this man who lives by his own rules of media engagement. White sports journalists are not accustomed to this and have accentuated the negative. That has poisoned the history-making home run record chase for others.
I was disappointed Sunday by a commentary on CBS Sunday Morning by a journalist I ordinarily admire: Bob Schieffer. He said, among other things, “Barry Bonds is no hero. He is just a guy who hits home runs. Who would want a kid to be like him?”
See his full commentary at:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/07/22/opinion/schieffer/main3086258.shtml
A whole lot of white people hated the Braves’ Hammering Hank Aaron when he homed in on the previous record set by Babe Ruth. People then, as they are now with Bonds, sought ways to place an asterisk next to his record, questioning forever its legitimacy. Now he is the home run god and Bonds is the evil interloper. Because Aaron and a number of baseball’s bigwigs have said they won’t be present whenever Bonds ties or breaks the record, I’m cheering for this godson of the great Willie Mays all the more.
Go, Barry!
Probably because so many others – especially white people – are rooting against this man who lives by his own rules of media engagement. White sports journalists are not accustomed to this and have accentuated the negative. That has poisoned the history-making home run record chase for others.
I was disappointed Sunday by a commentary on CBS Sunday Morning by a journalist I ordinarily admire: Bob Schieffer. He said, among other things, “Barry Bonds is no hero. He is just a guy who hits home runs. Who would want a kid to be like him?”
See his full commentary at:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/07/22/opinion/schieffer/main3086258.shtml
A whole lot of white people hated the Braves’ Hammering Hank Aaron when he homed in on the previous record set by Babe Ruth. People then, as they are now with Bonds, sought ways to place an asterisk next to his record, questioning forever its legitimacy. Now he is the home run god and Bonds is the evil interloper. Because Aaron and a number of baseball’s bigwigs have said they won’t be present whenever Bonds ties or breaks the record, I’m cheering for this godson of the great Willie Mays all the more.
Go, Barry!
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Genarlow Wilson Needs Your Help
If you aren’t familiar with the name, check out my piece at BET.com, under “news.” The long way to find the piece is to use this link:
http://www.bet.com/NR/exeres/4927A8FA-C78B-4A7F-BA42-580C489DAD91.htm?
Wilson behaved rather irresponsibly when he was 17 and, at a raucous party in 2003, had oral sex with a 15-year-old girl. No one – not even the girl’s mother – denies that the sex was consensual. But under a law then in effect in Georgia, Wilson was charged with child molestation and was ultimately sentenced to a mandatory 10-year prison term in 2005. If he did the same thing today, the maximum sentence he would face is a year in jail. Even though the law changed last year, it does not cover him.
Of course, something CAN be done about that if enough people pressure the right people. These include:
Attorney General Thurbert E. Baker, Office of the Attorney General, 40 Capitol Square SW, Atlanta, Ga. 30334. Phone: 404-656-3300. Fax: 404-657-8733.
Douglas County District Attorney David McDade
dmcdade@co.douglas.ga.us
Phone: 770-920-7292
According to the Rev. Raphael Warnock of Atlanta’s historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, various officials say they are afraid that freeing Wilson – though it’s the right thing in his case – would “open the floodgates” and lead to chaos in the criminal justice system because other sex offenders would demand reconsideration of their cases. But, Warnock notes, of the roughly 1,300 sex offenders behind bars in Georgia, only seven involve people who were minors when prosecuted and not all of those seven were involved in consensual sexual acts.
“It just boils down to basic politics,” Warnock said of the officials hiding behind the old law and passing the buck – while Wilson remains in prison with an uncertain future.
http://www.bet.com/NR/exeres/4927A8FA-C78B-4A7F-BA42-580C489DAD91.htm?
Wilson behaved rather irresponsibly when he was 17 and, at a raucous party in 2003, had oral sex with a 15-year-old girl. No one – not even the girl’s mother – denies that the sex was consensual. But under a law then in effect in Georgia, Wilson was charged with child molestation and was ultimately sentenced to a mandatory 10-year prison term in 2005. If he did the same thing today, the maximum sentence he would face is a year in jail. Even though the law changed last year, it does not cover him.
Of course, something CAN be done about that if enough people pressure the right people. These include:
Attorney General Thurbert E. Baker, Office of the Attorney General, 40 Capitol Square SW, Atlanta, Ga. 30334. Phone: 404-656-3300. Fax: 404-657-8733.
Douglas County District Attorney David McDade
dmcdade@co.douglas.ga.us
Phone: 770-920-7292
According to the Rev. Raphael Warnock of Atlanta’s historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, various officials say they are afraid that freeing Wilson – though it’s the right thing in his case – would “open the floodgates” and lead to chaos in the criminal justice system because other sex offenders would demand reconsideration of their cases. But, Warnock notes, of the roughly 1,300 sex offenders behind bars in Georgia, only seven involve people who were minors when prosecuted and not all of those seven were involved in consensual sexual acts.
“It just boils down to basic politics,” Warnock said of the officials hiding behind the old law and passing the buck – while Wilson remains in prison with an uncertain future.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Urbanworld/VIBE Film Festival
You no doubt know about Sundance and maybe about Tribeca, but if you really care about Black images on the big and small screens, then you should find a way to support this effort, now in its 11th year.
There’s still time this weekend to check out some wonderfully engaging and thought-provoking film at the AMC 34th Street Theater (312 W. 34th St., between 8th and 9th Avenues in Manhattan). In my circles people are constantly complaining about the depiction of Blacks or the absence of Blacks on the screen. This festival showcases independent film that covers the range from serious to silly. Many of the films are about Blacks, but there are also films that cover others on the edges of recognition in this urban environment.
The website for learning about the schedule is: www.urbanworld.org. Some of the board members of the sponsoring organizations are Samuel L. Jackson, Danny Glover, Rosie Perez and Debbie Allen.
Beyond the festival, look for the films. Demand the films!
Here are descriptions of two:
DIVIDED WE FALL
Driven to action by the murder of a turbaned man in her community, a college student drives across America in the aftermath of 9/11 to discover stories that did not make the evening news. From the still-shocked streets of Ground Zero to the desert towns of the American West, Valarie Kaur’s inspiring journey uncovers remarkable stories of hate, violence, fear, and unspeakable loss – until she finds the heart of America halfway around the world.
761st
The 761st Tank Battalion became the first African-American armored unit to fight in WWII. Requested by General George S. Patton, they assisted in heavy combat during the famous Battle of the Bulge. Despite this, they faced racism at home and death overseas, fighting a war for many freedoms they did not enjoy back home in America. This is their story.
There’s still time this weekend to check out some wonderfully engaging and thought-provoking film at the AMC 34th Street Theater (312 W. 34th St., between 8th and 9th Avenues in Manhattan). In my circles people are constantly complaining about the depiction of Blacks or the absence of Blacks on the screen. This festival showcases independent film that covers the range from serious to silly. Many of the films are about Blacks, but there are also films that cover others on the edges of recognition in this urban environment.
The website for learning about the schedule is: www.urbanworld.org. Some of the board members of the sponsoring organizations are Samuel L. Jackson, Danny Glover, Rosie Perez and Debbie Allen.
Beyond the festival, look for the films. Demand the films!
