The Book Report

"Racism has gone uncheck in this company..."

2006-08-30T19:55:00.000-04:00

By Bobbi Booker
The Book Report

Civil rights groups across the nation have blasted the decision by CBS Television to support the producers of the Survivor reality show contest that will set contestants against each other according to race. The announcement of the segregated edition of Survivor comes on the eve of a $1 million racial discrimination trail of a former CBS Radio employee who was forced to resign from WIP-AM sports radio.

According to Duane Lucas, the plaintiff in the upcoming trail against WIP, the announcement about the new season of Survivor is an example of "the consistent arrogance of the company."

"Racism has gone uncheck in this company for years and nobody challenges them," said Lucas. "One of the things that happens in this business is that you can't jump up and scream, 'racism,' because where are you going to get a job at next. So you have to be really professional and sure of what's going on. Racism is what domestic violence was 40 years ago: you didn't talk about it."

Lucas started his career at WIP radio as an account executive in 1994 and in a year was promoted to Director of Sport Sales. He was responsible for the station's base of advertisers and sponsors and for developing new business in support of the station's programming for the Philadelphia Eagles, 76er's and Flyers. According to court papers filed in the United States District court, Lucas was the target of a racially motivated campaign to discredit him and his fellow black colleagues, including talk show hosts Gary Cobb and Carlos Beck, both of whom filed discrimination charges against WIP's parent company, CBS radio. In 2002, Lucas resigned after receiving a nearly 50% reduction in his salary.

WIP-AM management was unavailable for comments when called on Friday. Earlier in the week, CBS Networks officials issued a statement of support for producers' decision to pit Blacks, whites, Asians and Hispanics against each other during the early rounds of the show.

"CBS fully recognizes the controversial nature of this format but has full confidence in the producers and their ability to produce the program in a responsible manner," the network said in a statement. "Survivor is a program that is no stranger to controversy and has always answered its critics on the screen."

Last season, Survivor registered a franchise-low average of 16.8 million viewers. In announcing this season contestants, show host Jeff Probst insisted the stunt was the next logical step in a series that made its name on exploring social politics.

"If this didn't say Jeff Probst, I would think that this was something that was produced by David Duke," said Lucas who charges that CBS's decision to support the Survivor show proposal is indicative of the corporate culture of the network.

"How long have we been experimenting with this?" wondered Lucas. "Through hangings, through church bombings, through hate crimes, through cross burnings? How much more do we need to experiment with separation of the races?"

On Friday, a group of New York City officials blasted CBS' announcement that it has split the contestants on Survivor: Cook Islands into tribes by race.

"This idea is so ill-conceived that it would be funny--but for the fact that racism does still sometimes rear its ugly head," New York city councilman John Liu said at a press conference." This show has the potential to set back our nation's race relations by 50 years."

"CBS has demonstrated great lapse in judgment. As a society, we need to hold corporations responsible for their actions," New York City councilwoman Melissa Mark Viverito said.

"I think that in Survivor they should have the strongest teams that they can," said Lucas. "Why divide this by race? Why send us back another 200 years? This is just world-class ugly."

The spread of negative racial stereotypes based on CBS' decision has already begun on the nation's airwaves. Conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh has already uttered racially insensitive comments on his national syndicated broadcast.

Hispanics, he said, "have shown a remarkable ability to cross borders" and "will do things other people won't do." Asians, according to Limbaugh, are "the best at espionage, keeping secrets." Blacks, he said, "lack buoyancy" and are "more likely to drown," while the white man's burden will weigh down the last team with "guilt over the fact that they run things."

Survivor: Cook Island is scheduled to air starting September 14, 2006

Lifestyle/Leisure/Literature

Frederick Douglass Lives...

2006-08-30T19:51:00.000-04:00

During the 1850s, the famed abolitionist, orator, editor, statesman, author, suffragist and publisher, Frederick Douglass usually spent about half of the year traveling extensively and giving lectures.

On July 5, 1852, Douglass gave a speech at an event commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence, held at Rochester's Corinthian Hall.
Antebellum audiences enjoyed patriotic speeches on Independence Day, but the mostly white audience found that instead of the expected platitudes to the founding of the U.S., Douglass delivered a scorching denunciation of the preservation of slavery.

It was biting oratory, in which the speaker told his audience, "This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn." And he asked them, "Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak to-day?"

That now-famous address will be recited again on this upcoming Independence Day by Douglass' great-great grandson and namesake, Frederick Douglass IV.
Much like the man he calls "Granddaddy," Douglass IV travels throughout America to continue the legacy of his famed ancestor by lecturing about him, depicting his speeches and reenacting key episodes of his ancestor's life.

The most memorable element in the Rochester speech was Douglass' use of the second person to illustrate the chasm between your freedoms as whites under the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, and slavery. "He comes down as being barbarous, but he ends (the speech) on a note of optimism because he believes that ultimately all these things were going to be righted, maybe not within his lifetime, but he really felt that the Civil War, the Emancipation Proclamation, the 14th Amendment and other things would lead to equality. To read these things it not only recalls the time in which they were living in which slavery was in America, but the scary part is so much of it is relevant to today."

"The speech remains contemporary, and in my view, with all respect due to Frederick Douglass, understated," says radio talk show host Reggie Bryant. "He employs rhetoric and appeals to the conscious and the ethical morality of persons to note what he says. I think he presented them with more credit than they were due. It is clear to me that the context today of (Independence Day) is a vicious and callous and fraudulent exercise when it comes to descendents of those Africans who where kidnapped and brought here against their will and continue too suffer ant the hands of bigots and racist who pretty much dominate the so called government here. There was no reason on that original date, and there is no reason today, for Blacks to celebrate anything. When this so-called declaration was penned, Africans were to face another 100-plus years of slavery."

Douglass IV travels with his wife of 30 years and co-reenactor, B.J, who similarly portrays Douglass' wife Anna Murray Douglass. The elder Douglass' had five children with Douglass IV being the descendent of Frederick Douglass, Jr. The current Douglass' are founders of The Frederick Douglass Organization, developed to promote education, financial literacy, economic development and bridging the digital divide—all issues that Douglass IV believes his grandfather would embrace.

Douglass was born into slavery in Maryland 1818, but in 1838, at age 20, he escaped to freedom in New York. Eloquent, smart and determined, Douglass gained fame as a speaker, began his own anti-slavery publications and in 1845 published his memoir "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave." In later years he became a personal friend of President Abraham Lincoln and helped persuade Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. He died at age 76 in 1895.

Douglass possessed a commanding presence that was enhanced by his rich and powerful baritone voice. His command of the English language has put him in league with some of the greatest orators of all time. In other words, when Douglass spoke, people listened.

"He wanted to broaden his ability to communicate about the need to end slavery," explained Douglass IV of his ancestor's desire to start his own antislavery newspaper, the North Star, after living in exile in England. "He decided when he got back to American he was going to purchase a printing press. So in 1845, a Black man with a printing press was on the cutting edge of technology. That's how he began broadening his reach. So, if he were here today, he would have a podcast, a website, and DVD's as communication mechanisms. There are lot of things that need to be done in contemporary America, and I think he would be following his premise."

Dressing as middle class free Blacks of the 1800's, the Douglass' work hard to correct misconceptions such as the belief that all Blacks were slaves and that few Blacks, especially women, were involved in the abolitionist movement. For instance, Douglass IV's great-great grandmother, Anne, was a free woman who encouraged her husband to eventually buy his freedom.

"Part of our overall mission is to let people know that not everybody during the 1800's was a slave," says Douglass IV. "There were those who were born free and there were those who purchased their freedom and became professionals. We want to dispel that kind of mythology so when we go out we dress in finery. My wife dresses in the latest fashions of the 1800's, which women would have done, and I wear a tuxedo and top hat."

Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey Douglass was a dashing man who was
very conscious of his overall representation to both Blacks and whites. For example, although photography was in its infancy during the height of Douglass fame, he was aware of the influence of photos and was cautious to never smile in any pictures of himself because he did not want his likeness abused.

"He was very conscious of the presentation of Black folks was, in that day it was generally buffooness, and so he did not smile because he did not want his image misused in anyway. He felt that if he did smile than someone could put captions or in some way make a joke out of it," said Douglass IV, a professional photographer, as well.

"This was really at the beginning of the use of photography. He had a printing press, but he was also very conscious of the image, so he allowed his photograph to be taken and distributed so that Black people an image of a Black person that was positive in the home. He was right in on it and he saw the power of it and he used it effectively. "

Today, Douglass' role as the father of the Civil Rights Movement is sadly overlooked said Bryant. "I applaud and share with my audiences the content of Fredrick Douglass' speech and wish only that he were alive today to revise and to perhaps make even more strident the content in his magnificent ability for oration."

Likewise, Douglass IV recalled an incident "when a young man asked him what he could do to help change society. (Douglass) responded with three words: 'Agitate, agitate, agitate.'"

Lifestyle/Leisure/Literature

...So “Beautifully Human”

2006-08-30T19:48:00.000-04:00

By Bobbi Booker

It was four years ago this summer when poet Jill Scott quietly released her debut collection, “Who is Jill Scott?: Words and Sounds Vol.1” In the time that’s passed since the North Philadelphia posed that question to the world, Scott has proven to be a musical force to be reckoned with.

“Beautifully Human: Words and Sounds Vol.2” is her third release and the follow-up to her smash debut, which sold over 2 million copies—and is still selling strong. Scott took time off to settle in with her beloved husband, Lyzell Williams, fix up her new home and play with her pet cat. Although a lot of press has been given to Scott’s two-year absence, she was still quietly getting busy in the studio and was featured on several cd’s, including The Roots’ “Phrenology,” saxophonist Jeff Bradshaw’s “Bone Deep” and Kindred the Family soul’s debut.

Scott also took the time necessary to nurture the seeds to what will be hailed as one of the best albums of 2004. Human focuses on the woman that Scott has become. The reflections that she offers in this collection will strike close to the hearts of listeners, as was already demonstrated on her recent 9-city “Buzz Tour.”

Scott has proven that she is not the average girl when it comes to her artistic talent. First of all, she described herself as a poet and that is fully demonstrated in Human’s 17-song offering. From the intro, which begins were Scott ended in 2000 with the closing notes of “He Loves Me (Lyzell In E Flat),” she welcomes the audience into her world. The first single, “Golden,” is a high-stepping affirmation of self-determination that already has women, young and old alike, singing along with a smile.

This collection is chockfull of gems, some of which will be deemed instant classics. “Family Reunion” will be rocked at family gatherings for the next couple of decades because of Scott’s dead-on observations of the different personalities that make everyone’s families unique. Family unity is a major part of Scott’s message throughout this collection and Scott reaches out to her universal Black family to embrace African American men young and old on “The Fact Is (I Need You)” and “Rasool.”

Although marriage is paramount throughout “Human” and there are several standouts that are unique in their reflection of Scott’s prior relationships. In “Bedda at Home,” Scott toys with the idea of a fine man that makes her “want to pull single dollars out my pocketbook,” but she declines because her man is so much more. Scott also makes an unusual move for a female artist on “Can’t Explain” when she admits she was wrong in treating her lover badly and apologizes for her transgressions.

