Wednesday, March 10, 2004
Walter and Tina
I have been privileged throughout my life to have met some extraordinary people.
The nature of my television career has brought me into contact with many celebrities, the famous and “wannabe” famous, but the folks I’ve enjoyed the most are the ones I call “special.” These are folks who through actions, spirit and faith make this troubled world of ours a better place. From time to time I’ll tell their stories. First up are Walter and Tina.
My friends, Walter Brownridge and Tina Nader are two folks who are indeed “special.” Married 20 years, parents of two boys, they are exceptional people who are also “real.” By that I mean they are like all of us in having to deal with the day-to-day pressures of raising children, paying bills, dealing with separate careers and coping with our modern world. Like my family they are multicultural and multiethnic in background. They are, like mine, the “new” American family. But unlike mine, they are a “new” American family in Capetown, South Africa.
Walter is The Rev. Walter Brownridge, Canon Precentor at The Cathedral Church of St George the Martyr in Capetown. Walter’s an interesting guy with a background that is somewhat unusual for an Episcopal priest. A Georgetown Law School graduate, he’s been an officer in the United States Marine Corp, a prosecutor with the U.S. Justice Department and General Counsel for the Chief of Police in Cleveland, Ohio.
But Walter had always felt the call of the ministry. That call became so compelling that in the mid-90’s he and Tina made the decision that he should follow his conscience, leave Cleveland, go to divinity school and pursue his ministry. Needless to say this meant a change for the entire family. Tina, an elementary school teacher, found herself changing careers, becoming a successful account executive in New York City and providing much of the family’s income while Walter was in school. Through it all, they both worked to maintain some sense of normalcy within their family, while also dealing with some fairly serious health problems with their oldest son.
We became friends after they returned to Cleveland, for Walter’s first pastoral assignment at a local church. Tina worked with the local PBS affiliate and I was producing a program for PBS. Introduced by a mutual friend, we discovered we lived within a couple of blocks of each other, out kids went to school together and as couples we had a lot in common. Our friendship was fast and lasting, so I was both excited and distressed when they told us that Walter had accepted a position with the Church in South Africa. Excited because I knew it was a long cherished dream of Walter’s to serve in South Africa, distressed because I would miss friends that had become very dear to our family.
Their transition was not without it’s challenges. Selling a house, finding a house, sorting through the paperwork required by government (U.S. and South African) and church bureaucracies and dealing with the inevitable complications parents must face when they move their children from the familiar surroundings of their neighborhood, school and friends.
To further complicate matters, the sunny August, 2003 day the family was to fly out of New York’s JFK airport to South African was the day of the Great Power Outage, shutting down much of the East Coast and Midwest for several days. Walter, Tina and the boys spent three delightful days stuck in JFK, no place to sleep, not much food, hot, cramped and miserable! When they finally got out, made their way through London and after nearly 30 hours of traveling, arrived in South Africa, they landed in the middle of the worst snowstorm to hit Capetown in seven years! Not an auspicious beginning.
I think of Walter and Tina frequently and we e-mail and talk as much as we can. I never cease to be amazed at their ability to be upbeat while living in a country that struggles with problems most of us cannot begin to imagine. A recent note from Tina reflected the frustration, spirit and optimism that speaks to who they are.
“I've been teaching English full-time in a black township....and Alec has been chronically ill.... I just cut back to part-time this week to get things sorted out with Alec's doctors and teachers...I've also confronted the administration of the school re: my position... I agreed to teach there because I thought they could get no other qualified teachers...When Alec was sick, they brought in several certified teachers from the community - who were very good. When I asked why none of these people had been asked to teach full-time, the reply from the white, female priest who sits on the board was that the parents only wanted a white teacher to teach English...Since then, I have been trying to educate the "powers that be" that it is far better to have a person from the community who is bilingual in Xhosa and English to teach in my place...They have just hired someone who started this week...I will continue to be involved on a part-time basis as a resource for curriculum ideas and a teacher trainer.