Here are descriptions of two:
DIVIDED WE FALL
Driven to action by the murder of a turbaned man in her community, a college student drives across America in the aftermath of 9/11 to discover stories that did not make the evening news. From the still-shocked streets of Ground Zero to the desert towns of the American West, Valarie Kaur’s inspiring journey uncovers remarkable stories of hate, violence, fear, and unspeakable loss – until she finds the heart of America halfway around the world.
761st
The 761st Tank Battalion became the first African-American armored unit to fight in WWII. Requested by General George S. Patton, they assisted in heavy combat during the famous Battle of the Bulge. Despite this, they faced racism at home and death overseas, fighting a war for many freedoms they did not enjoy back home in America. This is their story.
AL SHARPTON’S STRATEGY
For everyone who wonders why Al Sharpton is in the public eye as a Black civil rights Superman when so many others are accomplishing so much more in a less flamboyant way, I recommend reading an online article in City Hall (www.cityhallnews.com) by Edward-Isaac Dovere.
A couple of snippets:
“Cynics say, ‘He plays the media,’” Sharpton said. “But if I play the media toward the end goal, that’s saying I’m competent.”
------------------------------------------
Sen. Hillary Clinton and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama are among those doing the math. Both want his presidential endorsement, and Sharpton has been making them wait. Both could benefit enormously in public perception from the reverend’s backing—Clinton by cementing the foothold in the African-American community her husband enjoyed in his own presidential runs, Obama by using it to help dispel a disconnect some prominent African-Americans have described feeling toward him. Both have made very strong appeals.
One thing many assume is weighing on Sharpton’s mind is jealousy of Obama, a worry that the Illinois senator’s ascendancy might mean that Sharpton gets eclipsed on the national political scene.
Sharpton dismisses this notion.
“We’re both athletes,” he said. “I box, he plays baseball. I mean, it’s different parts. It’s crazy.”
----------------------------------------------
[ I kind of get his point. Scary!!! Actually, as anyone who knows Obama knows, he plays BASKETBALL!!]
A couple of snippets:
“Cynics say, ‘He plays the media,’” Sharpton said. “But if I play the media toward the end goal, that’s saying I’m competent.”
------------------------------------------
Sen. Hillary Clinton and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama are among those doing the math. Both want his presidential endorsement, and Sharpton has been making them wait. Both could benefit enormously in public perception from the reverend’s backing—Clinton by cementing the foothold in the African-American community her husband enjoyed in his own presidential runs, Obama by using it to help dispel a disconnect some prominent African-Americans have described feeling toward him. Both have made very strong appeals.
One thing many assume is weighing on Sharpton’s mind is jealousy of Obama, a worry that the Illinois senator’s ascendancy might mean that Sharpton gets eclipsed on the national political scene.
Sharpton dismisses this notion.
“We’re both athletes,” he said. “I box, he plays baseball. I mean, it’s different parts. It’s crazy.”
----------------------------------------------
[ I kind of get his point. Scary!!! Actually, as anyone who knows Obama knows, he plays BASKETBALL!!]
Monday, April 23, 2007
Disparaging Blackfolks in the Language of Your Choice
Why do so many people feel so free to dehumanize Black people and use racial slurs to promote their own aims? Why does this come so trippingly off the tongue – whether in Germany or China or the United States?
In Canada recently, a Black family purchased a brown leather sofa. Upon its delivery, the 7-year-old inquisitive girl in the family noticed that its color was described as “nigger brown.” Who can make up this stuff? Read the story that ran in the Toronto Star and that is now making its way around cyberspace:
Racial Slur on Sofa Label Stuns Family
http://www.thestar.com/Article/200265
This comes not long after the revelation that a German military training film was told conscripts to imagine that they were shooting Blacks in the Bronx. This is how the Associated Press reported the incident:
“The clip shows an instructor and a soldier in camouflage uniforms in a forest. The instructor tells the soldier, “You are in the Bronx. A black van is stopping in front of you. Three African-Americans are getting out and they are insulting your mother in the worst ways. ... Act.” The soldier fires his machine gun several times and yells an obscenity several times in English. The instructor then tells the soldier to curse even louder.”
Why do we permit ourselves to be such easy targets of racial stereotypes that even an over-the-hill radio jock can casually label a dignified and disciplined team of women basketballers, most of them Black, “nappy-headed hos”?
Whenever people say that if Black people can use such language and convey such attitude a la mode then why can’t people who are not Black, then make it clear that not all Black people permit this. As I said in a discussion at a Society of Professional Journalists meeting a week ago, some people find use of such historically demeaning terms “liberating,” but with me the only thing liberating about such usage in my presence is the liberating of my fist upside someone’s head when they even dare to call me the N word or even a “nappy-headed ho.” Not that I mind the acknowledgment that I wear my hair in the natural style, but that I don’t condone that plus the implication of promiscuity as a default definition of Black womanhood.
Nor do I tolerate hearing kids in my Harlem neighborhood who are not African American casually calling each other “nigger.”
In a recent trial in New York, a defendant – a white guy who’d grown up around Blacks and Latinos – argued that his use of the N word while walloping a Black guy was not indication of a hate crime. He had pronounced the word as “nigga” – a hip hop version of “my brother” or “my friend” or whatever. If he had used “nigger,” then that would have been the measure of racial contempt.
Pity the fool!
But didn’t too many of us open the door to such thinking? This is now global when even someone who can barely speak English and knows nothing of African-American history can feel as free as a Klansman to treat us as scum of the earth.
Back in Canada, the father of the 7-year-old, “explained the origins of the word to daughter Olivia, telling how it was a bad name that blacks were called during the days of slavery in the United States.”
We’d all be so lucky if use of that word had ended in 1865!
In Canada recently, a Black family purchased a brown leather sofa. Upon its delivery, the 7-year-old inquisitive girl in the family noticed that its color was described as “nigger brown.” Who can make up this stuff? Read the story that ran in the Toronto Star and that is now making its way around cyberspace:
Racial Slur on Sofa Label Stuns Family
http://www.thestar.com/Article/200265
This comes not long after the revelation that a German military training film was told conscripts to imagine that they were shooting Blacks in the Bronx. This is how the Associated Press reported the incident:
“The clip shows an instructor and a soldier in camouflage uniforms in a forest. The instructor tells the soldier, “You are in the Bronx. A black van is stopping in front of you. Three African-Americans are getting out and they are insulting your mother in the worst ways. ... Act.” The soldier fires his machine gun several times and yells an obscenity several times in English. The instructor then tells the soldier to curse even louder.”
Why do we permit ourselves to be such easy targets of racial stereotypes that even an over-the-hill radio jock can casually label a dignified and disciplined team of women basketballers, most of them Black, “nappy-headed hos”?
Whenever people say that if Black people can use such language and convey such attitude a la mode then why can’t people who are not Black, then make it clear that not all Black people permit this. As I said in a discussion at a Society of Professional Journalists meeting a week ago, some people find use of such historically demeaning terms “liberating,” but with me the only thing liberating about such usage in my presence is the liberating of my fist upside someone’s head when they even dare to call me the N word or even a “nappy-headed ho.” Not that I mind the acknowledgment that I wear my hair in the natural style, but that I don’t condone that plus the implication of promiscuity as a default definition of Black womanhood.
Nor do I tolerate hearing kids in my Harlem neighborhood who are not African American casually calling each other “nigger.”
