White in America: White Males Dominate Evening Cable

No, you’re not just imagining it when it seems to you that white males dominate evening cable. It’s a fact.

A study done by Media Matters for America found that although white men make up only 32 percent of the US population, they made up 57 percent of the guests on prime-time cable news shows during May 2008.

This and other findings are noted in the report Gender And Ethnic Diversity in Prime-Time Cable News – July 2008. The report is based on a review of cable weekday television evening shows (8PM through 11PM on CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC) that was done in May 2008. The study included shows such as CNN’s Lou Dobbs Tonight and Larry King Live, Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor and Hannity & Colmes, and MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews and Countdown with Keith Olbermann.

Among the study’s observations:

• Fox News was the whitest network, with 88 percent white guests. CNN and MSNBC were close behind, with both featuring 83 percent white guests. (Whites are 66 percent of the US population.)

• MSNBC showed the greatest gender imbalance, with 70 percent of its guests being male. CNN and Fox News were not far behind; each of those networks featured 65 percent male guests.

• Latinos were particularly underrepresented. Though they now comprise 15 percent of the American population, they made up only 2.7 percent of cable news guests. The worst of the three networks on this score was MSNBC, which featured only six Latino guests out of 460 prime-time appearances during the entire month.

• A number of ethnic groups were shut out entirely, or nearly so, on some networks. During the month of May, Fox News and MSNBC each featured a single Asian-American guest. Across the three cable networks, there were only four appearances by guests of Middle Eastern descent, two on Fox and two on CNN. There was not a single appearance by a Native American during the entire month.

Also of note: African Americans made up 16 percent of the guests on MSNBC, 11 percent of guests on CNN, and 9 percent of guests on Fox News. African Americans are 13 percent of the US population.

The findings are summed up in the following chart, which compares ethnicity in the US population versus the ethnicity of cable TV guests:

Media Matters for America describes itself as a “Web-based, not-for-profit, progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media.” Kudos to them for this informative report.

Nutcracker Suite

CRUDE:
“(Barack Obama is) talking down to black people… I want to cut his nuts off.”
- Jesse Jackson, caught unaware by an open mic on Fox News, this month.

DOWN TO EARTH:
“Well, you know what, then I truly believe that that is going to take an individual that has testicular fortitude, that’s exactly right, that’s what we got to have.”
- Paul Gibson, president of the Sheet Metal Workers’ Union, talking about why he supports Hillary Clinton for president, in April.

ULTRA SOPHISTICATED:
“With 90+ percent of black Americans voting Democrat regardless of who the candidate is, it will be bad enough as it is. But I, for one, expect you, black conservative Republican men to have enough balls to stand on principle, not on your emotions. You’ve shown your testicular fortitude by being publicly conservative against a tide of Identity Politics. Don’t start behaving like castrati now.”
- Black conservative blogger Juliette Akinyi Ochieng, challenging the manhood of black conservative males who are thinking of voting for Barack Obama, in June.

LET A SISTER GET SOME:
“Girl please, you couldn’t even carry my bra.”
- Detroit Congresswoman Carolyn Kilpatrick, at a Democratic candidate’s debate, responding to primary opponent Mary Waters’ comment about procuring federal funds for their district, this month.

The Measure of America: Economic Factoids

From the site Measure of America:

• The richest 20 percent of all U.S. households earned more than half of the nation’s total income in 2006.

• The top 1 percent of U.S. households possesses a full third of America’s wealth.

• Households in the top 10 percent of the income distribution hold more than 71 percent of the country’s wealth, while those in the lowest 60 percent possess just 4 percent.

• Nearly one in five American children lives in poverty, with more than one in thirteen living in extreme poverty.

• The poverty line for a family of four (two adults and two children) is an income of $21,027 before taxes; in 2006, more than 36 million Americans were classified poor by this definition.

• In every racial/ethnic group, men earn more than their female counterparts.

• In 1980, the average executive earned forty-two times as much as the average factory worker; today, executives earn some four hundred times what factory workers in their industries earn.

• In 2004, median net worth was $140,800 for whites, and $24,900 for nonwhites.

• The real value of the minimum wage has decreased by 40 percent in the past forty years.

