Diversity in Discussing Witness as African American
It can’t be denied that Condoleezza Rice’s appearance before the 9/11 Commission Thursday was also historic for its racial dimension — a matter the news media were uncertain about exactly how to deal with.
Herb Boyd put it this way on The Black World Today Web site:
“Never has a Black woman been in such a powerful position in the American government. Of course, to arrive at such a pinnacle meant that certain cultural attachments had to be shed, and only once during her appearance before the Commission was there any indication that she was an African-American.”
In the New York Times, Alessandra Stanley wrote a story headlined, “Testimony Provides Breath of Racial Reality for TV,” one of the very few devoted solely to the racial significance of the Rice testimony. Stanley said:
“There was absolutely nothing in Condoleezza Rice’s neutral-toned suit, primly folded hands or calm demeanor to draw attention to her sex or race. Her answers, guarded, prosaic and a bit pedantic, were typical of any high-level Washington official.
“But the last time the major networks interrupted regular programming to provide live coverage of a black woman testifying under oath in Washington was years ago when Anita Hill spoke out against Clarence Thomas in 1991.”
Noted Karen Heller in the Philadelphia Inquirer:
“Raised to be better at everything, Rice has generally demurred from addressing her racial heritage. But race was, nevertheless, in the room yesterday. Describing an ever-changing world, she noted, ‘When our Founding Fathers said, “We the people,” they didn’t mean me.'”
The Anita Hill reference also worked for Chicago Tribune columnist Clarence Page, who said on Public Radio International’s “To The Point” that a number of everyday black people had been comparing Rice and Hill, saying that a black woman was being set up to take the fall for the Bush administration.
The Baltimore Sun noted that Rice goes to the hairdresser just like other black women. Linell Smith did a piece for the Sun on “Baltimore-born hairdresser Bruce Johnson . . . the stylist who transformed the national security adviser’s hair into a fashionable flip 2 1/2 years ago. As owner of Avatar, one of the premiere beauty salons in suburban Washington, he’s used to seeing clients on television — and it’s not always pleasant.” (In the alternative New York Press, columnist Hugh Pearson once prompted a discussion over whether Rice should instead wear dreadlocks.)
But it’s Rice’s politics that seem to concern most African Americans. Statements from the Congressional Black Caucus ignored Rice’s race and focused on the policies she advocates. (“Her testimony cast a fog of deception over the search for truth,” Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., says in remarks prepared for a radio address Saturday.)
Author Debra Dickerson, in an opinion piece for the Los Angeles Times picked up by other papers, wrote:
“What roils beneath the surface is the question of blackness in politics — how Rice’s success or failure will affect the nation’s attitude toward putting African Americans in high places. (‘Blackness,’ not race, is the issue. ‘White’ is a race too, but no one’s asking if the president’s blunders are setting his people back.) . . .
“But was the long quest for black freedom waged to get ‘the’ black voice heard, or to allow for individual blacks to pursue their individual destinies and get their individual voices heard? Judging from the disdain heaped on Rice by mainstream voices in black periodicals and on Web sites, the answer must be the former.”
The Web sites did not disappoint. Playthell Benjamin, once a columnist for the New York Daily News, has a piece on the The Black World Today site about “Condosleeza” Rice.
Series on Assaulted Peace Corps Workers Honored
Russell Corollo and Mei-ling Hopgood of Ohio’s Dayton Daily News shared a $2,500 prize from the White House Correspondents Association for “Casualties of Peace,” described as a “gripping examination of thousands of assaults, robberies, rapes and even murders since 1990 that turned Peace Corps volunteers into victims around the world.” The two reporters won the Edgar A. Poe Award for reporting of national or regional significance, as the Associated Press reported.
The seven-part series has won four national awards and was a finalist for the prestigious Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting. It also received a first place in investigative reporting in the 2004 Best of Cox Awards, according to the Dayton Daily News.
Last week, it was among the winners in the awards contest of Investigative Reporters and Editors.
Also among the IRE winners were Phoebe Zerwick and Les Gura of North Carolina’s Winston-Salem Journal for “Murder, Race, Justice: The State vs. Darryl Hunt,” the story of a man who was sent to prison for 19 years for a crime he did not commit and the racial attitudes and scientific evidence involved in the case.
Darci McConnell, Detroit News Part Ways
“Was she canned? Did she quit? News Hits is speculating about why ? and on what terms ? the Detroit News and its hard-hitting City Hall reporter, Darci McConnell, parted ways last week,” reports the Detroit Metro News.
“Did the paper fire McConnell? Or did she clear out her desk in a huff, giving a sure kick to a nearby wastebasket and a stiff middle finger to her editors?