In a recent trial in New York, a defendant – a white guy who’d grown up around Blacks and Latinos – argued that his use of the N word while walloping a Black guy was not indication of a hate crime. He had pronounced the word as “nigga” – a hip hop version of “my brother” or “my friend” or whatever. If he had used “nigger,” then that would have been the measure of racial contempt.
Pity the fool!
But didn’t too many of us open the door to such thinking? This is now global when even someone who can barely speak English and knows nothing of African-American history can feel as free as a Klansman to treat us as scum of the earth.
Back in Canada, the father of the 7-year-old, “explained the origins of the word to daughter Olivia, telling how it was a bad name that blacks were called during the days of slavery in the United States.”
We’d all be so lucky if use of that word had ended in 1865!
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Let's Stop This Vicarious Guilt
I read that some Korean Americans are afraid that they will somehow all be tarred with what Seung-Hui Cho did at Virginia Tech earlier this week. One woman said that upon hearing the killer of 32 students and faculty members was Asian, she said something like, "Please don't let him be Korean!"
I know that prayer. I've said it any number of times when something horrendous happens. "Please don't let him [or her] be Black!" I've said.
But I've come to realize that I'm not responsible for evil acts of other Black folks. I feel no racial guilt that a Black man named
Robert Williams apparently raped, tortured and tried to kill a Columbia University student who lives in my neighborhood in Harlem. If all that's been reported about him so far is true, this con is scum. This is how The New York Times reports what the NYPD Police Commissioner has said of what happened after this man forced his way into the student's apartment:
"Over the next 19 hours, [Commissioner Ray] Kelly said, the man tied the woman to her bed with computer cables and taped her mouth closed, raped and sodomized her repeatedly, burned her with hot water and bleach, slit her eyelids with scissors, and force-fed her an overdose of ibuprofen or a similar pain reliever.
"At one point last Saturday afternoon, Mr. Kelly said, the assailant took the woman’s A.T.M. card, withdrew $200 at a bodega on West 141st Street and returned to her apartment. A few hours later, he set fire to the woman’s futon and left her, unconscious, to die, Mr. Kelly said. She woke up to the smell of smoke, used the flames to melt the cable that bound her to the bed frame, and escaped, Mr. Kelly said."
Those of Korean ancestry -- whether citizens or legal residents or visitors -- need feel no special guilt about Cho. Nor should misguided avengers hold them accountable.
But all of US should empathize with Cho's family. Sun-Kyung Cho, his sister and a State Department contractor, said on behalf of the family: "We are humbled by this darkness. We feel hopeless, helpless and lost. This is someone that I grew up with and loved. Now I feel like I didn't know this person. We have always been a close, peaceful and loving family. My brother was quiet and reserved, yet struggled to fit in. We never could have envisioned that he was capable of so much violence."
I know that prayer. I've said it any number of times when something horrendous happens. "Please don't let him [or her] be Black!" I've said.
But I've come to realize that I'm not responsible for evil acts of other Black folks. I feel no racial guilt that a Black man named
Robert Williams apparently raped, tortured and tried to kill a Columbia University student who lives in my neighborhood in Harlem. If all that's been reported about him so far is true, this con is scum. This is how The New York Times reports what the NYPD Police Commissioner has said of what happened after this man forced his way into the student's apartment:
"Over the next 19 hours, [Commissioner Ray] Kelly said, the man tied the woman to her bed with computer cables and taped her mouth closed, raped and sodomized her repeatedly, burned her with hot water and bleach, slit her eyelids with scissors, and force-fed her an overdose of ibuprofen or a similar pain reliever.
"At one point last Saturday afternoon, Mr. Kelly said, the assailant took the woman’s A.T.M. card, withdrew $200 at a bodega on West 141st Street and returned to her apartment. A few hours later, he set fire to the woman’s futon and left her, unconscious, to die, Mr. Kelly said. She woke up to the smell of smoke, used the flames to melt the cable that bound her to the bed frame, and escaped, Mr. Kelly said."
Those of Korean ancestry -- whether citizens or legal residents or visitors -- need feel no special guilt about Cho. Nor should misguided avengers hold them accountable.
But all of US should empathize with Cho's family. Sun-Kyung Cho, his sister and a State Department contractor, said on behalf of the family: "We are humbled by this darkness. We feel hopeless, helpless and lost. This is someone that I grew up with and loved. Now I feel like I didn't know this person. We have always been a close, peaceful and loving family. My brother was quiet and reserved, yet struggled to fit in. We never could have envisioned that he was capable of so much violence."
Sunday, April 15, 2007
I'm Happy to Be Nappy
In the US -- as well as elsewhere in the African Diaspora -- Blacks have internalized the White racist notions of worthiness that have been part and parcel of this society since at least the 17th century.
Over time, we've learned that the closer you came to the White measure of normality and beauty, the more worthy you were for acceptance into some parts of mainstream society -- whether as field slave or house slave, mistress or butler or even leader of the Black race. Good hair. High yellow skin color. Proper manners. In elementary school I had big fights with girls who seemed to get a pass because they were the teachers' pets based on such characteristics while, I, an unmistakably nappy-haired brown-skinned girl had to work for everything I sometimes begrudgingly earned from some of those teachers.
When Imus thought he was being funny by characterizing a dignified group of college students as "nappy-headed ho's", he had no idea into what he was tapping. Nor did his core audience, I'm sure. Even this weekend, some of the elites who appeared on his show to talk about politics or their new books, say they never tuned in to the program long enough to know what he was all about. But he obviously counted on his core audience to know what he was about and to yuk it up with him. He miscalulated this time -- and, maybe, as a nation we will be the better for that.
"I did a bad thing, but I'm a good person," Imus keeps telling himself -- and all of US. Maybe he inadvertently did a good thing.
Now White people know that while Black people like me who long ago rejected the perm and are happy to be nappy, there are many others who are struggling with their identity within a US culture that uses terms like "all American" or "girl next door" when the images are of blonde White women -- most of whom are skinny to boot! Whether it is a reflection of liberation or denial, some Black women are now sporting blonde do's. And while ads are more cosmetically subtle than those in the 1950s that pushed bleaching creams for Blacks who wanted to lighten their skin, there is a market for such products even today.
The pain and complexity involved in "nappiness" may have been foreign to many in Imus's audience. BUT, it was the reference to these All-American young women, disciplined scholar-athletes who came close to winning a national championshp after exceeding all pre-season expectations that made it possible for ALL Americans, especially Whites in corporate America, to understand that Imus's version of humor is really cruelty that perpetuates stereotypes and demeans their own daughters. So many television executives and advertisers noted that they were the fathers of daughters!
Now they need to use that heightened sensitivity to take a next step: Pull out of the corporate support for the worst of rap music and rap videos that depict females as sex objects, liberally using the B-word and the H-word while showing young women shaking their booties. Corporate America -- including some entities that yanked their support for Imus In The Morning -- is making huge money from this.
I'll take it as a sign that the US is finally getting it, when corporate America -- led by all those fathers with daughters -- pulls its money from where its sensitivity now dictates and when mainstream media like NBC and Fox and CNN devote as much attention to those who among Black folks have been crusading against the hip-hop filth for at least two decades as they have devoted to asking if Imus is the victim of a double standard.
