From our Mailbag 02/28/02 - 03/10/02

Dang! It's another Hornet's Nest in Here!

E-MAILS FROM YOU

[EDITOR'S NOTE: These are messages we got from Mailing List members about our move to this new server and foreswearing deals based solely on advertising forever.]


From Wolf deVoon, (No City Provided,) COSTA RICA:

Hang in there, Rod, you sexy thang. Glad you're still hangin' tough, still speaking to and for the good in us all, come what may.

Wolfie


From Peg T. St. Paul, MN, USA:

Dear Rod,

Yet another growth experience. Hope all is well with you, from New York to the Bayou, many changes in your life. Hope they are good ones.

Peg T.
www.strategeries.org
Nonprofit Business Directions


From Felicity U., London, UK:

good


From Gail W. Pacific Northwest, USA:

Subject: turning 50

Reaching the 50 year mark was the best birthday I'd ever had. Perhaps because I was single again,I had good friends and I didn't look 50. (what does 50 look like?)

My 65th coming up in exactly one month. Looking forward to it, because for the first time in about 20 years I'll have health insurance (I can have knee surgery), I have good friends, and I don't look 65. Do we see a pattern here?

gail


ROD RESPONDS: Gail,

Thanks for writing me and sharing your experience. (That was incredibly fast! Were you lurking waiting for me to deliver this week or what? )

I believe this is the first e-mail I've received from you. (Correct me if I'm wrong.) Are you a new reader? How did you find our "hip little FM station at the end of the dial?"

Cheers,
Rod


From Steve C., Taipei, TAIWAN:

As they say here in Taiwan, "jia-yo" (literally means "add oil," used here for "way to go").

Good luck, keep up the good work,

Steven C.
Taiwan


[ So much for that stuff. Now back to our *normal* brand of e-mails from you. You know what I mean: The Flames. And I'm not referring to James Brown's back-up band. Heh! --RA]

From Ed. C., Bloomfield, MI, USA:

SUBJECT: Reparations - the Argument

DEar RR:

a. THe "division" factor I was concerned with is not between blacks, it was concern over the divisiveness between all peoples, black, white, latino, whatever, at what many would consider an unfair and undeserved government handout. Take the young lady who's picture appears in the article. She is what many people would call ...."light skinned". Visual evidence of a mixing of ethnic groups, races, whatever. Now, if she is 1/2 black, 1/4 white and 1/4 Filipino - what would be her "cut" in a reparations scheme? Or what about "blacks" who just came here from Bermuda - I know they were taken to there, originally, as slaves, but is the U.S. government supposed to give them a piece of the "pie"? And who is to pay? First-generation white Americans, second generation.......? PLEASE - Explain this fair and reasonable payment scheme, FARTHER THAN JUST FROM POINT "A" to point "B", TAKE US TO "Z" or at least "R". R. BTW:Wan't it YOU who injected the 80% black measurement into the reparations argument, in your previous article on this subject?

b. YOU didn't work for the money. Your grandfather might have, your father might have, but not you PERSONALLY. I think it would be safe to assume you have always been paid minimum wage or better for your work, just like white guys your age, with simular skills, attitude and apptitude, in your immediate geographic area. As far as pain, suffering, etc., we don't know if YOU personally, living in a predominantly black area, have suffered any more, or less, than a white person living within your area.

c.Your allegation that all respondents to your letter were white, strengthens my conviction that YOU are a self-styled(and IMHO very ineffectual) race "Baiter". YOU decided that none of "US" meet the "cut-off" line for purposes of your ALL WHITE conspiracy theory. ÝDid you poll us for our racial affiliations? Apparrently, "one drop" only counts when it is benificial. Or is it 80% that counts. ÝWho is next, Mr. "Divide the crowd and split the money" - that light skinned sister? Janet Jackson? Prince(singer)? Maxwell(another singer) Lenny Kravitz(trick question - we know he is 1/2 Jewish, so he is disqualified due to belonging to two potentially, disadvantaged ethnic groups)? It is kind of like your article, Raheem, where you went to the trade show and "purposely" turned your attendance badge over - then you were insulted when the "germanic, white guy" suggested you look at the "small equiptment"*. Maybe if you would have used the "priviledge" that badge, printed with your employer's name and listed on the salesman's list of "big potential customers", was supposed to confer upon you, you wouldn't have been treated like a small timer. Instead, you basically stole from your employer by thwarting the benefits they were hoping would come from that PAID TRIP. Someone, maybe me, should have set your ass straight at the time; unfortunately, I bowed to self imposed "politically correct pressure" and sympathised with your "treatment". If memory serves me, in that same article you went on to ridicule some slightly drunk white chick for wanting to touch your hair - a real man could have been flattered that someone was interested enough in them, and felt confortable enough with them, to make that request. It's why so many people fall ill with "jungle fever" - intelligent, confident people are intrigued, not frightened, by the different, the unusual.