Political Miscellany @ 7/28/08

The New York Times is reporting a split in the Congressional Black Caucus over legislation that bans certain types of cigarettes.

Right now, tobacco is not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. This means the FDA has limited authority to control the content and sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products. A bill in Congress would provide that authority, but some compromises have been made on this. One such compromise is that although the bill bans flavored cigarettes, menthol cigarettes are exempted from the ban. As noted in the Times article

…the menthol exemption was seen as a necessary compromise to win broad backing for the legislation… the legislation in its current form, with the menthol exemption, has broad support in the House. It also has the backing of many health groups, as well as the nation’s biggest cigarette company, Philip Morris USA, whose support is considered crucial for passage. The company makes Marlboro Menthol, the second-biggest menthol brand.

But menthol has become a politically charged subject in Washington because an estimated 75 percent of black smokers choose mentholated brands. Scientists have long wondered whether menthol might play a role in the disproportionate share of smoking-related cancer among African-Americans…

Caucus Chair Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick says… (CBC) members… are deeply divided on the subject. “The caucus is split,” she said. “We do want to see menthol regulated, but we’re convinced that eliminating or prohibiting menthol would be a killer for the bill.”

Philip Morris over the years has been one of the biggest contributors to the caucus’s nonprofit Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. That financial support, in some years exceeding $250,000, and lesser amounts at times from other cigarette makers, has been the reason some critics perceived an alliance between big tobacco and African-American members of Congress, some of whom were willing to help fend off antitobacco efforts.

Meanwhile, The Hill has a story about CBC members in potentially tough primary races who are hoping to get Barack Obama’s endorsement. Congressman Ed Towns of Brooklyn, NY is in trouble for supporting Hillary Clinton in the primaries, and it appears voters are becoming discontented with him. Congresswoman Carolyn Kilpatrick has been tainted by a scandal involving her son, Kwame Kilpatrick, who is the mayor of Detroit. William Jefferson, the congressman from New Orleans, has been indicted on federal corruption charges.
***

Thoughts on CNN’s “Black in America,” Parts 1 and 2

After an unsatisfying Part 1, CNN’s “Black in America” Part 2, did live up to the hype. I found several portions of the show compelling to watch.

What was wrong with Part 1? It wasn’t “bad.” I just found it bland and uninformative. It was like a series of reports that you might see from a high-end local television station. It was well done, but they covered a lot of ground (the black family and the black woman), and it seemed like they didn’t dig deep enough into any one subject. The show didn’t shed any light on hidden or neglected facts, it didn’t offer any unique insights or perspectives, and it didn’t uncover any previously ignored inconvenient truths.

I don’t think audiences, black audiences in particular, learned anything new in Part 1. Absent being informative, I would have settled for something that struck a poignant or inspirational cord, for example. But I was neither informed nor moved by Part 1.

But Part 2 did strike a cord with me. The difference between the two parts was that Part 2 focused on people whose lives showed the breadth and complexity of the black experience. Instead of focusing on issues, they let the lives of these men tell the story. And those stories were great to watch.

Quick Thoughts on CNN’s “Black in America,” Part 1

Some quick thoughts on Black in America, Part 1. This is the first of a two part series from CNN on the current state of African Americans.

The show was been interesting, and I admire that it’s well researched and free of stereotypes.

But for me… I don’t feel like I learned anything I didn’t already know.

The show talked about the growing black middle class… the large number of single-mother headed families… black health care disparities… etc… etc…

For blacks folks who are well informed, or just have eyes to see what’s happening around them, this show doesn’t break any new ground. It seems like the scope of the piece was so comprehensive that it wasn’t able to go into extraordinary depth about any of particular issue. That may have been more useful.

The only real “eye-opener” in the show for me was where it discussed the high rate of HIV in the black community, especially among black women. They could easily have devoted an entire show to that subject.

Of course, the show wasn’t meant just for me or black folks. Maybe it’s an eye-opener for the white community. Maybe.

Still, I do look forward to Part 2 on Black men. Perhaps that is where the fireworks will start.

Daisy Bates: The Art of the Dignified Response

So many heroes, so little time.

