Maynard Institute archives

C. Gerald Fraser, N.Y. Times Vet, Dies at 90

by richard0676

For His Generation, “the Movement” Was Part of the DNA

For His Generation, “the Movement” Was Part of the DNA

 

An interview with Earl Caldwell for the Maynard Institute History Project

C. Gerald Fraser, who reported for the Amsterdam News and the Daily News in New York before covering metro and cultural news at the New York Times, died Tuesday.

He had been at a New York hospice after battling cancer. Fraser was 90 and was due to be inducted into the next class of the National Association of Black Journalists Hall of Fame. NABJ described him as a “New York Times journalism pioneer and inspirational mentor for generations of reporters.”

Born Charles Gerald Fraser Jr. in Boston on July 30, 1925, Fraser undertook a career that advanced along with the civil rights movement. He was a founding member of Black Perspectives, a New York-based association of black journalists in the 1960s, and in a series produced by veteran journalist Earl Caldwell for the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, described such struggles of black reporters of the era as persuading mainstream newspapers to switch terminology from “Negro” to “black.”

Fraser was present for the March on Washington on Aug. 28, 1963, and on its 50th anniversary, which came 12 years after he had retired from the Times and worked for publications such as Earth Times.

Fraser described for Journal-isms how he came to be in Washington that day.

“I had recently started working on the ‘telegraph desk’ (tabloidese for the foreign & national copy desk) at the NY Daily News,” he said in an email. “Having the ‘March’ day off, I went to D.C. on my own. Paid my way down and back.

“Near the base of the Lincoln Memorial, I used a pay telephone that day to provide the late Leon Lewis, anchor at radio station WWRL, in New York, with a live report.

“(Later I learned that my mother, who esteemed Martin much more than Malcolm, was also there. She went from Boston to D.C. in an NAACP bus. I wonder how many journalists’s mothers attended the event?)

“The speeches, the personalities such as Lena Horne milling about on the monument, and most of all by the tremendous crowd — a race-affirming quarter-million Negroes — stimulated me.. . . .

Fraser said of his NABJ colleagues, “It may be time for interested NABJ members also to gear up for a definitive focus on the March, its significance and achievements — if any. I bring this up because of (1) the media’s penchant for rewriting history and (2) various historical actors’s concerns.

“Some members of the Student Nonviolent [Coordinating] Committee, for example, are expressing anxiousness that their organization and sine qua non contributions to the ‘March for Jobs and Freedom’ may be written out of media representations of event–smothered, perhaps, by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s ‘dreams.’ “

A quick bio of Fraser, produced by the editors of “Reporting Civil Rights,” a 2003 anthology for which Fraser was a contributor, reads:

“Graduated from University of Wisconsin in 1949 with B.A. in economics; worked on student newspaper Daily Cardinal and wrote newscasts for state-owned radio station WHA. Later earned M.A. in media studies at the New School for Social Research. Began professional career as reporter for New York Amsterdam News (1952-56); covered education and the criminal justice system. Received National Newspaper Publishers Association award for eyewitness report of a 1954 electrocution in Sing Sing.

“Edited military equipment manuals and a newspaper published by Building Service Employees Union, Local 144; wrote articles for Caribbean publications on United Nations activities. From 1963 to 1967 worked on New York Daily News national and foreign news desk; reported for Daily News on Alabama a year after the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery march. Moved to New York Times in 1967 as metropolitan staff reporter; later worked on Times’s cultural news staff, writing columns in the daily paper, the weekly television guide, and the Sunday Book Review.

“Taught at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Beginning in 1991 joined Earth Times, a monthly focused on United Nations environmental and international development activities; has reported from every continent except Australia. Lives in New York City.”

Caldwell, a co-founder of the Maynard Institute, wrote of Fraser in 2000 for an Institute series, “When the cries for black power rose in the streets in the mid 1960s, Gerald Fraser felt a heightened sense of new found strength among fellow black reporters at the New York Times.

” ‘It was the summer in which Newark exploded,’ he says recalling the time. ‘The black power conference convened that summer, too.’

“Up to that point African Americans were either colored or Negroes. Using the term black or African to identify people was offensive. But as the black power movement gained momentum, the demand to be called black clashed with the New York Times tradition of using Negro.

” ‘The word Negro was out, even among reporters,’ says Fraser. ‘We wanted to identify with a community and people who were calling themselves black.’

“So every opportunity they got, Fraser and other black reporters challenged their editors, removing Negro from copy and replacing it with black. This was just one of the issues around which black reporters in New York organized.

“Fraser says as the consciousness of African Americans grew, black reporters around the country were faced with trying to make sure stories about blacks were told accurately rather than through the often ill-informed perspective of whites as had been the case.