Don't be afraid that some of us might come in peace - be afraid that you can't raise to the manly challenge of doing the same.

Peace Be With You,
Ed "Great Lakes Guy" C.

* Hey, maybe that "small equiptment" line was a subtle,come-on - even germanic guys get that "jungle fever" :)


RADIO RAHEEM RESPONDS: Let's make a deal: I'll answer your questions if you answer MY ONLY ONE: (And I quote)

"What got me most about all the commentary was that none of it directly addressed the issue of the Geneva Convention, and the right of Black people as human beings to take recourse in the prescription(s) for remedy provided therein. That seemed a moot point, for most, compared with a) their own impressions about Black people and slavery and b) their notion that Black folk speaking up for themselves would be 'divisive.' "

The ball's back in your court, Bubba. Peace out.

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From Elmer, (No City Provided,) LA, USA:

Just read your article on 1 in 35 .found it very compelling. As a 44 year old male with a right leg amputation ' total blindness in the right eye and a failing liver[hep c ] . I sold a half oz. to a FRIEND of my mine who was working undercover for the law. Now Louisiana is giving me an 8 year sentence. I guess they know something i dont!!! Somebody must of died or ???. All the state offered was time in prison.Ýthanks for reading this . not looking for mercy just an open ear!! I did the crime so? Check out senate bill 239 in the louisiana 2001 reg. session Ý


From Ed C., Bloomfield, MI, USA:

And I forgot to defend the idea that Bill Clinton could certainly make a sincere apology for the collective wrong that was done, even if he couldn't/wouldn't do anything to "right the wrong". That is like saying you can't offer someone sincere condolences, unless you knew the deceased.

Back on the reperations - should the American government be seeking additional funds from all Arab-americans for the events of Sept.11? Funds from Afgani-americans for the costs of "Operation Anaconda"?

Ed-ios

MORE STUFF Folks Think We Need to Know

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From Jeff Winbush, G21 Alumnus, Columbus, OH, USA:

TO: Jeffrey Winbush
Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2002 9:17 PM
Subject: NABJ Wants You BACK!

Mr. Winbush,

We exchanged in a difference of opinion last year about NABJ and Tavis Smiley. Tavis continues to identify himself as a "news personality" and not as a "journalist" although he does work as a journalists from time to time.

I wonder if you are still angry with NABJ. If you are, I would invite you to see what is new with our organization at www.nabj.org and invite you to come back.

Our annual convention for 2002 will be July 31 through August 4 in Milwaukee, WI. It would be great if you were there.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,
Condace Pressley

=================================

3/3/02

Dear Ms. Pressley,

I must admit that I was surprised to receive this e-mail from you. I was not enthusiastic when you declared you were running for the presidency of NABJ nor was I any happier when you actually won.

But you did and I offer you congratulations. You've assumed a responsibility and a challenge that others might have shied away from. How you step up to the tasks before you will either mark your tenureÝas a glorious success or a dismal failure.

I must correct you on one point Ms. Pressley. I was never angry at NABJ. I was angry with NABJ's leadership and it's distinctly timid response to the entire Tavis Smiley/BET matter. It doesn't surprise me at all that Tavis has landed on his feet and in perhaps a better situation for him professionally. That doesn't invalidate the fact that when NABJ should have stood up and been counted it chose instead to duck and cover.

That however was then and this is most definitely now. The immediate is do I want to return to the ranks of NABJ?

I would like to ask youÝa fewÝquestions Madame President. My return to NABJ isn't predicated upon your response. Nevertheless, I'd like your thoughts on the following issues.

First, I've attended three NABJ conventions (Atlanta, Philadelphia, Phoenix) and each time I've done the Job Fair. My Job Fair experience is pretty similar to that which Jill Nelson described in her book, Volunteer Slavery.Ý Something I've always wanted to know is what percentage of individuals that submit a resume actually get a follow-up call, an actual interview or get hired via the Job Fair?

Does NABJ compile this information? If so, what are the figures? If not, then how is it determined that the Job Fair has any effectiveness? In the interest of full disclosure, how well the Job Fair works is a question that needs answering.

Secondly, there is this quote from former Arkansas basketball coach, Nolan Richardson, after the black coach noted only white reporters at a news conference.

When I look at all of you people in this room, I see no one look like me, talk like me or act like me. Now why don't you recruit? Why don't the editors recruit like I'm recruiting?