Over time, we've learned that the closer you came to the White measure of normality and beauty, the more worthy you were for acceptance into some parts of mainstream society -- whether as field slave or house slave, mistress or butler or even leader of the Black race. Good hair. High yellow skin color. Proper manners. In elementary school I had big fights with girls who seemed to get a pass because they were the teachers' pets based on such characteristics while, I, an unmistakably nappy-haired brown-skinned girl had to work for everything I sometimes begrudgingly earned from some of those teachers.
When Imus thought he was being funny by characterizing a dignified group of college students as "nappy-headed ho's", he had no idea into what he was tapping. Nor did his core audience, I'm sure. Even this weekend, some of the elites who appeared on his show to talk about politics or their new books, say they never tuned in to the program long enough to know what he was all about. But he obviously counted on his core audience to know what he was about and to yuk it up with him. He miscalulated this time -- and, maybe, as a nation we will be the better for that.
"I did a bad thing, but I'm a good person," Imus keeps telling himself -- and all of US. Maybe he inadvertently did a good thing.
Now White people know that while Black people like me who long ago rejected the perm and are happy to be nappy, there are many others who are struggling with their identity within a US culture that uses terms like "all American" or "girl next door" when the images are of blonde White women -- most of whom are skinny to boot! Whether it is a reflection of liberation or denial, some Black women are now sporting blonde do's. And while ads are more cosmetically subtle than those in the 1950s that pushed bleaching creams for Blacks who wanted to lighten their skin, there is a market for such products even today.
The pain and complexity involved in "nappiness" may have been foreign to many in Imus's audience. BUT, it was the reference to these All-American young women, disciplined scholar-athletes who came close to winning a national championshp after exceeding all pre-season expectations that made it possible for ALL Americans, especially Whites in corporate America, to understand that Imus's version of humor is really cruelty that perpetuates stereotypes and demeans their own daughters. So many television executives and advertisers noted that they were the fathers of daughters!
Now they need to use that heightened sensitivity to take a next step: Pull out of the corporate support for the worst of rap music and rap videos that depict females as sex objects, liberally using the B-word and the H-word while showing young women shaking their booties. Corporate America -- including some entities that yanked their support for Imus In The Morning -- is making huge money from this.
I'll take it as a sign that the US is finally getting it, when corporate America -- led by all those fathers with daughters -- pulls its money from where its sensitivity now dictates and when mainstream media like NBC and Fox and CNN devote as much attention to those who among Black folks have been crusading against the hip-hop filth for at least two decades as they have devoted to asking if Imus is the victim of a double standard.
April 15: When All Hell Broke Loose….
...not just in baseball (See Red Barber's book by this name), but in US society. Sixty years ago, April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson became the first Black man to play in baseball’s Major League in the modern era. We have to add that “in the modern era” because long before the 20th century, Blacks played professional baseball with White folks, just as Blacks were jockeys in the big-time racing circuits.
He was 28 years old. When he died at age 53, many people said that baseball and the stress of being the first, of being abused initially by not only fans and opposing team players but by his own teammates, of having to ever be the gentleman and not strike back, cut his life short.
Jackie Robinson, No. 42 for the Brooklyn Dodgers, forced the US to deal with its racism. To this day many older Blacks are fans of the Dodgers (now the Los Angeles Dodgers) because of Jackie Robinson.
In honor of his accomplishments on the field, many Major League Baseball players and coachs -- and the NY Mets' manager Willie Randolph -- will wear No. 42 today (Apr. 15).
But to really appreciate Robinson, one must know about the man off the field, the man who challenged the status quo in a segregated Army prior to his baseball career and challenged the economic status quo after his baseball career by helping found a bank for Black people in the 1960s. He was a prominent participant in the 1963 March on Washington. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Robinson to bring yourself up to speed on Robinson if he’s not in your pantheon of people to be admired and whose spirit and courage are worth emulating.
He was 28 years old. When he died at age 53, many people said that baseball and the stress of being the first, of being abused initially by not only fans and opposing team players but by his own teammates, of having to ever be the gentleman and not strike back, cut his life short.
Jackie Robinson, No. 42 for the Brooklyn Dodgers, forced the US to deal with its racism. To this day many older Blacks are fans of the Dodgers (now the Los Angeles Dodgers) because of Jackie Robinson.
In honor of his accomplishments on the field, many Major League Baseball players and coachs -- and the NY Mets' manager Willie Randolph -- will wear No. 42 today (Apr. 15).
But to really appreciate Robinson, one must know about the man off the field, the man who challenged the status quo in a segregated Army prior to his baseball career and challenged the economic status quo after his baseball career by helping found a bank for Black people in the 1960s. He was a prominent participant in the 1963 March on Washington. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Robinson to bring yourself up to speed on Robinson if he’s not in your pantheon of people to be admired and whose spirit and courage are worth emulating.
Friday, April 13, 2007
The Imus Mess
I
IMUS was never a must for me
Imus is going down – at least on MSNBC on television and CBS on radio and with major advertisers and with politicians and journalists and other celebrities who’ve lent credibility to his show so many years.
I’ve never listened to or watched Imus or any other shock jock. Just as I refused to watch a sitcom that famously billed itself as a show about nothing (Seinfeld), I’ve refused to participate in the shock jock cult. There’s too much to be shocked about in the real world to support repugnant, outrageous, insulting commentary as entertainment, often at the expense of the underdog.
Why Imus and his producer felt the need to denigrate 10 young women who had overcome great odds to reach the final game in the NCAA basketball championship is beyond understanding. These young women, ages 18 to 20, were not “nappy headed” (Most seem to have perms, for god’s sake!). And there is absolutely nothing to indicate that these very disciplined, very academically sound young women are “whores”. (Definitions: “a prostitute; a person considered sexually promiscuous; a person considered as having compromised principles for personal gain”)
Hmmm. That last definition sounds more like Imus than the Rutgers team.
II
Where are White women?
Imus did not just insult Blacks, but also women. Quickly this became an Imus versus “the Black community” conflict. The sexism in his no-infamous line has pretty much been ignored except by a handful of Black women. And so I ask again: Where are White women?
III
There is power in protest
If anything, this fallout from Imus’s on-air idiocy has demonstrated the power of speaking out and of making economic demands that can influence social policy. It was one thing for the Rev. Al Sharpton to use his various bully pulpits to speak out; this went to a whole new level when major advertisers listened and decided to withdraw their support for Imus’s show.
Vote with your hands. Change the dial. Don’t listen to the Imuses of the airwaves. But if the other Imuses out there say something as despicable as he did, don’t fear to use the power of the purse. Encourage advertisers to withdraw their support.
I’m encouraged by this mobilization of this particular coalition of the willing. Now it needs to carry on to assault those aspects of hip-hop culture that have usurped that culture and turned it into something that makes an Imus comfortable with referring to Black women as whores. There are big corporate bucks out there behind this aspect of hip-hop. Let’s go after them.
IV
Post-embarrassment “therapy”
Imus didn’t rush into therapy for alcoholism or temporary mental illness or whatever the way other celebrities have done after getting caught with their inner-hatred unleashed and facing the loss of income.
But that 2 ½ hours at the New Jersey Governor’s Mansion with the Rutgers team and its coaches must have been more intense than anything Isaiah Washington or Mel Gibson experienced during their rush-to-therapy after expressions of homophobia (Washington of television’s Grey’s Anatomy) and anti-Semitism (Gibson, the actor, director and producer) or racism (Michael Richards, the comic most famous as a character on Seinfeld).
