Mark Anthony Neal pays homage to his father's record collection. Neal is a professor with the Department of African and African American Studies at Duke University and author of New Black Man: Rethinking Black Masculinity.
Showing posts with label NPR. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NPR. Show all posts
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Thursday, March 3, 2011
In Mat Johnson's 'Pym,' A Comic Glimpse Into Poe's Racial Politics
from NPR/Fresh Air
In 'Pym,' A Comic Glimpse Into Poe's Racial Politics
If all you think of when you think of Edgar Allan Poe are poems like "The Raven," or tales of terror like "The Fall of the House of Usher," you might not realize that Poe was a funny guy. I'm not talking belly laughs, but more a creepy comic vision that savored the absurd in desperate situations — like an annoying corpse whose darn heart just won't stop thumping; or — spoiler alert! — a whodunit where the killer turns out to be an orangutan. It's this strain of ghastly humor in Poe that Mat Johnson mines in his new novel, Pym, an inventive and socially sassy play on Poe's one and only novel: The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket.
Listen Here
If all you think of when you think of Edgar Allan Poe are poems like "The Raven," or tales of terror like "The Fall of the House of Usher," you might not realize that Poe was a funny guy. I'm not talking belly laughs, but more a creepy comic vision that savored the absurd in desperate situations — like an annoying corpse whose darn heart just won't stop thumping; or — spoiler alert! — a whodunit where the killer turns out to be an orangutan. It's this strain of ghastly humor in Poe that Mat Johnson mines in his new novel, Pym, an inventive and socially sassy play on Poe's one and only novel: The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket.
Listen Here
Friday, December 31, 2010
Dr. Guy (Guthrie) Ramsey on Teena Marie
Teena Marie, Trailblazing Singer Known As The Ivory Queen Of Soul, Has Died
NPR All Things Considered
Lady T. Vanilla Child. The Ivory Queen of Soul. Mary Christine Brockert earned all kinds of nicknames over the course of her career. The one most people knew was Teena Marie.
Marie died yesterday at home in Pasadena, at the age of 54. A white woman whose exceptional voice made her a success in the traditionally black genres of soul, R&B and funk, her career began on Motown in the late 1970s. The cover of her 1979 debut album, Wild and Peaceful, didn't feature her photo; Marie later said that Motown chief Berry Gordy wanted people to listen to her voice without getting distracted by the color of her skin.
Talking to Audie Cornish on All Things Considered on Monday, University of Pennsylvania music professor Guthrie Ramsay explained Teena Marie's talent in technical terms:
"She sings with a very robust chest voice but she also has what we call a coloratura range. And that is, she can sing -- I tested it out -- she's singing high Cs, high C sharps. And she moves effortlessly through the range of her voice; she has a signature and very fluid melisma -- singing lots of notes on one syllable. And although her voice had a naturally wide vibrato, there was a sense that she was very much in control of it."
Rick James was one of many fans of Marie's voice. The two were romantically involved for years, and made songs like "Fire and Desire" and "I'm a Sucker for Your Love" together.
Marie had an acrimonious split with Motown; she filed a suit against the company that led to a law preventing record labels from keeping a musician on contract but refusing to release records. Ramsay says that Marie came into an industry that was in transition, and sometimes hesitant to embrace unconventional artists.
"You had some of the smaller labels being bought by larger corporations, and at that time they began to exercise a lot more artistic control over these artists in terms of what kind of music they wanted them to put out and what kind of image they wanted them to have. So she kind of stood out as an anomaly because first of all she was a white woman singing very soulful songs throughout all of the genres. She was participating in R&B ballads. She sang over funk songs. She did pop songs. Her "Ooh La La La" song is an early smooth jazz type of song. So she was really quite ambitious in her stylings, but at the same time she had to fight record labels in order to get the full range of her musicality out there."
Marie continued recording for labels like Epic and Cash Money; she recorded hits like "Ooh La La La," "Fix It" and "Lovergirl" in the '80s. Her final album, Congo Square, was released in 2009 on Stax.
Ramsay says Teena Marie's connection with soul was deep.
"She was a person who personified the idea that culture is learned. And for whatever reason, she was raised in a situation where she was exposed to soul music, R&B music, and she embraced it as her own. She believed that if it moved her, she could be part of it."
Listen Here
NPR All Things Considered
Lady T. Vanilla Child. The Ivory Queen of Soul. Mary Christine Brockert earned all kinds of nicknames over the course of her career. The one most people knew was Teena Marie.
