Hat Tip to Trey Garrison and David Hopkins who post a smooth gotcha from the University of Texas at Arlington. Not sure why UTA felt the need to make it seem like the young lady on the right is hanging with the sorority sisters, but they did.
I had one of my friends give me this info about a story that apparently appeared on NBC Dateline recently. This action occurred last October but is apparently just coming to that national scene. Here’s the report from KMBC-TV in Kansas City last year:
KMBC’s Marcus Moore reported that Keith Slater, 22, bought a pair of shoes from a store called Journeys. Slater later returned them after finding a cheaper pair at another store. Slater did get his money back, but it was what was printed on the receipt that he and his family found disturbing.
“That makes me upset. I don’t want to look at that (receipt,) that makes me so upset. Why would you say that?” said a woman who was shown the receipt.
The receipt, which shows “Cust: Dumb” and then the n-word, is what Slater received after returning a pair of shoes to Journeys at Oak Park Mall.
“When he showed me that receipt, I could not believe it,” said Slater’s mother, Linda. “He couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe it. None of us got any sleep just thinking about it.”
The above video from Tonya TKO lists all of the ways you can get in contact with Journey’s to let them know your displeasure. I haven’t had enough time to dig to see if there has been any resolution to this situation, but this is information we need to know as people continue to tell us that there are no race problems in America or in our towns. And this case is institutional in nature.
I’ll try to dig more but leave comments here if you know more than I do right now.
The New York post did something on Thursday that I know that didn’t want to do by putting out a lackluster apology for their inflammatory cartoon.
Wednesday’s Page Six cartoon – caricaturing Monday’s police shooting of a chimpanzee in Connecticut – has created considerable controversy.
It shows two police officers standing over the chimp’s body: “They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill,” one officer says.
It was meant to mock an ineptly written federal stimulus bill.
Period.
But it has been taken as something else – as a depiction of President Obama, as a thinly veiled expression of racism.
This most certainly was not its intent; to those who were offended by the image, we apologize.
However, there are some in the media and in public life who have had differences with The Post in the past – and they see the incident as an opportunity for payback.
To them, no apology is due.
Sometimes a cartoon is just a cartoon – even as the opportunists seek to make it something else.
New York Times
The “apology” just as their initial statement, spent time on people who they say see this as “opportunity for payback.” Just substitute the name Rev. Al Sharpton.
For folks they are trying so hard to trivialize, The Post brass sure have spent a lot of time talking about them. Why take this space to offer a backhanded dis to Rev. Sharpton and other protesters? It would have been nice to see them take more responsibility for this situation, but hey, they’re The Post. What more should we expect?
BLAME IT ON THE ECONOMY
By Kevin Ross
Per 2008 revenues, terrestrial radio is a $15 billion dollar a year hustle. And yet for many, radio is a bad business to be in right now. The industry has suffered its worst year since 1954, the eighth consecutive “struggling” year.
ABC News puts it all in context. “The radio industry, just like newspapers and books and other forms of media, is facing an unprecedented financial crunch. Radio advertising revenue dropped by 9 percent in the third quarter of 2008 compared with the same period in the previous year, and many radio companies are saddled with huge amounts of debt. As a result, more stations are turning to syndicated programming. Radio stations typically can broadcast syndicated shows at no cost; they just have to allow a distributor to sell some of the commercials on the show. In some cases, it’s cheaper for a station to air syndicated programming than to hire a local talk show host.”
That may be a wise strategy, but a heavy focus on national shows creates another problem: The next generations of KGIL Laura Ingraham’s or Michael Savage’s won’t have the opportunity to learn their craft at radio stations if there are no on-air shifts for them to take.
Media giant Clear Channel Communications, which owns more than 1,200 US radio stations including KFI, is actually down-sizing. The company recently laid-off 9 percent of its employees. Of those 1,850 workers, comprised of radio personalities and executives, few will be able to find jobs in an industry that will likely see even deeper cuts unless the economy rebounds by the third quarter of 2009. At a 52-week high of $25.69, Clear Channel’s shares are currently hovering around $5.00.