V
Once again Sen. McCain called it wrong
As various Imus regulars – politicians, journalists, etcetera – announced their intent to boycott Imus’s show, McCain said he accepted Imus’s apologies and would gladly return to Imus In the Morning.
He can’t get it right. Just a few days ago, after visiting a market in Baghdad surrounded by about 100 heavily-armed soldiers and with military helicopters hovering overhead and sharpshooters positioned on rooftops, he came back espousing the Bush administration party line: The streets are much safer in Baghdad these days; the war is being won.
And then he had to admit, after public humiliation by not just US bloggers but also by Iraqi civilians who know otherwise, that he’d been wearing rose-colored glasses and had “misspoke.”
Is this man ready for his closeup as a viable presidential candidate?
IMUS was never a must for me
Imus is going down – at least on MSNBC on television and CBS on radio and with major advertisers and with politicians and journalists and other celebrities who’ve lent credibility to his show so many years.
I’ve never listened to or watched Imus or any other shock jock. Just as I refused to watch a sitcom that famously billed itself as a show about nothing (Seinfeld), I’ve refused to participate in the shock jock cult. There’s too much to be shocked about in the real world to support repugnant, outrageous, insulting commentary as entertainment, often at the expense of the underdog.
Why Imus and his producer felt the need to denigrate 10 young women who had overcome great odds to reach the final game in the NCAA basketball championship is beyond understanding. These young women, ages 18 to 20, were not “nappy headed” (Most seem to have perms, for god’s sake!). And there is absolutely nothing to indicate that these very disciplined, very academically sound young women are “whores”. (Definitions: “a prostitute; a person considered sexually promiscuous; a person considered as having compromised principles for personal gain”)
Hmmm. That last definition sounds more like Imus than the Rutgers team.
II
Where are White women?
Imus did not just insult Blacks, but also women. Quickly this became an Imus versus “the Black community” conflict. The sexism in his no-infamous line has pretty much been ignored except by a handful of Black women. And so I ask again: Where are White women?
III
There is power in protest
If anything, this fallout from Imus’s on-air idiocy has demonstrated the power of speaking out and of making economic demands that can influence social policy. It was one thing for the Rev. Al Sharpton to use his various bully pulpits to speak out; this went to a whole new level when major advertisers listened and decided to withdraw their support for Imus’s show.
Vote with your hands. Change the dial. Don’t listen to the Imuses of the airwaves. But if the other Imuses out there say something as despicable as he did, don’t fear to use the power of the purse. Encourage advertisers to withdraw their support.
I’m encouraged by this mobilization of this particular coalition of the willing. Now it needs to carry on to assault those aspects of hip-hop culture that have usurped that culture and turned it into something that makes an Imus comfortable with referring to Black women as whores. There are big corporate bucks out there behind this aspect of hip-hop. Let’s go after them.
IV
Post-embarrassment “therapy”
Imus didn’t rush into therapy for alcoholism or temporary mental illness or whatever the way other celebrities have done after getting caught with their inner-hatred unleashed and facing the loss of income.
But that 2 ½ hours at the New Jersey Governor’s Mansion with the Rutgers team and its coaches must have been more intense than anything Isaiah Washington or Mel Gibson experienced during their rush-to-therapy after expressions of homophobia (Washington of television’s Grey’s Anatomy) and anti-Semitism (Gibson, the actor, director and producer) or racism (Michael Richards, the comic most famous as a character on Seinfeld).
V
Once again Sen. McCain called it wrong
As various Imus regulars – politicians, journalists, etcetera – announced their intent to boycott Imus’s show, McCain said he accepted Imus’s apologies and would gladly return to Imus In the Morning.
He can’t get it right. Just a few days ago, after visiting a market in Baghdad surrounded by about 100 heavily-armed soldiers and with military helicopters hovering overhead and sharpshooters positioned on rooftops, he came back espousing the Bush administration party line: The streets are much safer in Baghdad these days; the war is being won.
And then he had to admit, after public humiliation by not just US bloggers but also by Iraqi civilians who know otherwise, that he’d been wearing rose-colored glasses and had “misspoke.”
Is this man ready for his closeup as a viable presidential candidate?
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Coach Eddie Robinson Dies
I trust that you've heard of Eddie Robinson, the legendary and long-lived coach at Grambling University. If not, make yourself aware. The Associated Press has reported that he died at age 88 last night.
More from its report:
"Super Bowl MVP quarterback Doug Williams, one of Robinson's former players, said the former Grambling State University coach died about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday. Robinson had been admitted to Lincoln General Hospital on Tuesday afternoon.
"Robinson had been suffering from Alzheimer's, which was diagnosed shortly after he was forced to retire following the 1997 season, in which he won only three games. His health had been declining for years, and he had been in and out of a nursing home during the last year.
"In his 57 years in football, Robinson set the standard for victories with a 408-165-15 record. John Gagliardi of St. John's, Minn., passed Robinson in 2003 and has 443 wins.
"Robinson's teams had only eight losing seasons and won 17 Southwestern Athletic Conference titles and nine national black college championships.
"He sent more than 200 players to the NFL, including seven first-round draft choices.
"It was a career that spanned 11 presidents, several wars and the civil-rights movement. His den was packed with trophies, representing virtually every award a coach can win. He was inducted into every hall of fame for which he was eligible."
Thanks, Coach. Rest in peace.
More from its report:
"Super Bowl MVP quarterback Doug Williams, one of Robinson's former players, said the former Grambling State University coach died about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday. Robinson had been admitted to Lincoln General Hospital on Tuesday afternoon.
"Robinson had been suffering from Alzheimer's, which was diagnosed shortly after he was forced to retire following the 1997 season, in which he won only three games. His health had been declining for years, and he had been in and out of a nursing home during the last year.
"In his 57 years in football, Robinson set the standard for victories with a 408-165-15 record. John Gagliardi of St. John's, Minn., passed Robinson in 2003 and has 443 wins.
"Robinson's teams had only eight losing seasons and won 17 Southwestern Athletic Conference titles and nine national black college championships.
"He sent more than 200 players to the NFL, including seven first-round draft choices.
"It was a career that spanned 11 presidents, several wars and the civil-rights movement. His den was packed with trophies, representing virtually every award a coach can win. He was inducted into every hall of fame for which he was eligible."
Thanks, Coach. Rest in peace.
Martin Luther King Jr.:A Sobering Anniversary
Today marks the 39th anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis while supporting the efforts of sanitation workers to achieve dignity and better working conditions. He has been dead as long as he was alive. 39 years.
In that relatively short, Jesus-like lifespan, he accomplished so much. From the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to the Voting Rights Act of 1965, he was there in the lead of a nonviolent army. He reluctantly took on the role of public leadership of the Montgomery bus boycott triggered by the arrest of Rosa Parks in 1955; he so eloquently expressed his -- and Black America's -- dream in August 1963; he just as eloquently, but not so well publicized, expressed the nightmare that was reality after four young girls were killed in the terroristic bombing of a Birmingham church later in 1963. King connected the dots between a fall-off in federal budgetary support for President Johnson's War on Poverty and his escalation of the war in Vietnam. What a parallel to what we are experiencing now, as the US pours billions into Iraq, pallets of which have disappeared, unaccounted for, but can't get its act together on resurrecting Gulf communities this long after Hurricane Katrina!