My daily 45 min. commute to the township has been wrenching and transforming...The poverty is reminiscent of what I saw on the Navajo reservation...but the density makes it all the more incomprehensible! One million people live in Khayelitsha....many are living in aluminum shacks and cardboard boxes with no running water and electricity...We rarely have phone or Internet access at the school because people cut and steal the telephone wires....Cattle wander around the streets amidst people bathing in washtubs and cooking over open fires...Disease is rampant....(I think I brought home several infections to my family)……....but, the children are irrepressible! They have ravenous appetites for knowledge and boundless curiosity! This is an Anglican school...the only private school in the entire township! (The govt. schools typically have 60-80 students per classroom!) The students feel privileged to be at St. Michael's and so give learning their all...Although it has been rigorous...it has also been a joy to teach them!"
Like I said, special people.
I have been privileged throughout my life to have met some extraordinary people.
The nature of my television career has brought me into contact with many celebrities, the famous and “wannabe” famous, but the folks I’ve enjoyed the most are the ones I call “special.” These are folks who through actions, spirit and faith make this troubled world of ours a better place. From time to time I’ll tell their stories. First up are Walter and Tina.
My friends, Walter Brownridge and Tina Nader are two folks who are indeed “special.” Married 20 years, parents of two boys, they are exceptional people who are also “real.” By that I mean they are like all of us in having to deal with the day-to-day pressures of raising children, paying bills, dealing with separate careers and coping with our modern world. Like my family they are multicultural and multiethnic in background. They are, like mine, the “new” American family. But unlike mine, they are a “new” American family in Capetown, South Africa.
Walter is The Rev. Walter Brownridge, Canon Precentor at The Cathedral Church of St George the Martyr in Capetown. Walter’s an interesting guy with a background that is somewhat unusual for an Episcopal priest. A Georgetown Law School graduate, he’s been an officer in the United States Marine Corp, a prosecutor with the U.S. Justice Department and General Counsel for the Chief of Police in Cleveland, Ohio.
But Walter had always felt the call of the ministry. That call became so compelling that in the mid-90’s he and Tina made the decision that he should follow his conscience, leave Cleveland, go to divinity school and pursue his ministry. Needless to say this meant a change for the entire family. Tina, an elementary school teacher, found herself changing careers, becoming a successful account executive in New York City and providing much of the family’s income while Walter was in school. Through it all, they both worked to maintain some sense of normalcy within their family, while also dealing with some fairly serious health problems with their oldest son.
We became friends after they returned to Cleveland, for Walter’s first pastoral assignment at a local church. Tina worked with the local PBS affiliate and I was producing a program for PBS. Introduced by a mutual friend, we discovered we lived within a couple of blocks of each other, out kids went to school together and as couples we had a lot in common. Our friendship was fast and lasting, so I was both excited and distressed when they told us that Walter had accepted a position with the Church in South Africa. Excited because I knew it was a long cherished dream of Walter’s to serve in South Africa, distressed because I would miss friends that had become very dear to our family.
Their transition was not without it’s challenges. Selling a house, finding a house, sorting through the paperwork required by government (U.S. and South African) and church bureaucracies and dealing with the inevitable complications parents must face when they move their children from the familiar surroundings of their neighborhood, school and friends.
To further complicate matters, the sunny August, 2003 day the family was to fly out of New York’s JFK airport to South African was the day of the Great Power Outage, shutting down much of the East Coast and Midwest for several days. Walter, Tina and the boys spent three delightful days stuck in JFK, no place to sleep, not much food, hot, cramped and miserable! When they finally got out, made their way through London and after nearly 30 hours of traveling, arrived in South Africa, they landed in the middle of the worst snowstorm to hit Capetown in seven years! Not an auspicious beginning.
I think of Walter and Tina frequently and we e-mail and talk as much as we can. I never cease to be amazed at their ability to be upbeat while living in a country that struggles with problems most of us cannot begin to imagine. A recent note from Tina reflected the frustration, spirit and optimism that speaks to who they are.
