MARVIN GAYE AND HARRY (MY BROTHER)

One - world famous. The other - famous in his own world.

Not much in common except their birthdays. Separated by nearly ten years, Marvin Gaye - unabashed stubborn kind of fella, and Harry Singletary, perhaps equally unabashed and almost certainly as stubborn.

April 2. That's the day each was born. Each talented, bold Black men in a world and time when that could be fraught with troubles. (Cue up "Trouble Man" on your devices).  Each had successes in life beyond their demographic expectations, although Harry's were in a much more simpler way.

But as the wise Einstein said: "Every thing is relative..."

If I were writing a dictionary it would read: Marvin Gaye: gifted, amazingly talented, complex soul (read David Ritz's "Divided Soul" for the sordid details).  Maybe even add: "way ahead of his time." Although another great, Miles Davis, taught us this in a Playboy interview decades ago when the interviewer said: "Miles you are so ahead of your time..." Miles responded: "You can never be ahead of your time. The best you can be is on time. Everyone else is just behind the times..."

Or words to that affect.  

When Marvin died - was murdered - got his dad to help him commit suicide -- however you interpret it. After the initial shock the next day (this was pre-internet!) I needed to see how the almighty New York Times (and it still was then) would characterize Marvin Gaye in 1984 America. On the page one reference to his obit inside, in the midst of the accolades about his singing they said it - they used the word: "smart"

Yessss!!

Not that he needed validation from the Grey Lady - but for it to characterize him as he was and not cloud it as merely "talented," "great performer," etc. was important. It was important in the same way that few in the media ever say that highly talented Black quarterbacks are "smart." They are "athletic."  Some even have a "good work ethic." But as team leaders and commanders on the field -- that doesn't seem to be enough to make them "smart."

But Marvin was  -- and nobody can deny. We first knew it with the landmark, ground-shaking "What's Going On" album in 1971. Before anybody talked about the environment ("Mercy, Mercy Me") and few Black "soul" singers talked too loud about the war in Vietnam. But Marvin looked into his brother Frankie's eyes when he came home from there and then looked perhaps differently at the guys in the neighborhood hooked on smack and penned the haunting "What's Happenin' Brother."

That to some was Marvin's real beginning - coming out of or even outgrowing the Motown mold. He had to almost hold Motown czar Berry Gordy hostage to get the album done Marvin's way. And he was the first Motown artist to insist that Funk Brothers (call the the "house band" if you will but they were the soul of nearly every Motown song!) be credited on his album cover. 

The years passed and Marvin - as we all know by now -- reached some of his highest heights, with tunes like "Let's Get it On,' Sexual Healing" and lots of other music that you knew might make your woman hot - but understood that if Marvin was in the area you would go home alone that night. He also had many of his and lowest lows. We know the sad ending. The crazed father and the son who could no longer reconcile his own existence.

Then there's Harry, my brother. Anything but in conflict with dad - the man he always admired most. He said once in a revealing moment - and he didn't have many - that he "could never be the man daddy was." Strange in a way, for dad was a North Carolina bred, Sanitation worker who came to New York after he and mom married along with legions of Blacks in his generation in the great migration north to big cities looking for a better life. Dad certainly provided one for us when housing projects (though not without some serious dangers) provided a means for working class people who had to rely on public housing, public health and public education, to make a decent life and a better one for their kids.

Harry and I born and raised in the big city had bigger aspirations.

Growing up I was the quiet one with the stutter. Harry more outgoing and boisterous.  He could do things - he liked to draw and he was good at it. An avid reader books were always around him - he devoured magazines and newspapers as well.  As an overweight child he developed some hip problems and needed surgery. Nowadays you get a replacement and you could be up and around in no time. A dear friend of mine had hers on her 80th birthday!! But back then Harry was banished to crutches and basic inactivity for six months. the school recommended a home tutor, a nice German lady,  but warned that he would probably be "left back." 

Harry wasn't having it. He would not be one of the "left back kids" and worked diligently  with the tutor. There he sat, legs on a chair, crutches up against the wall, books spread across the kitchen table.  He resumed his education at the appropriate grade.

Always a creative spirit, Harry wrote a play in his early teens about our neighborhood, the Lower East Side of Manhattan. He wrote about the gangs, the dances, the Doo Wop music - in the era of wavy hair and stingy brim hats. He loved acting and enthusiastically performed in school and church plays.  And he designed his Lionel train sets around a town backdrop which included paper-mache houses and other buildings he made from scratch. So realistic and creative were they that his designs drew people from around the projects to come by the apartment to see them on Christmas Day.  

The time came when Harry got tired of being picked on as the "fat kid" so he went to the library (this is pre-Internet, workout videos, etc.) and got what few books they had on nutrition. He began making his own meals (to our mother's chagrin!) and bought a set of weights which he used diligently to workout. In no time he lost nearly 25 pounds! That reinvented him and jump started his confidence. He utilized his 6-foot 6 frame on the court and became a neighborhood basketball hero. Harry was also a snappy dresser and had the cool countenance to go with it. He was dubbed "Big Harry" by folks. Harry even had the exact outfit on that Marvin wore on the back cover of the "Whats' Going On" album.  When I showed him the cover, he said of his birthday mate; "Yeah, that's my man, Aries - I got that same outfit!" 

To befit his image and his love for cars - he worked two jobs - including a grueling cleaning job  sweeping and mopping the floors in the then newly built Lincoln Center, to purchase the car he had his eye on - a silver grey, mint-condition 1961 Cadillac. The four-year- old car looked as if had just rolled off the assembly line at Detroit!

Harry went on to some early successes -- like Marvin but on a "regular people" level. He got a job at Bankers' Trust - at the time one of America's top ten banks -- as a loan officer. Very few Blacks then held such positions in major banks. And Harry did so without a college degree - only a diploma from Commerce High School. He not only did personal loans, but mortgage loans and handled corporate accounts for The Everything Card. That was a precursor to MasterCard and the like.

After a brief marriage to a nurse followed by an amicable divorce. Harry took a few other jobs, but some of the stream seemed to leave him. Harry in someways -- like Marvin -- was plagued by what many Black men who are talented, perceptive, energetic and yes - smart experience. It is as if their insights are almost too clear and their inner searches too searing to not leave painful residues of what is discovered. Like the time Harry told me that in a room at the bank there was a six-foot map of Manhattan against a wall. On it was a "red line" circling the Harlem area. Yes "red-lining" was alive and well then. That meant these were areas where loans or development was not likely - or impossible to occur because of race.

Coming of age back then, even as a successful Black man as Harry was, sometimes one had the experience of a child who has peeked into the closet on Christmas Eve to see the toys "that Santa is bringing..."

There was in that period of the 60s and 70s some much promise. Much of it realized much of it snatched away. Like Diana Ross put it in her tribute song about Marvin:

            "There was so much hope for a brighter day

              Why were you my flower snuffed away..."

My brother did not die at the hands of a psychotic father. He loved our dad and admired him. And although Harry had no drug addition as Marvin had -he was not totally devoid of the issues that our generation got involved in for comfort or recreation or to escape the awful realization that life may have been better had you not seen things so clearly. 

So his cause of death was a non-headline grabbing heart attack, with diabetes, alcohol, and tobacco as side issues.  

Marvin and Harry. Both made their mark, both impacted people. Marvin's legacy lives on in his music and videos. Each day a young person somewhere around the world will hear about him or come across his music online and Marvin will be back to life.

Harry will live on in the hearts and minds of many - through photos, remembrances or quiet thoughts. We had a great chat the day before he passed in 2008 - 100 days after daddy. I'm certain that he found some of that peace which had eluded him for some of much of his later years.

And I'm certain he's getting a big fat kick out of all this attention his little brother is giving him...       

  

        

Mrs. Doris Jefferys and What Else I Learned in Seventh Grade Earth Science Class

Beautiful fall afternoon! Seventh period, next to last class before the end of the day. Mind focused straight ahead on the weekend - Thanksgiving coming up soon too! 

But before that had to get through the dreaded next class -- math! Math for the 8th period on a Friday was awful as root canal or that feeling of the "spins" when you lay down after  night of drinking - the worst!

Mrs. Doris Jefferys was one of about three Black teachers (although we were still "Negro" then) in my ironically named Charles Sumner Junior High School 65 on Manhattan's Lower East Side. 

Mrs. Jeffreys was what I now know to be of that upper crust, well-educated, Southern Middle Class and had every bit of elegance that came with it. That was all alien to even we Black students, for although nearly all of our parents were from the South, none of them was from this part of the socioeconomic food chain of multi-generational, Black professionals. She belonged to a special class that was a peculiar side benefit of segregation - Black people teaching, training and nurturing other Black people to be the best - always.