King's works and his philosophy, his challenges and his courage should be on our minds every day as we vow to do our very best to make this a better world.
In that relatively short, Jesus-like lifespan, he accomplished so much. From the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to the Voting Rights Act of 1965, he was there in the lead of a nonviolent army. He reluctantly took on the role of public leadership of the Montgomery bus boycott triggered by the arrest of Rosa Parks in 1955; he so eloquently expressed his -- and Black America's -- dream in August 1963; he just as eloquently, but not so well publicized, expressed the nightmare that was reality after four young girls were killed in the terroristic bombing of a Birmingham church later in 1963. King connected the dots between a fall-off in federal budgetary support for President Johnson's War on Poverty and his escalation of the war in Vietnam. What a parallel to what we are experiencing now, as the US pours billions into Iraq, pallets of which have disappeared, unaccounted for, but can't get its act together on resurrecting Gulf communities this long after Hurricane Katrina!
King's works and his philosophy, his challenges and his courage should be on our minds every day as we vow to do our very best to make this a better world.
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Honors for First Black TopGuns from WWII
For a younger generation, the name Tuskegee may not mean all that much. But for people at least my age – 51 – it stands for much. It is the Alabama town where Booker T. Washington founded a school now known as Tuskegee University. It is where the federal government shamelessly abused Black men in an experiment observing the effects of syphilis while withholding medical care.
But it is also where a unit of young Black airmen formed what became known as The Tuskegee Airmen. That President Roosevelt (with the prodding of Eleanor Roosevelt among others) permitted the airmen to be trained to fight in World War II was itself a milestone, but the record amassed by those fighter pilots and their support team was even more historic.
At long last, they are receiving their due – those who are still alive, that is. Each day, as with all WWII vets, their numbers decline. But a few days ago 300 of them and their family members – coming from New York, Missouri, Michigan, North Carolina, Iowa, Ohio, Maine, Georgia and Florida, among others states – were honored at the US Capitol with the rarely given Congressional Gold Medal.
"To my heroes, so many of you have said thank you," Rep. Charles Rangel told them during a ceremony that included Congressional leaders and President Bush. "It doesn't work that way. We cannot say enough thank-yous to you." Rangel, from Harlem, and Sen. Carl Levin, from Michigan, sponsored a bill to award the airmen with the medal, first presented in 1776 – to George Washington.
Bush told them: "I would like to offer a gesture to help atone for all the unreturned salutes and unforgivable indignities. And so, on behalf of the office I hold, and a country that honors you, I salute you for the service to the United States of America." He actually pulled off a pretty crisp military salute.
We should all salute them -- as well as the contributions many of them went on to make to their communities in civic affairs, in politics, in business, in education.
But it is also where a unit of young Black airmen formed what became known as The Tuskegee Airmen. That President Roosevelt (with the prodding of Eleanor Roosevelt among others) permitted the airmen to be trained to fight in World War II was itself a milestone, but the record amassed by those fighter pilots and their support team was even more historic.
At long last, they are receiving their due – those who are still alive, that is. Each day, as with all WWII vets, their numbers decline. But a few days ago 300 of them and their family members – coming from New York, Missouri, Michigan, North Carolina, Iowa, Ohio, Maine, Georgia and Florida, among others states – were honored at the US Capitol with the rarely given Congressional Gold Medal.
"To my heroes, so many of you have said thank you," Rep. Charles Rangel told them during a ceremony that included Congressional leaders and President Bush. "It doesn't work that way. We cannot say enough thank-yous to you." Rangel, from Harlem, and Sen. Carl Levin, from Michigan, sponsored a bill to award the airmen with the medal, first presented in 1776 – to George Washington.
Bush told them: "I would like to offer a gesture to help atone for all the unreturned salutes and unforgivable indignities. And so, on behalf of the office I hold, and a country that honors you, I salute you for the service to the United States of America." He actually pulled off a pretty crisp military salute.
We should all salute them -- as well as the contributions many of them went on to make to their communities in civic affairs, in politics, in business, in education.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Rev. Jackson Likes Barack Obama
After some Blacks in prominent positions have raised questions about Sen. Obama’s bonafides as the candidate Black voters should embrace as THEIR candidate, the most visible leader in the civil rights community ended speculation about where he stands.
On Thursday, the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. told the Association Press, "He has my vote."
Among Blacks, that endorsement may go far. But we are a multifaceted people with multiple interests. When Jackson sought the presidency in 1984 and 1988, Black pride was a great part of his appeal. But we are past that. Now Obama’s positions must be weighed against those of others who are campaigning for the nominations of the Democratic Party and the Republican Party.
On Thursday, the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. told the Association Press, "He has my vote."
Among Blacks, that endorsement may go far. But we are a multifaceted people with multiple interests. When Jackson sought the presidency in 1984 and 1988, Black pride was a great part of his appeal. But we are past that. Now Obama’s positions must be weighed against those of others who are campaigning for the nominations of the Democratic Party and the Republican Party.
Friday, March 23, 2007
Boys Choir of Harlem Founder Dies
Walter Turnbull, whose vision and passion led to the creation of the renowned Boys Choir of Harlem, but whose artistic and personal ego led him to remain in charge of the choir to its detriment in recent years, died a few hours ago.
This is how the news was reported locally in New York City by New York 1 News:
http://www.ny1news.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=1&aid=67985
Rest in peace.
We'll make assessments later. Check out my posting at www.bet.com.
This is how the news was reported locally in New York City by New York 1 News:
http://www.ny1news.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=1&aid=67985
Rest in peace.
We'll make assessments later. Check out my posting at www.bet.com.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
This “Blood” Cherokee vs “Black Cherokee Freedmen” Issue Won’t Go Away
The Cherokee Nation, that rump group of Native Americans who are more proud of their White heritage than their Black heritage, voted to expel Blacks from the nation. That means they have to share $$$$ coming to the tribe via US government and gaming enterprises, with fewer people.
Among the many who have spoken up about this is the Congressional Black Caucus, which, according to the Associated Press, is asking the federal government “to weigh in on the legality of a vote by the Cherokee Nation earlier this month to revoke citizenship from descendants of former tribal slaves."
This from the AP: "Saying they were 'shocked and outraged,' more than two dozen members of the Congressional Black Caucus signed a letter to the Interior Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs questioning the 'validity, legality, as well as the morality' of the March 3 vote.
"'The black descendant Cherokees can trace their Native American heritage back in many cases for more than a century,' said Rep. Diane Watson (D-Calif.). 'They are legally a part of the Cherokee Nation through history, precedent, blood and treaty obligations.'”
Read what Mike Shelton, a member of the state legislature in Oklahama, says about how the Cherokee Nation is marching on the wrong trail: http://www.muskogeephoenix.com/opinion/local_story_070192128.html
Among the many who have spoken up about this is the Congressional Black Caucus, which, according to the Associated Press, is asking the federal government “to weigh in on the legality of a vote by the Cherokee Nation earlier this month to revoke citizenship from descendants of former tribal slaves."
This from the AP: "Saying they were 'shocked and outraged,' more than two dozen members of the Congressional Black Caucus signed a letter to the Interior Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs questioning the 'validity, legality, as well as the morality' of the March 3 vote.