Marie died yesterday at home in Pasadena, at the age of 54. A white woman whose exceptional voice made her a success in the traditionally black genres of soul, R&B and funk, her career began on Motown in the late 1970s. The cover of her 1979 debut album, Wild and Peaceful, didn't feature her photo; Marie later said that Motown chief Berry Gordy wanted people to listen to her voice without getting distracted by the color of her skin.
Talking to Audie Cornish on All Things Considered on Monday, University of Pennsylvania music professor Guthrie Ramsay explained Teena Marie's talent in technical terms:
"She sings with a very robust chest voice but she also has what we call a coloratura range. And that is, she can sing -- I tested it out -- she's singing high Cs, high C sharps. And she moves effortlessly through the range of her voice; she has a signature and very fluid melisma -- singing lots of notes on one syllable. And although her voice had a naturally wide vibrato, there was a sense that she was very much in control of it."
Rick James was one of many fans of Marie's voice. The two were romantically involved for years, and made songs like "Fire and Desire" and "I'm a Sucker for Your Love" together.
Marie had an acrimonious split with Motown; she filed a suit against the company that led to a law preventing record labels from keeping a musician on contract but refusing to release records. Ramsay says that Marie came into an industry that was in transition, and sometimes hesitant to embrace unconventional artists.
"You had some of the smaller labels being bought by larger corporations, and at that time they began to exercise a lot more artistic control over these artists in terms of what kind of music they wanted them to put out and what kind of image they wanted them to have. So she kind of stood out as an anomaly because first of all she was a white woman singing very soulful songs throughout all of the genres. She was participating in R&B ballads. She sang over funk songs. She did pop songs. Her "Ooh La La La" song is an early smooth jazz type of song. So she was really quite ambitious in her stylings, but at the same time she had to fight record labels in order to get the full range of her musicality out there."
Marie continued recording for labels like Epic and Cash Money; she recorded hits like "Ooh La La La," "Fix It" and "Lovergirl" in the '80s. Her final album, Congo Square, was released in 2009 on Stax.
Ramsay says Teena Marie's connection with soul was deep.
"She was a person who personified the idea that culture is learned. And for whatever reason, she was raised in a situation where she was exposed to soul music, R&B music, and she embraced it as her own. She believed that if it moved her, she could be part of it."
Listen Here
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
The Late, Great Dr. Billy Taylor
Pianist Billy Taylor, Jazz Ambassador And NPR Host, Dies
by NPR Staff and Patrick Jarenwattananon
Billy Taylor, a pianist who became one of the country's foremost ambassadors for jazz music — including many years as an NPR host — died Tuesday night. The cause was a heart attack, according to his daughter, Kim Taylor Thompson. He was 89.
Born in 1921, Taylor had been a professional musician for more than six decades. After graduating from Virginia State College, he moved to New York in 1944; there, his first big gig was in the band of saxophonist Ben Webster. He would end up playing with essentially all the greats of that era, and many of them since. As a recording artist, he's best known as the leader of a trio, a format he maintained since the 1950s, and also as the composer of the song "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free."
After he had established himself as a premier musician, Taylor began broadcasting jazz. In 1958, he was musical director for The Subject Is Jazz, a National Educational Television program that was the first about jazz. He would later profile many musicians and advocates for CBS' Sunday Morning program; he also directed the band on The David Frost Show and produced projects for PBS.
Additionally, Taylor was program director of the Harlem-based radio station WLIB, and was a host on the New York pop station WNEW. Those positions led to a long relationship with NPR, where he interviewed and featured top performers on numerous programs, including a 13-week series called Taylor Made Piano and the long-running series Jazz Alive! and Billy Taylor's Jazz at the Kennedy Center. NPR Music's JazzSet regularly features performances from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, where Taylor was long the artistic director for jazz.
Dr. Billy Taylor — his common appellation, as he held a Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and many honorary degrees — is also remembered as an educator who traveled widely for clinics and lectures. Since 1964, his JazzMobile organization has presented free concerts and workshops in New York City (and primarily its heavily African-American neighborhoods). Those who knew him universally speak of his personal warmth, and of his missionary-like zeal for introducing jazz music to people.
Listen @ All Things Considered
also
Honoring Billy Taylor (2008)
WUNC-FM
The State of Things w/ Frank Stasio
When Tar Heel native Billy Taylor arrived in New York City, it took him just one week to land a gig playing piano alongside a jazz master, saxophonist Ben Webster. Taylor's auspicious beginnings in the early 1940s turned into a six-decade long career accompanying great musicians like Miles Davis and Charlie Parker. But beyond the masterful performances and hundreds of original jazz compositions, Taylor also made a name for himself by teaching jazz to the masses. Tonight, Billy Taylor will be honored at North Carolina Central University. Taylor and Dr. Larry Ridley, Executive Director of African American Jazz Caucus, join host Frank Stasio to talk about Taylor's life in music and North Carolina's place in jazz history.