She was medium brown with flawless skin and although clearly from our parents' generation, did not giveaway any age save for streaks of grey in her immaculately coiffed hair.  Elegance indeed and an accompanying grace. There was not a shred of arrogance or condescension in her voice or her manner to any student in this class which reflected the Lower East Side - Jewish, Italian, Irish, Puerto Rican Chinese and Negro. Mrs. Jefferys' demeanor was much of what we thought a college professor's would be. You felt special being taught by her. 

That Friday, strangely, my Math teacher, Mr. Schwab, came to the open door and beckoned Mrs. Jefferys out into the hall. He placed his hand on her shoulder and said something in a low tone. I could see her place her hand to her mouth to stifle a gasp.     

She nodded and quickly composed herself returning to the classroom. I'll never forget her expression, it started as a slight smile. Then she gazed upwards for a second as if contemplating her next words carefully:

"Well I guess as future scientists" she began, "I need to share this with you."  

Her pause seemed long. I recall thinking - maybe Mr. Schwab had an emergency and had to go home early - no Math class YAY!

But then her face turned undeniably serious.

"We have just learned that President Kennedy was killed in Texas..."   

Everyone gasped, a few girls screamed, I was sitting next to an Italian-American girl name Donna. Donna had long straight hair pulled into a ponytail -- she looked like the girls in the movie "Grease" years later. She wore these glasses that were pointed at the edges - like Batgirl.

She let out a scream and tears literally shot out of her eyes towards here glasses in a straight stream like they were shot out of a water gun. She became hysterical and a couple of girls went to her. Then Mrs. Jeffreys walked over to console her with a hug. Donna spent the rest of the class in tears.

I remember getting a burning sensation like hot pepper had been poured into my my nose. I was truly shocked.

A few moments later Mrs. Schwab returned and told Mrs Jeffreys that it although President Kennedy had been shot, it had not yet been confirmed that he was dead. These were the days long belong the internet, and what lie ahead for the next four days would be the first 24/7 news cycle.  

They dismissed the school after the 7th period, sparing us, at least, 8th period Math. We walked home in shock. Adults were crying and sobbing along the way.  People were stopping strangers and telling them what they had heard, others asking for updates. My older brother, Harry, told me later that he was walking past the AT&T headquarters building coming out of the subway. "When I heard people saying the President was shot," he said, "I thought they meant the President of AT&T ! I thought maybe some guy thought his phone bill was too high."

When we got down to PS. 1, where many of us had gone for elementary school, the flag was at half mast -- we knew then.

I got home an my mother was ironing clothes. it was one of only a handful of times that I ever saw my mother emotionally shaken.  

"Is he alright mama," I said with a Hail Mary's hopefulness.

She shook her head, "No he's gone."

President Kennedy had played a special role in the hearts of Black people. He was viewed as a "savior." For years afterwards you could see two pictures in many Black homes, side-by-side - Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy. 

I said to my mother what my first thoughts were: "We got a bad president now!"

All I knew (or most Black people) was that Johnson looked mean and had a Southern drawl. You could easily picture him pulling you over across the Mason-Dixon line, state troop hat on glancing down at your "northern" license plates, hand on his gun, and saying "you in a heap of trouble boy!"

As it turned out it couldn't have been further from the reality. LBJ pushed hard for civil rights legislation and a slew of important social changes that today some dismiss as a "liberal agenda." Yeah - but take a moment and think of you would be now without them! 

Years, later I did run tin Mrs Jeffreys again - this time I was a Junior at Sarah Lawrence College. She was with Mr. Jones, another Black southerner who taught me. But he was more of the poorer class. His disheveled demeanor belied his intelligence and sharp wit. He was a large man - not at all afraid or intimidated of some bonafide  tough guys in my school. (Think Sidney in "To Sir With Love.")  Mixed it up with several of them, never lost. You get the feeling Mrs Jeffreys would be in DuBois' camp and Mr Jones in Booker T Washington's. But in reality I'm sure they could embrace both.

That day I told them about some of the other students they had taught who were doing well . Mr Jones just smiled and said, "I'm so proud of all our Black children." Mrs. Jeffreys smiled and had tears in her eyes.

I hugged her and gave him a firm handshake. I am proud to have had them as teachers - and lucky.

I don't know if they were around to see President Obama get elected - but I'm sure they would be proud of that too. And they should know that people like them played a role in Obama getting to the White House.

He should know that too...  

HOW "PRISONERS" MAKES AN UNDERSTATEMENT ABOUT RACE

"Prisoners" is a top-notch "Saturday-afternoon" thriller. It will literally keep you on the edge of your seat.  The theater was so quiet during the film you could hear every popcorn crunch.

Not to spoil it,  I won't tell you anything about it, except to say that the young daughters of two close families go missing and the worse is feared. But there is also something else missing.

One family portrayed by Hugh Jackman and Maria Bello,  go with their two children to a Thanksgiving dinner at the home of  friends Terrance Howard and Viola Davis. Outstanding acting all around, by the way.

In the early scenes the couples do what friends do -- the adults drink, gossip, dish, and laugh, while the children, in another room tend to their own childhood entertainment.

What's missing here is any acknowledgment at all that one couple is white and the other is black. Not one comment about race in America, or Obama. Not one corny ethnic joke or any hint of racial tension (or even awareness of race for that matter) in this small suburban Pennsylvania town. Its as if this is perfectly - well normal. 

Maybe it is. But this is the movies, and most films are either "white" or "black." And although its a lot easier to identify the "black" ones, we can also readily identify the obligatory "black" characters superimposed in white silhouette in films and TV shows.

But "Prisoners," perhaps because of its strong writing, acting and fast pace, leaves the race question at the gate shortly after the film begins. There were brief moments when I wondered if the two families would be treated differently by the various authorities, but there was not even a subtle trace of that.

That is a good thing, and maybe art is lagging behind imitating life in issues of how we "all get along."

But I am not one who believes we are "post-racial"  because President Barack Obama is - well is he black or  bi-racial?  I guess either is a sign of progress.

We as a society are not post-racial in the same sense that we say post season. Post season is a similar phrase, in that it means something very different by how one is affected by it. If your team made the playoffs that's one thing. If it did not, then you will have to wait until another season has come and gone.

Clearly - and thankfully - there are many in this society, especially those under 40, for whom racial identification will have less of an impact on their lives. That of course is mostly true of those who have adequate income and education level, a fact subtly made in "Prisoners." Although clearly not wealthy, both families own more than comfortable homes, have more than one car, and Viola Davis is a veterinarian. There is no harbinger of a plant closing or of businesses fleeing the town. All of this makes it a bit easier to seem  post-racial.

But in the world outside of the film, it is still nearly impossible to get many people's heads around the fact that those uncomfortable, buzz-killing issues over race are still front and center in the lives of many. Just try to get major league sports teams to understand that they should not use logos and names that are offensive depictions of American Indians. They cling to those characterizations like some southerners cling to the Confederate flag - symbol of a war they lost nearly 150 years ago.

And as much as they try to deny it there are elected officials in Washington willing to bring the nation and perhaps eventually even the world, to the brink of financial collapse because the President is not white.

There's nothing naive about "Prisoners" in the way it deals with child abduction and the human drama that accompanies it. Ultimately it is not naive about race either. Some people get past it. And getting past it is a big step towards getting over it.  

But for many people its wait until next season....

 

"CAR 54" WE MISS YOU! 

What We Learned (or remembered) About Race, Class, and Culture 
in New York City From "Car 54 Where Are You" 

Long before "Barney Miller" or the often depressingly somber "NYPD Blue," there was a TV comedy show about cops in a New York City police station - the fictional 53rd Precinct in the Bronx in the early 1960s.

This was when most NYPD cops were working class Joes - before frequent pay raises and dynamite pensions propelled them into the middle and upper middle classes. When they lived in the five boroughs. Patrolmen (as they were called in the days before women patrol officers) Gunther Toody  (Joe E. Ross) and Francis Muldoon (Fred Gwynne) lived in the Bronx borough they patrolled -- not colonials in Nassau or Rockland County. Toody lived in a walk-up with his wife. Muldoon, a bachelor, lived in a modest house with his mother who rented out spare rooms.

These were the days long before it was the Boogie down Bronx.

I just finished watching several episodes on DVD - did not remember any of them (quite young when the show debuted) although I remembered the characters vividly. But most of all I remembered the feel of New York City, where I grew up. And the cops looked like cops did then. These were the days before the silk and satin look of "Miami Vice." These guys, in their off-duty clothes could just as easily have been plumbers, construction workers or sanitation men.