Thousands of people, perhaps tens or hundreds of thousands of people, were part of the Civil Rights Movement. Some, like Martin Luther King, Jr., have a national holiday to honor their memory. Some are folks whose heroism has been lost to time. But they should all be cited and celebrated as often as possible.

That’s why it’s been a joy for me to read DAISY BATES: Civil Rights Crusader from Arkansas, by Grif Stockley. Who was Daisy Bates? Consider this description of her from the book:

As a college-educated white Arkansan remembered in 2002, “Daisy Bates was our Osama Bin Ladin.” As outrageous and grimly ludicrous as this comparison is, it captures the emotions of the white community at the time.

And what did Bates do that made her comparable to a mass-murdering terrorist? She wanted to make it possible for black children and white children to go to school together in the 1950s. Such was the insanity of her times.

Daisy Bates, Arkansas Civil Rights Activist

Bates’s main notoriety is from her role as the “advisor” to the Little Rock Nine. A history of Bates is here and here; there are many others on the Internet. But I want to share a passage from the book by Stockley that tells a great story.

For Black Boys and Girls, Big and Small: Links for Dolls and Comic Books

As seen earlier, I had a troubled, fleeting fancy for AKA Barbie. If you’d rather bear witness to a true, wholesome love of Barbie, then the blog Don’t Just Play Barbie, Be Barbie! is your ticket. There are several Barbie sites on the web, but Be Barbie gives lots of love to dolls of the diaspora.

Repainted Black Barbies from Tabloach Productions

One of Be Barbie’s posts features work from doll repainter Loanne Hizo Ostlie of Tabloach Productions. Ostlie does dolls of all races, but her African American dolls are pure Black and Beautiful. They’re definitely worth a look if you want to feed your doll fetish.

If you do have a budding interest in black dolls, and you’re in or around Philly, you might want to check out The Philadelphia Doll Museum, which has over 300 black dolls in its collection. The Museum describes itself as “the only known museum in the nation that emphasizes the collection and preservation of black dolls as artifacts of history and culture.”

There is also a Black Doll Collectors site where doll enthusiasts can share information. The site has very good coverage, including photos and short summaries, of the 2008 Black Doll Collectors Convention, which was held May 30 through June 1, 2008 in Mansfield, Massachusetts. The event included visitors from France and South Africa.
***

Will Smith is wowing audiences playing a super-hero in Hancock. That brings to mind the many African American heroes who’ve been featured in the comic book genre, and the many websites that are dedicated to them.

AOL’s Black Voice’s site recently made a list of the Top 25 Black Superheroes of All Time. As a long time comic book reader, I found their list to be, well, lame. They listed Marvel Comics’ Black Panther – a truly revolutionary figure in comic book history – as #23, behind Marvel’s Black Goliath (#15) and DC Comics’ Mister Terrific (#14). Those and other characters are OK, but none have the stature and importance of the Black Panther, who should have been in the top 7.

Black Voices’ list is clunky because it consists of heroes from different genres – comic books, movies (Hancock and Morpheus from the The Matrix are on the list), TV shows, and kiddy cartoons. The number one hero is a character from Milestone Media, which was founded in the early 90s by a group of African-American artists and writers who sought to give blacks better representation in comics. I’ll let you look at the list to see who AOL selected as top dog.

A better informed group of black comics enthusiasts met in Philly at the The East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention (ECBACC) this past May. ECBACC, as far as I know, is the only current comic book convention that features an emphasis on African American characters, artists, and publishers. Among other things, ECBACC presents the Pioneer Awards to groundbreaking artists and writers who paved the way for today’s comic book artists and writers, and the Glyph Awards, which recognize the best in comics made either by, for, or about Black people.

The site has lots of great content about current happenings in the industry, and the Black Comic and Cartoon Pioneers page has an informative look at African American comic book history.

Wikipedia has the most exhaustive list of black super heroes I know on the web. But the most fun I’ve had is at The Museum of Black Super Heroes. The site is a virtual (web-based) museum of the history, art and culture of blacks in comics.