Listen HERE
by NPR Staff and Patrick Jarenwattananon
Billy Taylor, a pianist who became one of the country's foremost ambassadors for jazz music — including many years as an NPR host — died Tuesday night. The cause was a heart attack, according to his daughter, Kim Taylor Thompson. He was 89.
Born in 1921, Taylor had been a professional musician for more than six decades. After graduating from Virginia State College, he moved to New York in 1944; there, his first big gig was in the band of saxophonist Ben Webster. He would end up playing with essentially all the greats of that era, and many of them since. As a recording artist, he's best known as the leader of a trio, a format he maintained since the 1950s, and also as the composer of the song "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free."
After he had established himself as a premier musician, Taylor began broadcasting jazz. In 1958, he was musical director for The Subject Is Jazz, a National Educational Television program that was the first about jazz. He would later profile many musicians and advocates for CBS' Sunday Morning program; he also directed the band on The David Frost Show and produced projects for PBS.
Additionally, Taylor was program director of the Harlem-based radio station WLIB, and was a host on the New York pop station WNEW. Those positions led to a long relationship with NPR, where he interviewed and featured top performers on numerous programs, including a 13-week series called Taylor Made Piano and the long-running series Jazz Alive! and Billy Taylor's Jazz at the Kennedy Center. NPR Music's JazzSet regularly features performances from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, where Taylor was long the artistic director for jazz.
Dr. Billy Taylor — his common appellation, as he held a Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and many honorary degrees — is also remembered as an educator who traveled widely for clinics and lectures. Since 1964, his JazzMobile organization has presented free concerts and workshops in New York City (and primarily its heavily African-American neighborhoods). Those who knew him universally speak of his personal warmth, and of his missionary-like zeal for introducing jazz music to people.
Listen @ All Things Considered
also
Honoring Billy Taylor (2008)
WUNC-FM
The State of Things w/ Frank Stasio
When Tar Heel native Billy Taylor arrived in New York City, it took him just one week to land a gig playing piano alongside a jazz master, saxophonist Ben Webster. Taylor's auspicious beginnings in the early 1940s turned into a six-decade long career accompanying great musicians like Miles Davis and Charlie Parker. But beyond the masterful performances and hundreds of original jazz compositions, Taylor also made a name for himself by teaching jazz to the masses. Tonight, Billy Taylor will be honored at North Carolina Central University. Taylor and Dr. Larry Ridley, Executive Director of African American Jazz Caucus, join host Frank Stasio to talk about Taylor's life in music and North Carolina's place in jazz history.
Listen HERE
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Should Terry Gross Go The Way of Juan Williams?
from the Huffington Post
Should Terry Gross Go The Way of Juan Williams?
by Bakari Kitwana
Let's begin with the premise that no people, culture, religious, racial or ethnic group is by definition immoral. Not acknowledging this, at the core, is the problem with Juan Williams' gross generalization about Muslims that recently got him fired from National Public Radio (NPR). But if NPR's "Fresh Air" interview last week with the rapper Jay-Z about his new book Decoded is any indication, it's a message still lost on Terry Gross.
To be sure Juan Williams revealed his bias by openly, expressing his personal opinion. Terry Gross didn't do that. Instead the bias is more subtle and insidious and lurks in the line of questioning.
While not as shocking as the obvious blanket condemnation Juan Williams advanced, the Terry Gross/ Jay-Z interview is even more problematic because it illuminates a tendency pervasive in today's news media. This is a moment in which Blacks can be embraced and promoted at the same time that their humanity is dismantled--all in a 30-second sound bite.
Throughout her interview with Jay-Z, Gross kept returning the discussion to those places that reinforce the idea of Black culture as immoral and Black people as corrupt and/or corruptible. Such anti-Black arguments that once lived primarily in conservative public policy debates have now worked their way into national culture (especially in film, television, news media and politics) to the degree that these views are now widely accepted as the norm.
In short, racial disparities in education, unemployment, criminal justice, wealth-building, and more are rooted in Black cultural failing alone. As this logic prevails, it's impossible to gain traction on any targeted policy solutions regarding the problems disproportionately facing Blacks.
President Obama realizes this. Hence his colorblind politics, a policy approach that anti-racist activist Tim Wise documents in detail in his new book, Colorblind. However, one wonders to what extent even liberal journalists like Terry Gross realize they are collaborators.