Scott strikes gold with “talk to Me,” a tune about a woman trying to get her man to discuss their problems. The words are simple, but the adventure Scott’s band takes as the song goes from one end of the jazz spectrum to the other, finally exploding with a big band flurry of sound, is incredible.

Although Scott has a Grammy for her work as co-writer for The Root’s “You Got Me,” she was merely nominated for her debut collection. In February, watch for Scott’s

“Beautifully Human” to collect a bevy of awards for this groundbreaking artist.

Originally published 8.31.04

-30-

...The Quiet Legends

2006-08-30T19:44:00.000-04:00

By Bobbi Booker

Edward 'Chick' Davis played pool in his native South Philadelphia
during an era when America's most roguish sport earned legitimacy and
popularity via its successful stars, including Minnesota Fats and
Willie Mosconi—both of whom played against Chick during his formidable
years. Playing in pool halls across the country Davis frequently
encountered discrimination and had to fight for his right to play as
an equal. This experience motivated him to invest his winnings into
opening three of his own pool halls on South Street in Philadelphia.

Recently, the 98-year-old pool hall marvel joined family and friends
in witnessing the dedication of the "Tribute to Edward 'Chick' Davis"
mural next to the site of one of his pool hall sites at 1418 South
Street. Painted by John Lewis, the mural celebrates Davis' legacy as a
pioneering business leader, entrepreneur, and community activist.
Davis started playing billiards at the Christian Street Y and went on
to become a national championship caliber player.

"This was a man who was multi-talented, but this was where he kind of
made a renowned mark because he played people like Minnesota Fats,
Willie Mosconi, who were legends who got a lot of recognition," said
son Edward Davis, III. "Here's a man who played Ralph Greenleaf for
the national championship just before Jackie Robinson broke into the
national league. So, he was a first."

The dedication featured a special performance by the CAPA Dance
Company, under the direction of LaDeva M. Davis, Chair of the Dance
Department and Chick Davis' daughter. Davis, one of the legends two
children, spearheaded the efforts to recognize her father's
contributions to the sport of billiards and his hometown. Chick was
instrumental in keeping clean a sport that was usually played in smoky
bars and on late nights where a win was just as dangerous as a loss.

"Until people discovered that Queen Cleopatra had a pool table in her
abode, they thought that pool was a dirty sport," said Davis. "And my
father did a lot to clean it up. He made sure that there were no
drugs, alcohol or anything illicit in his pool halls. Women were
welcome to come and partake of the sport. He gave lessons. He would
sit and impart his knowledge of all that he'd went through in his
lifetime."

Davis explained that her father was a basketball player, but turned to
pool to support his growing family. In addition to his contribution to
the sport of billiards, Davis spent most of his lifetime with his
south Philly childhood sweetheart, LaDeva Davis, who died at age 93 in
2004 after 75 years of marriage. "The big deal is that there are
people here that love my Dad and who have known my Dad for years, or
who love my Dad because of what he stands for and have only just met
him in the last 2, 3, 5 years."

Amos Florence "Process" Junior, who owns a South Street barbershop of
the same name, was among the 100 guests gathered for the dedication.
In addition to sharing a longtime friendship with Davis, Florence has been
similarly honored with a mural in West Philly. "We go back to the days
where his grandfather taught me how to be a barber," said Florence.
"I learned to cut hair in the '40s and I've owned a shop since then."

The Mural Arts Program director Jane Golden excitedly announced that
the Davis wall painting was number 2,659 in a series indoor and
outdoor murals in Philadelphia, more than any other city in the world.
"Everyone, I have to say, was universally thrilled and enthused about
this project," said Golden. "I know I'm biased, but standing here
today and looking at this beautiful image I want to say to you that
murals have a distinct kind of power. It's their size; it's their
scale; it's the way they surprise us when we're coming up the street.
But more important than that, it's a way of holding on to our stories
(and) to our history. Murals are about our dreams and our aspirations;
our struggles and our heroes, (and about) the people who meant
something to us."

The Philadelphia Mural Arts Program (MAP) started 25 years ago as part
of the Anti-Graffiti Network (PAGN), a citywide initiative to
eradicate destructive graffiti and address neighborhood blight. Today,
Philadelphia is nationally and internationally recognized as America's
"City of Murals."

"I feel very honored to be part of the tradition of bringing art to
all the citizens in this city," said Golden. "Art is not a luxury: it
is a necessity. And the fact that so many people in this city can walk
by, drive by, run by mural of this scale and complexity is wonderful."

With a sparkle in his eye, the senior Davis kissed the hands of ladies
he was introduced to, but said little as his friends moved him around
gingerly to keep him cool during the dedication.

"Thank you," he said as he gazed at the mural. "I like it very much."

-30-

Coming home...

2006-08-28T02:32:00.000-04:00

http://www.phila-tribune.com/channel/images/082506/EdBradley82506.gif

By Bobbi Booker

Ed Bradley is among the Philadelphia natives returning home to promote the regional arts and culture scene in an initiative to boost support of Philadelphia art and artists with a series of ads scheduled to begin airing next month.

The advertising campaign is the brainchild of philanthropist H. F. “Gerry” Lenfest and will feature Bradley along with fellow Philadelphians Peter Boyle, David Brenner, Blythe Danner, Kevin Eubanks, Jack Klugman, Al Martino, Cheri Oteri and Parker Stevenson.

“I’m very grateful to the Philadelphia celebrities who came forward to support Philadelphia arts in this effort,” said Lenfest. “Their contribution of time and talent will help bring more attention to the arts.”

The year-long television campaign supports eleven major arts organizations: American Theatre Arts for Youth, Broadway at the Academy, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Kimmel Center Presents, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Ballet, Peter Nero and the Philly Pops, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Philadelphia Orchestra and Philadanco.

“We all could not afford the kind of coverage we get,” said Joan Myers Brown, artistic director, Philadanco. “So having someone upfront it for us and make sure that it happens means a lot to Philadanco.”

The campaign, which began through a three-year commitment from Lenfest in 2002, has been extended through Spring 2008 and will air over $5 million in television airtime during the campaign’s tenure. The goal is to increase the attendance of a culturally diverse audience at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Academy of Music and the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. In past years, the star-studded ads have featured vocalist Patti Labelle, dancer Judith Jamison and actor Kevin Bacon.

“The arts are important and Philadelphia is important – it’s my hometown,” says Bradley in one of the current commercials. “I’m always happy to support the arts in Philadelphia. This is a chance for me to say, ‘Hey, come out and watch what’s happening in Philly.’”

In another ad, actress Blythe Danner states that, “Growing up in Philadelphia and being surrounded by the arts was an extraordinary experience. Without the arts we are empty. The arts give us tremendous spirit and life force.”

Lenfest is a media entrepreneur who sold his media holdings to Comcast in 2000 for over $1 billion.

“We sold our company in 2000 and came into a lot of money and had to figure out what we were going to do with the money,” said Lenfest. “We decided to create a television and cable advertising campaign to promote not just the institutions, but to support people buying tickets to come to the event.”

Like each arts group featured, Philadanco has selected premier performances or events that will be highlighted in the ads during the 2006-2007 arts season.

“It’s really important that we get the kind of exposure that we wouldn’t ordinarily get, cause you know as an African-American organization we definitely couldn’t afford it,” said Myers Brown. “There’s a network much larger that we need to b e attracting to our performance, so it really works for us.”

“The media companies have all been great, the celebrities are great and it’s all coming together where they all work together to promote attendance to events in the Philadelphia region,” said Lenfest of the four-year-old campaign. “So it’s been a big success.”
The new series of television commercials were screened earlier this week at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and are scheduled to begin airing Sept. 5.

The NY Times, as they say 'round the way, swags big time...

2006-08-20T01:24:00.000-04:00

By Bobbi Booker
The Book Report

"We don't choose to review books based on the size of the book tour. If we did that we would have Harlequin romances on the cover every week."

...NY Times' reponse as to why it did not do a formal book review during Tavis Smiley's historic 13 weeks as a NYTimes best seller.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

For more than a dozen weeks, Tavis Smiley's "The Covenant for Black
America" has been firmly ensconced in the top five of the New York
Times' list of nonfiction paperback books. The book has proven to be a
publishing phenomena since it is the first nonfiction book by an African
American publisher to reach and top the best-seller list. Yet, for all
its success, the New York Times has yet to do a formal review of the
text.

"The only mention of the book was in a sidebar," said author and
Princeton professor Eddie S. Glaude Jr. The "sidebar" Glaude referred
to is "Inside the list, " written by Dwight Garner, senior of the New
York Times Book Review. The column, says Garner, "is an explanation
of books that are on the best seller list and how well they're doing."

Smiley spearheaded "The Covenant" project and edited the text that
essentially gathers six years' worth of national symposiums in a
collection of essays that plot a course for African Americans. "The
Covenant" book is divided into 10 chapters outlining key issues and
primary concerns that affect Black Americans--from health to housing,
from crime to criminal justice, from education to economic parity. The text
features a collection of essays by contributors Dr. David Satcher,
former U.S. surgeon general; Wade Henderson, executive director of the
Leadership Conference on Civil Rights; Angela Glover Blackwell,
founder of the research think tank PolicyLink; and Cornel West,
professor of Religion at Princeton University.

The popularity of the book, published by Third World Press, the
nation's oldest independent African American book publisher, has been
spurred primarily by talk radio, church congregations and plain old
word-of-mouth. According to Smiley, the first stop of his national
tour drew over 5,000 people in Houston, TX. Since then upwards of
30,000 people have come out to support the book's 10-point message.

"In the book review we don't review phenomenas as much as we review
books," said Garner explaining that "the process here is subjective
and we miss good books all the time."

"Tavis Smiley is terrific at what he does," said Garner. "He's a very
smart man, but we don't choose to review books based on the size of
the book tour. If we did that we would have Harlequin romances on the
cover every week."

Gould charges that inadequate coverage of this book by the mainstream
media is another example of America poking its head in the sand in
regards to race relations. "It's not just a phenomenon on the New York
Times best seller list," charged Gould. "Mainstream America doesn't
have a clue. I don't know if mainstream white America has an idea that
a Black reading public is sitting around thinking and talking and
debating these issues and preparing themselves to engage in a much
more robust example of what it means to be a citizen."

Smiley says this book explores the possibility of hope and strength
will help leaders and citizens keep Black America moving forward.

"Our impact has been widely felt," said Smiley. "As best we can track
this, what we now see is that given the mainstream exposure the book
has received there are people outside of our community who are
embracing the text. (Others races) are embracing it because if you
took the word 'Black' out of this book, what you have is a
comprehensive, progressive agenda for making America better. That
should surprise any of us because that is what our history is and part
of our contribution to this country. Black folk have always been the
conscious of this country. The success of the civil rights movement
empowered all kinds of people. The strength that we had to love anyway
empowers and continues to empower all kinds of folk outside of our
community domestically and internationally."

The African American community continues to experience devastating
social disparities, including the more than 8 million people who live
in poverty. "There are a lot of Black folk who believe that a piece of
Black America died on that balcony with Dr. King in Memphis 38 years
ago. There are many folk in our community since then who have been
wondering 'Where is the game plan? The guidebook? Where's the blue
print or the agenda for how we, in a post-King world, can make Black
America better.' We don't just live in a post-King world; we live in a
post- (hurricane) Katrina World. On the other side o this hurricane
there are many more people asking 'how do we take control of our own
destiny?' That's where this text comes in. This is the first time that
we've had a blue print, a guide book if you will, for how we advance
our communities on any number of fronts. The book really lays out the
top 10 issues of importance to Black people and tries to provide a
framework for how we can advance our community."