As the site notes here

Marvel’s first black superhero was named “Whitewash” (the name speaks for itself). Whitewash was a character drawn in full blackface fashion who appeared in the 1940’s war comic “Young Allies”. (images -1, 2, 3) Notice a common theme in all three cover images? Created for comic effect only, Whitewash was portrayed as a helpless bufoon whose only purpose was to provide laughs as he fell into one dire situation to another. Full of the stereotypes you would expect to see at that time in American history, negative black comic characters were all too commonplace.

Black superheroes were also subject to the negative perceptions of the artists drawing them at the time and therefore a parallel can be made to struggle for equality in America. Marvel’s Black Panther appeared in 1966 (Fantastic Four #52) and wouldn’t gain his own title until 11 years later (how’s that for affirmative action?). Followed by DC’s Black Lightning and Marvel’s Luke Cage, poster children for the entertainment industry’s Blaxploitation of the 70’s. Where possible I have included some images from the comics themselves depicting some of these racial situations as they appeared in print. The progress of blacks in comics has an undeniable link to our society’s racial issues and I ask you to keep this in mind as we delve into the offensive nature of some of the characters.

The site also includes an annotated list of many black superheroes. Seeing all of those characters brought back a rush of pleasant memories. The graphic design of the site is a little rough around the edges, but otherwise, it’s heaven on earth.

And speaking of heaven and the like, a very interesting set of comics comes from Urban Ministries, Inc., or UMI. UMI is the largest independent, African American-owned and operated Christian media company. It publishes Christian materials, including Sunday School and Vacation Bible School curricula, books, movies, and websites designed for African American churches and Churches.

UMI has partnered with Michael Davis, a co-founder of Milestone Media, to create Christian-based comic books which prominently feature black characters. The comics are published under UMI’s Guardian Line.

One character, named Code, is described as “a mysterious man of God, he travels the world helpling those in need. This is Code. This savvy man of mystery has a revolutionary knowledge of Scripture and technology that empowers him to help others. However, that power does not make him exempt from obstacles and the threat of evil…”

Code, a Super Hero from UMI’s Guardian Line

The premise for this line of comics is intriguing enough that I might buy some back issues to see what they’re like.

If you’re interested in looking for various vendors of African American based comics, check out AfriComics, which describes itself as “the Black Science Fiction and Comic Book Portal.” It has links to comic book publishers with African American character content, including small independents.
***

Finally: you MUST check out what I regard as groundbreaking comic: Bayou, by writer/artist Jeremy Love of Gettosake.

Bayou is published by ZudaComics.com, an online comics site from DC Comics. The idea of online comics, at first, doesn’t seem viable. For comic book readers, there is a joy to holding the book itself, pondering its art and text, and going back and forth through a comic to find the words and images that really grab you. You can’t do that online.

But when it comes to Bayou… everything works.

From Bayou at Zudacomics.com

Bayou is basically a children’s book, but this is not your mommy or daddy’s children’s book. Set in Depression-era Mississippi, it’s about a black girl who lives with her sharecropper father and “finds companionship with a blues-singing swamp monster named Bayou.”

The art is wonderful. The story line mixes elements of Uncle Remus, Alice in Wonderland, southern gothic, the Blues, African and Native American mythology, and Jim Crow.

The sheer execution of this makes me call it groundbreaking. Jeremy Love’s images fill the screen wonderfully; he’s figured just the right scale for the art that makes it work on a computer monitor. It’s a breeze to read the text, view the images, and go from one page to another. And Lee, the main character, is a truly heroic young black girl-the kind I wish we’d see more of in any genre.

Bayou is free. As of this writing, it has 129 pages of content, and the story won’t wrap up for several months. It’s a tale that will appeal to teens (14+) and adults, and people of all races. (It has images of lynchings that might be too much for pre-teens.) It has a magic that will touch everyone. Highly recommended.

Quoth AKA Barbie, “Skee-wee… forevermore.”

It’s been a tough week for me. The demands of work, family, and home have made it impossible to post to this blog for a few days. I’ve been in blogging withdrawal.

The day, the week, made me weak and tired. And when I’m weak and tired, the call of rum and coke can be irresistible. Was it one sip? Two? Or three? I don’t know. Weariness and alcohol can rob men of their memory as well as their conscience.