To grasp the full extent to which Gross emboldens conservative ideas about race, one should listen to the entire 45-minute interview. For now, let this brief exchange illustrate the point,
GROSS: Your father left when you were very young. And you say that most of your friends' fathers had left. You say, "Our fathers were gone, usually because they just bounced. But we took their old records and used them to build something fresh." That's really interesting that one of your things that your father leaves behind that you can use is his records.
JAY-Z: Yeah, I guess there's a bright side to everything right?
GROSS: Yeah, well, that's one way of looking at it.
Any great interviewer--and Gross is at the top of her game--knows the role he or she plays in the outcome. Part of the science is in framing the questions.
The advancing of conservative rhetoric about Blacks persists, whether Gross is bluntly asking Jay about crimes he committed 15 years ago (crack sales and assault), or inquiring about his mother's parental decisions: "You ended up selling crack and helping your mother, as a single mother, support the family. Did she know that's how you were making the money?"
What's the takeaway message? That Jay's mom was a single parent that made poor choices, let her teenage son sell drugs and is unprincipled because she knows the money he's using to support the family comes from drug sales. It's a narrative we've heard from the Republican Revolution of 1994 to the recent well-financed media blitz that resulted in the mid-term shellacking of the Democrats.
And Terry Gross never goes off message. In a nearly hour long interview with a self-made record executive mogul and entrepreneur worth at least half a billion, on the occasion of the publication of a book he deems a coming of age story for his generation, the most pressing questions on the table range from insight into drug dealing to why rappers grab their crotches?
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that folks should boycott NPR or even "Fresh Air." And I'm not saying Gross should be fired. What I'm after is something much larger--a radical shift away from the growing tendency to allow conservative race analysis to dominate the ways Americans think and talk about race.
Ironically, Jay-Z points us to the territory in at least one of his responses to Gross: "I know all sorts of people saw their lives destroyed--but in America, we process that sort of thing as a tragedy," he tells Gross when she asks him about Hurricane Katrina, Kanye West and George Bush. "When it happens to black people, it feels like something else, like history rerunning its favorite loop."
Given how pervasive this narrative has become, it's going take much more than firing journalists like Gross and Williams to purge that "favorite loop" from our national culture.
by Bakari Kitwana
Let's begin with the premise that no people, culture, religious, racial or ethnic group is by definition immoral. Not acknowledging this, at the core, is the problem with Juan Williams' gross generalization about Muslims that recently got him fired from National Public Radio (NPR). But if NPR's "Fresh Air" interview last week with the rapper Jay-Z about his new book Decoded is any indication, it's a message still lost on Terry Gross.
To be sure Juan Williams revealed his bias by openly, expressing his personal opinion. Terry Gross didn't do that. Instead the bias is more subtle and insidious and lurks in the line of questioning.
While not as shocking as the obvious blanket condemnation Juan Williams advanced, the Terry Gross/ Jay-Z interview is even more problematic because it illuminates a tendency pervasive in today's news media. This is a moment in which Blacks can be embraced and promoted at the same time that their humanity is dismantled--all in a 30-second sound bite.
Throughout her interview with Jay-Z, Gross kept returning the discussion to those places that reinforce the idea of Black culture as immoral and Black people as corrupt and/or corruptible. Such anti-Black arguments that once lived primarily in conservative public policy debates have now worked their way into national culture (especially in film, television, news media and politics) to the degree that these views are now widely accepted as the norm.
In short, racial disparities in education, unemployment, criminal justice, wealth-building, and more are rooted in Black cultural failing alone. As this logic prevails, it's impossible to gain traction on any targeted policy solutions regarding the problems disproportionately facing Blacks.
President Obama realizes this. Hence his colorblind politics, a policy approach that anti-racist activist Tim Wise documents in detail in his new book, Colorblind. However, one wonders to what extent even liberal journalists like Terry Gross realize they are collaborators.
To grasp the full extent to which Gross emboldens conservative ideas about race, one should listen to the entire 45-minute interview. For now, let this brief exchange illustrate the point,
GROSS: Your father left when you were very young. And you say that most of your friends' fathers had left. You say, "Our fathers were gone, usually because they just bounced. But we took their old records and used them to build something fresh." That's really interesting that one of your things that your father leaves behind that you can use is his records.
JAY-Z: Yeah, I guess there's a bright side to everything right?
GROSS: Yeah, well, that's one way of looking at it.
Any great interviewer--and Gross is at the top of her game--knows the role he or she plays in the outcome. Part of the science is in framing the questions.
The advancing of conservative rhetoric about Blacks persists, whether Gross is bluntly asking Jay about crimes he committed 15 years ago (crack sales and assault), or inquiring about his mother's parental decisions: "You ended up selling crack and helping your mother, as a single mother, support the family. Did she know that's how you were making the money?"