In addition to being funny and well-acted, "Car 54 Where Are You?" depicted New York as it was when men carried lunch pails to work instead of attache cases. And  like the best of the well-written TV shows, you felt as if you really knew the characters - even those with smaller roles.

But most importantly, "Car 54 Where Are You?" was one of the first integrated shows on television. When I said this to a friend of mine, he said: "Well how could you have a TV show about New York cops in the 60s and not have any Black ones?"

Believe me, they did. There were more Martians and extra-terrestrials on television in the first half of the 1960s than Black people.

One of the regulars was Frederick O'Neal, Officer Wallace. A tall impressive looking Black man with even more impressive real-life credentials. The Mississippi-native had appeared in some other TV shows, and films including Anna Lucasta, a breakthrough 1958 film with a largely Black cast starring Eartha Kitt and Sammy Davis, Jr. O'Neal also founded the American Negro Theater and later - the British Negro Theater. He went on to become the first Black president of the Actors Equity Association, a position he held for many years. O'Neal grew into a major labor leader in America, along with his civil rights activism.One other major accomplishment: He ranked high on the "master list" of  President Nixon's political enemies. Bravo!

Then there was the  53rd Precinct dispatcher,  well-known to Black audiences, comedian Nipsey Russell. Russell was a familiar figure at Harlem's Apollo theater and other largely Black venues. In real-life he was a decorated World War II medic who served in Europe, rising from the rank of private to Lieutenant. Russell was also known for his uncanny ability to make up rhymes -- a talent that kept him as a regular on game shows such as "The Match Game," "Pyramid," and "Hollywood Squares."  He was also the first Black ever to host a game show - the short lived, "Missing Link."  Russell also appeared on Johnny Carson's "Tonight Show," Ed Sullivan," and in the 1990s was  recurring guest on Conan O'Brien.     

There was lots of other diversity in the show. You could regularly hear names tossed about like Katz, Rodriguez, O'Brien, etc - that reflected much of New York City.

And there was Al Lewis as Leo Schnauzer, Jewish cop with a shrewish wife. He went on to become "The Munsters" Grandpa character, but more importantly to some, was his political  activism as a died-in-the-wool leftist activist. Lewis got his start in vaudeville and spent some time in Broadway shows as well. After "The Munsters" he became a  radio commentator for Pacifica radio station, WBAI-FM, in New York, which provided a platform for his political and social views. He took on many powerful politicians and interests. Lewis even ran for New York governor on the Green Party line and garnered over 52,500 votes. That was enough (by New York state law) to guarantee that the Green Party have a line on the ballot for at least four years.  

"Car 54"'s  Producer/Director was Nat Hiken. It was not Hiken's  first journey into the "integrated" realities of life outside the TV world. That  was "The Phil Silvers Show," frequently referred to as "Sgt. Bilko," after the main character. "Bilko" featured a diverse group of white ethnics - Italian, Jewish, Irish, etc. And the occasional appearance of a Black soldier, one of whom was Godfrey Cambridge, who, throughout the late 1960s through the mid 1970s became a frequent guest on TV shows such as "Jack Paar's Tonight Show, where his intellect on politics and social issues could be displayed. That intellect, by the way, had gotten him a full scholarship to study medicine. Instead he dropped out his junior year to pursue acting. Cambridge was nominated for Broadway's Tony Award for "Purlie Victorious," and appeared in films such as the controversial  "Watermelon Man" (where he portrays a white man who colors himself black)  and "Cotton Comes to Harlem."

With all this "reality" TV going around, "Car 54 Where Are You" reminds us what is really possible when you put true talent in front of and behind the camera.

ANOTHER "FINGER-CROSSING MOMENT" FOR BLACK PEOPLE

It has happened again.

Twice.

Every Black person of a certain age (perhaps, sadly, most any age) has had these moments. You hear of a heinous crime on TV, radio, online. And as you gasp from the ghastly details, you cross your fingers and say "God, I hope whoever did this wasn't Black."

Because you know - that no matter what your station in life, your pay grade or education - the ones who perpetrated this action will affect you. Strangers will look at your differently, act differently - maybe even with hostility. Some who know you might also. A co-worker may ask - no demand -- to know why "Black people do such things and why unless a white person kills a Black person you don't get upset. And what about all the white people who get robbed, raped and killed by Black people?"

The biggest problem is that you feel that somehow you are responsible. It is hard not to. That this was one of our own. That you live your life going through the motions, consciously or unconsciously, to make the case for your race, to prove that Black people are competent, smart, well-deserving people who are victims of slavery and decades of horrendous slavery and racism.

And here they come to mess things up. For the race. For you.

It had been a while for me to have such feelings, they do occur with less frequency. But then the jogger got shot in his back by a bunch of joyriding thugs.

At first I thought "God that's awful - but Oklahoma? Hmm not too many Blacks there. it wasn't Oklahoma City, right? But then came the faces of James Francis Edwards, Jr., Michael DeWayne Jones and Chauncey Allen Luna in all too familiar orange clothes and mug shots.

Chris Lane was 22-years old and from Australia. He came here to play college baseball and I'm sure with hopes for more. Some day I might have seen in Yankee Stadium. His life, his dreams are worth remembering, as are those with less "credentials" who lose their lives in senseless street violence that doesn't make the papers. Chris was out jogging, as I do most mornings, when the bullets struck him in the back. The stomach churning reason one of the three youths gave was: "We were bored, so we decided to kill somebody..."

Before one could even stop shaking one's head, another "fingers crossed moment" came today.

An 88 year-old World War II veteran was robbed and beaten to death in Washington state. Delbert Belton had survived bullet wounds on Okinawa -- one of the fiercest battles in the war -- to die like this. We lose World War II veterans at the rate of almost 100 a day. They are all almost gone, the generation  that truly saved the world and built this nation. They are generation of many of our parents. Just imagine your parents. His son said that his dad was "the victim of senseless violence" and blamed the city of Spokane for this tragedy. Again, once the horror of this began to subside, when I first heard Washington state I thought "not a lot of Black people there either." And once again the knot in the stomach, and shame, and the anger and frustration.

And don't you know FOX News was all over this one. They have taken considerable heat from many with their coverage of the the Trayvon Martin murder, the protest movement it has created and the Zimmerman trial and verdict. So on the local FOX TV station in Spokane, you can watch the video of the suspects while reading the scroll at the bottom of the screen which says:
White World War Two Veteran Robbed, Killed By Black Suspects."

Great. Now they get even for the way poor old, good citizen, Mr. Zimmerman has been treated. Mr. Zimmerman of the "community watch,"  according to news accounts, has just bought himself a brand new shotgun. This model weighs in at less than 7 pounds, 26 inches long. And the description reads "it holds an impressive 12 rounds..."

This is not your Grandpa's shotgun.

When my parents moved back to North Carolina after they retired, my dad (who grew up in rural North Carolina and was a military police officer in the US Navy during World War II) bought a shotgun for home protection. He kept it unloaded in the closet. It fired one bullet at a time. But then that was dad.

Many will think these feelings are foolish, unnecessary outdated. "Why would someone like you think  that what these common street thugs affect how people see you?"

If you don't know the answer, then you have never been worried about being "stopped and frisked" or had to wonder if the state trooper's gun is going to go off as you reach for your driver's license.Or had "the talk" with your sons about how to act when approached by the police. (Maybe we should extend that "talk" to include community watch folks too?")

I thought more about this today while watching some coverage of the events leading up to tomorrow's March on Washington which is part commemoration and part rejuvenation of  a movement.

In a different time years ago, it was not usual for a Black police officer to see a group of youths committing a crime - even a minor one like talking loud at night, or graffiti, or other such behavior, and say to them: "you making it hard for Dr. King. He's down there fighting for your rights and you messing up here making us look bad." Sometimes this was followed by a smack or kick in the butt.

Yes it these incidents are still tragic regardless of who commits them or who the victim is. And without a doubt Black-to-Black crime carries its own set of  pain and frustration.

And I often wonder if those "fingers crossing moments" will ever go away. Hopefully they will continue to lessen. Or perhaps those moments are a good thing. A thing that makes me remember to not forget that there are still plenty of struggles left in this post-racial society.
   

OLIVIA POPE IS NO "SCANDAL" - BUT "CHEERIOS" IS TOUGH TO SWALLOW

It has come to this in our "post-racial" society: a fuselage of unspeakably cruel comments about an adorable child doing one of the most adorable things in a commercial in recent television history.

She has the cute type of face and  the heart-tugging voice that have appeared in ads since TV began - albeit more often than not those faces were adorned with big blond locks or big blue eyes.

If you haven't heard about it, or seen it, there was one "problem" with the commercial --  the child was  bi-racial. Her mother was as much a "White" TV mom as June Cleaver. 