Other radio stocks are also performing horribly. Regent Communications sank 94% to 9 cents last year and Citadel dropping 92% to 16 cents a share. According to Reuters, the rest of the carnage looks like this: Emmis Communications down 91%, Entercom off 90%, Salem Communications down 89%, Radio One off 81%, Cumulus Media down 79%, Saga Communications down 72%, Beasley Broadcast off 64% and Cox Radio down 51%.
Then there’s the matter of precedent. Radio stations have never really embraced diversity. And without much sustained outcry from civil rights groups or the Federal Communications Commission, these outlets have absolutely no incentive to do so now.
In California, for instance, Tavis Smiley is the only minority in the state with an English language nationally syndicated talk radio show. Smiley, a popular African American author and PBS television personality who is also a KABC alum, lives in Los Angeles along with his contemporaries such as Larry King of KGIL and CNN, and Adam Corolla of KLSX. Despite the odds, Smiley broke through and is succeeding with aplomb.
This racial gerrymandering is not simply limited to on-air talent. The only discernible nonwhite employee in KFI’s news department, judging by the station’s web page, is Asian anchor Ginger Chan and Latina Editor Karla Marquez. The rest of the 15 member crew is completely white, with 6 of them being female. While producer Ray Lopez of the John and Ken show is Latino, there are likely few, if any, other minority producers employed. Veteran radio talent Mark Austin Thomas, who is African American, was recently added to helm the on-air news department at KABC.
For most, particularly women of color, the glass ceiling is showing no signs of breaking. The recent cancellation of LA based NPR’s News & Notes with Farai Chideya (a black female national host) due to financial constraints was one small crack that was quickly sealed. That leaves Dominique DiPrima of the Stevie Wonder owned Adult Contemporary station 102.3 FM KJLH. DiPrima offers up daily talk from 4:30-6:00 am before the all music format kicks in.
With that pretty much being as good as it gets, as is it any wonder why the political commentary or pop culture discussions that play out on cable news or the Sunday political shows tends to reflect the views of the majority?
Kevin Ross is noted Republican who hosts The Kevin Ross Show, a conservative political show on Blog Talk Radio and blogs at Three Brothers and a Sister. This post is part of a five part series exploring the lack of diversity in radio.
This is the content of an article the I wrote which appeared in Sunday’s Points Section of the Dallas Morning News. Thanks to Nicole Stockdale for allowing me to state my opinion.
February 15, 2008
My hometown’s biggest blessing is also its biggest curse. There’s something about the name Paris, Texas, that is simultaneously romantic and amusing. A town that fancies itself as the second-largest Paris in the world – complete with a miniature Eiffel Tower – leaves itself open to a certain amount of good-natured ribbing. But there’s nothing funny about the struggle for identity that’s taking place in the East Texas town.
No one outside of Lamar County cares that the girls basketball team is having its best season in years, but onlookers are all too eager to see how the city will handle its latest round of increased racial tension. Over a two-year period, Paris has been skewered in the national press, portrayed as the stereotypical Southern town where Jim Crow-era prejudice is alive and well.
The media spotlight started shining on Paris in March 2007 after Howard Witt of the Chicago Tribune wrote a story about a 14-year-old African-American female who was sentenced for up to seven years in juvenile prison for pushing down a hall monitor. Later in the year, Witt introduced much of the nation to the Jena Six, and his reporting on those two episodes helped him earn a Pulitzer Prize nomination for journalism.
Witt returned to Paris late last year to chronicle the story of two white men accused of murdering a black man, Brandon McClelland, and then dragged him under a pickup. The incident, referred to as a “modern-day lynching” in some circles, has led to protests and marches at the county courthouse. Many Parisians have tired of Witt’s seeming fascination with their town, calling him a muckraker and accusing him of race-baiting.
Recently other media outlets have latched onto the murder case, including Newsweek and The New York Times. While Witt spent significant time learning about the city and its past, other journalists seem bent on making a name of their own at the city’s expense. Witt’s work has benefited Paris in ways residents may never know, yet I’m skeptical of the newfound interest others have found in my childhood home. Without question, the McClelland murder case is newsworthy and relevant, but at what point does pertinent reporting morph into piling on?
Under pressure, the Lamar County District Attorney Gary Young recused himself from the case for having served as counsel to one of the defendants in a manslaughter case. The defensive posture the DA’s office took toward calls for Young’s removal damaged the whole town’s credibility, just as it did two years ago. But now that Young has stepped down and appointed former Dallas County prosecutor Toby Shook to try the case, I’m not sure what more we can learn before there is action in the courtroom.
Most articles related to Paris miss out on the thing that has intrigued me the most: how everyday people of different attitudes and backgrounds are sitting across the table from one another trying to come to grips with what has taken place. For the last three months, Paris residents have worked with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Community Relations Division to see what good may be mined from the stony path placed before them.
The first thing that struck me when I attended one of the sessions was how the hundred in attendance voluntarily intermingled without the prodding of the facilitators. It’s rare (outside of a work function) that any of us sit down at an event where the people to our left and right are of a different racial or ethnic background than our own.
To date, the sessions have allowed citizens to air their grievance on issues ranging from a Confederate statue that sits on the courthouse lawn to black students feeling slighted by their teachers. It hasn’t been easy, and there’s been no shortage of ruffled feathers and hurt feelings in the process. The Department of Justice has committed to using its resources to help the town address sentencing disparities and a failing education system, problems that affect municipalities both large and small.
It might not sound like much to city folks, but I’ve been encouraged by the effort residents have shown to improve their city. All Parisians must be willing to share in the blame for their predicament, while the media should examine whether they’re making a difficult situation worse in order to sell a few extra copies.
In the end, residents have the opportunity to interact with one another at a level that many of us aspire to but rarely achieve. But who wants to read about that?
Listen to Part 2 of this great interview with Dr. Frederick D. Haynes, III as he gives a preview of what “Freddy Haynes Unscripted” might sound like starting in March on 94.5 KSoul. Dr. Haynes talks about DPD crime statistics recently released, the stimulus package pending in the Senate, and gets off a memorable quote about how his show will compare to Rush Limbaugh’s.
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This is a reflection of Tuesday’s Inauguration of President Barack Obama by Jerry Smith, Leader of the Men’s Ministry at Friendship-West Baptist Church.
As I have reflected back on the events of Tuesday’s Inauguration, I truly feel healed. I had so many thoughts going through my mind as I watch a black man raise his hand to become president.
My mind flashed back to the first time I was called the “N” word. I was walking down State Street in West Lafayette, IN, right past the Chocolate Shop bar. There they were, riding past shouting out that phrase, “F_ _ _ _ _ _ N word.”
What had I done except try to improve myself by attending Purdue University? Why didn’t they just pull over and discuss their feelings like men? It was my first experience with racism as I had stepped outside the bubble of Gary, IN. I must admit rage built up inside of me and I took it out on others that did not look like me.
But on Inauguration Day, I thought about last March when I took my daughters and granddaughter to the Martin Luther King Jr. Center in Atlanta. We were sitting there watching a civil rights film that chronicled some portions of the struggle and the funeral services of Dr. King.
I remember sitting there crying after the movie unable to move. I had seen this movie before but what was the difference? This time I had understood the struggle that had been made for me.
Then thoughts of Jena, Louisiana went through my mind and I knew I had grown as a man. I was willing to face all that our people had gone through with dignity and without shame.
All these things flashed through my mind as President Obama stood there and became Commander-In-Chief. I finally had forgiven those men on State Street and in the people in those Civil Rights films.
I forgave myself for not living up to my potential. All I have left is what is in front of me and I accept the challenge as a Whole Man saved by grace. I finally accept the healing I received at the cross when I first saw the light.
Here are a few excerpts from an article from Howard Witt of the Chicago Tribune regarding the inauguration of Barack Obama. The view the entire article click here.
“At last, the time has come,” said the 76-year-old retired Oregon pastor whose father, Andrew Jackson Hurdle, was born into slavery in North Carolina in 1845. “This at least will give our young African-American children hope that they, too, can achieve. We had just about collectively given up.”
“We stuffed ballot boxes. We shot them. We are not ashamed of it. We of the South have never recognized the right of the Negro to govern white men, and we never will.
Here’s an article that I wrote for my hometown rag about the 2nd Racial Dialogue meeting that was held in Paris last week. Thanks to Mary Madewell for allowing me to express my views.
January 13, 2009
It’s hard to believe the momentum built from the first U.S. Department of Justice racial dialogue meeting could be lost so quickly. After the successful session that took place in December, I was excited about a return trip to Lamar County.
But at Thursday’s gathering, the Department of Justice’s Community Relation Services duo, Carmelita Pope-Freeman and David Penland, spent too much time priming the pump and too little time in harvest mode.
For a group so into structure, Thursday’s meeting seemed to ramble. After about an hour I thought about heading back across Lake Ray Hubbard, wondering if I would have been better off sitting in front of my television set watching Oklahoma and Florida in the national championship game.
Besides the inordinate amount of time spent on set up, there was entirely too much of this meeting devoted to review and bringing newcomers up to speed. Freeman stressed the importance of timeliness, but the limited amount of time set aside for discussion was not used wisely.
A positive moment came when Freeman opened up the floor for reflections on the tragic fire at the Christians in Action shelter. One of the attendees provided an excellent synopsis of what the heartbreaking catastrophe meant to the community.
The closeness of the Calvary fellowship hall was lost in the much more cavernous Love Civic Center. Where attendees in December tended to sit with people they didn’t know, those who came out last Thursday sought the comfort of familiar faces. It’s hard to find a perfect venue, and the intimacy of the church was a necessary loss in order to add capacity.
The body language of attendees showed that Freeman’s call and response facilitation style was wearing thin. Since Dec. 4, I had prepared myself to hunker down and listen to folks pouring out their hearts with concerns regarding their city.
Citizens were to bring the worksheets that had been assigned to them and be prepared to speak uninterrupted for three minutes. This would allow everyone to have their say and then work towards crafting solutions in subsequent meetings. Instead a group exercise was revisited and each table was asked to select a spokesperson.
Once Parisians actually got the microphone back, the meeting took a turn for the better. There were points made regarding getting parents more involved in the schools, shutting down drug houses and bootleggers, and ensuring criminal justice is enforced equally across racial lines.
But many of the groups on Thursday — as was the case at the previous dialogue meeting — turned their discussion towards education. That’s fitting, since many of the racial tensions that have existed in recent years sprang out of local schools.
If Paris discovers the magic potion that solves the education problem, then you should bottle it and sell it. But the fact that sub par public education is an American pandemic shouldn’t preclude the people of Paris from setting goals related to reforming their school systems.
I think the Diversity Task Force should go back to the Community Relations Service Office and ask for a do over. I would suggest Marva Joe and Mary Clark ask Freeman and Penland to come back and conduct the meeting many of us thought we were heading in to. Yet to do so would set the process back.
At the very least, Joe and Clark should make sure the Department of Justice folks follow their own prescribed guidelines at these meetings. If not, a drop in participation will inevitably be blamed on lack of community interest when in actuality it may be something else entirely.
I apologize for taking so long to get to this story. This is video of the tragic killing of Oscar Grant by Bay Area Rapid Transit Officers on New Year’s Day.
I don’t know a lot about Grant’s background, but according to a family member in a press conference, he had turned his life around.
None of that comes into play here when Grant -who doesn’t seem to be resisting arrest- is shot and killed by one of the transit officers in Oakland. It’s reminiscent of the deadly force that DART (Dallas Area Rapid Transit) police used in the shooting death of 15 year old Bobby Walker a year and a half ago.
This is the first of 3 stories on excessive force that have gained national attention over the last few days.
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