"'The black descendant Cherokees can trace their Native American heritage back in many cases for more than a century,' said Rep. Diane Watson (D-Calif.). 'They are legally a part of the Cherokee Nation through history, precedent, blood and treaty obligations.'”
Read what Mike Shelton, a member of the state legislature in Oklahama, says about how the Cherokee Nation is marching on the wrong trail: http://www.muskogeephoenix.com/opinion/local_story_070192128.html
Friday, March 16, 2007
50 Shots; Black Man Dead
This has been disturbing from the first, when Sean Bell, a young man literally hours away from his wedding ceremony in November, was gunned down by five cops who for some reason thought he was something other than a young man leaving a strip joint with friends on the eve of his wedding.
Apparently three cops have been indicted on charges of manslaughter.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/17/nyregion/17grand.html?hp
This won't be official until Monday. But officials -- elected and appointed and self-appointed --have been encourgaging US to be cool, to chill, to not go mau-mauing no matter what the results.
OK. But let's also put ourselves in the shoes of cops on the beat in a bad neighborhood trying to make the nabe safe for all of US. This is not an easy issue, is it?
Apparently three cops have been indicted on charges of manslaughter.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/17/nyregion/17grand.html?hp
This won't be official until Monday. But officials -- elected and appointed and self-appointed --have been encourgaging US to be cool, to chill, to not go mau-mauing no matter what the results.
OK. But let's also put ourselves in the shoes of cops on the beat in a bad neighborhood trying to make the nabe safe for all of US. This is not an easy issue, is it?
Monday, March 12, 2007
The Cherokee Nation's "Ethnic Cleansing" Is Not Acceptable
I could not believe what I was learning: The descendants of Native Americans who once owned slaves and later under a federal treaty and other legalities, made the slaves and their descendants citizens in the Cherokee Nation, were stripping them of their rights. The audacity! The racism! The greed! See how the official Cherokee newspaper, The Phoenix, reported this: http://www.cherokeephoenix.org/News/News.aspx?StoryID=2480
The New York Times explains some of the background to this in a Mar. 8 editorial (www.nytimes.com):
“This bitter dispute dates to the treaties of 1866, when the Cherokee, Seminole and Creek agreed to admit their former slaves as tribal members in return for recognition as sovereign nations. The tribes fought black membership from the start — even though many of the former slaves were products of mixed black and Indian marriages.
“The federal courts repeatedly upheld the treaties. But the federal government fanned the flames when a government commission set out in the 1890s to create an authoritative roll of tribal membership. Instead of placing everyone on a single roll, it made two lists. The so-called blood list contained nonblack Cherokees, listed with their percentage of Indian ancestry. The freedmen’s list included the names of any black members, even those with significant Cherokee ancestry.”
The actual election results – 3 to 1 for expelling descendants of slaves from membership, including access to health and educational benefits as well as any profits from tribal gambling enterprises -- can be seen at the official tribal site: http://www.cherokee.org/TribalGovernment/Election/home.aspx?section=ResultsSE&year=2007
At www.indianz.com, Tim Giago offers an explanation, but reaches, as far as I am concerned, an untenable conclusion. See: http://www.indianz.com/News/2007/001790.asp
We sometimes gloss over the complicated history between Native Americans and Black Americans. But, since attending a journalism convention some years ago in Atlanta, where journalists of color – including Native Americans and Blacks, among others – I have never forgotten how the Cherokees in their capital city, New Echota, thought of themselves as White as any “actual” White Southerners. (http://gastateparks.org/info/echota/) Now some of them are behaving like the Whites in the Thomas Jefferson family who refuse to acknowledge Black descendants of Jefferson, refusing them such benefits as membership in various Jefferson societies and the right to burial on the Jefferson estate in Virginia.
Of course, there are dissidents among any group. So there are members of the Cherokee Nation who are fighting against the expulsion of the Cherokee Freedman, just as some White Jefferson family members challenge the exclusion of Black Jefferson descendants.
A member of the Cherokee tribal council, Taylor Keen, has been quoted in various newspapers as saying: “This is a sad chapter in Cherokee history. But this is not my Cherokee Nation. My Cherokee Nation is one that honors all parts of her past.”
Now it is up to the courts, and perhaps the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs, to prevent this injustice being perpetrated by a people who should recall how much the tribe suffered when forced out of Southern states in the 1800s. The Trail of Tears, this episode was called. Now, perhaps the way that abused children often become abusers, the Cherokee Nation is promoting a 21st century version of that Trail of Tears.
The New York Times explains some of the background to this in a Mar. 8 editorial (www.nytimes.com):
“This bitter dispute dates to the treaties of 1866, when the Cherokee, Seminole and Creek agreed to admit their former slaves as tribal members in return for recognition as sovereign nations. The tribes fought black membership from the start — even though many of the former slaves were products of mixed black and Indian marriages.
“The federal courts repeatedly upheld the treaties. But the federal government fanned the flames when a government commission set out in the 1890s to create an authoritative roll of tribal membership. Instead of placing everyone on a single roll, it made two lists. The so-called blood list contained nonblack Cherokees, listed with their percentage of Indian ancestry. The freedmen’s list included the names of any black members, even those with significant Cherokee ancestry.”
The actual election results – 3 to 1 for expelling descendants of slaves from membership, including access to health and educational benefits as well as any profits from tribal gambling enterprises -- can be seen at the official tribal site: http://www.cherokee.org/TribalGovernment/Election/home.aspx?section=ResultsSE&year=2007
At www.indianz.com, Tim Giago offers an explanation, but reaches, as far as I am concerned, an untenable conclusion. See: http://www.indianz.com/News/2007/001790.asp
We sometimes gloss over the complicated history between Native Americans and Black Americans. But, since attending a journalism convention some years ago in Atlanta, where journalists of color – including Native Americans and Blacks, among others – I have never forgotten how the Cherokees in their capital city, New Echota, thought of themselves as White as any “actual” White Southerners. (http://gastateparks.org/info/echota/) Now some of them are behaving like the Whites in the Thomas Jefferson family who refuse to acknowledge Black descendants of Jefferson, refusing them such benefits as membership in various Jefferson societies and the right to burial on the Jefferson estate in Virginia.
Of course, there are dissidents among any group. So there are members of the Cherokee Nation who are fighting against the expulsion of the Cherokee Freedman, just as some White Jefferson family members challenge the exclusion of Black Jefferson descendants.
A member of the Cherokee tribal council, Taylor Keen, has been quoted in various newspapers as saying: “This is a sad chapter in Cherokee history. But this is not my Cherokee Nation. My Cherokee Nation is one that honors all parts of her past.”
Now it is up to the courts, and perhaps the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs, to prevent this injustice being perpetrated by a people who should recall how much the tribe suffered when forced out of Southern states in the 1800s. The Trail of Tears, this episode was called. Now, perhaps the way that abused children often become abusers, the Cherokee Nation is promoting a 21st century version of that Trail of Tears.
Monday, March 5, 2007
Farrakhan Leaves the Stage
Now that Louis Farrakhan is reducing his role in the Nation of Islam – because of age and bad health – it is time for that organization to rethink its place in the Muslim world and to consider becoming aligned with orthodox Islam.
The Black Muslim movement, begun in Detroit in the 1930s, is rather passé. Malcolm X had turned in the orthodox direction after his expulsion from the NOI and his spiritual journey to Mecca; W. D. Mohammed, a son of the NOI’s founder, and his followers pursue a truer path of Islam than the NOI. Some of Mohammed’s followers consider Farrakhan’s to be members of a cult.