Opening scene: Seated at a standard, American, suburban, kitchen table, is the white mother. Enter the "bi-racial" adorable child clutching a box of Cheerios in her tiny hands. She sits it on the table and says "Cheerios are good for your heart, right?" The mother responds that they are made from "whole grain oats and that helps lower cholesterol and that is heart healthy."

Scene II: So what does the child do? Grabs the box and rushes over to her dad sleeping on a couch (like many dads in American TV history). 

The Conclusion: We see dad wake up to discover that his chest is covered with Cheerios!

Cute, huh? Even funny!   

Oh - did I say there was "one problem"? Sorry there was another  -- the father was BLACK!

And not an Obama-esque "blend" -- this was clearly a BLACK man who had obviously slept with a WHITE woman to produce this adorable "bi-racial" child.     

Well that set off a furor on YouTube when Cheerios producer, General Mills, posted the video. The vile language and  mean comments posted were as angry as if General Mills wanted to bring  back "busing."      

General Mills, seeing these comments did not back down and pull the ad, as I'm certain many would have wished. To their credit it closed down the "Comments" section of the YouTube video, allowing those interested to watch it without the offensive language (something I wish more companies would do given the mean, stupid things often displayed). 

Why this outburst of rage and outrage in post-racial America? 

It is the male in the relationship who is Black. Don't think that makes a difference?  White males are touted in this society and culture as being (and I hate using this word!) the "dominant" creature beyond all others. I realize there are white men  out there cursing because they make a living picking up trash, repairing plumbing, building things, working in dirty sewers, etc.

I get that.

But believe me, even though you're not Donald Trump or Mitt Romney, you still got a slice of the white privilege pie (just not as big a piece as Trump or Mitt).

Still doubt me? You look at virtually every TV show or movie with an "interracial" couple and nearly 100% of the time the male in the relationship is WHITE.  The woman is Black or  some other  woman of color. The TV soaps have been full of such couples for decades. Yes, the white male can freely choose to take a woman of color off the vine -- the "exotic" Asian, the "hot" Latina, and of course the Native American "princess," to name a few.  

Then there is the matter of Miss Olivia Pope, shero of a show I love, ABC-TV's "Scandal." 

"Scandal" has captured the hearts of Black women (especially Baby Boomer ones who came of age in the "Right-on" generation of the 60s and 70s). I have not seen this much passion for a TV show since Alex Haley's blockbuster,"Roots," aired in 1978.    

And why shouldn't it stir such passions?  The lead is a beautiful, elegant, smart, tough, professional, BLACK woman (played flawlessly by Kerry Washington) who can take charge of any situation.

Except that her love interest happens to be married - a married WHITE man who happens to also be President of the United States. And -- as they say in the "Hair Club for Men" commercials - "is also a client." In this case for Olivia's high-end Public Relations and "Reputation Salvation" firm. It seems the only time Olivia Pope loses it is when  (usually after telling him she'll never see him again!)  she finds herself in ferocious lip-locking, clothes ripping, down on the floor, couch, any place they happen to be (White House, woods -- you get the picture) sexual intercourse.

All this makes for great television!

But I find it curious there's such a lack of  outrage - or even outcry -- about this "affair." Not only from those bigoted types who would even go ballistic over the "bi-racial" toddler ad -- but barely a peep out of the "Sisters." Black women are overwhelmingly cheering it on. And I say - why not? It's good television!

But take a moment and flip the script on this.

Let's make the main character OLIVER Pope, a BLACK man. And the President a WHITE woman who he has insatiable lust for against all odds. Hmm who should we cast? Don Cheadle might be a good one. Laurence Fishbourne?  I know Idris Elba - today's heart throb.

And the woman President? Hmm Jennifer Aniston? Anne Hathaway perhaps? Angelina Jolie? 

Well I'm sure there are lots of them. 

(I'll pause for the gnashing of teeth to subside)

How would the show fare in the ratings? Would the demographics of the fan base change?  

The latter is certainly true - the real fear and loathing of mixed race relationships in this society remains the Black male and white female. It is an almost primal leftover from the days of slavery and segregation. Is it as bad as it once was? Of course not -- even though there were (and perhaps still are) some states that still had laws banning inter-racial marriages until recent years. But we also have a Black Supreme Court Justice with a White wife. And we have other high profile Black men who have open relationships with White women (Tiger & Lindsay, Kanye & Kim), etc. Although it is still doubtful that June Cleaver's husband would be Eldrige, even today.             

But really should we care? Not to my way of thinking. Societal attitudes and "norms" are full of contradictions. Race in this admittedly increasingly "post-racial" society is  still complicated. Perhaps the most complicated cultural construct that we have to deal with. 

I'm not one who is convinced that President Obama made the nation more post-racial. He is indeed a by-product of attitudes shifting in that direction. Concepts and definitions of race and racial identity are always evolving. Often if you ask people 30 and under (who I would have previously identified as "Black" in my own head) how they self-identify, often they will answer with a nationality, a religion, a sexual orientation or as "bi-racial."  They don't feel the need to be categorized by a previous generation's notion of "Black."

Some will say that is clearly progress -- others will see it as a dangerous avoidance with being culturally identified with the Black race - at least as they interpret it. 

Anger will still be fueled in many who want to define a loving relationship in their own narrow terms and spew hate at those who are dating, mating and/or marrying outside of their race.

But a child? Come on!  

It's a commercial - it's a child.

Donald Singletary 




      

ONCE AGAIN A WHITE GUY  BAILS OUT OBAMA

First it was Bill Clinton, the oddly not disgraced, former president. He held court on stage at the Democratic National Convention, movin' and shakin' and stickin' and movin' until he pounded his points home. 

Muhammad Ali would have been proud.

Had the election been held that night fired-up Democrats would've tried to vote twice and if you listened closely you would have heard Clint Eastwood's horse galloping him out of town, kicking over his "chair" in the process.

Yes the smooth, newly svelte Clinton took the stage as unscarred as Ali used to be. And Obama backstage could laugh -- even smile. For his henchman had done his heavy lifting. I'm sure that he clapped and clutched Michelle's waist a little tighter each time the former president made his case for the current one much like a highly skilled, highly paid, defense attorney does in final summation.

Perry Mason would have been proud.

Last night its was VP Joe Biden's turn to enter the fray as Obama held his jacket on the sidelines. This was even more important as the big, bad, Republicans had kicked his ass just two weeks before. His lackluster performance over a supposed lightweight opponent reminded me of the Leon Spinks v. Muhammad Ali fight where Ali lost his crown to a toothless wonder.

Now enter Biden, every bit as skilled a back-up tough guy, and designated hitter as Clinton. No surprise he came out swinging at the preppie, snarky Paul Ryan without even taking time to hang his jacket on the fence. Biden is not afraid to get his clothes dirty -- or his hands. 

If you are following NY Yankee baseball look at it this way: Last night Biden was Raul Ibanez and Obama was A-Rod. Got it?

Biden made mistakes, but he kept coming -- he came to fight. 

Ryan fought back - and well. He showed much more polish and intelligence than Mitt Romney -- even though he stuck to his well-scripted talking points. But he was no match for Joe Biden.

Two white guys to the rescue of Obama. 

But this isn't about race!

It is about the fact that President (for now anyway) Obama must dig deep and recapture the spirit, the drive -- the balls if you will -- that enabled him to leave his ivy league clothes and demeanor, roll the dice, go bare-knuckle and take on a real bona-fide tough guy - former Black Panther -- Bobby Rush on the mean streets of Chicago, traditionally the nation's toughest political environment. 

He got his ass kicked -- welcome to Chicago! 

What did Obama do? He got up off the canvas, spit the blood out of his mouth and "got ready to rumble" again. This time winning even bigger fights like the Senate race and finally the biggest brass ring of all -- the presidency of the United States -- the whole United States. And leader of the free world.  

Where is that guy? 

Obama seems to have gone from rumbling to rallies in front of friendly crowds. Preaching to the converted who still cling to his famous "HOPE" campaign. Meanwhile he dismisses much of his core on the left (save for the Gay community and to some degree Latinos) over issues of concern to them. Blacks in particular. Baby boomer Blacks especially who believe (and rightfully so) that it is largely through their generation's efforts that Obama is where he is.

Still there are no meetings with the Congressional Black Caucus (something Clinton and even Bush did)  and not even a whisper about sky-high Black unemployment rates or a range of issues that impact Black people far more than the general population. It is similar to the attitude that many big city mayors have (including New York's Bloomberg and Obama-pal Emanuel in Chicago) about crime. They boast of how "safe" their cities have become while in many poorer, Black neighborhood you can't go the the corner store, sit on your stoop, or do your homework with the window open without the possibility getting shot (all of the aforementioned have occurred in NYC over the past summer).   But otherwise things are fine here, so let's not get to caught up in the worries of poor Blacks.