While the message contained within "The Covenant" is resounding
through the African American community, mainstream media may be forced
to eventually deal with it.

"I wanted to say to, that when books become this big we do sometimes take a second look at them and I think
this is the case where it's possible where we'll be doing that," said
Garner in a return call clarifying his earlier statements. "I can't
say for sure, but it does influence our decision sometimes where books
catch on with a larger public and I think it's something we'll think
hard about."

"Tavis Smiley has a profound faith in the possibility of everyday,
ordinary Black folk and the Covenant with Black America demonstrates,
illustrates and exemplifies that faith in a way we've hardly ever seen
before," said Glaude. "And what follows will only make our ancestors
smile."

Originally appeared in the Philadelphia Tribune May 7, 2006

-30-

Recalling the Civil War

2006-08-20T01:21:00.000-04:00

Recalling the Civil War

by Bobbi Booker

The Book Report

When the Civil War broke out in 1861, free Blacks and runaway slaves in the North rushed to sign-up with Union armies. Many were told it was a white man’s war and turned away. Two years passed before African-American men got their chance to fight.

The background for the formation of Camp William Penn in the present day LaMott section of Cheltenham Township, Montgomery County, dates back to July 17, 1862, when Congress amended The Militia Act of 1792. The amendment granted President Washington the autonomy “to employ as many persons of African descent as he may deem necessary for the suppression of the rebellion.” It further stated, “for this purpose, he may organize and use them in such manner as he may judge best for the public welfare.”

Camp William Penn has the unique distinction of being the only military ground set up exclusively to train Black troops, drawing recruits from Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey. The campsite was located near the present-day Cheltenham Mall and was the largest of 18 Civil War training facilities in the nation.

Comprised of over 10,000 men, 11 regiments of U.S. Colored Troops were trained on the site. The regiments – 3rd, 6th, 8th, 22nd, 24th, 25th, 32nd, 41st, 43rd, and 127th – were the first of African descent, under the authorization for a two-tier compensation system, to receive a $10 monthly service and clothing allotment. Recruits arrived at the campsite June 26, 1863. Many went on to fight in Virginia, South Carolina, Florida and elsewhere.

In recent years a missing page from history has revealed that Philadelphia, long known as the nation’s Cradle of Liberty, is also the starting point for the country’s oldest African-American holiday.

Two years prior to Juneteenth, Philadelphia was the first city to host the first African in America Parade in the United States. This parade consisted of several hundred African Americans marching without arms or uniforms in file with drums, carrying inspiring banners as they headed towards the first training site for the troops.

Camp William Penn’s mission was to train Black soldiers to save the Union, free the enslaved and reunite families. The army of Black men played a pivotal role in aiding the Union in its defeat of the Confederate Army. The unit tracked Cmdr. General Robert Lee and contributed to his surrender in Appomattox, Va.

Soldiers from the camp’s 22nd Infantry located and captured President Lincoln’s assassin and conspirators on the Eastern shores of Maryland. After passage of the Emancipation Proclamation, the soldiers went from state to state to free Blacks who, unaware of the bill, were still being held as slaves.

It was those troops that marched to the Alston Villa in Galveston, Texas, and surrounded the Alston Villa on Juneteenth – June 19, 1865. Gen. Gordon Granger took charge of the state of Texas and informed the nation’s last remaining slaves of their freedom, almost two and a half years after Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. Celebrations of Juneteenth began the following year and continue to this day.

The camp was recognized for its vital importance to the Union’s war effort and distinct mission. Lincoln’s decision to encourage African-American enlistment during the Civil War marked a great departure from prior administrations. About 180,000 African Americans served in the Union Army and more than 15,000 joined the Union Navy. The recruits who trained at Camp William Penn served in the Army. The camp was situated on land previously owned by the well-known Quaker abolitionist Lucretia Mott family, who noted, “The barracks make a show from our back window.”

Many of Camp William Penn’s recruits were decorated for their bravery and valor. The camp closed Aug. 14, 1865.

-30-

Prince of the Perennial

2006-08-20T01:14:00.000-04:00

By Bobbi Booker
The Book Report

...I love my 'ladies'

James Stanley is not your ordinary gardener. Whether he’s cleaning up and beautifying vacant lots in West Philadelphia or planting flowers throughout the Mann Center’s 13-acre property, Stanley gives more than 100 percent to his passion. As a result, his gardens flourish along with the community around them.

Stanley owns S-Kids Auto Body in West Philadelphia, but more than anything he’s committed to his community. Having grown up on a farm in Macon, Ga., he says working in the soil makes him most comfortable.

“That has escalated into what it is now,” he explained. “I started with a little lot beside my shop, and in doing this little lot it sort of got to the point that every time I see a little space I wanted to beatify it.”

In 1991, Stanley moved to his new home in the Parkside community. Although he sought to maintain his business as an auto body professional, he encountered resistance from the neighborhood.

“When moving to Parkside I had made some promises of the things that I would do to win the people over, because they did not want a body shop in here,” he said. “So I had to fight for it.”

In the course of his battles he met and befriended Ella Francis, then the founding president of the Parkside Association. Stanley committed to a beautification plan for the neighborhood.

The plan literally blossomed into a series of formerly blighted lots that Stanley transformed into magnificent gardens. In addition to landscaping the Mann Center, Stanley has two other standout gardens.

The Ella Francis Garden at 5200 Parkside is semi-private, while another plot at 52 nd and Jefferson is open at all times.

Stanley started on the Jefferson Street garden first in 1993, but when a neighboring building collapsed and partially destroyed it he started working on the Parkside location.

Both locations have won first-place awards from the Horticultural Society, and Stanley is proud to note that one of the three gardens he created on Parkside Avenue is featured on a city tour list.

“I call him ‘The Father of Parkside,’” said the garden’s namesake, Ella Francis.

As a community activist Francis spent years helping the residents of Parkside renovate their neighborhood. She also served as a board member of Philadelphia Green, the nation’s largest urban greening program, supporting community gardens, urban parks and public landscapes.

The vacant lot that was converted into the Ella Francis Garden in the 1980s initially was a senior citizen vegetable garden and sitting area. When Stanley agreed to take over its care, Frances said she was delighted.

“Since then it has been out of sight, because his imagination and creativity have made it most outstanding,” said Francis. “It is now a place we can proudly say to people who come in the area to go by and take a look at it.

It was the garden’s outstanding beauty that caught the eye of a Parkside area businessman five years ago.

When Peter B. Lane, president and CEO of The Mann Center for the Performing Arts, met Stanley at a West Parkside Culture and Opportunity Center board meeting, he shared with him the needs at The Mann. Stanley responded immediately by walking the grounds of the Mann Center and making a landscape proposal. Lane was so impressed, he hired him immediately and has been singing his praises ever since.

“We are so lucky to have Mr. Stanley as part of our team at the Mann. He has made a tremendous impact on the center by adding so much beauty to our grounds,” said Lane. “His passion for horticulture has been shared with thousands of visitors, and his contribution to the West Philadelphia community is invaluable.”

Stanley formed another company – Urban Scapes Inc. in West Philadelphia – and hired a crew to assist him as the sole landscaper at The Mann Center for the Performing Arts in Fairmount Park for the last five years.

He and his crew maintain the center’s sprawling lawns; he designs and plants flower beds and places large flowerpots along the walkways and dreams about the lushness he can maintain on this vast property. It’s a year-round job for Stanley, too. In the winter he plows snow and even helps out doing handyman’s work.

It is apparent that gardening is his first love.

“I would buy something to plant, before I would buy food,” Stanley said. And as proof of his dedication, he has been known to stay at the Mann Center past midnight on many occasions to water his greenery.

“I love my plants. And water is the life of them!” he said.

Stanley’s passion for gardening is matched only by his commitment to the community. Over the last 15 years, he has taken it upon himself to beautify several vacant lots in his Parkside neighborhood. He also has mentored many youngsters, who have worked for him by keeping the neighborhood clean –picking up trash and planting in the empty lots – to earn a few extra dollars.

“A lot of the kids were not used to the beauty here,” said Stanley. “For me, giving something back to the neighborhood, bringing the kids in here to work with this beauty, gives them something else to do besides walking back and forth to the store.”

Stanley, 59, is no stranger to hard work.

In Georgia he and his family grew corn, peanuts, potatoes and other crops, and raised pigs, chickens and other animals.

In 1967, he followed his sweetheart to Philadelphia, where they were married. Although now divorced, he’s a dedicated father to six children.

At his body shop at 52 nd and Heston streets in West Philadelphia, Stanley specializes in custom paint jobs.

When he’s not juggling the work of two businesses, he travels to Georgia, where he helps care for his elderly mother.

“As I was thinking about this, I figured it was coming out of me in my late age,” mused Stanley. “But the love of gardening has always been there; the love of flowers and the beauty of flowers.”

Today, to step into the Ella Francis Garden is like a stepping into a wonderful picture book. There are colors and fragrant blossoms everywhere as yellow and white butterflies flutter about. Two ponds full of lily pads and frogs sits at the garden edge and are home to dozens of goldfish and koi – as well as ally cats which, if they can avoid the traps, like to fish there.

A peach tree bearing dozens of the fruits is also home to a gaggle of Junebugs suckling on its sweet nectar. The formerly uprooted weeping willow has been restored, offering cool shaded comfort to visitors.

“It’s a beautiful sanctuary and it’s transformed our community,” said longtime resident Yvette Smalls. “As you go by you get this sense of peace and feel in touch with nature. I’m impressed with it. I’m in awe every time I see it.

Stanley’s gardens are home not only to the usual annuals and perennials, but exotic plants as well, including 12-foot-high elephant’s ear plants that have been recognized as the city’s tallest.

“There’s a lot of hidden beauty that people don’t even know is here,” said Stanley.

The gardens give him comfort from the stress of his regular workdays.

“I need something to play around with and let off my frustrations,” said Stanley, who has nicknamed the flowers his “ladies

“I love my ‘ladies,’” says Stanley as his stands amid the flowers. “I try to be good to them and they’re good to me.”

Remembering Rufus Harley: The Chief Musician

2006-08-13T21:19:00.000-04:00

Musicians remember one-of-a-kind colleague

By BOBBI BOOKER

Tribune Staff Writer

The haunting drones of bagpipes were silenced on August 1st, 2006 when pioneering jazz artist Rufus Harley, 70, died of complications from prostate cancer. Regionally, residents recognized him for the countless funerals and parades he led as the world’s first jazz bagpiper. Globally, he is known for his skills as a world-class musician and tireless ambassador for his city and country.

Harley was on a lifelong spiritually quest that often manifested itself in his presentations of miniature Liberty Bell replicas to dignitaries and blasting his gospel of unity through the international language of music.

“I could hear the sound of the bagpipe through my soul,” said Harley to an earlier interviewer.

Born May 20, 1936 in Raleigh, NC, of African-American and Cherokee descent, Harley was a unique man and longtime Germantown resident.. Harley’s career as a promising young jazz saxophonist and flutist was transformed during the November 1963 funeral of President John F. Kennedy when he heard the solemn sounds of regimental bagpipers of the Black Watch, a Scottish infantry division of the British Army. The continuous sustained and haunting sounds of the instrument intrigued him and he went looking for bagpipes, and finally found a set in a New York pawnshop for $120.

His initial performances on the traditionally Scottish instrument brought a mixed reaction from jazz lovers who had watched him blossom under the tutelage of Dennis Sandole, who also taught several other Philadelphia jazz musicians.

“The bagpipe was sort of a novelty thing that brought him to the attention of the public, but he was a master musician on the other instruments also,” WRTI-FM’s Bob Perkins. “I really appreciated him as a musician,” said the longtime jazz radio host. “He played the saxophone and the flute fabulously.”

“Not only was he a great bagpiper, he was a great musician,” said Lovett Hines, Director of Education Program at the Clef Club. “Rufus could have gone anyplace and he elected to stay here in Philadelphia.

Harley fathered 10 children, including his protégé, trumpeter Messiah Harley 31. “He was a true soldier in terms of making people happy and traveling the world,” recalled Messiah. “He never cried or complained about his situation. He always did the gigs on time.”

The younger Harley recalled how his father prepared him to be a musician at age twelve, when he first started playing trumpet with his father. “The one thing that impressed me with Rufus was his relationship with Messiah, his son,” recalled Hines. During Harley’s last two weeks, father and son spoke every day.

From 1965 to 1970 Harley released several recordings as leader on the Atlantic label, also recording as a sideman with Herbie Mann, Sonny Stitt, and Sonny Rollins in the 1960s and 1970s. During the height of Harley’s career in the late 1960s and early 70s, he traveled the world performing and was a frequent guest on the poplar talk and games shows of the time, including “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson,” “The Mike Douglas Show and “What’s My Line.

30 years later, Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson of The Roots saw Harley’s appearance on television and told MOJO magazine he was stunned. “I was watching the Arsenio Hall Show one night. He had Rufus up against a juggler, treating him like a freak. The next day we were recording and I mentioned it. My manager said, ‘Rufus is probably in the phone book.’ I called, and an hour later he was in the studio. Hearing the pipes played in person was damn near religious.” It is the evocative drone of Harley’s bagpipe that is recorded as the opening notes to the title track of The Roots 1994 hit album “Do You Want More?!!!??!”.

Harley’s innovation use and playing of the bagpipe has been heralded universally for both its technique and simultaneous merging if disparate cultures.

“Rufus was a mystic. He was our brother and our ancestor at the same time while he was here,” explains international saxophonist Foster Child. “To play an instrument like the bagpipes you have you had definitely had to come from a different time. I believe he was incarnated to bring bagpipes into modern day times. For instance, he extended the language of the bagpipe by trick fingering--creating different fingering--to come up with different notes that normally would not be played on the bagpipes.”

Harley had become visibly thinner in recent months, but still maintained a busy playing schedule. The jazz bagpiper played until last Monday afternoon, just mere hours before his death the next day from a cancer he had disclosed to no one--not even his son. Until the end, Harley was only concerned about the next gig, even instructing his son to pick him up from the hospital on time. “He never tuned down a gig or a show for anybody,” said Messiah.

“He was American icon,” said Kenneth Gamble, co-founder of Philadelphia International Records. “He’ll be missed all over the world, and especially in Philadelphia. When you think about him you can hear those bagpipes playing.”

Former gang member reaches teens through sports

2006-08-13T20:59:00.000-04:00

Oxford Street reunion ignites team spirit

Former gang member reaches teens through sports

By Bobbi Booker

Tribune Staff Writer

The street gangs that proliferated in North Central Philadelphia in the ’70s had a huge impact on residents and left a mammoth legacy. Many of these gangs were enormous and meticulously organized. Today, as political leaders and residents tackle the murder epidemic, one former gang member says the solution is easy: sports.

“We may be able to stop some of the violence that is going on in the city if we focus on a lot of physical things like baseball, basketball boxing and all the sports where there’s physical contact with our youth,” said Fred “Herk” Jenkins.

Jenkins and some of his fellow former gang members organize an annual reunion in what was formally enemy territory. Tomorrow, the highlight of their community picnic will be the baseball games featuring “Old Heads vs. The Young Bucks.” Although the longtime Oxford Street area resident has only recently learned the sport of baseball, he sees its overall benefit to the neighborhood youth he counsels at the Athletic Recreation Center.

“Baseball is a way to build neighborhood unity and decrease violence among the youth,” said Jenkins, 50. “I’ve come to find out it is one of the best sport you can have when dealing with kids personality-wise because they have to be patient; they got to hold their frustration in and they got to perform and deal with the ups and downs of the game without lashing out.”

As a young teen, Jenkins was a member of the Oxford Street gang, one of nearly a dozen area gangs surrounding the Athletic Recreation Center at 26th and Master streets. Eventually, the sports programs at the center appealed to Jenkins more than his gang clique.

“I started in the recreation center first as a gang member causing trouble, then as a student of amateur boxing,” recalled Jenkins.

Jenkins went on to coach a couple of world boxing champions including Olympian David Reed, Zahir Rahim, Charlie “Choo Choo” Brown and “Rockin’” Rodney Moore.

“I basically raised all these guys and a whole lot of other kids who come out of this recreation center,” Jenkins said.

Jenkins says many of the former gang members have mellowed over the years and have all committed to a sense of personal and community responsibility.

“When you read the newspaper you only read what’s negative that’s going on in that area. For one negative thing in our area, there’s a hundred good things that’s going on,” said Jenkins. “There’s a whole lot of champions in our community that nobody talks about. “

Jack Franklin passes the torch...

2006-08-13T20:51:00.000-04:00

By BOBBI BOOKER

Tribune Staff Writer

Born in North Philadelphia in 1922, Jack Franklin began taking photographs at age 10 at his sister’s suggestion.

“In 1932, my sister (Eloise) went to the Chicago World’s Fair and brought me back a camera,” he said, “and I been stuck with a camera ever since.”

His sister was not pleased with Franklin’s first job.

“My sister never liked the idea of me being a junkman,” Franklin recalled. “But I was a good junkman. I was making money. And I learned through knowing how to pick out junk what was good and what was bad.

“I knew how to sort stuff in my head, so when I started shooting pictures I knew what was good and what was bad. So it segued from that to being a photographer.”

The half-million photos and negatives Franklin has donated to the African American Museum in Philadelphia document national celebrities as well as ordinary folks.

He photographed key moments during the Civil Rights movement, including the activities of Martin Luther King, Sidney Poitier, Julie and Harry Belafonte, James Baldwin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Andy Williams and the Rev. Leon Sullivan; the March on Washington in 1963, the Selma to Montgomery March in 1965 and the Girard College protests in Philadelphia that led to its desegregation.

He took photos for periodicals such as Sepia, Nite Life and The Philadelphia Tribune, where he documented the region’s Black social life and its lively music scene.

Franklin developed what he calls a “third eye,” and was lauded for his photographic work from the start of his career.

“The way I treat photography is different from how other people treat it,” he explained. “Most of the time people go and get up in their faces and take pictures of them. The idea is to photograph what they’re doing.

“The atmosphere of the surroundings is very important because that’s telling you what year, so when you see a picture you can say, ‘Oh that was taken in the ’30s.’ That’s the purpose of photography: the main reason is to identify.

“ And that’s why instead of being a writer I chose to be a photographer. ’Cause you can write anything you want, but sometimes we flavor things to set our feelings at that particular time. With the camera, you can make it lie, but you can tell the truth with it too.”

Today, Franklin is recognized as one of America’s greatest living photographers. He continues to be known for his vast body of work now housed at the African American Museum of Philadelphia,

Currently the museum is presenting an exhibit of 14 young photographers entitled “Shootout: Reverberating the Sprit and Legacy of Jack T. Franklin”. These photographers had eight-weeks to follow in Franklin’s footsteps by capturing images from their communities.

“It is through his sprit and legacy that these young people shoot, and they document what’s going on, not just in the African American community as it relates to Philadelphia, but the African Diaspora community,” explains exhibit curator Shantrelle Lewis.

At the exhibit’s preview, the 84-year-old Franklin proved that he still had a sharp eye. As hr reviewed each of the images on the wall, he offered gentle advice and guidance to each of the young exhibitors.

One of the first images he praised belonged to first-time exhibitor (and Tribune staff photographer) Marissa Weekes.

“I think we can credit Jack with breaking down barriers,” said Weekes, 27. “Barriers is race and barriers is also gender and the fact the that 12 of the 14 photographers in this exhibit are female speaks to the struggle that Jack made so that we could be here.”

Freelance photographer Sarah Stefana Smith, 24, was drawn to photography by “a desire to articulate what I couldn’t say in words.”

Smith studied sociology at Spellman University and applies her study to her craft of photography.

“A lot of my interest lies in doing social documentation and that would be using photography as a means to document what’s going on,” she explained. “What people do, what we sort of take for granted and using that as a way to speak to different communities.”

Ayana Jackson, 29, was just back in the U.S. after spending three years traveling the globe documenting the stories of African descendents, especially those in South America.

“Since 2002, I’ve dedicated myself to looking at and discovering increasing visibility amongst Afro descedents in Latin America,” said Jackson, who usually pairs her exhibits with photography workshops. “I’m teaching photography to young Afro-descendent youths with the hopes of trying to get more photography coming from the first-person perspective as far as these communities are concerned.

“You have photographers, like myself, who are always going to be an outsider, so I want to get some of these young people to start documenting their own culture.”

Although the exhibit will not feature Franklin’s work, Lewis says the exhibit’s overall goal is to create intergenerational dialogue.

“Oftentimes we hear about the accomplishments of so many people from past generations, so the question then is, What is your generation doing?” said Lewis. “It’s just very exciting to see young people documenting what’s happening in 2006 in our communities so it can serve as a living legacy for that are to follow.”

When it comes to photography, Franklin may be sitting on the sidelines, but he’s not out of the game. During the course of his career he’s worked with various formats and is anxious to start shooting digital pictures.

“I got to learn how to do digital. I understand it. I just don’t do it yet.”

“Shootout: Reverberating the Sprit and Legacy of Jack T. Franklin” will be on exhibit at the African American Museum of Philadelphia, 701 Arch St. through Nov. 19. For more information, call (215) 574-0380

Ni**a, Pleeze!! Part III

2006-03-06T20:25:00.000-05:00

Actor Tries to Trademark ‘N’ Word

By Rogers Cadenhead
AP/Reuters

The actor Damon Wayans has been engaged in a 14-month fight to trademark the term “Nigga” for a clothing line and retail store, a search of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s online database reveals.

Wayans wants to dress customers in 14 kinds of attire from tops to bottoms, and use the controversial mark on “clothing, books, music and general merchandise,” as well as movies, TV and the internet, according to his applications.

But, so far, his applications have been unsuccessful. Trademark examiner Kelly Boulton rejected the registration dated Dec. 22, citing a law that prohibits marks that are “immoral or scandalous.” A previous attempt by Wayans was turned down on identical grounds six months earlier.

