I’ve said it before and it will always stand true – the tone of an article reflects the mood of the writer.
I’m watching Motown 45 on tape – Gladys, Wayne Brady, Four Tops, Temptations.
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I’m not a journalist. I just play one in this magazine.
Sorry, I couldn’t resist. The Daytime Emmys were on Friday night. And if anyone said ‘I know’ ……. (each ellipsis was typed in staccato)
So no, I’m not a journalist. But I am now part of the news media. This magazine is a news outlet and hopefully for most of you, a beneficial source of information.
I’m also African American, so I feel a responsibility to my community to present (not represent, we got enough of that) a viewpoint from our perspective. Did you know only 13% of the newsrooms reflect the community in which they reside?
I’m an attorney. Yes I know all the jokes – scum of the earth, professional courtesy, ambulance chasing, liars, what’s wrong with our judicial system, … But you know what, I’m not ashamed, and I don’t allow anyone to make me feel shamed. I like to think I did a lot of good for my clients and community. And like other African American and ethnic attorneys represented.
Short story, the first time I went into court, as a DA intern, the bailiff was at his post, the clerk was in her cubicle, and in the middle of the small courtroom were about 8 to 9 black folks. Court hadn’t begun. I had on a suit. An expensive grey suit, with heels, hair, and the pantyhose too. I carried my brand new leather (not pleather) briefcase (a present from my sister). The point – I looked good, and carried well. And after a quick glance around the room strode to the front of the courtroom, went inside the well (the area in front of the court rail), and went to put my briefcase on the prosecutor’s table. The bailiff called over, “the family sits behind the rail.” I didn’t even look up, just said, “I know” and put my briefcase on the table. The bailiff came over. “Ma’am (for politeness, not age), the family (pointing to the other black people) sits there.” Jumping to the end, my disgust for his assumption was replaced by sadness when after I clearly proved I was the district attorney the group of blacks (who turned out to be the defendant’s family) called me over. Not out of disgust. Not to discuss the case. They just wanted to meet a black attorney.
So tell all the jokes you want. That wasn’t the last time my choices of profession, or probably some of yours, were an act of inspiration.
Which leads to a perfect segue way and where this was going originally.
Doesn’t it just piss you off (the red all over) when you’re reading the paper and go ‘what@$#^$%’??? Not because you disagree with the viewpoint, but because their opinion is obviously based on logic so faulty it’s an insult to all intelligence. Or what about when you feel the writer has jumped or gotten caught on a bandwagon, after the band has played. Or when an obvious point is excluded.
That happened for me this week. But I’m not doing call outs, just giving us some information.
Bill Cosby.
Monday May 17th he was honored and spoke at the NAACP Brown vs. Board of Education gala.
Tuesday May 18th
50th Anniversary Recalls Promise Unmet. Steve Kraske, Kansas City Star.
“Perhaps the most emotional address came from U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, a Maryland Democrat who is chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus.”
No mention of Cosby’s speech here. And where it was …
Integrating Jubilation Into the Struggle, By Wil Haygood, Washington Post Staff Writer
“It was an evening of mighty remembrance, of old war horses, many leaning almost beatifically on their canes — and of Hollywood star power. Bill Cosby was in high school in Philadelphia when the May 17, 1954, decision came down. “The glory for me was that these men were going up against white men,” Cosby recalled in an interview, talking of Thurgood Marshall and Robert Carter and the NAACP legal team. “This was for me Joe Louis and Jackie Robinson. But we were not talking about hitting a ball. We were talking about brains. Because it always came down to ‘could we think?’ “ said Cosby, one of the honorees in an evening sponsored by Howard University, the NAACP and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.”
Cosby honored at Brown v. Board celebration, Associated Press
Comedian Bill Cosby wants black Americans to follow the example of civil rights leaders in improving their neighborhoods and reaching out for higher education. “These people marched and were hit in the face with rocks to get an education and now we’ve got these knuckleheads walking around,” he said Monday evening at an NAACP gala commemorating the anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision 50 years earlier.
“Take the neighborhood back,” Cosby said, chiding parents who do not take an active role in caring for their children.”
Doesn’t sound like anyone had a problem. And no references to Kweisi Mfume’s stone face …
“Kweisi Mfume, president of the NAACP, called the Brown decision “a rare moment of accomplishment that helped move our nation toward achievement of its ideals.” He added, though, that more needs to be done to prevent segregation in schools today.
Wednesday, May 19th
Papers still running the feel good gala stories.
Thursday, May 20th and 21st
A 180° turn.
Cos gives ‘em pause, Daily News
Politically Incorrect Cosby Shocks Crowd
WOKR-TV, NY; 94Country WKKJ, Ohio; WBEX am 1490, United States; Atlanta Journal Constitution, among others
NAACP representatives weren’t laughing during Bill Cosby’s remarks Monday night at a D.C. gala commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision. Cosby, who was honored for his massive donations to black colleges, had organizers gasping when he contrasted the ’60s civil-rights pioneers with some of today’s African-Americans.
“These people marched and were hit in the face with rocks to get an education, and now we’ve got these knuckleheads walking around,” he declared. “The lower economic people are not holding up their end in this deal. These people are not parenting. They are buying things for kids – $500 sneakers for what? And won’t spend $200 for ‘Hooked on Phonics.’
“I can’t even talk the way these people talk: ‘Why you ain’t,’ ‘Where you is’ … You can’t be a doctor with that kind of crap coming out of your mouth!”
Turning to criminal justice, he said, “These are not political criminals. These are people going around stealing Coca-Cola. People getting shot in the back of the head over a piece of pound cake and then we run out and we are outraged, saying, ‘The cops shouldn’t have shot him.’ What the hell was he doing with the pound cake in his hand?”
Cosby’s blunt appraisal left Howard University President H. Patrick Swygert and NAACP President Kweisi Mfume looking “stone-faced,” The Washington Post reports.
Everybody was talking.
I don’t know the whole text of what Bill Cosby said. I wasn’t there. And attempts to get the complete speech were dead end roads. So I’m relying on the media the same way y’all do. But I heard enough to know I probably wasn’t getting the whole picture, the story changed too fast. And we’re talking about Bill Cosby. No, I haven’t agreed with some things he’s said (I loved Eddie Murphy’s Raw). But when has he not been a champion in our community? A quiet force?
There were two other things that threw me. 1) Why, again, where we (African Americans) making things all or nothing? You either had to be for or against Cos, and if you were for him you became one of them who didn’t know ‘nothing about nothing, cuz you no longer living in the real world with the rest of us.’ And 2) as part of the community (the African American voices (mainstream and urban)), knowing the real world, shouldn’t we get the whole proof and nothing but the proof so we can put it out there?
The fans continue to be flamed.
Well maybe no one cares anymore, and maybe no one is listening, and maybe we’ve moved on from this story but two more things 1) Cos has given his side of the story. And kudos to columnists like Eugene Kane (columns) who stepped up to the plate of correction. Cos read Mr. Kane’s column which roundly criticized him, has his representative call Kane asking for equal time, and Kane gave it. We’ve included both columns in this issue (columns). And 2) the next time a similar situation occurs (supposed negative statements about our community), before we give a response, let’s get the whole picture. Let’s demand the whole picture. Let’s not let the media, ours and otherwise, put decisions in our mouth. And after we do, if we want to air our laundry, so be it, but the least we could do is have a honest cleaning first.
Wait, did I just make decisions for you?
Okay, present company excepted.