He has even gotten soft many environmental issues, much to the ire of many environmentalists who feel down right betrayed. And on.

A key aide to a powerful Congressional representative told me just two days ago that: "The energy level of voting for Obama in New York City is very low -- especially among Black people. There won't be lines around the block on this Election Day..."

I am not one of those who believes that if Obama wins his second term he will somehow morph into Bobby Seale, or Malcolm X or Martin Luther King. But in order to get that second chance, he will need to come out and hit harder and faster than ever before. He needs  to see this as a fight more a race. Biden called out Ryan last night on every falsehood he tried to pass off as truth. He cited the "47%" thing. Why Obama didn't, we'll never know. 

If he thinks that letting Biden or Bill Clinton make the case for his second term, he is not just mistaken -- he's delusional.    

If the President cannot convince enough people in his base that the Republicans are a threat to women, persons of color, the environment, health care, student loans, as well as the middle class, they will not come out and vote.

I am one who believes that there are many more people in this country who prefer Obama in the White House to Romney -- I don't care what the polls say. I believe just as strongly that they may go fishing on election Day because Obama has not energized them like before.

Poor, dumb Republicans! Had they not let their party get high jacked by the Tea Party and other mean-spirited crazies, they could have won this thing easily. They could have packaged a candidate -- even the "old" Romney -- two years ago to start building an economic recovery plan and taking it on the road. Lots of charts. graphs, web materials and hand-on town meetings starting in traditional Republican strong holds and moving more to the center. Then on to the big cities and talks with teachers and cops and firefighters, etc. Doesn't matter if it was all smoke and mirrors - people want to believe they will have their job and their house next month. 

The Republicans could have abandoned all the social faux morality issues around Gays and abortion, etc., skipped over the gun huggers and went right to where people's real concerns are.

And they could have all rallied around Romney (or his like) and avoided the ridiculous sideshow of piss-poor debate candidates like the toupee-wearing Texan, the Baptist pizza magnate, the re-tread paunchy former Congressional leader and of course the Minnesota woman who thinks maybe slavery wasn't the worst thing for Blacks.

They would have left enough doubt in Obama''s base that many if not most would have said: "You know, I kinda like this guy, Obama's not really working out, let's give him a shot. After all he was a successful businessman..."

Not that I'm sorry they didn't do this.

I don't know whether or not Obama will acknowledge that the next debate could really be the deal breaker - because vice presidents don't determine elections. So, Mr. President,  like the "A" student you are, study hard for every possible question and Romney response. Then take off your tie and roll up your sleeves.

The rap on President Obama (one of them!) has always been that he is either a) too nice b) too soft or c)  all of the above.

Mr. President, with but a few remaining seconds left on the clock and the game on the line, fouls don't matter.   

                  

   

ELECTION 2012: RACE OR THE ECONOMY -- DEPENDS ON WHO YOU ASK...

"It's race, stupid!"

Mike Lupica unabashedly proclaimed this at the top of his New York Daily News column, recently.

I agree with Mike and lots of others. Race is not the elephant in the room -- it is the room itself. The obvious analogy to the GOP is no coincidence. It is the stage that  America has set for itself by ignoring and exploiting race since the end of the 1970s. 

Since then the veiled messages and phrases: Welfare, immigration, "I want my country back," Obama is a Muslim, Obama is not a citizen, "You lie" said a Congressman. (afterwards his coffers were filled with tens of thousands of unsolicited contributions for his rude, crude, two words.)

Thank you, Ronald Reagan, with the benign, your-kindly-uncle demeanor., for putting the smiley face on the worst of the far right and its religious and racial demagoguery and their plans to "retake America." This the same Reagan who Republicans have since canonized into their own "Camelot."  Reagan got eight years, JFK? A thousand days. Don't let anyone ever tell you history is fair.  

This is the Reagan that kicked off his Presidential bid in Philadelphia, Mississippi. You know what else its known for? The place where three civil rights workers -- two black, one white -- were beaten, mutilated and dumped for helping people register to vote in those perilous times. 

That's right Reagan fans, Philadelphia, Mississippi,  where Reagan announced his candidacy and gave his first nod and wink to the racists of the far right. And  they took over the Republican party (and really the entire country) and have held it since. 

They have the Democrats so scared that a bunch of them call themselves "Blue Dogs" to escape the stigma of being a part of any traditional Democratic agenda. You know like reproductive rights, sane gun control laws, the right to marry who you wish, and -- oh yeah health care reform. Even with subsequent victories by Clinton and Obama in the post-Reagan era, the Democratic party has managed little more than field goals. 

How do the  Republicans do it? The social agenda and the virulent rhetoric that goes with it: Abortion - baby killing. Gay marriage - sodomy, perversion, and on. And all wrapped up in the "Christian" bible. Amen.

So the race messages were subtle last time in 2008. Not so now.

Ask Juan Williams. They almost ran the FOX-TV commentator out of the studio, and he is about as militant as Tiger Woods.  

      
But Juan stepped up to the plate during a recent Republican debate  between white men with money and asked some piercing questions about their comments and stances on race. About the disparages on wealth and poverty and unemployment between whites and blacks. About the "food stamp president" label and on.  He was snubbed, ignored or -- in Newt's case -- swatted down and patronized. 

Was Juan being too uppity? 

The audience booed him relentlessly.  For being a journalist asking tough questions? Or for being Black and stepping out of line and daring to confront white power?

I'm certain Juan left with his personal integrity in tact -- but he was also as stunned by the reaction as I'll bet Obama was when he realized John Boenner really didn't want to play with him in the schoolyard.

Either way, with this awakening, Juan earns his "hangout card" in my book. He had also said that NPR (his previous employer before FOX-TV) was "too white." Liberals get no free pass from me on race. Maybe Juan gets it now.

It's time someone in the GOP says: "This race thing is not good for us or good for the country." Maybe they could show some ethical courage.

But the fact is that this race thing  has worked well for them. So well that people are willing to blame the economy on the Black, brown and poor more so than Reagan and Bushes I&II. Or Wall Street. Or the mortgage brokers, or the banks. 

So they feel safe putting a team on the field which is, as Lupica also said, "as white as the National Hockey League." The Republicans can so shamelessly parade a host of white millionaire men (minus a Palin-lite female and a buffoon Black) in front of people who have either lost or are in fear of losing their jobs and houses. The fat cats say: "You're hungry? Feed us more and we'll help you out -- just make sure we're full first."

These are perilous times. This time it is more than the rhetoric. It is voter suppression. Suppression of one of the most precious and fundamental of rights. According to the NAACP, there are over 40 states that require photo voter ID, request voter photo ID, or are proposing voter ID through current legislation.  And that's just one possible restriction. Many states have banned voter registration on Sundays -- when many Blacks, especially in the south, aer gathered in churches and often go together afterwards to register. Imagine!

The NAACP has been all over the voter repression issue. The civil rights giant that many had feared (or in some cases, hoped) was sleeping is up with a roar and chapters all over the country are fighting against these restrictions as well as registering and encourage people to vote.

At a recent NAACP "Civic Engagement Forum" that I moderated, an esteemed and experienced panel discussed the significance of the 2012 elections in its many aspects.

Daa'iya Sansusi, a radio commentator and journalist, spoke of how the voting rights laws that were enacted in the civil rights movement in the 1960s after fierce and bloody struggles, are being side stepped, ignored and in real danger of being overturned. Many find this hard to believe. But the evidence is clear. So clear that US Attorney General Eric Holder has been actively involved in following cases around the country seeking violations of federal law.

Another participant, Herb Boyd, veteran journalist, author, and Black Studies professor, said that "They are trying to run the clock back to 1950....We have to turn it back to the time of Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement of the sixties as well as the Black Liberation struggle of the seventies. It will take that kind of effort in this environment to meet the Republican threat."

Widely-respected, sometimes controversial veteran journalist, Dominic Carter, said that it is "in the hands of the Black./Brown community to get active like that last election...If you don't Obama can lose -- don't get complacent..."

Bertha Lewis, former CEO of ACORN, an effective organization in organizing and advocacy,  that was wiped out after allegations of fraud of various types, spoke passionately. Lewis said this was all "part of an all-out war by the far right to stop any viable political social force opposed to them." She now runs her own organization, The Black Institute. Her take on 2012: "Listen, right now its 40% Democrats and 40% Republicans -- split down the middle. What's left is 20% of undecided. We have to get those votes. Last time Obama won North Carolina (first time for a Democrat since the early 60s) . They registered 300,000 new voters. He won the state by 14,000. He needed every vote!"  