What's the takeaway message? That Jay's mom was a single parent that made poor choices, let her teenage son sell drugs and is unprincipled because she knows the money he's using to support the family comes from drug sales. It's a narrative we've heard from the Republican Revolution of 1994 to the recent well-financed media blitz that resulted in the mid-term shellacking of the Democrats.
And Terry Gross never goes off message. In a nearly hour long interview with a self-made record executive mogul and entrepreneur worth at least half a billion, on the occasion of the publication of a book he deems a coming of age story for his generation, the most pressing questions on the table range from insight into drug dealing to why rappers grab their crotches?
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that folks should boycott NPR or even "Fresh Air." And I'm not saying Gross should be fired. What I'm after is something much larger--a radical shift away from the growing tendency to allow conservative race analysis to dominate the ways Americans think and talk about race.
Ironically, Jay-Z points us to the territory in at least one of his responses to Gross: "I know all sorts of people saw their lives destroyed--but in America, we process that sort of thing as a tragedy," he tells Gross when she asks him about Hurricane Katrina, Kanye West and George Bush. "When it happens to black people, it feels like something else, like history rerunning its favorite loop."
Given how pervasive this narrative has become, it's going take much more than firing journalists like Gross and Williams to purge that "favorite loop" from our national culture.
Bakari Kitwana is senior media fellow at the Harvard Law-based think tank, The Jamestown Project and the author of the forthcoming Hip-Hop Activism in the Obama Era (Third World Press, 2011).
Monday, November 22, 2010
O-Dub on the New Kanye West
Kanye West Gets 'Twisted,' But Misses The Beauty
by Oliver Wang
On Monday one of the most anticipated — and most leaked — albums of the year hits stores: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy by Kanye West. The rapper began releasing several of its songs on his own website since the late summer, and he even produced a 35-minute music video to go with it. Now, the final, complete album is in the offing.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Monday, November 1, 2010
'Left of Black': Episode #7 featuring Farai Chideya and Cathy J. Cohen
Host Mark Anthony Neal discusses the mid-term elections and NPR's firing of Juan Williams with journalist Farai Chideya, founder and managing editor of Pop & Politics and former host of NPR's News & Notes.
Neal is also joined by Cathy J. Cohen, the David and Mary Winton Green Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago and author of the new book Democracy Remixed: Black Youth and the Future of American Politics. Cohen is also the author of The Boundaries of Blackness: AIDS and the Breakdown of Black Politics (1999)
Neal is also joined by Cathy J. Cohen, the David and Mary Winton Green Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago and author of the new book Democracy Remixed: Black Youth and the Future of American Politics. Cohen is also the author of The Boundaries of Blackness: AIDS and the Breakdown of Black Politics (1999)
Monday, October 25, 2010
What Everyone Is Missing About NPR's WilliamsGate
from the Huffington Post
What Everyone Is Missing About NPR's WilliamsGate
by Farai Chideya
"juan, gettin ugly. wonder if it will result in him severing ties, or mutual"
That was my note at the top of an email I sent back in September of 2007 to a colleague at NPR. In full disclosure, I am a former employee of NPR, let go in 2008 as part of the cancellation of three shows, including one I hosted. In the email, I'd forwarded a Washington Post column by Howard Kurtz dissecting a Fox/NPR/Juan Williams triad of recrimination. The headline: "NPR Rebuffs White House On Bush Talk -- Radio Network Wanted To Choose Its Interviewer." In Kurtz's words:
This incident is more telling than the oft-dissected statement Williams made on Fox that Michelle Obama had "this Stokely Carmichael-in-a-designer-dress thing going." Juan Williams and NPR have been a mutual mismatch for years. In this volley, Williams -- with his reported new $2 million over 3 year contract with Fox -- is the clear winner; with Fox a close second; and NPR left holding the bag. It need not have been this way.
If NPR had such clear concerns over how Juan Williams fit into their organization, in the amorphous role of "news analyst," then they had an opportunity to let him go a long time ago. They could have decided he didn't fit their needs, and moved on in a less polarized time. But by firing him now, in this instance, after years of sitting uncomfortably with his dual roles on NPR and Fox, they made a few crucial errors. They chose to fire him for doing what he has done for years... be a hype man for Bill O'Reilly. Why now? And they also showed tone-deaf communication with member stations by firing Williams during a pledge drive season. I know to many that will sound like nit-picking, but the relationship between NPR and member stations has oft been strained, and the Williams matter does so more, as evidenced by station disclaimers like this one from WBUR.