Richardson later accepted a $3 million buyout of the final years remaining on his contract, so shed no tears for the brother.ÝÝÝHe will land quite nicely on his feet and coach again in the NCAA. But the larger issue remains; WHERE are those reporters that look like, talk like or act like Nolan Richardson. Where are the Black journalists?

In my local fishwrap there was a small article entitled, "TV News Lacks Diversity." It read in part: "For the first time in five years no black reporter was among the top 25 on the network evening news programs as measured by the amount of stories they reported, says a study released Thursday."

"Byron Pitts of CBS and Pierre Thomas of ABC were tied for 28th place last year with 72 appearances on their news programs, says the study by the Center for Media and Public Affairs."

"Only one other black reporter---Randall Pinkston of CBS---was in the top 50, the center says. A year earlier, two black reporters made the top 10."

"The study found that the number of stories reported by all minorities and women were up slightly over 2000. Eighty-eight percent of the stories were by whites and 75 percent by men, the report said."

So TV news remains a place where white men still deliver the news to America and the world. White men still determine what image and depiction of blacks and other people of color fill the airwaves.

Yeah, we've come a long way baby from the days of Max Robinson, Gerald Harrington, and Bernard Shaw doing the evening news on ABC, CBS and CNN. Unfortunately that way is going backwards. What should be even more worrisome is that there seems to be few African-Americans in the pipeline to ascend to top positions at the networks.

Much has been about former CBS correspondent Bernard Goldberg's book, BIAS about the supposed "liberal" slant of network news. Insofar as black journalists are concerned the issue isn't whether it's liberals or conservatives running the news, but whether either group gives us a fair shake. My definition of "fair and balanced" is less about political philosphy and more about equal representation in hiring and promotion of racial groups.

Where does NABJ stand on this?ÝÝHow does NABJ plan to pressure news publications to hire more black reporters to work the Business, Sports, Arts, and Op-Ed pages of America's newspapers? What is the plan to bring ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN and FOX to the table to address their horrendous record in hiring, retaining and promoting black journalists?Ý

IS there a plan?

When NABJ can move off it's agenda of playing the supplicant pleading for crumbs off the table of America's media elite, to demanding access and equality it will begin making the genesis from a middle-of-the-road social organization to an activist force with a progressive and aggressive agenda to bring real and substantial change to American journalism.

I'd like to be part of a group like that. I'm just not certain that kind of NABJ exists.

My NABJ is a proud, bold, decisiveÝand profoundly pro-Black NABJ. I'm all about a organization that works for real, genuine and systemic change in contemporary journalism. Settling for tokenism and trinkets from Corporate Media doesn't move us one inch closer to that goal.

If that's the kind of NABJ you're about creating Ms. Pressley I'd be honored toÝbe a part of it.

If that's not exactly what you had in mind then you should include me out of NABJ untilÝthat day arrives---if ever it does.

Cordially,
Jeff Winbush
Freelance Journalist
Columbus, Ohio


From


Forwarded by Darryl C., Hershey, PA, USA:

By Henry Louis Gates, Jr., CAMBRIDGE, Mass.

After the Stono Rebellion of 1739 in South Carolina -- the largest uprising of slaves in the colonies before the American Revolution 'ŸÏ legislators there responded by banishing two forms of communication among the slaves: the mastery of reading and writing, and the mastery of "talking drums," both of which had been crucial to the capacity to rebel. For the next century and a half, access to literacy became for the slaves a hallmark of their humanity and an instrument of liberation, spiritual as well as physical. The relation between freedom and literacy became the compelling theme of the slave narratives, the great body of printed books that ex-slaves generated to assert their common humanity with white Americans and to indict the system that had oppressed them.

In the years since the abolition of slavery, the possession of literacy has been a cardinal value of the African-American tradition. It is no accident that the first great victory in the legal battle over segregation was fought on the grounds of education -- of equal access to literacy.

Today, Blacks are failing to gain access to the new tools of literacy: the digital "knowledge economy." And while the dilemma that our ancestors confronted was imposed by others, this cybersegregation is, to a large degree, self-imposed. The Government's latest attempt to understand why low-income African Americans and Hispanics are slower to embrace the Internet and the personal computer than whites -- the Commerce Department study "Falling Through the Net" -- suggests that income alone can't be blamed for the so-called digital divide. For example, among families earning $15,000 to $35,000 annually, more than 33 percent of whites own computers, compared with only 19 percent of African Americans -- a gap that has widened 64 percent over the past five years despite declining computer prices.