She also warned about the Right going after Planned Parenthood -- this two weeks before the Susan G. Komen bungled attempt to stop funding it. So embarrassingly loud and hard was the reaction that Komen's "race for the cure" was a distant second to its race to cover their asses. They booted their top communications officer -- unbelievably hired despite her past in trying to destroy Planned Parenthood. Yet they may never quite recover. Too bad. A fine organization with a history of good works for women's health.

So is Planned Parenthood.   

Now the Right's front runner is Santorum, with eyes like a trooper who'll shoot you and plant a gun on your body. He leads the GOP pack ("pack" is a good word for them no?)

A Black woman on radio said that this would be the true election - Obama v. Santorum, the true culture war about abortion, gay marriage, contraception and race. Pick your order.

We'll see if this gets in the way of the economy.

We'll see if women, young people, independents and the Occupy folks realize what is at stake here.  

Not a time to be neutral folks -- you can't sit this one out. This could be as close to a "winner-take-all" brawl as this there has been in our lifetimes.

        

   

TONY & MARIA MEET WILLIAM & KATE

As. luck, fate, would have it that morning I awoke about 4:00 a.m. to see "West Side Story" on TV for the umpteenth time. One of my favorite movies, one I can watch over and over again.  

I first saw it when it came out as a kid,very young. My neighborhood, Lower East Side of Manhattan, had plenty of "Jets" and "Sharks" bopping around -- Black, Puerto Rican, and every white ethnic group you can think of. So, I saw it in "real time" you might say. First I saw the adrenalin rush of gang fights, dazzling dances and good songs. Along with that the tension I was already starting to know of walking down the wrong street at the wrong time, etc.

As time went on I started looking at "West Side Story"  from a sociological point of view. Though the kids were older than me they were indeed my generation. I often wondered what would've become of the survivors of the movie. For sure they were all victims. Some of poverty, others of racism and oh yes, some of poverty and racism. And I'm certain the "girls" -- from the wanna-be gang member Anybodys to the hotter-than-hot Anita -- sexism.         

If my neighborhood and others like it are any example, in five years from the time the film takes place (1961) most of the guys would've fallen to heroin. A few to Vietnam (there was a draft, remember?) some would've experienced both. The lucky white guys would get labor jobs -- contstruction, a few Sanitation. The lucky Puerto Ricans? Maybe Garment Center workers or would toil in restaurants and stores. The closest to an office would be in maintenance clothes.

Which bring us to Tony and Maria. What if Tony had lived and he and Maria had gone off to the new life they so naively believed possible?

Tony would've no doubt become a social worker. But, no wait! That would not be enough for Maria. She would have pushed him towards a business degree and a job with a suit. You see, Maria, beneath her sweetness and charm, wants that big house in Queens. Later, a bigger one in Long Island. And social worker? No, that keeps you too close to your humble beginnings, too many memories. And Tony would never disappoint the sweet Maria  (except for killing her brother, which in my scenario never happened). So he would take the two-hour commute to and from work in stride. Work ridiculously long hours and spend his weekends playing with their adorable bi-racial children (who Maria would only refer to as "American") and catering to Maria's needs as handyman, grill-master to the neighborhood and of course, enduring romantic partner.

After it was over I switched to the "Royal Wedding." William and Kate. they both seem like nice people, and much like more regular folk than their peers. Especially if, as Bill Mahr suggests, they don't insist on people calling them   "your highness..."

But it is what it is where the British royalty "thing" is concerned. My beef is with the media coverage. The most sickeningly intense and overdone since Ronald Reagan's three-day funeral fest 

At least he was a former president. But in three days of round-the-clock coverage they never mentioned one negative about his 8 years in office -- like not believing there was AIDS and refusing to even say the word for years.

Back to William and Kate. Dan Rather, a bona-fide news reporter, in his blog rallied against the TV coverage of the wedding. He had several strong points, one of which was that while a quarter of the US was being battered by killer tornadoes, that story was treated almost as an interruption to the wedding preparations. Paraphrasing, Rather said that a reporter would be at the scene of the devastation telling of losses of lives, injuries and homes and businesses destroyed -- then back to the anchor woman, elaborately dressed sitting in sparkling sunshine and perhaps sporting an elegant hat -- "Our hearts go out to the people of the region!"  Thanks, I was worried you didn't notice.

So I wondered if Tony and Maria would be up watching the wedding? Of course! Maria would have the children (and perhaps grandchildren by now) gathered around watching on the big-screen TV, frantically clicking to see which station had the best coverage: "NBC!"  "No BBC America," "No turn to CBS I want to see what Katie is wearing..."

And she would insist that he arise to watch with them even though Tony had worked a full week. "But remember how we felt when we got married, dear," she'd say. "We thought we were the Prince and Princess of Hell's Kitchen! And that beautiful dress that Anita made me! Oh, even better than she wore when she married Bernardo!" 

And he would hold her tight and say, "Ah yes, Maria. And to think if I hadn't broken up that fight, there might not have ever been a wedding!" 

"I know, and who knows what would've happened to you if Riff had not offered to shake my brohter's hand! By the way, where is Riff? He only lives like three blocks from here."

"I know but he had to work last night. He said they're wrapping up some major narcotics investigation so he's coming in from the Bronx."

"Well! Why doesn't he retire, all that dangerous stuff."

"You know Riff, he loves it. Besides he says he has to do the 30 years so he gets the 3/4 pension. All his daughters want to go to good schools. One wants to go to Sarah Lawrence!"

"Well then he should've went to law school instead. He'd have the money and he'd save poor Graciela all that grief and worry."

So William and Kate, class all the way, take their vows in a respectful and modest manner. They seemed truly grateful for all the accolades (rather they needed them or not) but most importantly for each other. Like I said, no beef with them at all. 

As we "non-royalty" believing Americans criticize the Brits and even those among us for giving props to William and Kate, let's remember that Tony and Maria never got to take their vows, modest as their ceremony might have been. And that in the years since "West Side Story" was released, there have far too many Tonys and Riffs and Bernardos who never made it out of their teen years for stupid reasons. And far too many Marias who had love snatched away from them in ways that will scar them for life. 

So hats off to William and Kate. And may the hats blow off the heads of the "news reporters" 

and land in the muddy waters and rubbles of the real story.    

***

  

   

"SOLVED" MYSTERY

THERE'S A SIDE TO PR THAT FEW KNOW EXISTS

That hot August day set out to be a "bad one" by PR standards. I place that phrase in quotes because when you work for a hospital system you understand that a "bad" day could mean dozens of bleeding people being rushed into the Emergency Room after an accident or some other disaster. Or a child going into cardiac arrest as doctors and nurses race down the hall after hearing the cry of "Stat!"

But for public relations folk a bad day is usually anything that can make your organization look "bad." It doesn't matter whether you are at fault or not -- perception, as they say is everything.

We knew that morning (my boss and good friend Marty Davis and I) that this would be a bad one for us. There had been a rash of food poisonings in facilities in the NYC Health & Hospital Corporation (HHC) -- the largest municipal hospital system in the world. Not just any facilities mind you, but long-term care facilities where patients are generally sent because their conditions are too severe to leave without ongoing medical care. Two patients had died and others were ill -- all from food apparently prepared and served by HHC staff. The thought of bed-ridden patients being fed poisonous food at city health care facilities is a ghastly image. The media just loves those!

After a briefing from the HHC president we headed out to one of the affected facilities. In the car we talked about the awful possibilities: Either we had a systemic food supply problem that made all patients potentially vulnerable. Or we had some wacko "angel of death" going around killing off patients. The media loves those too.

Then our beepers went off simultaneously. For those too young enough to know -- there weren't always cell phones. So Marty pulled the car over and found a working pay phone to call in. I knew by his expression this was bad -- but I never dreamed of what he would say: "We have to make it over to Harlem Hospital -- someone just walked out with a baby..."

Unbelievable! Even for two veteran PR guys, this was beyond the playbook.

When we arrived the streets were cluttered with police cars and media vehicles. A summer Harlem crowd had formed, many of the stunned, many angry, many both. 

We cut through the media frenzy and went to meet with the Harlem Hospital Executive Director, Head of Security and other key staff. No one had any answers other than: A "suspicious-looking" woman who was dressed as and acting like a nurse, was the one who most likely walked away with the baby.