Author and Atlantic Blogger Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote of Williams, "It's a dangerous, dangerous thing to make a living running your mouth." He was referring to the Carmichael/Obama statement. I would agree, and disagree. Having been both a news analyst and a reporter, I think it's dangerous and valuable to step up to the mic as an expert. I have been a pundit, but I always simultaneously did reporting. Recently, I've been going to Tea Party meetings and immigration rights meetings. Getting out in the field and actually talking to people is a wondrous thing. You learn we are not monolithic, any of us. But reporting has become devalued in the current media environment, which is struggling with revenue models. Far better, as a simple ratio of time-to-income earned, is simply to find a show that will have you on and do whatever you have to do to ingratiate yourself with the host.
Juan Williams pointedly said in his comments after the firing that he was the only black man on-air at NPR.... and not a reporter at that. Guest hosting on Fox, he also called himself a "loyal employee" of NPR, and implied the network was run by a "far-left mob." (If so, I didn't meet any in my four years at NPR. It's run by a Beltway cohort, perhaps, but not "far-left.") Do I think NPR fired him because he is black? No. Do I think NPR kept Williams on for years, as the relationship degraded, because he is a black man? Absolutely. Williams' presence on air was a fig-leaf for much broader and deeper diversity problems at the network. NPR needs to hire more black men in house on staff as part of adding diverse staff across many ethnicities and races. It also needs, broadly, a diversity upgrade that doesn't just focus on numbers, but on protocols for internal communication. Among the revelations in this incident is that the Vice President of News fired Williams by phone without giving him the opportunity to come into the office and discuss it.
After I was let go from hosting an African-American issues show at NPR, I walked away relatively quietly, though with a series of questions about how power was allocated and shared at the network, and whether diversity truly mattered to management. Although the focus right now is on whether NPR should be defunded (God no!), I would like to see a little more light shine on how NPR deals with diversity. It has a new diversity czar, Keith Woods, and I hope he is empowered to look at the issue broadly and respected by management.
I also hope that NPR continues to support its programming that does feature diverse voices, including Michel Martin's Tell Me More (which had a great, honest roundtable about Williams) and acquired/partner programming like the fantastic on-the-road/town-hall show State of the Re:Union by Al Letson.
This country needs NPR, now more than ever. But it needs an NPR and media, broadly, that are adventurous rather than expedient when it comes to reporting on a divided America, and cultivating the most diverse staff, and audience.
***
Farai Chideya is currently broadcasting public radio midterm election specials, reported in the field. You can find more information at PopandPolitics.com
Follow Farai Chideya on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@faraichideya
What Everyone Is Missing About NPR's WilliamsGate
by Farai Chideya
"juan, gettin ugly. wonder if it will result in him severing ties, or mutual"
That was my note at the top of an email I sent back in September of 2007 to a colleague at NPR. In full disclosure, I am a former employee of NPR, let go in 2008 as part of the cancellation of three shows, including one I hosted. In the email, I'd forwarded a Washington Post column by Howard Kurtz dissecting a Fox/NPR/Juan Williams triad of recrimination. The headline: "NPR Rebuffs White House On Bush Talk -- Radio Network Wanted To Choose Its Interviewer." In Kurtz's words:
The White House reached out to National Public Radio over the weekend, offering analyst Juan Williams a presidential interview to mark yesterday's 50th anniversary of school desegregation in Little Rock. But NPR turned down the interview, and Williams's talk with Bush wound up in a very different media venue: Fox News. Williams said yesterday he was "stunned" by NPR's decision... Ellen Weiss, NPR's vice president for news, said she "felt strongly" that "the White House shouldn't be selecting the person."
This incident is more telling than the oft-dissected statement Williams made on Fox that Michelle Obama had "this Stokely Carmichael-in-a-designer-dress thing going." Juan Williams and NPR have been a mutual mismatch for years. In this volley, Williams -- with his reported new $2 million over 3 year contract with Fox -- is the clear winner; with Fox a close second; and NPR left holding the bag. It need not have been this way.
If NPR had such clear concerns over how Juan Williams fit into their organization, in the amorphous role of "news analyst," then they had an opportunity to let him go a long time ago. They could have decided he didn't fit their needs, and moved on in a less polarized time. But by firing him now, in this instance, after years of sitting uncomfortably with his dual roles on NPR and Fox, they made a few crucial errors. They chose to fire him for doing what he has done for years... be a hype man for Bill O'Reilly. Why now? And they also showed tone-deaf communication with member stations by firing Williams during a pledge drive season. I know to many that will sound like nit-picking, but the relationship between NPR and member stations has oft been strained, and the Williams matter does so more, as evidenced by station disclaimers like this one from WBUR.