“Fraser wasn’t one to let anything slide.

” ‘I had trouble with editors because of my personality,’ he says.

“Once after writing a story for the paper, the editor called him over for follow-up questions. Fraser says the questions hadn’t bothered him as much as the tenor of the questions.

” ‘I said to him in a loud voice, “I know more about this than anyone here, than anyone in this room. I was there.'” The newsroom got quiet. People looked up, their heads still bent over their typewriters.

“Fraser is not sure what led him to journalism. As a child he never saw any black reporters. But the by time he was 12 he knew he wanted to become a newsman. Three papers came to his family’s home in Boston: the Boston Globe on Sunday, the Boston Post and the black paper, the Boston Record, which published the numbers. He read each one from cover to back.

“Journalism was a bit of strange aspiration at the time for Fraser. Both his parents were immigrants from the Caribbean, his father from Jamaica, his mother from Guyana. They came looking for a better way of life. His father, who loved cars, was accepted into an auto mechanics school in Iowa. But when school officials discovered he was black, they wouldn’t let him enroll. Fraser’s parents and other adults were more likely to push their children go to college and get a solid civil servants job. . . . .”

Fraser’s cultural antennae remained sharp in his years after the cultural beat.

In 2012, he wrote Journal-isms this note: “Someone sent me a video of Trevor Noah, a young South African comic (?) who appeared recently, I think, on the Jay Leno program. Everybody may know about him, but I didn’t. I think he would be, maybe, a breath of fresh air, for one of the plenary sessions at the 2012 NABJ annual conference.

“I don’t know any more about him than what I saw, but he seems to me to be capable of giving black journalists incisive insights, in a humorous manner. Perhaps you could pass this suggestion to the appropriate people.”

Noah never made it to the NABJ conference. But now, of course, he is Jon Stewart‘s successor on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show.”

Fraser is survived by M. Phyllis Cunningham of New York, his partner of many years and an activist and nurse educator; a brother, Walter Joseph Fraser of Washington, D.C., and three children, Charles Gerald Fraser III of Ogunquit, Maine, publisher of National Fisherman and WorkBoat magazines; Jetta Christine Fraser, a photojournalist at the Blade in Toledo Ohio; and Maurella Cunnngham-Fraser of Faribault, Minn., a professor at St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn.

HuffPost: Trump Is No Longer Entertainment

Dec. 7, 2015

N.Y. Times Compares Candidate With Past Demagogues

Fox News Suspends Two Over On-Air Obama Comments

Despite Financial Woes, “NABJ Is Thriving,” President Says

Video Shows Chicago Cops Tasing College Grad, Who Died

The Root to Examine Obama’s Legacy as Term Winds Down

Black Film Critics Group Picks “Straight Outta Compton”

When the National Guard Chaperoned the Street Dance

Short Takes

N.Y. Times Compares Candidate With Past Demagogues

“Earlier today, the candidate currently leading in the polls for the Republican presidential nomination called for a ‘total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States,’ ” Arianna Huffington wrote Monday for the Huffington Post. “That was, of course, Donald Trump. As Jeffrey Goldberg just tweeted, ‘Donald Trump is now an actual threat to national security. He’s providing jihadists ammunition for their campaign to demonize the US.’

“On the heels of Trump’s proposed change for America, we will be changing how we cover him at The Huffington Post. Back in July, we announced our decision to put our coverage of Trump’s presidential campaign in our Entertainment section instead of our Politics section. ‘Our reason is simple,’ wrote Ryan Grim and Danny Shea. ‘Trump’s campaign is a sideshow.’

“Since then Trump’s campaign has certainly lived up to that billing. But as today’s vicious pronouncement makes abundantly clear, it’s also morphed into something else: an ugly and dangerous force in American politics. So we will no longer be covering his campaign in Entertainment. But that’s not to say we’ll be treating it as if it were a normal campaign. . . .”

In a rare and bluntly worded piece on the front page of the print edition of Sunday’s New York Times, Patrick Healy and Maggie Haberman compared Trump’s rhetoric with that of past figures considered by many to be demagogues.

“The dark power of words has become the defining feature of Mr. Trump’s bid for the White House to a degree rarely seen in modern politics, as he forgoes the usual campaign trappings — policy, endorsements, commercials, donations — and instead relies on potent language to connect with, and often stoke, the fears and grievances of Americans,” Healy and Haberman wrote.

They also said, “This pattern of elevating emotional appeals over rational ones is a rhetorical style that historians, psychologists and political scientists placed in the tradition of political figures like [Barry] Goldwater, George Wallace, Joseph McCarthy, Huey Long and Pat Buchanan, who used fiery language to try to win favor with struggling or scared Americans.