For some reason, Edgar Allan Poe came to mind. I started reading from his poetic masterpiece:

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
`’Tis some visitor,’ I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door -
Only this, and nothing more.’

I looked up. I thought I heard a tapping… a rhythmic burst like Jay-Z rapping.

But no! Now it was a high pitched sound, like a bird. What was that sound? “Skee-wee.” it said. “Skee-wee.”

WT…?

I ran to the window. And then I saw her!

AKA Barbie!

Outmanned and Outgunned: The Supreme Court’s Cruel Joke on Black America – Part 2

From Outmanned and Outgunned: The Supreme Court’s Cruel Joke on Black America – Part 1:

“Gun control has not worked in D.C. The only people who have guns are criminals. We have the strictest gun laws in the nation and one of the highest murder rates. It’s quicker to pull your Smith & Wesson than to dial 911 if you’re being robbed.” – Lowell Duckett

“Our neighbors in Virginia are just as responsible for these killings as the criminals are because they won’t pass strong gun [control] legislation.” – former Washington, DC mayor Marion Barry.

“A teenager is more likely to die from a gunshot than from all natural causes of death combined. This is unacceptable in America.” – President George W. Bush, 2001

—
1980s-2000s The scourge of Black on Black Crime comes to the forefront of American consciousness, and the doorsteps of African American neighborhoods. The Brady Center notes the chilling statistics in GUN VIOLENCE IN THE AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY:

Gun violence is a priority issue for African-Americans and other minorities. Nearly 350,000 Americans were victims to murders, robberies, and aggravated assaults in 2003 committed by perpetrators carrying a firearm, and our minority communities are the hardest hit:
• In 2002, firearm homicide was the number one cause of death for 15-34 year old African-Americans.
• In 2002, the firearm death rate for African-Americans was over twice that of whites.
• In 2002, an African-American male under age 30 was nearly 9 times more likely to be murdered than a white male under age 30.
• In 2003, 91 percent of African-American murder victims were slain by African-American offenders.
• In 2002, African-American males accounted for 47 percent of all homicide victims, while they only account for 6 percent of the entire population.
• Firearms have become the predominant method of suicide for African-Americans aged 10-19 years, accounting for 64 percent of suicides in 2002.
— June 2005

2008 The Supreme Court, in the case of Heller vs the District of Columbia, strikes down the District’s gun ban law.

—
As noted in Part 1 of this two part series, the history and guns and African Americans is clear: for much of our country’s history, through acts of omission or commission, the Supreme Court was a willing participant in creating an environment where whites could terrorize blacks, in a manner that left blacks unable to defend themselves.

That was then, this is now. What should be today’s stance on guns in the African American community?

The Race and Class “Giving Gap” in Political Contributions

Political campaigns are not run for free. Money is needed to pay for advertisements, consultants, phone banks, computer services, pollsters, and the like. As such, political contributions are the lifeblood of election campaigns.

And when candidates go looking for the green, the contributors are overwhelmingly rich and white. Consider the primaries for the 2004 presidential campaign, which included George Bush and John Kerry, as well as African American candidates Carol Moseley Braun and Rev. Al Sharpton. A study titled Color of Money: The 2004 Presidential Race, which was released by Public Campaign, the Fannie Lou Hamer Project, and the William C. Velasquez Institute, reported that

The top contributing zip code to all presidential campaigns—including both the Bush and Kerry campaigns—was 10021, on Manhattan’s exclusive Upper East Side, which was the source of $4.2 million. President Bush and Sen. Kerry collected 71% of this amount, $1.3 and $1.7 million respectively.

In contrast, the zip code 10035, just a few miles away in Harlem, was the source of just $1,000 and $2,750, respectively, for Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) and Sen. Kerry.

The zip code 10021 was the source of more campaign cash for presidential campaigns than:
• 377 zip codes nationwide with the largest percentage of African Americans, containing a total of 6.9 million people ages 18 and over, 75 times more people than live in 10021;
• 365 zip codes nationwide with the largest percentage of Latino Americans, containing a total of 8.1 million people ages 18 and over, 89 times more people than live in 10021.