First you think - how could this happen? Didn't anyone think anything strange? Didn't they know this woman? Well, no. Hospitals are open 24 hours a day, seven days a weeks, etc. There are multiple shifts -- no one knows the faces of everyone who works there. This woman apparently had an authentic looking hospital I.D. (not so difficult given the postage stamp-sized photo) and hospital garb. Nurse outfits are not like the 50s and 60s when all wore white dresses and caps. Now the dress is far more casual and can vary. Hospitals also have lots of visitors for patients, meetings, etc. every day. Not to  mention there are other distractions like, well  patient care.

And what of Security? Well as my boss told a reporter -- "A hospital is not a prison."

How true. Nor is it an airport.  You don't frisk people, there are no metal detectors and it is relatively easy to get a pass to visit a patient. That pass takes you virtually anywhere in the hospital that is not flat out restricted to personnel members only. 

Remember this is nearly 15 years before 9/11.

As the days and weeks went on we knew little more than we knew that first day. Police, as they say, were baffled.   

Then a solid lead came to light. A person of interest was traced to an address in South Carolina. The NYPD dispatched detectives, the S.C. State Police were on the scene, as was the FBI. They converged on the home, but to no avail. The woman in question had an air tight alibi.

The case eventually made it to television's "Unsolved Mysteries"  a Top Ten show at the time that had lead to the arrests of numerous cold case suspects.

No leads, nada!

And so things stood suspended in mystery.

Years later I began teaching PR in college. I have told this story to students many times as a way of telling them:   1) how in PR events can take a bizarre turn;  2) that there are lessons to be learned about how we dealt with the media that day (such as waving off the "packed room press conference"  and instead opted for individual interviews with the Executive Director to avoid a circus atmosphere)

I told that story to two classes just last month. It almost always draws a gasp or two.

But not nearly as loud as the one I let out yesterday when I saw the story on-line that she had been found!

I have often thought of her. In recent years I even wondered if it would have a Hollywood ending -- like maybe she would wind up as a student in my class.

But in reality there could be no more Hollywood ending than sitting at the computer on a cold January day when the news came flashing across the screen that the the mystery of that hot August day had been solved -- finally!   

     

A FEW GOOD WORDS -- PLENTY OF BAD ONES

Millions -- perhaps even the majority of Americans -- do not remember (or worse even know!) that there was a time not so long ago when terrorist acts and assassinations were common and were not "foreign" in origin. 

They were home grown and they came from the left as well as the right: church bombings; school bus bombings; homes of civil rights and civic leaders riddled with bullets; volunteers who had the audacity to help register Blacks to vote in America, were beaten, harassed, shot and three had their battered bodies left to rot in a swamp; failed attempts to destroy national landmarks such as the Statue of Liberty; successful attempts to bomb Fraunces' Tavern (where George Washington bade farewell to his troops); draft induction centers set on fire; abortion and family planning centers burned, sprayed with bullets and bombed; a President of the United States shot to death; a candidate for President (his brother) shot to death after a primary "victory" speech; another President barely escaping the same fate took a bullet; another escaped not one but two  assassins' bullets; and on and on. 

If you are of a certain age you remember all or at least some of these events and the names. Then there are the non-famous persons whose names slip the memory now, but not the terrible events.

To those the age of President Obama and Sarah Palin or younger, the shock of the events of Arizona has little precedent. Save for the rash of school shootings and 9/11, bullets and other terrorist acts are things of the past. And the impact is not the same. Many of us felt the world had changed when JFK was shot down. But for the generations since school shootings, although terrible things, leave little emotional residue unless there is a personal connection. No one is saying "hey man, I'm not going to college -- I don't want to get shot!"   

And the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon? A fluke. After all nothing has happened since, right? And all these foiled attacks like the underwear bomber and the Times Square car bomber seem more like they were performed by terrorists interns, then any really threatening people.

So Saturday's events in Arizona may shock but not surprise those of a certain age. For many of those younger, the horror will fade as soon as the media goes back to reporting on Ted Williams, Lindsay and Snookie.  For the time being we will wallow in it as the TV pundits debate whose fault it really was. 

I heard a Black radio broadcaster say yesterday:  "I understand all about the tragedy in Arizona -- but what about Haiti? Today is the year anniversary, I'm not seeing it on TV..." 

Well, it was on TV, but a distant second story to Arizona. The reason, although not simple, can be simply explained. The news value is in the most recent event, always. And also the one closest to home (proximity). In New York, Miami and a few other places there are large Haitian populations and communities. That is not true of most of the US, however. 

And the back stories in this horrific moment were strong: the dedicated, attractive (yes that counts too) Congresswoman gunned down in her home district; the heroic 20-year-old intern who rushed to save her, and of course that nine-year-old who seemed destined to do wonderful things had she had the fortune of a normal lifespan.

All of which set the stage for the other components of the story -- gun control and mental health. Exactly what trigger set off the gunman we may never know. To say that the political discourse may have contributed is reasonable.

So President Obama did what many say he does best; take to the pulpit. He gave a good speech, nearly flawless in achieving the objectives of making his audience of Arizonians and Americans at large believe this can be a beginning of a new day. A day, he says, that will make us rise  to "the expectations of Christina Taylor Green..." 

No cynicism intended, but this could be President Obama's  "9/11 moment."  

Remember how that tragedy made George Bush look like a leader as he stood in the rubble of the World Trade Center locking arms with New York city firefighter? Try to remember what you thought of him before that -- its hard.    

This won't at all affect the Obama haters, but many who have felt disappointed, or who were on the fence about him may at the very least give him the benefit of the doubt. Remember he has recently started to turn the tide with some significant "end-of-the-year" victories before Congress changed sides of the field on January 1.

And now the Republicans have to actually do something  instead of throwing spitballs in class. And their troubles are mounting. The new Tea Party members of Congress have made it clear that they are not beholding to John Boehner and the other party leadership. And the leaders are starting to get real queasy about how to defend their precious semi-automatic guns and high velocity bullets.This has them sacred shitless. The far right which once propelled the GOP into the power position they have held for nearly two generations, now threatens to fragment them into oblivion much like the far left did the traditional Democrats in 1968. Even Karl Rove is sacred. He may not know how to "message" this one into a 2012 victory. By then much of the damage by the Tea Party will have been done.

Which bring us to Ms. Palin. 

She hid when the shooting started and the bodies fell on one of the vary spots where her gun scope map had indicated. She says she sent a  note to the family of Rep. Giffords. Then she hid when the finger pointing began and she was caught in a deluge of video clips shouting "reload" and shooting at wildlife in Alaska. And of course that silly-ass map. Now amazingly, she produces a video that shows her for all her deceitfulness, hatefulness and transparency. If you haven't heard by now she used her favorite tactic of blaming the liberal media. But this time she out did herself  by using the phrase "blood libel" which refers to lies told about Jews that caused many of them to be persecuted and killed. Centuries later the residue of those lies remains in the minds and actions of many today.  The congresswoman, by the way is Jewish.

If you have ever had to do it, you realize that it is difficult to know what to say to someone who has lost a loved one. There are no perfect words -- but there are plenty of bad ones.  

Sarah Palin had plenty of bad ones.

President Obama had plenty of good ones in his well-crafted, heart-felt speech.

At some point he should use some good ones to address all the many victims of gun violence in this country. Including those in his hometown of Chicago, where young men die by bullets many times quicker than they would in Iraq or Afghanistan. 

      

                                                                       ***

CLASS OF 1963

(6th Grade, That Is)

(Last summer I was completely surprised when I inadvertently stumbled upon a web site developed in part by some kids I went to elementary school with on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Most of them I had not seen of heard from in 46 years. Re-connecting with a few made me realize the significance of that moment in time juxaposed against today's world)

JUNE 1963 -- Graduation day from P.S. 177!

We were soon to realize that this was no real graduation --merely a changing of schools from elementary to junior high, which today is known as middle school.

But we would also soon realize that our class, I.G.C. 6 (for Intellectually Gifted Children) and all our peers would come to far more shocking realizations very shortly.

You see, we were the last of the 1950s' generation -- kids born in 1950, 51 or 52. We would represent the end of the "Silent Era" and the beginning of a far more turbulent era -- the 1960s and early 1970s.

But weren't the 50s already long over by 1963, you ask?

No.

The 1950s -- culturally and politically -- did not end until two bullets smashed into the head of our beloved, youthful president, spilling blood and brain tissue unto his lovely wife's designer pink dress some six months after our sixth grade graduation

So much for Camelot and watching Caroline and John-John grow up in the White House.

Prior to that our biggest worry had been the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, where Russia and the US stared into each other's eyes unflinchingly, nuclear guns drawn. Russia finally blinked and we thought -- like the World Champion 1962 Yankees -- the US dynasty would remain undefeated and untarnished.