“Several historians watched Mr. Trump’s speeches last week, at the request of The Times, and observed techniques — like vilifying groups of people and stoking the insecurities of his audiences — that they associate with Wallace and McCarthy. . . .”

Trump’s latest salvo against Muslims led the editorial board of the Daily News in New York, no fan of Trump in any case, to write Monday, “A creature of ego, overweening ambition, barstool intellect and vision that extends no further than the mirror, Trump, the inquisitor, made a lie of America’ exceptionalism. Never could he take the oath of office to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution without committing perjury.”

Those words appeared under the headline, “Donald Trump: Shame of a nation.”

Fox News Suspends Two Over On-Air Obama Comments

“Two Fox News commentators were suspended on Monday for using profanities while criticizing President Obama on Monday,” Brian Stelter reported for CNNMoney.com.

“Ralph Peters, a Fox News ‘strategic analyst,’ called the president a ‘total pu—‘ who ‘doesn’t want to hurt our enemies.’

“A couple of hours later Stacey Dash, a Fox contributor, said the president ‘didn’t give a sh–‘ about Sunday night’s terrorism speech.

” ‘Earlier today, Fox contributors Lt. Col. Ralph Peters and Stacey Dash made comments on different programs that were completely inappropriate and unacceptable for our air,” Fox senior executive vice president Bill Shine said.

” ‘Fox Business Network and Fox News Channel do not condone the use of such language, and have suspended both Peters and Dash for two weeks,’ he said. . . .”

Despite Financial Woes, “NABJ Is Thriving,” President Says

A Huffington Post story Monday introduced those who haven’t followed the National Association of Black Journalists to its financial troubles, but the headline, “Why The Country’s Largest Minority-Journalism Group May Close,” is “deceptive,” NABJ President Sarah J. Glover messaged Journal-isms.

“The story has inaccuracies and the headline is deceptive. NABJ is thriving and making moves,” Glover wrote. “The response to the 2015-17 NABJ Board’s work and reorganization has been overwhelming positive.”

As reported in this space Oct. 30, “In a president’s message, Sarah J. Glover wrote, ‘At the 2015 NABJ Convention in Minneapolis, the previous NABJ Board of Directors informed the membership that NABJ was tracking to end the year with a nearly $250,000 deficit.

” ‘This comes on the heels of a $227,000 deficit in 2014, a $612,000 deficit in 2009 and a $60,000 deficit in 2012.

” ‘After an exhaustive review of NABJ’s financial position and a final accounting of all financial obligations from the 2015 convention, NABJ’s projected 2015 deficit will be higher than the previous board reported at the 2015 convention. The projected deficit is likely going to be nearly $380,000.

” ‘NABJ cannot have another deficit year in 2016. . . .’ “

Glover announced several “immediate steps to stabilize NABJ’s finances.” On Saturday afternoon, for example, NABJ is holding a 40th anniversary reception in Washington at $40 per ticket.

Gabriel Arana, Huffington Post’s senior media editor, wrote, “With an estimated shortfall of $380,000 in a budget of roughly $2.5 million, NABJ has slashed operating expenses, eliminated three staff positions — including that of Darryl Matthews, its executive director — and sold off $400,000-worth of its investments.

“In addition to adopting ‘zero-based budgeting,’ which requires managers to justify all of its expenses, it is considering closing its office in College Park, Maryland and operating in a virtual capacity. It has hired a consultant to help it weather its funding crisis. . . .”

Arana also wrote, “NABJ’s financial woes are worrisome enough. But the secretiveness of the association’s leadership around the shortfall should raise further red flags. NABJ’s board and staff have refused to answer questions about the deficit or provide financial disclosure forms, as required by law. The group is also considering dipping into grant funds earmarked for other purposes to cover the shortfall, according to a report from the organization’s treasurer — a practice that is widely considered unethical.

“Despite pledging to ‘stabilize the association’s financial position with transparency’ in a note to members, NABJ Board President Sarah Glover, social media editor for NBC Owned Television Stations, declined multiple requests to elaborate on the source of the shortfall, insisting only that the “2015 convention did not yield the projected revenue as outlined in the budget by the previous board.”

Arana also reported that the organization was considering an ethically questionable move with Ford Foundation funds. “NABJ recently received a $100,000 grant from the Ford Foundation for ‘strategic planning.’ The October treasurer’s report warns that unless the organization finds a way to shore up revenue by year’s end, ‘the $100,000 Ford Grant funds will need to be used to cover operating expense[s]’ with the promise that they will be replaced ‘once 2016 convention funding support and other revenues are received.’ . . .”