Of all the major candidates, President George W. Bush raised the lowest percentage of campaign money from neighborhoods where people of color are the majority, 8.3%, while Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) raised 10.7%. Overall, Democratic candidates collected 11.4% of their $200+ individual contributions from these neighborhoods.

Distraction du Jour

A cautionary tale of what happens when you go on Fox News and there’s an open mic:

Jesse Jackson Apologizes to Barack Obama for Crude Remarks

I was going to call this ‘Nutcracker-Gate,’ but I don’t want people to think this isn’t a serious blog. Plus, not everyone would get the joke. So I’m not going to call it that. OK?

Political Miscellany 7/9/08

The NAACP will hold its 99th Annual Convention on July 12-17 in Cincinnati. The theme of the Convention is “Power, Justice, Freedom, Vote.” More than 8,000 NAACP members, delegates and visitors are expected to attend.

Although there are many who doubt the relevance and effectiveness of the NAACP, it still has enough pull to attract two prominent guests: Sen Barack Obama will speak to the convention on July 14, and Sen John McCain will speak on July 16. More information on the Convention is here; but be aware that some of the information at that link is outdated (as of July 8, it incorrectly showed that Obama will speak on July 17… it’s hard to understand why nobody’s updated that web page yet).

Two black Democrats are big-time dark horses in their races for political office-pun intended.

Black Panther: The Revolutionary Art of Emory Douglas

I came of age in the 60s and 70s, when the Black Power Movement was in full swing. One of the icons of the era was the Black Panther Party. And nobody did Black Panther iconography better than Emory Douglas.

A retrospective of Douglas’s art has been published in the book Black Panther: The Revolutionary Art of Emory Douglas. It is a joy to read and browse.

In essence, Douglas was the editorial cartoonist of his times. He was a college-trained artist who was recruited by Eldridge Cleaver to join the Party. Emory eventually became the Party’s Revolutionary Artist and Minister of Culture. In that role, he provided hundreds of illustrations for the Black Panther Party newspaper, in addition to providing art for dozens of posters.

At its peak, the Party newspaper is said to have had a circulation of of 400,000. And that included me.

Image from the book “Black Panther: The Revolutionary Art of Emory Douglas”

Outmanned and Outgunned: The Supreme Court’s Cruel Joke on Black America – Part 1

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. – Second Amendment to the US Constitution

“The great object is, that every man be armed. [...] Every one who is able may have a gun.” – Patrick Henry

“Gun control has not worked in D.C. The only people who have guns are criminals. We have the strictest gun laws in the nation and one of the highest murder rates. It’s quicker to pull your Smith & Wesson than to dial 911 if you’re being robbed.” – Lowell Duckett

“Our neighbors in Virginia are just as responsible for these killings as the criminals are because they won’t pass strong gun [control] legislation.” – former Washington, DC mayor Marion Barry.

“To make inexpensive guns impossible to get is to say that you’re putting a money test on getting a gun. It’s racism in its worst form.” – Roy Innis

“So Huey (Newton) says, “We’re going to the (California state) Capitol… they’re trying to pass a law against our guns, and we’re going to the Capitol steps. We’re going to take the best Panthers we got and we’re going to the Capitol steps with our guns and forces, loaded down to the gills. And we’re going to read a message to the world, because the press is always up there. They’ll listen to the message, and they’ll probably blast it all across this country. I know, I know they’ll blast it all the way across California. We’ve got to get a message over to the people.” ” – Bobby Seale on the Black Panthers armed protest in Sacramento in May, 1967.

“The end move in politics is always to pick up a gun.” – Richard Buckminster Fuller
–

History and time have a way of telling cruel jokes. So it is with the recent Supreme Court decision overturning the restictive gun ban in Washington, DC.

When black folks were outmanned and outgunned during the slavery, Reconstruction and Jim Crow eras, various Supreme Court decisions left blacks defenseless against a tide of white terrorism. But now that black communities are awash in a wave of black on black crime, the Supreme Court accepts and rules on a case concerning the right to bear arms.

It is the cruelest of ironies. Before I go further, consider this admittedly self-serving timeline of the history of blacks and guns: