Aides Still Campaigning; Media Won’t Use “R” Word
It’s no surprise that three black columnists in North Carolina didn’t go along with the high praise for the late Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., bestowed by many white politicians, from President Bush on down.
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“Jesse Helms was a kind, decent, and humble man and a passionate defender of what he called ‘the Miracle of America,'” Bush said. “So it is fitting that this great patriot left us on the Fourth of July. He was once asked if he had any ambitions beyond the United States Senate. He replied: ‘The only thing I am running for is the Kingdom of Heaven.’ Today, Jesse Helms has finished the race, and we pray he finds comfort in the arms of the loving God he strove to serve throughout his life.”
How differently some see America.
“Jesse Helms never changed. America did,” Mary E. Curtis wrote in the Charlotte Observer.
“It’s no stretch to say that if his spiritual forebears and he had succeeded, I’d be in a field chopping cotton under a broiling sun and singing ‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,'” Barry Saunders wrote in the Raleigh News & Observer, even as he conceded that Helms could turn on the charm. “That — or wearing a servant’s suit on somebody’s veranda and going, ‘Y’all want some mo’ mint in dis’ heah julep?'”
In the Fayetteville Observer, Myron Pitts said, “Even in the shadow of Helms’ death, I see no need to pussyfoot about: He was hell on black people. Perhaps no single figure in the 20th century could claim more credit for sowing enmity between whites and blacks in North Carolina, and if you know history, you know that the minority group is always the biggest loser when racial strife reigns.
“When I drive to Charlotte, I take U.S. 74, which takes me past Wingate University, where Helms went to school. Just past the main campus is a research center named for him and where his papers are stored. Every time I pass the center, I give it the middle finger.
“Maybe I’ll stop doing that now, since Helms’ work, for what it was worth, is done.”
But is it?
A couple of weeks before Helms died on Independence Day at age 86, Sean Mussenden of the Media General News Service wrote a piece that the Winston-Salem (N.C.) News-Journal headlined, “Questions raised about influence of ex-Helms aides on campaign: McCain says race won’t be part of his strategy.”
It suggests that with the media’s refusal to label Helms one of the last congressional racists, and the continuing influence of his former aides, Helms is winning his final filibuster.
“With only two weeks until Election Day, the elderly conservative icon trailed his younger, black challenger by eight points in the 1990 N.C. Senate race,” Mussenden’s piece began.
“Helms’s campaign team brainstormed and then produced a racially divisive TV ad that helped propel Helms to victory.
“The ad, which political analysts call the most race-baiting campaign spot of the modern era, featured the hands of a white man crumpling a job application.
“A narrator intoned: ‘You needed that job. And you were the best qualified. But they had to give it to a minority because of a racial quota. Is that really fair? Harvey Gantt says it is.’
“Today, two key members of Helms’ 1990 campaign team are advisers to Republican presidential candidate John McCain in a contest with obvious racial parallels.
“. . . Republican media consultant Alex Castellanos, who produced the ‘white hands’ spot for Helms, is part of McCain’s advertising council advising him on media strategy, The Washington Post reported this year.” Castellanos also appeared as a CNN “political analyst” during the primary season.
“Charlie Black, a key member of McCain’s inner circle, was an important Helms adviser for decades who helped develop general strategy during the 1990 campaign, according to media accounts at the time. During that campaign, he and Castellanos were vice presidents of National Media, a GOP consulting firm.
“The ‘White Hands’ ad was credited for helping to increase turnout among Helms’ white, conservative base,” the story continued. “Another ad focused on a ‘minority preference’ that Gantt had used to buy a TV station license.
“The ads helped Helms turn out his white conservative base and bring uncommitted swing voters into his camp. Another strategy aimed to keep turnout down among Gantt’s black supporters.
“Shortly before the election, the campaign and the state Republican Party together mailed 125,000 postcards to voters in predominantly black precincts who had recently moved, warning — falsely — that to vote legally they must have lived at their new address for at least 30 days before the election,” according to a biography by William A. Link. “The postcards also threatened jail time for violating election law.”