Author and Atlantic Blogger Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote of Williams, "It's a dangerous, dangerous thing to make a living running your mouth." He was referring to the Carmichael/Obama statement. I would agree, and disagree. Having been both a news analyst and a reporter, I think it's dangerous and valuable to step up to the mic as an expert. I have been a pundit, but I always simultaneously did reporting. Recently, I've been going to Tea Party meetings and immigration rights meetings. Getting out in the field and actually talking to people is a wondrous thing. You learn we are not monolithic, any of us. But reporting has become devalued in the current media environment, which is struggling with revenue models. Far better, as a simple ratio of time-to-income earned, is simply to find a show that will have you on and do whatever you have to do to ingratiate yourself with the host.
Juan Williams pointedly said in his comments after the firing that he was the only black man on-air at NPR.... and not a reporter at that. Guest hosting on Fox, he also called himself a "loyal employee" of NPR, and implied the network was run by a "far-left mob." (If so, I didn't meet any in my four years at NPR. It's run by a Beltway cohort, perhaps, but not "far-left.") Do I think NPR fired him because he is black? No. Do I think NPR kept Williams on for years, as the relationship degraded, because he is a black man? Absolutely. Williams' presence on air was a fig-leaf for much broader and deeper diversity problems at the network. NPR needs to hire more black men in house on staff as part of adding diverse staff across many ethnicities and races. It also needs, broadly, a diversity upgrade that doesn't just focus on numbers, but on protocols for internal communication. Among the revelations in this incident is that the Vice President of News fired Williams by phone without giving him the opportunity to come into the office and discuss it.
After I was let go from hosting an African-American issues show at NPR, I walked away relatively quietly, though with a series of questions about how power was allocated and shared at the network, and whether diversity truly mattered to management. Although the focus right now is on whether NPR should be defunded (God no!), I would like to see a little more light shine on how NPR deals with diversity. It has a new diversity czar, Keith Woods, and I hope he is empowered to look at the issue broadly and respected by management.
I also hope that NPR continues to support its programming that does feature diverse voices, including Michel Martin's Tell Me More (which had a great, honest roundtable about Williams) and acquired/partner programming like the fantastic on-the-road/town-hall show State of the Re:Union by Al Letson.
This country needs NPR, now more than ever. But it needs an NPR and media, broadly, that are adventurous rather than expedient when it comes to reporting on a divided America, and cultivating the most diverse staff, and audience.
***
Farai Chideya is currently broadcasting public radio midterm election specials, reported in the field. You can find more information at PopandPolitics.com
Follow Farai Chideya on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@faraichideya
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Daddy's Record Collection
from NPR
I taped this commentary about my father's record collection in April of 2005, a month before his 70th Birthday. It was intended to be part of his birthday gift--along with digitized copies of many of the records I talk about in the commentary. NPR chose to broadcast fit or Father's Day of that year, which was just as well. And it's just as well that I share one of my last and favorite memories of my father as Father's day 2010 approaches.
Daddy's Record Collection
by Mark Anthony Neal
Friday, June 19, 2009
Chatting Up (Black) Fatherhood
"Fatherhood" (2000) by Ruth Bloch/Weinstein Gallery
REINVENTING DAD
Pacifica Radio 99.5 FM WBAI
Women, Body & Soul
Hosted by Nathalie Thandiwe
Interview with guests Professor Mark Anthony Neal, father and author of New Black Man, along with hip hop musician, educator and father, Bomani Armah (Peek-a-Boo, Read a Book, Grown Ass Man), as the discuss how men and families can benefit from the reinvention of fatherhood.
Listen to the Interview @
WOMAN, BODY & SOUL
***
HOW DID YOU LEARN TO BE A FATHER?
NPR's Talk of the Nation with Neal Conan
Talk of the Nation, June 18, 2009 · Men who become fathers learn quite suddenly that the learning curve is steep and kids don't come with a user's manual. The curve can be more dramatic for men who grew up without dads.
Author Abdul Ali and Duke University professor Mark Anthony Neal talk about how they learned fatherhood.
Listen to the Interview @
REINVENTING DAD
Pacifica Radio 99.5 FM WBAI
Women, Body & Soul
Hosted by Nathalie Thandiwe
Interview with guests Professor Mark Anthony Neal, father and author of New Black Man, along with hip hop musician, educator and father, Bomani Armah (Peek-a-Boo, Read a Book, Grown Ass Man), as the discuss how men and families can benefit from the reinvention of fatherhood.