“I've been teaching English full-time in a black township....and Alec has been chronically ill.... I just cut back to part-time this week to get things sorted out with Alec's doctors and teachers...I've also confronted the administration of the school re: my position... I agreed to teach there because I thought they could get no other qualified teachers...When Alec was sick, they brought in several certified teachers from the community - who were very good. When I asked why none of these people had been asked to teach full-time, the reply from the white, female priest who sits on the board was that the parents only wanted a white teacher to teach English...Since then, I have been trying to educate the "powers that be" that it is far better to have a person from the community who is bilingual in Xhosa and English to teach in my place...They have just hired someone who started this week...I will continue to be involved on a part-time basis as a resource for curriculum ideas and a teacher trainer.
My daily 45 min. commute to the township has been wrenching and transforming...The poverty is reminiscent of what I saw on the Navajo reservation...but the density makes it all the more incomprehensible! One million people live in Khayelitsha....many are living in aluminum shacks and cardboard boxes with no running water and electricity...We rarely have phone or Internet access at the school because people cut and steal the telephone wires....Cattle wander around the streets amidst people bathing in washtubs and cooking over open fires...Disease is rampant....(I think I brought home several infections to my family)……....but, the children are irrepressible! They have ravenous appetites for knowledge and boundless curiosity! This is an Anglican school...the only private school in the entire township! (The govt. schools typically have 60-80 students per classroom!) The students feel privileged to be at St. Michael's and so give learning their all...Although it has been rigorous...it has also been a joy to teach them!"
Like I said, special people.
Tuesday, March 09, 2004
Touched by an Actor
Paul Winfield died this week. He was an actor who had many roles, some good, some not so good and one that was simply extrodinary.
Paul Winfield's portrayal of Nathan Lee Morgan in 1972's, Sounder was something special for me.
I wrote about Paul Winfield today.
*******************
From TV Barn.com (see link)
Paul Winfield's quiet dignity
Paul Winfield, who died at age 62, may not be remembered best for his role as the beaten-down dad in “Sounder,” but TV Barn contributor Tom Jacobs will always remember Winfield best for that remarkable performance.
Quiet dignity
Quick: Who was Nathan Lee Morgan?
Not a name with which you’re familiar? Remember “Sounder”?
A hint of recognition, but still a lot of blank stares.
How about Paul Winfield? Of course, the guy who does the narration on A&E’s “City Confidential.” While cable television junkies may know him for his tongue-in-cheek delivery that makes “City Confidential” one of those guilty pleasures we don’t admit watching, there’s another side to Paul Winfield, who died today at the age of 62, that I’ll never forget.
In 1972, Paul Winfield portrayed Nathan Lee Morgan, in Sounder, a film nominated for an Academy Award as Best Picture and for which Winfield received a much-deserved nomination for Best Actor. Winfield portrays Nathan Lee, the Black sharecropper who steals a ham to feed his starving family. He’s caught and ends up sentenced to do his time on a Louisiana chain gang, leaving his wife, portrayed by the incomparable Cicely Tyson (also an Oscar nominee), two sons and “Sounder”, the family dog.
While much of the story focuses on Nathan Lee’s son coming of age and learning the value of education, for me it was the quiet dignity of Winfield that was simply remarkable.
Remember, this was 1972 and the success of Richard Roundtree’s “Shaft” and the late Ron O’Neal’s “Superfly” meant that Black was indeed beautiful in Hollywood. The only problem was that most of the films belonged to the so-called “blaxplotation genre.” Sex, violence, “stickin’ it to the Man” — these were the themes seen time and time again in Hollywood’s version of Black America.
But then, along came Sounder. It was the story of a family. A Black family, in the racist and segregated South of the 1930’s. It was the story of a man and a woman who choose to live and to survive, rather than give in to the crushing weight of injustice that defined their daily lives.
For me, 22 and fresh from the Civil Rights/Black Power/In Your Face School of Protest and Demonstration, Winfield was a reminder of the quiet dignity that my own father, a hard working civil servant, had demonstrated time and time again. These were not men who made excuses. They accepted responsibility for their lives, took care of their families and did the best they could, despite the obstacles thrown their way.
The New York Times said as much about the obstacles Mr. Winfield faced in their obituary. “Even an Oscar nomination did not guarantee acting offers, and Mr. Winfield often found himself relegated to supporting roles like Jim in a remake of Huckleberry Finn,” it said.
Despite that, Winfield carved out a respectable, if not spectacular career, highlighted by an acclaimed portrayal of Dr. Martin Luther King in the 1978 television movie “King,” and a well deserved Emmy for a guest appearance in CBS’ “Picket Fences.”
Paul Winfield never achieved superstar status but I would submit that he achieved a more lasting legacy with his performance in Sounder. He brought Nathan Lee Morgan to life and made me feel his frustration, his pain and his love for his family. Two years after the death of my own father, it was a gift of understanding for which I will always be grateful.
Paul Winfield died this week. He was an actor who had many roles, some good, some not so good and one that was simply extrodinary.
Paul Winfield's portrayal of Nathan Lee Morgan in 1972's, Sounder was something special for me.
I wrote about Paul Winfield today.
*******************
From TV Barn.com (see link)
Paul Winfield's quiet dignity
Paul Winfield, who died at age 62, may not be remembered best for his role as the beaten-down dad in “Sounder,” but TV Barn contributor Tom Jacobs will always remember Winfield best for that remarkable performance.
Quiet dignity
Quick: Who was Nathan Lee Morgan?
Not a name with which you’re familiar? Remember “Sounder”?
A hint of recognition, but still a lot of blank stares.
How about Paul Winfield? Of course, the guy who does the narration on A&E’s “City Confidential.” While cable television junkies may know him for his tongue-in-cheek delivery that makes “City Confidential” one of those guilty pleasures we don’t admit watching, there’s another side to Paul Winfield, who died today at the age of 62, that I’ll never forget.
In 1972, Paul Winfield portrayed Nathan Lee Morgan, in Sounder, a film nominated for an Academy Award as Best Picture and for which Winfield received a much-deserved nomination for Best Actor. Winfield portrays Nathan Lee, the Black sharecropper who steals a ham to feed his starving family. He’s caught and ends up sentenced to do his time on a Louisiana chain gang, leaving his wife, portrayed by the incomparable Cicely Tyson (also an Oscar nominee), two sons and “Sounder”, the family dog.
While much of the story focuses on Nathan Lee’s son coming of age and learning the value of education, for me it was the quiet dignity of Winfield that was simply remarkable.
Remember, this was 1972 and the success of Richard Roundtree’s “Shaft” and the late Ron O’Neal’s “Superfly” meant that Black was indeed beautiful in Hollywood. The only problem was that most of the films belonged to the so-called “blaxplotation genre.” Sex, violence, “stickin’ it to the Man” — these were the themes seen time and time again in Hollywood’s version of Black America.
But then, along came Sounder. It was the story of a family. A Black family, in the racist and segregated South of the 1930’s. It was the story of a man and a woman who choose to live and to survive, rather than give in to the crushing weight of injustice that defined their daily lives.
For me, 22 and fresh from the Civil Rights/Black Power/In Your Face School of Protest and Demonstration, Winfield was a reminder of the quiet dignity that my own father, a hard working civil servant, had demonstrated time and time again. These were not men who made excuses. They accepted responsibility for their lives, took care of their families and did the best they could, despite the obstacles thrown their way.
The New York Times said as much about the obstacles Mr. Winfield faced in their obituary. “Even an Oscar nomination did not guarantee acting offers, and Mr. Winfield often found himself relegated to supporting roles like Jim in a remake of Huckleberry Finn,” it said.
Despite that, Winfield carved out a respectable, if not spectacular career, highlighted by an acclaimed portrayal of Dr. Martin Luther King in the 1978 television movie “King,” and a well deserved Emmy for a guest appearance in CBS’ “Picket Fences.”
Paul Winfield never achieved superstar status but I would submit that he achieved a more lasting legacy with his performance in Sounder. He brought Nathan Lee Morgan to life and made me feel his frustration, his pain and his love for his family. Two years after the death of my own father, it was a gift of understanding for which I will always be grateful.
Sunday, March 07, 2004
TV Barn, Redux
I occasionally write for a terrific web site called TV Barn.com. It's published by the very talented Aaron Barnhart, Television Critic for the Kansas City Star. While Aaron frequently indulges my rants and raves, he is sometimes forced to edit the pieces for space or clarity ( of course I always think I make things perfectly clear!) But since the only person I have to please in this posting is me, you can always find the unabridged version of my various ramblings here. Here's the most recent.
********************************
The Way It Is....And will be..And.........!
Two items caught my eye this week. The first was an article by Andrew Grossman, writing for the Hollywood Reporter. He observed that "minority viewers are largely ignored by the mainstream cable news
outlets."
Duhhhh-hh!! What a revelation!!
He went on to suggest that MSNBC might kick-start and
redefine it's identity by getting a "dynamic host to
address cultural, political, social and economic
issues of importance in an increasingly multicultural
society...." What a concept!
Although Mr. Grossman may have only recently
discovered that the multicultural audience is
routinely ignored by the mainstream news channels, the
piece does take note of the fact that,
"Cultural segregation in America is all but finished
in the marketplace of ideas: White urban wannabes
watch hip-hop on MTV and dress in gangsta duds while
meaty topics like affirmative action, the lack of jobs
and terrorism energize debate across all groups. The
problem is that on TV, only white people are forming
and defining the debate."
Peter Johnson writing for USA Today had the second “newsflash” of the week.
“Black Visibility Dips on Network News
African-American correspondents were seen less last year on the network news than in any year since 1994, and women and minorities overall were less visible on the evening news.......”
A year ago we wrote in a TVBarn.com commentary,
"Unlike the multicultural, multiethnic population that
makes up the American television audience, too often
many of those who run television news operations
continue to give the audience anchors, reporters,
analysts and commentators who reflect their reality
and that reality is white."
What's sad about this whole discussion, is that it's
nothing new. We revisit this topic year, after year
after year with little change. I doubt MSNBC, CNN, Fox or any
of the network news operations will pay any more attention to Mr.
Grossman's observations in 2004 that they did back in
1999 when we wrote a tongue-in-cheek "open letter" to
the cable and network news chiefs asking for,
"the budget and resources to produce an hour of
diverse and inclusive news/information programming a
night. It's an amount of time that is a blip on the
radar for you purveyors of modern global
communications. After all you give time to
conservatives/liberals, politics, pets, fashion,
entertainment economics, historic news plus Monica and
O.J. ad nauseam (my opinion).* You can spare one
hour a night so we, Journalists of Color can offer our
“rainbow” perspective on the day's events.
*(change and insert, "Britney, Janet and Justin")
Will MSNBC or for that matter, anyone else answer the
call to create diverse and inclusive programming? Mr.
Grossman answers his own question,
"cable programers tend to gravitate to the usual
suspects: media elite types like Tina Brown, who drew
20,000 viewers on CNBC last week, or adman Donnie
Deutsch, who's reaching fewer than 100,000 on the same
network."
To quote Mr. Cronkite, "..and that's the way it is..."
I occasionally write for a terrific web site called TV Barn.com. It's published by the very talented Aaron Barnhart, Television Critic for the Kansas City Star. While Aaron frequently indulges my rants and raves, he is sometimes forced to edit the pieces for space or clarity ( of course I always think I make things perfectly clear!) But since the only person I have to please in this posting is me, you can always find the unabridged version of my various ramblings here. Here's the most recent.
********************************
The Way It Is....And will be..And.........!
Two items caught my eye this week. The first was an article by Andrew Grossman, writing for the Hollywood Reporter. He observed that "minority viewers are largely ignored by the mainstream cable news
outlets."
Duhhhh-hh!! What a revelation!!
He went on to suggest that MSNBC might kick-start and
redefine it's identity by getting a "dynamic host to
address cultural, political, social and economic
issues of importance in an increasingly multicultural
society...." What a concept!