The “White Hands” ad was merely a piece of a long history. Helms’ “first political involvement was in North Carolina’s 1950 U.S. Senate contest. The conservative candidate he backed won after a doctored photo showed his opponent’s wife dancing with black soldiers,” as Jim Morrill wrote Saturday in the Charlotte Observer.
“He used the language of the Jim Crow era to fight for a culture that kept public schools segregated, public accommodations white and that regarded any government attempt to wipe out discrimination as un-American,” Jack Betts added Sunday in the same paper. “He once called UNC ‘the University of Negroes and Communists’ and told reporters in Raleigh as late as 1979 that segregation was not wrong during its heyday — ‘Not for its time,’ he said.
“It is important to remember that Helms spoke for a generation of Southerners who were uncomfortable with change from the social customs that had prevailed since the end of Reconstruction. He even spoke for whites who would not use the same language, but who liked the fact that Helms would say what they were thinking.”
Yet in an environment where journalists and commentators have no trouble using the word “racist” or “racially incendiary” to describe black people reacting to racism — such as the Rev. Jeremiah Wright or Michelle Obama in her thesis at Princeton — it seems they could not bring themselves to use the word in describing Helms.
On Sunday, ABC’s “This Week” lamely summarized Helms’ actions on race as “opposed affirmative action.”
A “Fox News Sunday” panel of Juan Williams and Mara Liasson of National Public Radio and Fred Barnes and William Kristol of the Weekly Standard specifically rejected the “R” word.
“He’s a guy who would come on — actually, he made his name on TV, you know,” Williams said, “delivering commentaries and then writing editorials that appeared in like 200 papers, and really, not in any kind of racist rant or right — but just basically speaking to hard-line conservative values.”
“Was that racial or racist?” moderator Brit Hume asked Liasson, speaking of the “White Hands” commercial. She retreated: “I think it was racial. I guess I’d say racial.”
“I thought that ad was perfectly fine,” said Barnes. “I didn’t think Helms was a racist. But because he was such a conservative, other conservative Democrats, or Democrats who were otherwise more liberal, people like Sam Ervin and William Fulbright and Al Gore Sr. — they got a pass on their — on racial issues.
“Democrats and liberals would not give Jesse Helms a pass.”
- David S. Broder, Washington Post: Jesse Helms, White Racist (2001; reposted Jan. 7)
- Editorial, Greensboro (N.C.) News & Record: Where Helms stood
- Greenville (N.C.) Reflector: Jesse Helms funeral details
- Michael Hewlett and Lisa O’Donnell, Winston-Salem Journal: How to Remember Him? Area residents differ on view of Helms’ role
- Eugene Kane blog, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Calling it like you see it
- Ken Layne, Wonkette editor: Jesse Helms: American Garbage
- Rob Redding, Redding News Review: Jesse Helms Goes to Hell (podcast)
- Gary D. Robertson, Associated Press: Helms never changed on civil rights opposition
- The Sportsman’s Daily (satire): Jesse Helms’ Death Prompts Michael Jordan to Issue Belated Endorsement of Harvey Gantt
- Jack White, theRoot.com: Speaking Ill of the Dead (July 9)
- DeWayne Wickham, USA Today: Helms subtly carried torch of white supremacy (July 8)
- Ed Wiley III, BET.com: Jesse Helms’ Bitter Soul to Be Laid to Rest
FEEDBACK: Feel free to send an e-mail about this column.
42 Take Buyout in Miami Herald Newsroom
At least 42 newsroom employees have taken the buyout offer at the Miami Herald, according to a memo from Metro Editor Manny Garcia published in the Broward-Palm Beach New Times. Several are journalists of color.
The Herald announced plans last month to reduce its workforce by 250 full-time employees — 17 percent of its staff, part of a reorganization by the McClatchy Co. intended to eliminate 1,400 full-time employees — 10 percent of the company’s workforce.
Those on the Herald buyout list are:
Marji Hendel, Ray Bubel, Sandy Matza, Phil Long, Enrique Fernandez, Larry Johnson, Donna Natale Planas, J. Albert Diaz, Mauricio Ortega, Sean Rockhead, Amy Blake, Gary Fineout, Jasmine Kripalani, Pati Mazzei, Lisa Cawley, Brayden Simms, Eric St. John, Michael Allen, Angel Doval, Marissa Clark, Jillian McKoy, Paul Hodges, Scott Hutchinson, Rafael Fernandez, Kathy Foster, Teresa Mears, Mohamed Hamaludin, Alejandra La Banca, Bill Van Smith, John Voskuhl, Gail Meadows, Nancy Dahlberg, Robert Steinback, David Blasco, Winston Townsend, Lashawn Johnson, Judy Erwin, Jim Kukar, Mary Sutter, Pam Sansbury, Adam Gegg and Andres Cavalier.
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“More than 200 years of experience will leave us, and you can’t sugarcoat it,” Garcia said in his Thursday note. Blogger Bob Norman of the Broward-Palm Beach New Times said that would be the last day for many of them.
Among those singled out for their length of service was Northwest Neighbors Editor Mohammed Hamaludin — “Hamal to everyone.”
Hamaludin “has spent decades shaping coverage of Miami’s black community, the last 10 with the Herald and before that with The Miami Times,” Garcia said. “In his native Guyana, Hamal taught school and was a freelance journalist. He was one of the first reporters on the scene at Jonestown, site of the mass suicide in 1978, and shared his memories of the news story of his career with Herald readers on the 25th anniversary. Hamal is one of the most polite and distinguished people you will meet — and one with the vision to give a young college student a chance at journalism. Her name: Monica Hatcher, one of our best Business writers. ‘I would not be a journalist today if he hadn’t,’ Monica notes. ‘I was greener than a leprechaun. He taught me everything . . . how to write a lede, interpret a city budget, see through my biases. I am so indebted.'”
- Karen Hunter, Hartford Courant: They Really Care About The Paper
- Ted Vaden, Raleigh (N.C.) News & Observer: Readers react to change at the paper
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Obama Moves Speech, Creating Issues for Networks
“Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) will leave the hall of the Democratic National Convention in Denver and deliver a rock-star-style acceptance speech at nearby Invesco Field at Mile High, quadrupling his live audience, the party announced Monday,” Mike Allen reported on politico.com.
“The speech, in the stadium that is home of the Denver Broncos, will be on the fourth and final night of the convention, Aug. 28.
“Adding to the historic resonance of the first nomination of an African-American for president, that date is the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s ‘I Have a Dream Speech.’
“The move means additional expense for the television networks, where executives are having a conference call Monday to discuss the logistics of moving their cameras and anchors to the new location after months of planning for a finale in the smaller Pepsi Center, where the rest of the convention will be held.
“The convention hall has a capacity of 19,000, compared to more than 76,000 at Invesco.”
The TV Newser Web site said Saturday of the move:
“This creates issues for the networks for whom the costly setup, transmission and overall operation of the first three days and nights now might mean moving production of the final night to the Denver Broncos football stadium. Workspaces, anchor locations and all that goes along with a remote network news production would have to be shuffled for the final night.
“The networks could hold off on sending resources for the first three days and devote more of their budgets to the final day. Its doubtful, however, that the networks would forgo sending their star anchors. The cable networks and news Websites could also use the DNC feed of the proceedings for the first three days, something networks are not prone to do since it would mean giving up editorial control to the party. Last year, Fox News Channel was selected to supply the pool feed for the Democratic convention; NBC is the pool for the RNC in Minneapolis a week later.”
- Michele Greppi, TV Week: TV News Organizations Grapple With Obama’s Denver Plans
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Press Pool Now Following Obama in His Down Time
“Sen. Barack Obama — subjected now to a press pool of reporters categorizing his every move — says that it’s taken some getting used to adjusting to the new level of press surveillance,” ABC News’ Sunlen Miller reported on Sunday.
“It’s been one week since the Obama campaign agreed to a ‘protective pool’ or ‘bodywatch’ — allowing reporters to follow the Illinois Democrat, not only in his public moments, but his private moments of down time off the campaign trail as well.
“The pool has followed Obama to the gym, to neighborhood BBQ’s, to get his haircut, to his daughter’s soccer game and even taking his wife for a date at a hip Italian restaurant in Chicago. When Obama is inside his Hyde Park home, a van of reporters wait[s] for his next movement in a van parked outside. The additional amount of monitoring has left presumptive [D]emocratic nominee with a certain level of unease about his privacy and pomp and circumstance of his every move — even after a full week.
“‘I’ve never been a big entourage guy, and so one of the adjustments of being a candidate is not being able to go take a walk somewhere without having a big fuss,’ Obama told his pool of reporters aboard his press plane on Saturday, ‘And that takes some getting used to.'”
The five television network Washington bureau chiefs and the Washington bureau chief of the Associated Press protested to Obama’s campaign last month after the campaign tricked the press corps in order for Obama to meet secretly with Sen. Hillary Clinton in Washington. The plane took off for Chicago without Obama.
- Harry C. Alford, Detroit Free Press: Michelle Obama and the “Proud” Thing: It’s Deeper than you Think
- Merlene Davis, Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader: It takes all kinds to be black
- Rex W. Huppke, Chicago Tribune blog: When outsiders look in on black America
- Rhonda Chriss Lokeman, Kansas City Star: Obama should make these symbolic campaign visits
- Askia Muhammad, Washington Informer: Black, Anti-Obama Republican Ads
FEEDBACK: Feel free to send an e-mail about this column.
Feedback: Disgraceful When Reporters Whitewash
Well, anyone, black or white who can’t figure out that Jesse Helms was a hard-core bigot and say so is either too dumb or too dishonest to be a journalist. Or both. I expect a certain breed of conservative politicians to, uh, whitewash Helms. But it’s disgraceful when people who claim to be reporters join in the whitewashing. Shameful and creepy. The late and lamented George Carlin built his career on showing how evasive language and euphemisms could be used to hide the truth. The euphemistic and evasive language people are using to describe Helms’s despicable record of hatred is a perfect example of what Carlin ranted about.
Jack E. White
Richmond, Va.
July 7, 2008
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Feedback: Readers Aren’t Shying Away on Helms
The reporters may shy away from calling Helms a racist — and a homophobe — but readers aren’t. Check out the opinion of the 387 or so posters who responded to this story in the NY Times.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/04/jesse-helms-dies-at-86/?scp=1&sq=Jesse%20Helms&st=cse.
My husband had a sardonic opinion. He claimed Helms died so he wouldn’t have to see an African-American president.
Afi Scruggs
Independent journalist
Cleveland
www.aoscruggs.com
July 7, 2008
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Feedback: Not All of Us Can Be Bought
Thanks for the report. Racists getting a free pass is nothing new. The media can buy a Juan Williams, but not all of us can be bought. At least Juan is bought, Brit Hume would in all likelihood spew his venom for free.
Steve J. Shlafer
Mill Creek, Wash.
July 7, 2008
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Feedback: Jesse Helms Asked Me to Mow His Lawn
A lifetime ago, when I was a reporter for the News and Observer in Raleigh, N.C., I was asked to telephone Jesse Helms to get his thoughts on some piece of legislation before deadline. Helms was at his home in the greater Washington, D.C., area. The paper had his home telephone number.
I phoned and whoever answered the phone said he was mowing the lawn. I diplomatically asked if they could bring him to the phone for just a moment, as I was on deadline.
Moments later, Helms answered the phone. You could hear him catching his breath after having stopped cutting the grass. I strongly suspect that he could hear in my voice that I was Black. Throughout the conversation, he repeatedly referred to me as “son.” I thought to myself, after the fifth time he called me “son,” that even if he had been that ambitious, my mother would never have been that foolish.
At the end of the conversation, he said he had an idea. Perhaps I could quit journalism and mow his lawn for a living. True story.
Curtis R. Austin
Senior Public Health Advisor
Center for Substance Abuse Prevention
Division of Community Programs
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
Rockville, Md.
July 8, 2008