The implications go far beyond on-line trading and chat rooms. Net promoters are concerned that the digital divide threatens to become a 21st century poll tax that, in effect, disenfranchises a third of the nation. Our children, especially, need access not only to the vast resources that technology offers for education, but also to the rich cultural contexts that define their place in the world.

Today we stand at the brink of becoming two societies, one largely white and plugged in and the other Black and unplugged. One of the most tragic aspects of slavery was the way it destroyed social connections. In a process that the sociologist Orlando Patterson calls "social death," slavery sought to sever Blacks from their history and culture, from family ties and a sense of community. And, of course, de jure segregation after the Civil War was intended to disconnect Blacks from equal economic opportunity, from the network of social contacts that enable upward mobility and, indeed, from the broader world of ideas.

Despite the dramatic growth of the Black middle class since affirmative action programs were started in the late 60's, new forms of disconnectedness have afflicted Black America. Middle-class professionals often feel socially and culturally isolated from their white peers at work and in the neighborhood and from their Black peers left behind in the underclass. The children of the Black underclass, in turn, often lack middle-class role models to help them connect to a history of achievement and develop their analytical skills.

It would be a sad irony if the most diverse and decentralized electronic medium yet invented should fail to achieve ethnic diversity among its users. And yet the Commerce Department study suggests that the solution will require more than cheap PC's. It will involve content.

Until recently, the African-American presence on the Internet was minimal, reflecting the chicken-and-egg nature of Internet economics. Few investors have been willing to finance sites appealing to a PC-scarce community.

Few African Americans have been compelled to sign on to a medium that offers little to interest them. And educators interested in diversity have repeatedly raised concerns about the lack of minority-oriented educational software. Consider the birth of the recording industry in the 1920s. Blacks began to respond to this new medium only when mainstream companies like Columbia Records introduced so-called race records, blues and jazz discs aimed at a nascent African-American market. Blacks who would never have dreamed of spending hard-earned funds for a record by Rudy Vallee or Kate Smith would stand in lines several blocks long to purchase the new Bessie Smith or Duke Ellington hit.

New content made the new medium attractive.

And the growth of Web sites dedicated to the interests and needs of Black Americans can play the same role for the Internet that race records did for the music industry.

But even making sites that will appeal to a Black audience can only go so far.

The causes of poverty are both structural and behavioral.

And it is the behavioral aspect of this cybersegregation that Blacks themselves are best able to address. Drawing on corporate and foundation support, we can transform the legion of churches, mosques and community centers in our inner cities into after-school centers that focus on redressing the digital divide and teaching Black history. We can draw on the many examples of Black achievement in structured classes to re-establish a sense of social connection.

The Internet is the 21st century's talking drum, the very kind of grass-roots communication tool that has been such a powerful source of education and culture for our people since slavery. But this talking drum we have not yet learned to play. Unless we master the new information technology to build and deepen the forms of social connection that a tragic history has eroded, African-Americans will face a form of cybersegregation in the next century as devastating to our aspirations as Jim Crow segregation was to those of our ancestors. But this time, the fault will be our own.


From Lou Harrison-Smith, Christchurch, NEW ZEALAND:

Subject: The Ten Commandments of Propaganda

1. divide and conquer
Possibly the oldest political tactic known to man. As long as the people are busy fighting each other, they will never know their real enemy. Hate speech is valuable to this end.

2. tell the people what they want
Not to be confused with telling them what they want to hear, you are telling them what they want, and why they cannot live without it.

3. the bigger the lie, the more people will believe it
Coined by Joseph Goebbels, this truth has been proven time and time again, especially in times of war.

4. always appeal to the lowest common denominator
Abraham Lincoln supposedly said "you can't fool all of the people, all of the time". But, if you can fool enough of the people, enough of the time, you can get away with anything. The trick is to find the common hopes and fears of the largest majority.

5. generalize as much as possible
Specifics are not very important. Most people would prefer to think in the simplest terms possible--black and white, good and evil, Communist and Capitalist, etc.

6. use "expert" testimonial
A degree and screen presence is pretty much all you need to be an authority on anything in the modern world. People like celebrities.

7. always refer to the "authority" of your office
Once your authority is established, you need to periodically remind the people of it. It will add credibility to your purpose.

8. stack the cards with "information"
Statistics and facts work wonderfully, especially when the average person only partially understands them, and when conflicting data is censored.

9. a confused people are easily led
When a person hears the truth, he won't know it, because it will be lumped together with disinformation, half-truths, and lies.

10. get the "plain folks" onto the "bandwagon"
John Doe is your propaganda agent. Middle Americans will "relate" to him, and so will their friends, and their friends, and their friends....

And remember: when all else fails, use FEAR.

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