“Whatever the circumstances, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is probably giggling. McConnell trailed the big guy once he took office, writing some of the most revelatory stories about his administration. News Hits reported more than a year ago that the mayor went so far as to complain about McConnell?s coverage to Mark Silverman, the News? publisher and editor.”
Sources tell Journal-isms that McConnell quit after a blowout with E.J. Mitchell, the managing editor.
McConnell is vice president/print of the Detroit chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists, and was in this column in 2002 when she helped organize more than two dozen staffers from the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News to train local high school journalism teachers at a workshop at Wayne State University.
Politicians Respond to Stories on Soldiers’ Health
“Gov. Pataki joined the growing list of local leaders yesterday calling on the Pentagon to provide better health screening and treatment for soldiers returning from Iraq,” Juan Gonzalez, president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, writes in his New York Daily News column. He broke the story over the weekend.
“The governor’s appeal came after the Daily News revealed Sunday that four of nine soldiers from a New York Army National Guard unit serving in Iraq have tested positive for depleted uranium.
“On Sunday, Sen. Hillary Clinton blasted Pentagon officials for not properly screening soldiers returning from Iraq – and vowed to introduce legislation mandating screenings.
“Yesterday, two Democratic members of Congress also demanded answers — Nita Lowey, in whose district the 442nd is based, and Eliot Engel of the Bronx, where several of the soldiers live,” the Wednesday column said.
Essence Fashion Spinoff to be Called “Suede”
“Suede will be the name of a new young fashion and beauty title helmed by Canadian import Suzanne Boyd at Essence Communications. The plan now calls for two issues of the new magazine to hit this fall,” reports Keith J. Kelly in the New York Post.
“An insider familiar with the project said the Suede title worked on several fronts – it implied ‘different shades of brown skin’ as well as a fashionable fabric, and in focus groups readers felt it had a ‘certain street vibe.'”
A recording at Boyd’s office confirms the story. It says the caller has reached “Suzanne Boyd, editor-in-chief of Suede Magazine.”
Tribune’s Hoy Takes Independent Stance on Iraq
“Some Spanish-language dailies and weeklies publish English translations of their unsigned editorials. Hoy does not, and perhaps that’s why the national daily has attracted little notice for editorials about Iraq that differ sharply in tone and policy from the general line followed by other Tribune Co. newspapers,” writes Mark Fitzgerald in Editor & Publisher.
“Hoy opposed the Iraq invasion from the start, arguing that United Nations weapons inspection teams had not been given sufficient time to do their jobs, that the U.S. had failed to forge strong international alliances, and that Saddam Hussein posed no imminent danger.”
Weatherman Tony Perkins Checks out D.C. Station
“So Tony Perkins, tell us: What were you doing hanging around the WJLA-TV (Channel 7) newsroom the other day?” asks Chris Baker in the Washington Times.
“‘I have had a standing invitation to visit the station, and I had a real desire to see their news operation,’ the ‘ Good Morning America’ (GMA) weatherman explains. ‘It is absolutely gorgeous. It’s got to be the biggest local TV newsroom I have ever seen.’ [It’s in the former USA Today offices.]
“Uh huh. And it’s just a coincidence that you paid this friendly visit in the middle of your contract talks with ABC, right?
“‘I really cannot comment on that. I’m in negotiations. That’s all I can say.’
“Mr. Perkins’ future is a touchy subject these days.
“The New York Daily News reported March 23 that ‘GMA’ co-anchor Diane Sawyer and executive producer Shelley Ross think the program might need a new forecaster.”
Si TV Gets $60 Million in Financing
“Si TV has secured more than $60 million in financing from a group that includes major pay television distributors and several private equity investors including Time Warner Inc., EchoStar Communications and DND Equity Partners,” Sallie Hofmeister reports in the Los Angeles Times.
“The Los Angeles-based cable channel, which targets Latino viewers, launched in February with English-language programming that targets 18- to 34-year-old second- and third-generation Latinos.”
CBS Sets Talent Showcase For Native Americans
“CBS, in association with American Indians in Film and Television, the Screen Actors Guild, and the American Federation of Radio and Television Artists, will sponsor a talent showcase for Native Americans on June 16 in Los Angeles,” John Consoli reports in Media Week.
“CBS Entertainment executives, along with casting directors from the network’s prime-time and daytime programs, will attend. An invitation has also been extended to casting directors from production companies that work with CBS.
“CBS has already held a Latino American Talent Showcase in partnership with NOSOTROS; an African American showcase with The Robey Theater Company; an Asian Pacific American Actors Showcase in association with East West Players; and an earlier showcase with American Indians in Film.”