“While debate exists about in-group uses of the term, ‘nigga’ is almost universally understood to be derogatory,” Boulton wrote to Wayans’ attorney, William H. Cox, according to the application.

Cox and other representatives of the actor did not respond to interview requests about the registration.
Wayans can appeal the rejection, but experts in trademark law differ on his chances for success.
Lynda Zadra-Symes, a trademark lawyer in California, said Wayans may be successful. She compared “Nigga” to the successful registration of Dykes on Bikes. The San Francisco Women’s Motorcycle Contingent fought the Trademark Office for three years to overturn an initial rejection of a Dykes on Bikes trademark. The mark was published Jan. 24.

“Because the application was by a group of lesbians it was eventually allowed to publish,” Zadra-Symes said.

“This is a great victory,” the group proclaimed on its website. “It affirms our right to determine who we are and how we present ourselves to the world.”

However, Tawnya Wojciechowski, another trademark attorney practicing in California, compared Wayans’ application to the ongoing legal case where Washington Redskins trademarks have been challenged by seven Native Americans. “They’re going to have a really tough time,” Wojciechowski predicted.

The word “nigga” is ubiquitous in hip-hop music, where it provides half of a rhyming couplet radio listeners never get to hear in the Grammy-winning song “Gold Digger” by Kanye West. Ol’ Dirty Bastard used the term 76 times in the 1999 album Nigga Please, not counting repetitions in a chorus. In January, an episode of the late-night Cartoon Network series Boondocks was criticized for putting the word in the mouth of a fictionalized Martin Luther King Jr.

The effort to commercialize “nigga” drew a sharp response from a black school official who participated in a forum about the word earlier this month at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro.

“I don’t care for it in any form,” said Dr. Lonnie Williams, associate vice chancellor for student affairs. “Either way you pronounce it, spell it, anything associated with it — I find it offensive.”

If Wayans succeeds in persuading the Trademark Office to permit the mark, he may have to deal with Keon Rhodan, a 29-year-old entrepreneur in Charleston, South Carolina, who has been using “Nigga” on a line of T-shirts, hoodies and other attire for six years in a part-time, trunk-of-his-car business. Rhodan attempted to register “Nigga’Clothing” as a trademark in 2001 and was denied by the Trademark Office.

“They said it was disparaging,” he said.

Rhodan, who is Black, said that he’s sold around 2,000 of the shirts at events. When he began selling the shirts, emblazoned with the term “Nigga,” he thought he would take criticism, especially from older people.

“I was in the mall with one of the shirts on, and an old lady said, ‘Where did you get that shirt from?’” he said, expecting the worst. “She followed me to the car and bought five shirts for her grandchildren.”

Rhodan believes that affectionate use of the term within the Black community should make it an acceptable mark, but the Trademark Office has thus far has not been persuaded by that argument.

“The very fact that debate is ongoing regarding in-group usage, shows that a substantial composite of African-Americans find the term ‘nigga’ to be offensive,” Boulton wrote in rejecting Wayans.

Though attempts to commercialize “Nigga” coincide with a generational shift in how the word is perceived, the clothing is still likely to test some boundaries, as Rhodan demonstrated in a phone interview.

“You couldn’t wear it,” he said.

The Good Sun is Here

2006-03-03T11:30:00.000-05:00

By Bobbi Booker
Tribune Staff Writer

Word Count: 761
Inch Count: 25

As an artist, Rah Crawford's combination of his love of pop imagery coupled with his keen intuitive insight has created a new form that required a new name to describe it. Using his trademarked style, Neoteric Pop-Iconic Clairvoyance, Crawford creates art for the high-speed information and multimedia culture by using inking techniques that date back to the ancients. Crawford, 33, says his work speaks the modern language of this generation in a way that great artists of the past have done for theirs.

"My goal as an artist is to define our modern generation through visual art. That sums up my mission as an artist on this planet. To define our modern generation you're dealing with everything from technology, politics, pop commercials is what my goal is as an artist. We haven't had an artist to do that since Andy Warhol. That's the connection that I share with Warhol is that it was his goal to define the 70s and 80s period through his art. He pretty much captured many of those elements from the pop culture to the sexual tensions of the time to the politics to marketing. It's been 20 years since we've had an artist to come from that angle and here I am 20 years later coming from that angle."

Crawford is much akin Warhol's approach in his approach to art and creativity. Like Warhol, Crawford has been an underground magazine publisher and has been involved in the multi-media aspects of music and video. He wants his unique visual approach to lead viewers deeper into the human psyche of life, love and culture. "Art isn't limited to the gallery walls. I like to call art shows art experiences because people come to them and experience them and they leave with a little something."

After last season's "Deus Ex Machina" exhibition, Crawford destroyed several paintings that weren't purchased and caused a strong reaction in both himself and the observing audience. "A couple of people were crying in the audience and I never experience anything like that in my life. As an artist I'm trying to go there, to that place, and reinvent what visual art is and as an artist, how we touch the public in general versus simply walking into a gallery and looking at paintings on the wall."

Crawford, a Germantown native, credits his parents as the impetus to his art career. His mother exposed him o he arts at a very young age and his father was an illustrator. "I knew that (art) was my calling since I was very young. I was always drawing, had sketch books, always kept a journal, always painted, ever since I was very young.

Crawford's fate as an artist was sealed when at age seven he saw his father do a quick sketch of his mother while she was cooking in the kitchen. "I was just blown away. I looked at her and I looked back at the paper and I couldn't believe that he had captured her right in front of my face on paper. That's when I knew I wanted to be an artist."

After studying for two years at the Arts Institute, Crawford modeled for a few years before turning his attention to his craft fulltime. Over the course of a decade he would go on develop his signature style. "The one thing I knew with my artwork was that it had to be a unique look or style. So unique that when you saw it after a while I didn't have to put my name on it.

Crawford creates powerful imagery like an ancient craftsman, primarily relying on ink and brush to develop his colorful, yet cryptic, work. Closer inspection of his work reveals coded messages and admonitions, words and phrases intertwined to form complex labyrinths of shape nestled within the figures delicate spaces. His work has inspired local fashion designer Belahshehu to create a men's fashion collection based on his paintings. In addition to several galleries world-wide, his work also hangs on he walls on some noted celebrities, including Outkast's Andre 3000, Jill Scott, and Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson.

"One of Warhol's famous quotes is that in the future everyone will be famous for 15 minutes," says Crawford. "I'm not looking for fame. My goal is to define our modern generation through my visual art. I believe time will tell. I have a strong work ethic and I believe it's about putting in the time and doing the work. I'm going be here for a while creating and looking to connect with people in unique and interesting ways."

-30-

--

Lifestyle/Leisure/Literature

Leaving Saturn

2005-12-19T03:56:00.000-05:00

By Bobbi Booker
(Originally published in The Philadelphia Tribune)

The ghetto: strong and determined, but sad in its struggle, has always suffered the agony of those who have viewed it as society's wasteland. But the urban essence of Philadelphia is beaming in "Leaving Saturn" from The University of Georgia Press, a powerful piece of work by poet and Philadelphia native Major Jackson.

Through both formal and free verse, Jackson renders poetic justice to the mechanism of everyday living. Jackson cut his teeth in the gritty streets of North Philadelphia where he witnessed the underbelly of the urban society.
In "Hoops" and "Euphoria" Jackson is brutally honest in his depiction of his street buddies and family. Jackson reminisces about girlfriends and dance steps in the three-part exchange entitled "Rock The Body Body." "Mr. Pate's Barbershop" elicits the memory of Saturday's spent in a barbershop waiting for a fresh do.

Jackson is now an English professor at Xavier University of Louisiana and was awarded the Cave Canem Poetry Prize for this ambitious and honest collection of verses. He has also earned degrees from Temple University and the University of Oregon.

A member of the Dark Room Collective, his poems have appeared in the American Poetry Review, Boulevard, Callaloo, and The New Yorker, among other journals. He is the recipient of many awards, including a Pew Fellowship in the Arts and commissions from the Chamber orchestra of Philadelphia.

The title of this collection is in honor of the deceased Sun Ra, an esoteric jazz performer who settled in Philadelphia to share his intergalactic view of the world. Music lovers are transported back in time to the pivotal performances of Sun Ra & Arkestra at Grendel's Lair or Don Pullen jamming at Zanzibar Blue.
Jackson demonstrates that he has the literary sensibilities to make the images of his life dance in your head. His poems hauntingly reflect urban decay and violence, yet at the same time they rejoice in the sustaining power of music and the potency of community. "Leaving Saturn" is a return to the poetry form made famous by the likes of Nikki Giovanni and Sonia Sanchez. As only a poet has the ability to do with just a few words, the resiliency and determination of a community clearly seeps through in this must-read collection.

Dig it.

Party's Over...again

2005-11-16T23:19:00.000-05:00

This & That
November 3- 9, 2005
City Beat

By Mary Patel
Philadelphia City Paper

Local author and former City Paper contributor Meredith Broussard has succeeded Bobbi Booker as the Philly Media Bistro host. Booker resigned from the volunteer position last August after creative differences between her and Media Bistro founder Laurel Touby.
Broussard is touring with her new book, The Encyclopedia of Exes, a compilation of 26 young men's accounts of lost loves and failed relationships with men and women. Men baring their soul in the book include Jonathan Lethem, Jonathan Ames and Neal Pollack.
Broussard does not suffer from any of her subjects' dilemmas. She was married last May to Penn sociologist David Grazian and they are expecting their first child.
"I want to continue the great work that Bobbi did," said Broussard. Her first Media Bistro event was held last month at O'Shea's and Broussard said it was well-attended. The next one is planned for December at World Café Live with a special guest.

Ni**a, Pleeze! Part II

2005-11-13T13:19:00.000-05:00

Nothing Hip in 'Boondocks' N-Word
By Earl Ofari Hutchinson, AlterNetPosted on November 11, 2005, Printed on November 13, 2005

http://www.alternet.org/story/28012/

Huck: "We Blowed out a cylinder head."
Aunt Sally: "Good gracious! Anbody hurt?"
Huck: No'm; killed a nigger."
Aunt Sally" We, it's lucky; because sometimes people do get hurt."
-- An Exchange in Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn

In a panel discussion at the Summer Television Critics Association tour this past summer, Aaron McGruder, creator of the popular comic strip, Boondocks, defiantly told the audience that he'll use the N-word as much as he pleases in episodes of the series on the Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. If folk don't like it, then they'll just have to get over. After all, everyone uses it.

He's right. Black comedians and rappers sprinkle the word throughout their rap lyrics and comedy lines, and Black writers, and filmmakers go through lengthy gyrations to justify using the word. The word has been canonized in hip jargon. Harvard professor Randall Kennedy, in a provocative but conflicted, short polemic, nigger, published a few years ago denounced the double standard that Blacks apply to whites. He railed that nigger is hardly the earth-shattering, illegitimate word that many Blacks and whites brand it.

McGruder and N-word users and apologists loudly agree. Their rationale boils down to this, the more a Black person uses the word, the less offensive it becomes. They claim that they are cleansing the word of its negative connotations so that racists can no longer use it to hurt Blacks. Comedian turned activist Dick Gregory had the same idea some years ago when he titled his autobiography, Nigger. Black writer Robert DeCoy also tried to apply the same racial shock therapy to whites when he titled his novel, The Nigger Bible. McGruder and N-word apologists tick off an endless storehouse of defenses to justify use of the word. They claim that that it is a term of endearment or affection. They say to each other, "You're my nigger if you don't get no bigger." Or, "that nigger sure is something." Others use it in anger or disdain, "Nigger you sure got an attitude." Or, "A nigger ain't shit." Still, others are defiant. They say they don't care what a white person calls them since words can't harm them.