Glover told Journal-isms, “The $100,000 Ford grant will be used solely for NABJ’s strategic plan.”

In the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Monday, columnist James E. Causey wrote that NABJ is “an organization that is so near and dear to my heart that for the last seven years, I have been the president of our local chapter of the Wisconsin Black Media Association.

Causey also wrote, “Every organization goes through financial woes, but I’m mostly bothered by NABJ’s lack of communication with the media about what’s happening and how it plans to get out of its financial hole. NABJ’s board and staff have refused to answer any questions about the deficit or provide financial disclosure forms, as required by law.”

Causey offered his own suggestion. “One way NABJ can generate funding is to offer quarterly meetings that are affordable for journalists to keep their skills sharp during these tough times. They can use the local chapters to help build an audience for such events. It would be a lot cheaper than the national convention, which can cost more than $1,000 when you factor in hotel, travel, food and registration costs.

“Members need to believe in NABJ, and in order for that to happen, transparency is a must. If that doesn’t happen, then the group will not be able to keep its lights on for future journalists. . . .”

Video Shows Chicago Cops Tasing College Grad, Who Died

“Amid a growing crisis over the Chicago Police Department’s use of force, the city late Monday released a video that shows officers in a Far South Side police lockup repeatedly using a Taser on a University of Chicago graduate and dragging him out of his cell in handcuffs,” (accessible via
search engine) Stacy St. Clair, Steve Mills and Todd Lighty reported Monday for the Chicago Tribune.

“The release of the video was accompanied by a prepared statement from embattled Mayor Rahm Emanuel saying that the treatment of Philip Coleman while he was in custody in December 2012 was unacceptable. Coleman died following a fatal reaction to an antipsychotic drug, but an autopsy showed that Coleman had experienced severe trauma, including more than 50 bruises and abrasions on his body from the top of his head to his lower legs. . . .”

Black Film Critics Group Picks “Straight Outta Compton”

“Straight Outta Compton,” the box office hit about the influential ’90s rap group N.W.A, was selected best picture of the year Monday by the African American Film Critics Assn.,” Susan King reported for the Los Angeles Times.

“The F. Gary Gray-directed film also won for ensemble and supporting actor for Jason Mitchell.

” ‘Creed’ also won three AAFCA awards Monday. Ryan Coogler, who earned the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn.’s New Generation Award on Sunday, received the director award, Michael B. Jordan won for breakout performance, and Tessa Thompson earned supporting actress honors.

“Will Smith received the lead actor award from the critics group for ‘Concussion,’ and Teyonah Parris was named best lead actress for Spike Lee’s ‘Chi-Raq.’

“Screenplay honors went to Rick Fumuyiwa for ‘Dope.’ ‘Chi-Raq’ received the award for independent film. ‘The Peanuts Movie’ won animated film, and ‘A Ballerina’s Tale’ earned documentary honors.

” ‘See You Again’ from ‘Furious 7’ won for song.

” ‘Our members found an interesting theme in many of the films released this year, giving a voice to communities who have generally been underserved and marginalized in society,’ said AAFCA president Gil Robertson in a statement Monday. . . .”

When the National Guard Chaperoned the Street Dance

“When Jamar Clark was fatally shot by Minneapolis police in November, the incident touched off nearly three weeks of protests — including a freeway shut-down, a weekslong vigil outside the 4th Precinct police station and multiple rallies at city hall,” Brandt Williams and Meg Martin reported Friday for Minnesota Public Radio.

The unrest prompted MPR and the Minneapolis Star Tribune to reach into their photo archives to remind listeners and readers of the history of Plymouth Avenue, a focal point in the area. The Star Tribune ran an online photo gallery.

“I’ve been here ‘a long time’ (40 years) and remembered that even before I started there had been major disturbances along Plymouth Av, and thought it would be informative to give the current ‘camp-in’ at the 4th Precinct some historical context,” Tom Sweeney, Star Tribune features photo editor, messaged Journal-isms.

The photo above, by Charles Bjorgen of the Star Tribune, taken on July 22, 1967, shows a dance.

The caption reads, “They were chaperoned by parents and National Guardsmen. About 150 Negro . . . teen-agers were amiably frugging on Plymouth Av. early Saturday morning at the same spot where a woman was shot 24 hours earlier. The street dance, organized by The Way Community Cen­ter at 1913 Plymouth, looked about the same as any other teen party except for one thing: It was chaperoned by Minnesota National Guardsmen carrying M1 rifles with fixed bayonets. The incongruity of the dance scene was one of several contrasts noticeable along the street which had been a battleground for Negroes and police a night earlier. . . .”

Short Takes

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