I consider Farrakhan to be a hatemongering, but charming, fanatic. The former entertainer managed to charm his way into some semblance of respectability through such events as the Million Man March. At his two-hour valedictory speech, he was joined on the podium, according to The Chicago Sun-Times, by the singer Anita Baker, hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, US Rep. John Conyers and leaders of organizations involved in reviving New Orleans post-Katrina.
Vibert White, a former NOI minister who is a professor of public history at the University of Central Florida, told The Christian Science Monitor: "His tone has changed because of a changing society. But his history has been one of hostile language, inflammatory language, elements of separation and segregation and 'America is the whore of the planet Earth' - he's not going to change those views overnight."
And, in The New York Times, a spokesman for W. D. Mohammed said of the NOI after Farrakhan: ''In the final analysis, they have no option but to move in the direction we are or to just dissipate or disappear. This community is going to reconcile itself to pure Islam and reconcile itself to being American citizens who are part of a multicultural society.''
I’ve been no great fan of Farrakhan, but I do recognize that this changing of the guard is historical. "My time is up," he said in Detroit. Good. But in the Christian tradition I wish Farrakhan peace and blessings.
The Black Muslim movement, begun in Detroit in the 1930s, is rather passé. Malcolm X had turned in the orthodox direction after his expulsion from the NOI and his spiritual journey to Mecca; W. D. Mohammed, a son of the NOI’s founder, and his followers pursue a truer path of Islam than the NOI. Some of Mohammed’s followers consider Farrakhan’s to be members of a cult.
I consider Farrakhan to be a hatemongering, but charming, fanatic. The former entertainer managed to charm his way into some semblance of respectability through such events as the Million Man March. At his two-hour valedictory speech, he was joined on the podium, according to The Chicago Sun-Times, by the singer Anita Baker, hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, US Rep. John Conyers and leaders of organizations involved in reviving New Orleans post-Katrina.
Vibert White, a former NOI minister who is a professor of public history at the University of Central Florida, told The Christian Science Monitor: "His tone has changed because of a changing society. But his history has been one of hostile language, inflammatory language, elements of separation and segregation and 'America is the whore of the planet Earth' - he's not going to change those views overnight."
And, in The New York Times, a spokesman for W. D. Mohammed said of the NOI after Farrakhan: ''In the final analysis, they have no option but to move in the direction we are or to just dissipate or disappear. This community is going to reconcile itself to pure Islam and reconcile itself to being American citizens who are part of a multicultural society.''
I’ve been no great fan of Farrakhan, but I do recognize that this changing of the guard is historical. "My time is up," he said in Detroit. Good. But in the Christian tradition I wish Farrakhan peace and blessings.
Sunday, March 4, 2007
Bloody Sunday, Part One
If the New York Times' Maureen Dowd had her way, the bloody part of this commemoration of a very important day in US history, would come from Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton duking it out in Selma, Ala.
But Bloody Sunday is much more sacred than that. The name comes from that date in March 1965 when scores of Black people, including a very young John Lewis who is now a senior congressman from Georgia, had the crap beat out of them as they tried to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in a march to the capital, Montgomery, to demand the right to vote. Because so many people, including those in the White House, were horrified at the televised beatings, another march was scheduled, with Martin Luther King Jr. leading the line of advocates along with clergy of various faiths who came in as reinforcements. And President Johnson decided to use his muscle to convince Congress to enact the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
This is an account of what happened that Bloody Sunday, taken from Juan Williams' Eyes on the Prize, a riveting companion book to the PBS series of the same name in the 1980s. Look for the book in your local stores; the documentary is available on DVD.
"'When we arrived at the apex of the Edmund Pettus Bridge," recalls Lewis, 'we saw a sea of blue[-clad] Alabama state troopers.' Gas masks hung from the belts of the troopers, who were slapping billy clubs against their hands....Major John Cloud ordered them to turn back. 'It would be detrimental to your safety to continue this march,' he said....Fifty policemen moved forward, knocking the first ten to twenty demonstrators off their feet. People screamed and struggled to break free as their packs and bags were scattered across the pavement. Tear gas was fired, and then lawmen on horseback charged into the stumbling protesters....'The police were riding along on horseback beating people,' remembers Andrew Young. 'The tear gas was so thick you couldn't get to where the people were who needed help'....Television coverage of the police assault interrupted the networks' regular programming; ABC broke into its broadcast of the film Judgment at Nuremberg. 'When that beating happened at the foot of the bridge, it looked like war,' recalls Mayor Smitherman. 'That went all over the country. And the people, the wrath of the nation came down on us.'"
Hillary is showing up with her ace in the hole for courting Blacks, former President Bill Clinton. Obama is speaking in the church that was headquarters for the Selma campaign, the Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church, and he has John Lewis at his side, along with others like Joseph Lowery who were King's aides and successors.
But rather that political strategizing, this day should be one for remembering what Blacks and some of their White allies went through to gain the right to vote that had been included in the US Constitution since 1870, but never really enforced. In essence, Blacks gained the right to vote in 1965 because of Bloody Sunday.
But Bloody Sunday is much more sacred than that. The name comes from that date in March 1965 when scores of Black people, including a very young John Lewis who is now a senior congressman from Georgia, had the crap beat out of them as they tried to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in a march to the capital, Montgomery, to demand the right to vote. Because so many people, including those in the White House, were horrified at the televised beatings, another march was scheduled, with Martin Luther King Jr. leading the line of advocates along with clergy of various faiths who came in as reinforcements. And President Johnson decided to use his muscle to convince Congress to enact the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
This is an account of what happened that Bloody Sunday, taken from Juan Williams' Eyes on the Prize, a riveting companion book to the PBS series of the same name in the 1980s. Look for the book in your local stores; the documentary is available on DVD.
"'When we arrived at the apex of the Edmund Pettus Bridge," recalls Lewis, 'we saw a sea of blue[-clad] Alabama state troopers.' Gas masks hung from the belts of the troopers, who were slapping billy clubs against their hands....Major John Cloud ordered them to turn back. 'It would be detrimental to your safety to continue this march,' he said....Fifty policemen moved forward, knocking the first ten to twenty demonstrators off their feet. People screamed and struggled to break free as their packs and bags were scattered across the pavement. Tear gas was fired, and then lawmen on horseback charged into the stumbling protesters....'The police were riding along on horseback beating people,' remembers Andrew Young. 'The tear gas was so thick you couldn't get to where the people were who needed help'....Television coverage of the police assault interrupted the networks' regular programming; ABC broke into its broadcast of the film Judgment at Nuremberg. 'When that beating happened at the foot of the bridge, it looked like war,' recalls Mayor Smitherman. 'That went all over the country. And the people, the wrath of the nation came down on us.'"
Hillary is showing up with her ace in the hole for courting Blacks, former President Bill Clinton. Obama is speaking in the church that was headquarters for the Selma campaign, the Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church, and he has John Lewis at his side, along with others like Joseph Lowery who were King's aides and successors.
But rather that political strategizing, this day should be one for remembering what Blacks and some of their White allies went through to gain the right to vote that had been included in the US Constitution since 1870, but never really enforced. In essence, Blacks gained the right to vote in 1965 because of Bloody Sunday.
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