N-word apologists have no patience with those who want to purge the word from public discourse, wage war against classics such as Huckleberry Finn, encode it in hate speech laws and impose penalties and sanctions on professors, basketball coaches, and public officials who use it no matter how instructive or benevolent their intentions.

Yet in their passionate plea to recast public thinking and debate over the word, they forget, ignore or distort one thing. Words are not value neutral. They express concepts and ideas. Often, words reflect society's standards. If color-phobia is a deep-rooted standard in American life, then a word, as emotionally charged as nigger, will always reinforce and perpetuate stereotypes. It can't be sanitized, cleansed, inverted, or redeemed as a culturally liberating word. Nigger can't and shouldn't be made acceptable, no matter whose mouth it comes out of or what excuse is tossed out for using it.

There are still dozens of daily examples where whites (and other non-Blacks) taunt, and harass Blacks by calling them nigger, spray paint the word on their homes, businesses, churches, physically assault and even murder Blacks. In the FBI's annual count of hate crimes in America, Blacks still make up the overwhelming majority of victims. The N-word reigns supreme at the top of the stack as the favorite racial epithet hurled at Blacks during these crimes. Even when the word isn't used, the sentiment is that Blacks are still fair game too be abused and dehumanized, and the N-word reinforces that belief.

The word nigger is grotesque and will always have deadly meaning to them. And even if some Blacks do occasionally go off the deep end and wrongly harangue whites for using the word, maybe that's because nigger pricks agonizing historical and social sores.

Some years ago comedian Richard Pryor publicly admitted his complicity in aiding and abetting the legitimizing of the word. The irreverent Pryor had practically made a career out of using the word in his routines. But following his return from Africa, he told a concert audience that he now considered the word profane and disrespectful. He was dropping it from his act because he had too much pride in Blacks and himself. The audience exploded in thunderous applause.

McGruder would probably frown on Pryor's racial conversion as a betrayal of cultural faith and freedom. But Pryor got it right. And anyone who apologizes for McGruder's defense of the N-word should rent the tape of that concert to understand why there's nothing hip in using or misusing the word.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. He is the author of 'The Crisis in Black and Black' (Middle Passage Press).

© 2005 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved.View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/28012/

Ni**a, Pleeze! Part I

2005-11-13T07:34:00.000-05:00

Michael Eric Dyson & Carl Singley and the 'N-word' at race forum

By Bobbi Booker

(originally published in The Philadelphia Tribune on 1.16.04)

When a discussion of the city’s racial divide was held this week, lawyer Carl Singley and author Michael Eric Dyson made one point clear: If you’re Black, use of the N-word is socially acceptable, and expected.

Singley took the stage of Huntsman Hall at the Wharton School of Business this week, grabbed a copy of Dyson’s new book, “The Michael Eric Dyson Reader,” and declared, “This nigger is brilliant!” to a standing-room only audience of more than 350 people.

Singley joined with Penn professor and noted author Dyson during the Philadelphia magazine-sponsored event held on the Penn campus. The panel was moderated by the magazine’s Editor in Chief Larry Platt, and Kenneth Shropshire, head of the legal studies department at Wharton.

“Racism, in and of itself, is an analytical thing that is useful to all people. Otherwise, how do you explain it?” asked Singley during the “Tale of Cities: Race inPhiladelphia” dialogue. “Covert racism is the present challenge.”

“(African-Americans) don’t have equal power,” concurred Dyson, who described himself as a “paid pest” who must tell the truth about race. “The racial epitaph of ‘nigger’ is attached to white dominance,” said Dyson. Language, Dyson explained, is “tied to a history of dominant racial aggression” that leaves Blacks “in a relatively powerless position.”

Panelists stuck to a national agenda loaded with pop-culture references and shared the stage with several dozen copies of Dyson’s new eponymous-titled book, and an earlier release, “Open Mike.”

“Race in Philadelphia wasn’t really discussed,” noted Shropshire, who noticed the difference between this discussion session and more traditional ones. “It did seem like people seemed ready to go at it again to figure where we should go and probably some better ways to deal with this issue.”

Even though Singley, who worked as an adviser for the recent Sam Katz mayoral election team and has been in a well-publicized spat with Mayor John F. Street for years, several members of Street’s family were at the event. Mayor Street’s son Sharif viewed the dialogue on closed-circuit television in the overflow room, while mayoral nephew Shawn Fordham mingled with audience members afterward.

The main recurring topic included the use of the N-word, something that both delighted and puzzled the audience.

“I can use it, but I can’t tell you why you can’t,” said Singley, who had explained earlier during his “rules of race dialogue” that the Civil Rights Movement had devolved into a “battle over words that hurt someone.”

Dyson, who joked that his use of the N-word is “promiscuous,” explained, “The context of white supremacy is so pervasive in the minds of minorities that it is internalized.”

In addition to his duties as an author, professor and Baptist reverend, Dyson is also a writer at large for Philadelphia magazine and will contribute to their yearlong series on race.

“That (use of the N-word) certainly was unscripted,” said Shropshire. “It is a word that gets your attention and gets you to think about the race issue. It is probably the most controversial word in the English language.”

“I was surprised too that one of the focal points (of the discussion) was that word,” said Platt, who spearheaded this event. “One of Singley’s points was that the Civil Rights Movement has morphed into an argument about language. I found myself thinking, ‘Is that word just a word, or is it the equivalent of a punch in the face?’”

“Racism has not disappeared from society, it’s gone underground,” said Singley. “We’re looking for it; we’re on a seek-and-destroy mission.”

##

Philadelphia Music producer, Docta Shock immediately published the above story on his website Urban Beat Movement with the following preface:

I'm truly irritated at this activity from these two so-called "learned men", the only thing they've seemed to learn is how to perform as traitors in the eye of the media. Two successful black "teachers" on stage calling each other nigger is the equivalent of wearing a big red nose and dancing for the master. Thank God for Bobbie Booker as she seems like the only person with enough guts to call these two men to task - When will we ever learn, No matter what anybody ELSE thinks of us -WE ARE NOT NIGGERS! - Docta Shock

Note: Since this public forum, Dyson has publically declared he will not use the term 'nigger' in a public discussion where it cannot be explained away. "I have decided to refrainfrom public use of the 'N'-word where I cannot explain the context of the word and its association with traditions of racial response to degradation," wrote Dyson. "When I can explain it, I will feel free to engage in its use, although I realize those opportunities may be rarer than I'd like. In the end, the folk who know how I feel about the black oppressed, and all those who suffer regardless of race, creed, class, color or nationality, understand that I'm still riding for those whose backs are against the wall. But if those who otherwise feel me are offended by my use of the term, it makes little sense to continue its use. I have no problem with its use by hip-hoppers who continue to use it with verve, color, imagination, love and affection."

Yummy...A Choclatini @ Center City's Melting Pot

2005-11-07T00:59:00.000-05:00

Even Gawker agrees...

2005-08-29T23:26:00.000-04:00

No Brotherly Love for Laurel Touby

On the one hand we’re astonished there’s so little real news in the sixth borough that this made the Philadelphia City Paper. On the other hand we’re a bit surprised this sort of thing doesn’t happen more often.
Mediabistro founder Laurel Touby swanned into Philadelphia two weeks ago for one of her exclusive!!! media non-networking parties, City Paper reports. She mingled, she listened to a book reading organized by her local Philly hostess, and then, in thanking the hostess, Bobbi Booker, who’s been hosting Mediabistro parties there for two years, Touby misidentified her. Which prompted Booker to quit on the spot.
For the good of all involved, ourselves included, we’ll refrain from further comment on this. Except to note our favorite detail from the City Paper story:
“I was crying after what she said to me,” Touby told the paper, apparently forgetting it’s actually the insulted volunteer who gets first dibs on tears. But we also understand where Laurel was coming from: It was her party, so she could cry if she wanted to.
After all, you would cry, too, if it happened to you.

Party's over!

2005-08-25T17:06:00.000-04:00

August 25-31, 2005
Political Notebook by Mary F. Patel
Philadelphia City Paper
http://citypaper.net/articles/current/polnote.shtml

The Party's Over

Media types attending last Thursday's Media Bistro party at Marathon Grill were stunned when host Bobbi Booker announced her resignation. Booker, a journalist, blogger, radio personality and literary consultant, has hosted Media Bistro events around town for the past two years.
That night, Bistro foundress Laurel Touby came down from New York and mingled with guests while the journos drank, kibitzed and listened to local novelist Meredith Broussard. After Broussard finished reading from her soon-to-be-released book The Encyclopedia of Exes, Touby introduced Booker as a former Inquirer reporter instead of a former Tribune reporter. Booker corrected her, thanked everyone for coming and then said she would no longer be hosting Bistro.
Questions of "Did she just quit? What was that about?" buzzed through the room.
Booker told Touby that she no longer wanted to be affiliated with such a "moronic" individual who exhibited such a lack of leadership. The relationship turned sour last May when Booker said Touby and her staff arranged for New York literary agent Larry Weissman to be a speaker and to bring along the three Philadelphia magazine writers — Sasha Issenberg, Jason Fagone and Benjamin Wallace — for whom he secured book deals. (Booker said Touby never told her of those plans). The Weissman appearance never happened, but Booker felt slighted that Touby was trying to micromanage. Booker also claimed Touby wouldn't give her a budget for the events.
"I spent a lot of time, for free, looking for venues for these events," said Booker. "The New York office has an event planner to help them. I am always looking for a deal, some comp drinks, food, to make folks happy."
The kicker for Booker was when Touby flubbed her bio.
"I was crying after what she said to me," said Touby from Los Angeles, claiming she messed up the introduction because she was nervous. "I respect Bobbi and I just don't understand what happened. I am sorry about Larry, I just forgot to tell Bobbi, but I thought it would be a good event for Philly. And, if she needed help in finding a venue, we would have helped but we thought she enjoyed doing it."
Touby is a savvy businesswoman who began Media Bistro in 1993 in New York as a way for journalists to gather. Her Media Bistro Web site is a large marketplace for jobs, news and classes. With parties in numerous cities, Touby says she attends close to 200 events a year. (Hosts in each city work for free.)
Touby, who says the Web site is "not a job board," has a no-networking policy at her parties, which sounds odd. (Why else do they go?)
The outgoing Booker has expanded the Philly Bistro scene and has recruited a cadre of minority journalists and guests, such as noted writer Touré. While Booker said she plans to continue hosting her own gatherings, Touby is looking for a new Philly host and plans to bring Weissman here in October, "even if I have to host it myself."

R&B chauntuse Alicia Keys backstage at Live 8

2005-07-18T03:03:00.000-04:00

Live 8

2005-07-18T01:42:00.000-04:00

By Bobbi I. Booker
The Birmingham Times

PHILADELPHIA--With over one million people jamming a one mile stretch of land that led to the site of the American Live 8 concert at the Museum of Art in Philadelphia, PA, questions where abound as to whether the event’s message would ring clear to the attendees. The mission of the Live 8 concerts was to raise awareness of the on-going poverty in Africa and to pressure the G8 leaders to take action by doubling aid, canceling debt, and delivering trade justice for Africa.
Backstage at Live 8 in Philadelphia, performers and presenters where on message, praising the concert’s global efforts to increase awareness of AIDS and hunger in Africa, the world’s largest continent. “I think its important for Africans and African American people to step up to the plate and support this effort.,” said Rev Ben Chavis, co-founder of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, a coalition of hip-hop artists and community leaders dedicated fighting the war on poverty and injustice. “Africa is long overdue to get world wide attention. Africa is long over due to get world wide support and we’re hoping that today is just not a one day event but it marks a renewal of those efforts.”
While rock & roll lead the day other Live 8 cities, including London, Tokyo, Berlin, Germany and Johannesburg, South Africa, hip hop and rap were king in America. The original Live Aid, held 20 years ago in both Philadelphia and London, featured no hip hop performances.
“Twenty years later, hip hop is no longer just an American phenomena; hip hop is a global culture,“ noted Chavis. “Geography transcends geo-political situations. [Live 8] today reflects the growth and expansion of hip hop all over the world.”
Calling hip hop “the best brand building in America,” media mogul and hip hop impresario Russell Simmons explained that Live 8 needed the hip hop community to support its message. “No idea carries in America without hip hop. You don’t sell no expensive cars ; you don’t sell no Coca Cola or Pepsi cola. None of that happens unless hip hop says so.”
In addition to requesting artists such as vocalist Alicia Keys and actor/comedian Chris Tucker to participate in Live 8, Simmons says his real support was in getting urban media to cover the event. “BET was not involved. Radio 1 was not involved. Clear Channel hip hop stations were not involved. They are all carrying this now.”
Stating that she felt “honored and proud” to participate in Live 8, Keys practically glowed after her performance. “I really feel extremely inspired when I walked on that stage and saw a million plus people--my reflection, our reflection--saying that we all wanted to stand and say to the global governments that we want to reduce the debt and we ant to end poverty ultimately.”
Tucker recalled that he was moved to activism after visiting nearly a dozen African countries recently. “6,000 people die a day in Africa and a lot of the disease can be prevented,” said Tucker. “I went to villages that didn’t have clean water. You couldn’t imagine in America not having clean water; that’s a necessity. I went to hospital full of babies, and there were only two nurses. That really affected me and just motivated me to do something.”
American-based performers with African roots, like actor Djimon Hounsou, hailed the efforts of Live 8 to bring awareness to their country‘s plight. “No matter how independent we are in Africa, we still depend on the West for our well-being,” said Hounsou of Benin. “The one thing we do need is to be able to trade with the rest of the world, and certainly with the developed world. Certainly the G8 leaders will need to find a solution for the corruption in Africa. The world is advancing so fast in order to survive, we need to keep up.”
Many of the fans gathered along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway where just happy to see some of their favorite performers, but some questioned the event’s potential political effectiveness.
“I think it’s much more of a commercial event than we’re making it out to be,“ said college student Ryan Neal, 21, of Oakland, CA as he left the day-long event. “I don’t understand where the dollars are going or how the money is going back to Africa. Who’s to say this is going to change anything?”

###

2005-01-09T23:35:00.000-05:00

Pundit Payola Scandal Costs Williams His Column, Show and More

Date: Monday, January 10, 2005
By: Bobbi Booker//BlackAmericaWeb.com

Black media and political veterans alike are still reeling from last week’s revelations that Black pundit Armstrong Williams was paid nearly a quarter of a million dollars by the Bush administration to push its controversial educational initiative, No Child Left Behind – a conflict of interest scandal that has cost the conservative commentator in more ways than one. When USA Today disclosed on Friday that the Education Department, through the Ketchum Inc. public relations company, paid Williams $241,000 to help promote President Bush's "No Child Left Behind" policy on his radio show, TV program and newspaper column, sparks began flying immediately in both media and political institutions. Congressional Democrats and Republicans have joined in calling for inquiries into the matter.Williams has since publicly apologized for his “bad judgment” and has called the criticism “legitimate.” “I made a business decision and did not consider the implication for me as a media pundit and commentator, so it’s come back to bite me," Williams told BlackAmericaWeb.com. Although Tribune Media Services (TMS) has accepted his explanation that the monies were for his radio and television shows, they immediately cancelled Williams’ weekly syndicated column.“Accepting compensation in any form from an entity that serves as a subject of his weekly newspaper columns creates, at the very least, the appearance of a conflict of interest,” read a statement released by the TMS Friday. “Under these circumstances, readers may well ask themselves if the views expressed in his columns are his own, or whether they have been purchased by a third party.” Williams also made regular appearances on CNN, and the network has now launched an investigation into the commentator’s statements. ``We will consider very seriously this issue before booking him as a guest again,'' CNN spokeswoman Megan Mahoney told Associated Press.The Education Department defended its decision in an AP report as a ``permissible use of taxpayer funds under legal government contracting procedures.'' The point was to help parents, particularly in poor and minority communities, understand the benefits of the law, the department said.According to AP, a contract required Williams' company, the Graham Williams Group, to produce radio and TV spots featuring one-minute “reads” by then-Education Secretary Rod Paige, and to allow Paige and other department officials to appear as studio guests with Williams. Paige and Williams appeared twice on “The Steve Harvey Morning Show,” which originates in Los Angeles and is syndicated in Dallas.“I was under so much pressure in the last two days, I haven’t spoken on that issue,” Williams told BlackAmericaWeb in response to questions about Harvey’s involvement. “The reason why the secretary ended up going on ‘The Steve Harvey Show [was to promote TV One]. In January 2004, TV One debuted, and because I had a show that debuted, they wanted me to set up interviews. “In the course of talking to Steve Harvey, he got into the fact that I was a Republican. And he said, ‘You know, right here in California, they don’t even have books in the classrooms.’ I said, ‘Well, I have a relationship with the Secretary of Education; maybe I can have him come on your show and talk about it.’” “Now that’s my fault,” Williams continued, “because it seems as though I used my influence to get this done, but that’s not what happened. It was in the course of an appearance for TV One that that came about.” TV One has dropped Williams’ show, “On Point,” pending an investigation. Williams said The Steve Harvey Morning Show and 100.3 The Beat in Los Angeles, the station carrying Harvey’s show, received no advertising revenue as a result of Paige's appearances. Williams also was to use his influence with other Black journalists to get them to discuss No Child Left Behind, a centerpiece of President Bush's domestic agenda, which aims to raise achievement among poor and minority children and penalizes schools that don't make progress.The National Association of Black Journalists blasted Williams’ credibility on its website and urged all media outlets that carry his shows to cut their ties with him immediately. “I thought we in the media were supposed to be watchdogs, not lapdogs,” NABJ Vice President-Print Bryan Monroe, assistant vice president-news at Knight Ridder, is quoted as saying on the group’s homepage. “I thought we had an administration headed by a president who took an oath to uphold the First Amendment, not try to rent it.” Williams is not a NABJ member. In fact, prior to USA Today’s report, Williams said, he viewed himself as a solely as commentator and not a journalist. “Nobody listens to Black conservatives. They say we have no audience,” said Williams, “then all of a sudden they treat me as a major journalist in America. I was never invited to be a part of the clubs, to be a part of the membership because they don’t consider us journalists. But now they’ve changed that.”Nationally syndicated columnist Deborah Mathis, a BlackAmericaWeb contributor and regular on “America’s Black Forum” alongside Williams, disputed her colleague’s claim, calling him disingenuous. “I understand that he may not have been trained or practiced in journalism, but there are some things in this sophisticated game that you pick up, and someone should not have to tell anybody about conflicts of interests; they have that in every field,” said Mathis. “One thing this episode does is ratchet up the cynicism about any kind of pundit in the media, and it sure doesn’t help if you’re trying to break from the pack — as Black conservatives are. People already suspect that they’re already speaking for Mr. Charley. When Mr. Charley is paying them, people say, ‘I knew it.’ It hurts not only his credibility; it hurts the credibility of those who are trying to follow in his footsteps and those who are already in the business now.”Mathis feels that this episode has not necessarily marginalized Black journalists or pundits, but it will make Black news viewers even more skeptical of the media messages they receive. “What I despise ultimately is the cynicism of the administration,” Mathis said. “It’s bribery money, it’s walk-around money, it’s whatever else you want to call it, and -- as usual -- a complete misunderstanding in the reading of the Black community to think that you can go and throw money at one person, and not even understand Williams’ esteem in the Black community. They think he’s all that; we don’t. He doesn’t have the following in the Black community, but he’s been able to present himself as someone who does, and because they do not know us, they can fall for someone coming up to them saying, ‘I’m the spokesperson; I can deliver them,’ because they don’t bother to know us.” The sense is, experts attest, that there is a growing public distrust of the media, where the line of news and opinion have become so blurred, it is practically impossible to decipher the legitimate journalist from the talking head. On Sunday’s “Meet The Press,” host Tim Russert asked, “How do people know the difference between journalists, commentators, pundits, who's on the take from the government and who is not? This is very confusing.” Even Renee Amoore, the first Black female to co-chair the Pennsylvania Republican Committee, was under the impression that Williams was a journalist. “I’ll be honest. Because I read his newsletter and some other things, I made the assumption that he was a journalist, too. I know Armstrong is on television and [has appeared on] several panels, and he has strong opinions on several things as a Black conservative.” But Amoore feels Williams has been unfairly targeted because of his political views. “The bottom line is that the press tends to hype things up around African-Americans in particular, and now it’s African-American Republicans,” she told BlackAmericaWeb. “I know that it’s happened to me as a Black woman who happens to be a Republican. I think people tend to sensationalize things when it’s a Black conservative, especially with President Bush in office right now.”Williams, 45, a former aide to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, first came to the public’s attention as a spokesperson during the 1991 Senate confirmation hearings when Professor Anita Hill charged Thomas with sexual harassment. Williams has since gone on to become one of the top Black conservative voices in the nation. In addition to his op-ed columns, he hosts “The Right Side” on TV and radio, while running his public relations firm.“No one can ever pay me for what I believe in,” Williams said. “In fact, when we cut the commercial reels for these ads, Ketchum called us back to tell us there were problems with the contract. It appeared as though it would not go forward, but we already had the ads running. I said, 'It doesn’t matter; I believe in it.' I was already advocating it before [Ketchum] ever approached us, and so we’ll do it for free. A little over a month later, Ketchum came back to us and said the glitches had been worked out.” Initially, the ads — which started running in December 2003 and continue through to the end of this month — were only scheduled to run for six months. Williams says a special website set up for his show’s viewers logged over 15 million visits, and the amount of traffic convinced the company to extend its contract with Graham Williams for another six months. “That’s why when people say to me, ‘Are you going to pay the money back?’ I say, ‘Are you crazy?’ We delivered. We did what was expected of us. Even the Department of Education issued a statement saying we did a terrific job, and we did. This is business! No one has ever said that [Graham Williams] did not honor its contractual obligation. They’re just saying I crossed the line being a media pundit and a corporate executive. “I’m glad that the market place has said to me, ‘You’ve done something wrong, and these are the consequences.’ I take responsibility; I’m not passing the buck. When you build something from your hand, from the ground up, you know how to build it better again. I am wiser. I understand what is expected of me. I understand that I’m not some shrill media person out here on the air. I am a part of the media elite. And you haven’t seen nothing yet.”But the questions have only just begun. Mathis speculates that Williams is just one of many journalists-as-pundits receiving some form of government payola. “A lot of us,” she said, “have suspected for a long time that Williams and a lot of other people have been taken care of for carrying the message.”