Listen to the Interview @
WOMAN, BODY & SOUL
***
HOW DID YOU LEARN TO BE A FATHER?
NPR's Talk of the Nation with Neal Conan
Talk of the Nation, June 18, 2009 · Men who become fathers learn quite suddenly that the learning curve is steep and kids don't come with a user's manual. The curve can be more dramatic for men who grew up without dads.
Author Abdul Ali and Duke University professor Mark Anthony Neal talk about how they learned fatherhood.
Listen to the Interview @
Friday, March 20, 2009
ON-THE-AIR in the Barbershop with Michel Martin
from NPR's Tell Me More with Michel Martin
Barbershop
President Laughs With Leno, AIG Anger Persists
Tell Me More, March 20, 2009 · The guys in this week's Barbershop — Jimi Izrael, Mark Anthony Neal, Eugene Wang and Geoffrey Cooper — comb through the latest headlines and give their take on the fury over AIG and recent actions by President Obama, including his recent appearance on NBC's "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno."
Saturday, February 28, 2009
The Early Days of Blackness and Public Television
from Vibe.com
CRITICAL NOIR: Black & Public
by Mark Anthony Neal
In celebration of Black History Month, Thirteen/WNET in New York recently launched the on-line project, Broadcasting While Black. The flagship station of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) the efforts by Thirteen/WNET could easily be read as another seasonal gimmick aimed at generating more financial support for public broadcasting among Black Americans--and such a reading wouldn't be wrong. But I'd like to suggest that something more substantial is also at play, captured in part by the comments of Thirteen/WNET on-line editor Robin Edgerton who writes, that while mainstream Black History Month programming typically focuses on the history of racial conflict and oppression ("Black History Month then becomes, in part, White History Month"), "this online project emphasizes identity--African-Americans who took control of media moving their debates and art forward--and at the same time developing a broader place and stronger voice."
Broadcasting While Black offers a compelling snapshot of the heady days of the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements when the desire for many factions within Black America to tell their story came to fruition via public affairs broadcasting on stations such as WNET in New York City, WGBH in Boston and WTTW in Chicago. Among the signature shows produced in the late 1960s were Black Journal (Tony Brown's Journal), Soul!, and Say Brother (Basic Black), which is the longest running program of its type in the country. Many of these programs were informed by a distinctly local perspective, as was the case with Inside Bedford-Stuyvesant, which was produced by current WNET-producer Charles Hobson.
Read the Full Essay HERE
CRITICAL NOIR: Black & Public
by Mark Anthony Neal
In celebration of Black History Month, Thirteen/WNET in New York recently launched the on-line project, Broadcasting While Black. The flagship station of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) the efforts by Thirteen/WNET could easily be read as another seasonal gimmick aimed at generating more financial support for public broadcasting among Black Americans--and such a reading wouldn't be wrong. But I'd like to suggest that something more substantial is also at play, captured in part by the comments of Thirteen/WNET on-line editor Robin Edgerton who writes, that while mainstream Black History Month programming typically focuses on the history of racial conflict and oppression ("Black History Month then becomes, in part, White History Month"), "this online project emphasizes identity--African-Americans who took control of media moving their debates and art forward--and at the same time developing a broader place and stronger voice."
Broadcasting While Black offers a compelling snapshot of the heady days of the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements when the desire for many factions within Black America to tell their story came to fruition via public affairs broadcasting on stations such as WNET in New York City, WGBH in Boston and WTTW in Chicago. Among the signature shows produced in the late 1960s were Black Journal (Tony Brown's Journal), Soul!, and Say Brother (Basic Black), which is the longest running program of its type in the country. Many of these programs were informed by a distinctly local perspective, as was the case with Inside Bedford-Stuyvesant, which was produced by current WNET-producer Charles Hobson.
Read the Full Essay HERE
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Sunday Afternoon; Johnny Walker Black: Remembering Bernie Mac and Black Moses
Deaths of Isaac Hayes, Bernie Mac An Incredible Loss
Tell Me More, August 11, 2008 · Music and comedy fans everywhere are mourning the sudden loss of two enormous talents. Soul musician and composer Isaac Hayes and comedic actor Bernie Mac died over the weekend. Professor and culture critic Mark Anthony Neal explains how the lasting contributions of both Hayes and Mac put them in a class of their own among entertainers.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Thinking Out Loud: BET Struggles for An Audience
Morning Edition, May 16, 2008 · The Black Entertainment Television Network was created to bring authentic representations of African-Americans to cable television. After a couple of decades, however, it finds itself under intense criticism for pandering to the lowest possible tastes. A lot of African-Americans have given up on BET and are turning to other channels that have black shows.
Listen Here
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