Although Mr. Grossman may have only recently
discovered that the multicultural audience is
routinely ignored by the mainstream news channels, the
piece does take note of the fact that,
"Cultural segregation in America is all but finished
in the marketplace of ideas: White urban wannabes
watch hip-hop on MTV and dress in gangsta duds while
meaty topics like affirmative action, the lack of jobs
and terrorism energize debate across all groups. The
problem is that on TV, only white people are forming
and defining the debate."
Peter Johnson writing for USA Today had the second “newsflash” of the week.
“Black Visibility Dips on Network News
African-American correspondents were seen less last year on the network news than in any year since 1994, and women and minorities overall were less visible on the evening news.......”
A year ago we wrote in a TVBarn.com commentary,
"Unlike the multicultural, multiethnic population that
makes up the American television audience, too often
many of those who run television news operations
continue to give the audience anchors, reporters,
analysts and commentators who reflect their reality
and that reality is white."
What's sad about this whole discussion, is that it's
nothing new. We revisit this topic year, after year
after year with little change. I doubt MSNBC, CNN, Fox or any
of the network news operations will pay any more attention to Mr.
Grossman's observations in 2004 that they did back in
1999 when we wrote a tongue-in-cheek "open letter" to
the cable and network news chiefs asking for,
"the budget and resources to produce an hour of
diverse and inclusive news/information programming a
night. It's an amount of time that is a blip on the
radar for you purveyors of modern global
communications. After all you give time to
conservatives/liberals, politics, pets, fashion,
entertainment economics, historic news plus Monica and
O.J. ad nauseam (my opinion).* You can spare one
hour a night so we, Journalists of Color can offer our
“rainbow” perspective on the day's events.
*(change and insert, "Britney, Janet and Justin")
Will MSNBC or for that matter, anyone else answer the
call to create diverse and inclusive programming? Mr.
Grossman answers his own question,
"cable programers tend to gravitate to the usual
suspects: media elite types like Tina Brown, who drew
20,000 viewers on CNBC last week, or adman Donnie
Deutsch, who's reaching fewer than 100,000 on the same
network."
To quote Mr. Cronkite, "..and that's the way it is..."
Me and TV
Television news became part of my life nearly 40 years ago.
Television news became my profession a decade later.
It was 1971.
I had just come through the 60's.
Memories of that tumultuous decade are still vivid to those of my generation. But just as we were a generation notable in the way we differed from our parents, so too are the memories.
If you ask most baby boomers to name the television images that were refinancing moments for them, many will include the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the Beatles first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, the Vietnam War and man’s first landing on the moon.
That’s what most white baby boomers remember.
For African-Americans, the images were different.
Police dogs unleashed on civil rights demonstrators, Martin Luther King, Jr. proclaiming, “I have a Dream,” the Kennedy assassinations, both John and Bobby and finally the death of Martin Luther King, Jr.
For many Hispanic, Asian and Native Americans, the assassinations of the Kennedy’s and King are also important.
Central to all these memories are the images we saw on television. For me, the images and their effect were profound.
Black America was flexing its collective muscles, moving from the non-violent posture of the civil rights movement to the strident and sometimes violent message espoused by Black Power advocates. Television had shown us the brutality of Southern segregation contrasted against the brave nobility of the Freedom Riders and civil rights marchers. But it also showed our cities in flames and the violent expressions of Black Rage.
As a young Negro (soon to be Black, Afro-American and now African-American), I was fascinated by the images I saw on television. It showed me things I had never seen. At the time, I had no idea I would actually work in the medium that was showing me these powerful images. Despite being raised by parents who told me I could do anything I put my mind to, I had no reason to think about television because I rarely saw anyone “colored” on TV. With the exceptions of ABC's Mal Goode, the first network correspondent of color, Bill Cosby's I SPY and Diahann Carroll's JULIA, television was as lily-white as the segregated schools of the south. When the NBC announcer proclaimed that this program “is being brought to you in living color” we noticed that the fabled peacock had no black tail feathers.
The urban riots of the mid and late sixties changed the complexion of television. Suddenly, white newspaper editors and television news directors realized they couldn't cover this story. Their white skins excluded them. A white reporter or photographer in an urban riot zone was on a suicide mission.
In its eagerness to “get the story,” the heretofore-closed doors of mainstream journalism, opened a crack. In newsrooms throughout the country, massagers, and mailroom personnel and in some cases janitors who were men of color (women still didn't rate) became “reporters.” What this meant was that they were sent into the riot areas with a notebook, told to write down what they saw and then come back and relate those stories to a white reporter or editor who wrote the story. A few were lucky enough to get a byline below the white reporters name, most got nothing other than the experience of being in the field. But the door had cracked open just enough. For me and those like me, that was all we needed.
But as the old cliché says, “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” More on that when we continue.
Television news became part of my life nearly 40 years ago.
Television news became my profession a decade later.
It was 1971.
I had just come through the 60's.
Memories of that tumultuous decade are still vivid to those of my generation. But just as we were a generation notable in the way we differed from our parents, so too are the memories.
If you ask most baby boomers to name the television images that were refinancing moments for them, many will include the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the Beatles first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, the Vietnam War and man’s first landing on the moon.
That’s what most white baby boomers remember.
For African-Americans, the images were different.
Police dogs unleashed on civil rights demonstrators, Martin Luther King, Jr. proclaiming, “I have a Dream,” the Kennedy assassinations, both John and Bobby and finally the death of Martin Luther King, Jr.
For many Hispanic, Asian and Native Americans, the assassinations of the Kennedy’s and King are also important.
Central to all these memories are the images we saw on television. For me, the images and their effect were profound.
Black America was flexing its collective muscles, moving from the non-violent posture of the civil rights movement to the strident and sometimes violent message espoused by Black Power advocates. Television had shown us the brutality of Southern segregation contrasted against the brave nobility of the Freedom Riders and civil rights marchers. But it also showed our cities in flames and the violent expressions of Black Rage.
As a young Negro (soon to be Black, Afro-American and now African-American), I was fascinated by the images I saw on television. It showed me things I had never seen. At the time, I had no idea I would actually work in the medium that was showing me these powerful images. Despite being raised by parents who told me I could do anything I put my mind to, I had no reason to think about television because I rarely saw anyone “colored” on TV. With the exceptions of ABC's Mal Goode, the first network correspondent of color, Bill Cosby's I SPY and Diahann Carroll's JULIA, television was as lily-white as the segregated schools of the south. When the NBC announcer proclaimed that this program “is being brought to you in living color” we noticed that the fabled peacock had no black tail feathers.
The urban riots of the mid and late sixties changed the complexion of television. Suddenly, white newspaper editors and television news directors realized they couldn't cover this story. Their white skins excluded them. A white reporter or photographer in an urban riot zone was on a suicide mission.
In its eagerness to “get the story,” the heretofore-closed doors of mainstream journalism, opened a crack. In newsrooms throughout the country, massagers, and mailroom personnel and in some cases janitors who were men of color (women still didn't rate) became “reporters.” What this meant was that they were sent into the riot areas with a notebook, told to write down what they saw and then come back and relate those stories to a white reporter or editor who wrote the story. A few were lucky enough to get a byline below the white reporters name, most got nothing other than the experience of being in the field. But the door had cracked open just enough. For me and those like me, that was all we needed.
But as the old cliché says, “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” More on that when we continue.
Welcome to WorldVillage
It's often said that the world is shrinking.
Maybe, maybe not. It often seems to me that the cultural differences that make the world such a fascinating place to me, are the same things that are keep us apart.
Here in America, race, class and politics more often than not define and frame our discussions of almost every issue. In the larger global community religion and nationalism join the list.
The diversity of families, people and cultures, the role of the media and our increasing lack of civility to each other are issues we care about. These are at the heart of our thoughts about the place we call the WorldVillage.
It's often said that the world is shrinking.
Maybe, maybe not. It often seems to me that the cultural differences that make the world such a fascinating place to me, are the same things that are keep us apart.
Here in America, race, class and politics more often than not define and frame our discussions of almost every issue. In the larger global community religion and nationalism join the list.
The diversity of families, people and cultures, the role of the media and our increasing lack of civility to each other are issues we care about. These are at the heart of our thoughts about the place we call the WorldVillage.