The Arsenio Hall Show

2004-11-30T02:41:00.000-05:00

The Arsenio Hall Show

Racism, Ethnicity and Television

2004-11-30T02:40:00.000-05:00

Racism, Ethnicity and Television

Tavis Smiley: The Arsenio Hall of NPR

2004-11-30T02:19:00.000-05:00

From: Tavis SmileySent: Monday, November 29, 2004 1:30 PMTo: [Multiple recipients at public radio stations]Subject: The Tavis Smiley Show29 November 2004Hello Friend!I trust that this letter finds you well and enjoying the spirit and splendor of the holiday season.Let me apologize for the somewhat impersonal nature of this letter, but the sheer volume of addressees makes it a bit impossible to send each of you a personal greeting that would arrive in a timely manner. It is with deep regret that I write to inform you of my decision to not renew my contract with NPR, which expires shortly. My last scheduled day on air is anticipated to be Thursday, December 16, 2004, when my previously scheduled holiday hiatus is set to commence.I wanted to contact you personally and immediately to express my gratitude to you and your staff for giving me the chance to be heard by your listeners. I know the ridicule many of you had to endure when you decided to take this journey with me by adding my program to your line-up. I will always be appreciative of your confidence and trust.With your support, I have come to care even more for public radio and its social, cultural and intellectual potential. Yet, after all that we've accomplished towards our goal of seeking a broader, more diverse and younger audience for public radio, NPR's own research has confirmed that NPR has simply failed to meaningfully reach out to a broad spectrum of Americans who would benefit from public radio, but simply don't know it exists or what it offers. In the most multicultural, multiethnic and multiracial America ever --- I believe that NPR can and must do better in the future. I sincerely hope you understand my position. I thank you, again, for all of your support.With your help, this has been a remarkable journey, and I hope that in some small way I did my part to help make America better by the simple act of introducing Americans to each other. Keep the faith,Tavis Smiley

For a better perspective, check this NPR post dated 5 months ago...

Media MattersJune 18, 2003
Tavis Smiley: New Voices and New Approaches Outside - and Inside - NPR By Jeffrey A. Dvorkin Ombudsman National Public Radio What is it about Tavis Smiley? He's the new guy on the NPR block and his show is attracting both the fastest growing audiences in public radio... and some of the most intense and visceral reactions -- both pro and con. NPR listeners are intensely loyal. They have established habits about what works and doesn't work for them. That's because radio listening is intensely personal. A voice becomes part of one's interior aural landscape. It takes repeated exposure to a new voice in order for that person to be accepted by a listener... often requiring months for a new voice and a new program to be an accepted companion. Tavis Smiley on NPR?That's why The Tavis Smiley Show has become an extraordinary exception to that radio rule. While many new programs on NPR can take years to find acceptance and build an audience, The Tavis Smiley Show has attracted a large audience on 60 public radio stations around the country. Many of these stations are in large urban areas. For those who haven't heard the program, it is designed to appeal to an African-American audience. It calls itself a "program of news and opinion" and is heard five days a week at various times of day, depending on the station. The program is a newsmagazine in the public radio format -- features, discussions, commentaries, etc. But the resemblance to other public radio programs ends there. It is news but with a fair bit of Tavis Smiley's opinion and personality added in. It is not what some might consider the usual public radio fare. A recent program had this range of stories: a discussion about race and jury selection; a motivational speaker who also works for CNBC; how the Latino community is responding to the attempts to recall California Gov. Gray Davis; the lack of cosmetics and skin products for non-whites; an interview with one of the lawyers of the Tulia 12 in Texas and an interview with jazz singer Lizz Wright. I thought it was an impressive lineup for a show on an ordinary news day. The tone of the program is both serious and lively. The pace is quick and provocative. The content is substantive and relevant. The perspective is overwhelmingly African American. And it is precisely that perspective that has some listeners expressing their astonishment that this would be a program on NPR. 'Am I Included?'From A. Scherf in Huntington Beach, Calif.: It is wrong to accentuate racial differences with shows like TS. We need media to accentuate what we have in common, not the differences in our physical characteristics. TS presents no useful discussion of anything productive for society as a whole; only for his own preferred race. After a recent interview with an expert on the sexual fantasies of black women, Natalie Douglas from Indianapolis wrote: But NPR has no business broadcasting sex author interviews such as the Thursday "author interview" by Tavis. This was really, really bad judgment on the part of the show staff not to mention really, really bad judgment on the part of Tavis. This is the kind of programming that gives the conservatives powerful ammunition when it comes to canceling or reducing federal funding.Not all the e-mails are negative. Keronce Sims writes: I listen to WDET in Detroit, and I give you guys props on adding Tavis Smiley's show in your programming. I like it and it adds something to the mix... Congrats! You guys made a good choice with Tavis. Recently a listener in South Carolina called me to complain about the program. He asked that I not use his name. We spoke openly of the feelings some people have who are not African American -- when they hear a public radio program that they think is designed to exclude them. At the end of the conversation, my caller agreed to keep listening and to let me know if he still felt excluded after listening for a few more weeks. The program is something new -- even radically new -- for many public radio listeners. The program's producers shouldn't underestimate that there is a "squirm factor" for many listeners. The Tavis Smiley Show may be targeted to African Americans, but it doesn't exclude anyone who is interested in the lives and the perceptions of black people. For me, it's an opportunity to listen in to a conversation I might not have in the normal course of my daily life. As Tavis Smiley says, "you can get hip, just by listening." And for me, that's what NPR and public radio should do all the time. The Fastest Growing Show on NPRThe success of the program tends to confirm that: It began on 16 stations in Jan. of 2002, with fewer than 300,000 listeners per week. Most of those stations are in the South, licensed to historically black colleges. At that time, the audiences (according to Arbitron) were predominantly black -- about 85 percent. Tavis Smiley is now heard on 60 stations in nine of the top 10 markets in the country with an estimated audience (to be confirmed by Arbitron soon) of around 1 million listeners per week. In that larger audience, 30 percent of listeners are African American. That's a larger percentage of African Americans than listen to other NPR programs. And of course it means that 70 percent of the audience is some combination of white and Hispanic. The program is attracting a lot of listeners... many of them new to public radio. The Tavis Smiley Show does something else not often done by other NPR programs -- it regularly goes after -- and gets -- newsmakers on the program. On June 13th, Tavis Smiley interviewed National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice. He asked her some pointed questions about weapons of mass destruction and the political motivations for the war in Iraq. Although Dr. Rice stayed "on message" and did not reveal anything startling, it was important to hear her defense of the administration. In my opinion, NPR News needs to find ways in which those interviews done by Tavis Smiley can be part of NPR newscasts, or excerpted on the main newsmagazines, such as Morning Edition and All Things Considered. NPR News does this on a regular basis every Sunday when clips from the Sunday television talk shows are aired on NPR News. If NPR can run excerpts from Face The Nation and Meet The Press, it can also serve the NPR listeners and toot its own horn when Tavis Smiley talks with similarly newsworthy figures. The Tavis Smiley Show originates from NPR's new West Coast production center in Los Angeles. Is Tavis Smiley's lack of proximity to NPR in Washington, D.C., a factor? Surely a "Tavis" producer in L.A. could call NPR in Washington to let the news department know that they have something newsworthy. Two solitudes, indeed. Listeners may contact me at 202-513-3246 or at ombudsman@npr.org. Jeffrey Dvorkin NPR Ombudsman

Author tackles why Black kids aren’t learning

2004-09-26T15:54:00.000-04:00

Author and journalist Debra Dickerson investigated the racial disparities in Lower Marion High School as part of her latest article, 'What if Bill Cosby is Right?'

By Bobbi Booker

Tribune Staff Writer

African-American students located in the Lower Marion school district are failing in one of the country’s richest, highest achieving school systems. Most of the district’s 500 Black students (out of a total 6,684) are failing, with an estimated one-in-four Black students enrolled in special education programs. Author and journalist Debra Dickerson investigated the racial disparities in Lower Marion High School when she spent a week there last May researching for her latest article, “What if Bill Cosby is Right?” which appeared in Philadelphia magazine as part of the “Tales of Two Cites” series. The series is an ongoing examination of race as it is lived in and around Philadelphia.

Even though NBA All Star Kobe Bryant is regaled as a shining example of what Lower Marion High School can produce, the results for other Black students looked grim and Dickerson was curious as to why.

Dickerson charged that instead of consulting with education specialists, the Black parent student advocacy organization brought in protest specialists whose biggest concern was race, not education. “So what is it that they’re really trying to do? Are they trying to educate their kids or are they just trying to beat white people up?”

Dickerson admitted that she had not witnessed a racial living situation as strained as the conditions of the Main Linewhere many of the Black residents are not as wealthy as their white neighbors, and in fact, were historically situated in the area for the convenience of serving the white households they worked for. Yet, Dickerson felt that many of the parents were misguided in the educational demands they made for their children.

“If you think this situation is so bad, why would you subject your own kids to it?” asked Dickerson. “There seems to be a wonderful vindication that’s going on. You get no argument from me that racism is a continuing problem. You can’t fix racism, but you can ensure that your child learns.

“This is a district where they spend $19,000 per student,” said Larry Platt, Editor, Philadelphia magazine. “What’s interesting about doing a piece about Lower Marion is it takes the issue of economic outlay – what the district is spending – off the table. A lot of times when you talk about the racial achievement gap in academics, the typical response is these kids are not getting their fair share of investment from the school district. Well, that’s not the case here.”

In May, comedian Bill Cosby upbraided some Blacks for their grammar and accused them of squandering opportunities the Civil Rights Movement gave them. Cosby also chastised certain members of the African-American community for their lack of commitment to education. His comments have drawn both praise and criticism, and Cosby has since taken on his detractors and their attempts, as he labeled them, to hide the Black community’s “dirty laundry.”

“Other people get it,” Cosby said earlier during a July radio interview. “Some of our people are sitting there in a trough blaming the white man and not getting up out of the trough. There are Black people coming from other countries, and they get it. They know that this is the land where you can get education for your children.”

Dickerson concurs, saying that being a non-resident has no bearings on her observations. “I don’t have a horse in this race, except for the education of all kids, and especially Black kids. I came (to Lower Marion High School) to report on why Black kids aren’t learning. I think that’s the point here and what’s going on in white people’s hearts and minds, that’s too hard. But what’s going on in the classroom, we can do something about. I wrote about what I saw.”

Author Debra Dickerson and editor Larry Platt will discuss the racial achievement gap in Philadelphia area schools as an ongoing part of the “Tale of Two Cities” series today at 6 p.m. at The African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas, 6361 Lancaster Ave., Philadelphia, Pa. Dickerson will also sign copies of her new book, “The End of Blackness” after the forum.