Its difficult to state this without sounding like one of those chain emails about "Remember When," with photos of The Mickey Mouse Show, "Leave it to Beaver," "The Lone Ranger," etc. But back then :

• 
  
  we watched shows on one TV with the entire family present in the living room
  
  
• 
  
  nothing came in the way of watching the evening news or eleven o'clock news, which was read by white men over 40; the only females present were the "weather girls" like Gloria Okon. Jeanne Paar worked her way up to some feature stuff as the first female local TV reporter in the city (wonder if she's prouder of that than the fact that her son is Chris Noth??)
  
  
• 
  
  a Spauldeen and a broomstick made you feel like Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays or Duke Snider
  
  
• we watched in amazement (although probably not nearly as much as our parents!) as the space race unfolded; many of us got "front row seats" in the school auditorium where the one TV set was placed in the center of the stage -- for all to see the blast-offs from Cape Canaveral
• 
  
  NYC had six daily newspapers (can you name them all?)
  
  
• 
  
  regardless of your race or ethincity, when "West Side Story" came out, we each chose to side with either the Jets or the Sharks; many of us chose the Jets because they were the "Americans"
  
  
• 
  
  we had only known two presidents: Ike and JFK; and one mayor, Wagner
  
  
• 
  
  the white shirt mandate for Assembly Day did not seem strange or unduly harsh at all
  
  
• and oh yeah -- 25 cents could buy enough candy to make you and a friend or sibling sick

Of course it wasn't all pretty.

Try to make a young person today understand that there were so few Blacks on television that when one was scheduled to appear it was the subject of conversation after church on Sundays:
"I heard Pearl Bailey is going to be on "Ed Sullivan tonight!"
"I like "Ed Sullivan" he has a lot of colored people on his shows."
"Did you see Sammy Davis on "Ben Casey" last week?"
JET magazine, a staple in Negro households, ran a full page every week listing the Negroes scheduled to appear on TV shows. Even those few who were regulars, like Eddie Anderson, who played Rochester on the "Jack Benny Show."
But we (Negroes that is) seemed happy that things were getting better. After all, nearly all of our parents came from the segregated South and there was no segregation here in NYC. Not that we could see, anyway.
Christmas meant the magic of 34th Street, Macy's especially. It seemed like our Christmases were the best anywhere. And my church, Mariner's Temple, every year hosted a Christmas party the Sunday before Christmas. It was for the Sunday School kids and their parents and each grade put on a play, or sang carols. Afterwards there was a reception downstairs with food and goodies -- the highlight of which was when the Sunday School kids got toys and other gifts from their Sunday School teacher, each wrapped with their name on it.
But the amazing thing was that any child who walked in got something -- a toy truck, box of cookies or Christmas candy, etc.
There were many kids who were poor and came with their parents. I remember the look on there faces when the minister or his staff lovingly gave them the gifts. I remember my dad once saying to my brother Harry and I "That's the only Christmas some of those kids will have.."
What an impact on us! This was no TV mega church like exists today. Just a neighborhood church funded almost exclusively by its members.
There was nothing on the surface of that beautiful, bright, early summer, Graduation Day in 1963, that would make most of us believe the future was anything but brighter and better. I still have my autograph book that we all bought at Haber's, which sold everything from school supplies to sports equipment. If a girl liked you she signed on the pink page -- if you liked her, you signed on the blue page.
The first big separation in our lives about to happen. We were headed in one of three directions: Junior High School 65, Junior High School 12 and -- the new kid on the block -- Junior High School 22.
Three months into 7th Grade, on a Friday afternoon, last period class, the math teacher came in and told us that President Kennedy had been shot. We were numb.
Then in rapid succession came the other stuff:

• 
  
  Mississippi Summer, 1964, where college students, housewives, working folks and all other types descended on Mississippi to insure that Negroes had the right to vote. They went door to door in parts of America that offered absolutely NO protection from the law. They organized in churches, in homes and in secret. A white Detroit woman, Viola Liuzzo, was run off the road and shot to death for driving a Black man home. He was critically wounded. Then the bodies of the "missing" three civil rights workers were found in a swamp. They had been brutally tortured. One of them, Mickey Schwerener, worked in Hamilton-Madison House in Smith Projects.
  
  
• 
  
  After a bruising presidential campaign, Lyndon Johnson trounced Barry Goldwater largely by telling Americans that Goldwater was a nut-case war monger who would dangerously expand the Vietnam War by sending in thousands more troops and bombing North Vietnam. The curtains on the polling booths had barely closed when LBJ escalated the war and did exactly that. Once the vast majority of troops had been volunteer, elite units -- Marines, Airborne and Special Forces. By fall of 1965 they were all but sending in Cub Scouts to Vietnam. Everyone with a draft card was scared shit less.
  
  
• 
  
  In 1965 the war at home also escalated -- with riots (or rebellions depending on who you talk to) occurred in many major cities, The scariest and bloodiest occurring in Watts, Los Angeles and Detroit. In other places the seemingly most minor of events could trigger days of police beatings and shootings, looting, and mob violence, often prompting the National Guard to respond.
  
  
• Ironically in 1965 Malcolm X, former Black Muslim leader and dynamic speaker, made his pilgrimage to Mecca and discovered that people of all races could worship together -- that the problem was not white people. He announced publicly that all people who took seriously authentic Islamic teachings could live in peace. Having said that he was gunned down in front of his wife and children and an audience who came to hear him in Washington Heights.
• 
  
  1966 saw more urban unrest as the civil rights agenda moved from the south to the north and decidedly away from "turn the other cheek" non-violence. Meanwhile the Generals assured LBJ that 100,000 more troops could seal the deal in Vietnam and he assured us that was the way to go. Across the country college students increasingly chose to go the other way, protesting the war and defying the draft.
  
  
• 
  
  1967 saw Newark, New Jersey explode in what many believe began the city's free-fall into economic disaster. Meanwhile, as casualties mounted in Vietnam, Rev. Martin Luther King took to the podium at New York's famous Riverside Church to make a landmark speech against the Vietnam War. He had broken ranks with much of the civil rights leadership doing this as many Americans (including many Blacks) gasped with dismay or were angered by his new stance outside the realm of civil rights.
  
  
• To the surprise of most, in early 1968 LBJ announced that he had had enough and would not run for re-election, leaving a wide field of Democratic hopefuls to replace him. One of them, Bobby Kennedy, brother of the slain JFK, had a message which resonated with the young, the old, Black, white, Latino, blue collar, the establishment and those anti-establishment. He too, was skeptical about the war and pledged to end it. Almost a year to the day after King's famous Vietnam War speech, King was gunned down on a balcony in Memphis preparing to lead a protest for local Sanitation workers. A stunned Bobby Kennedy made the announcement to a largely Black crowd in Indianapolis, where he was preparing to give a speech. 62 days later he would be struck by assassin's bullets and leave America not only stunned but disillusioned.

The morning after Bobby was shot I had an interview for a summer job which changed my life.

WINS 1010 Radio, in an era where companies were urged to "Give a Damn," had put its money where its mouth was. The newly formed and first successful all-news station had canvassed New York high schools for Black and Puerto Rican students (mostly those on school newspapers) to work as summer interns at the station. I think they interviewed about 15 of us and five were selected including me.

I had never thought about journalism as a career, but hey, it was a summer job!

The job gave us an opportunity to work in each of the major departments of the station including news where we got to ride along with reporters covering stories that ranged from political rallies, to press conferences, to bloody murders. I loved it!

But the grand finale was that we each went into our neighborhoods to interview other teens about their feelings and thoughts on current events, circa 1968. Then we compiled about 20 hours of tape and edited (we had to get a bypass from the union to touch the equipment which they granted) it down to a half hour and then taped another half hour panel discussion about our own thoughts, etc. A great experience that could not have happened at a better time in our history on the planet --1968. The program won a Public Service award for the station -- hey what goes around comes around!

One of the interns became a life long friend, Ralph Martin. Ralph, from Bed-Stuy and Boys High, went on to become District Attorney of Boston, Massachusetts -- the first Black ever elected to that post in the history of the state.

For me it led to a career filled with an early dabbling in journalism followed by over 20 years in Public Relations as well as 7 as a full time college professor and ten years as an adjunct.

Serendipity seemed to follow me, although the road is also filled with dreams deferred.

In 1968 I and some friends had revived a social club, the V.I.P.s that was housed in St Christopher's Church on Henry St. Most of the older V.I.P.s had been called to military service. We still had some time on the clock before turning 18 and had an eye on college. So we revamped the V.I.P.s and added a community service component. We didn't do a lot of that -- mostly we did dances. But when an African boutique shop opened on Madison St. (only the second Black-owned business in that neighborhood, the other was Johnson's Barber Shop) we agreed to do a ballroom-style dance and fashion show. The fashions would be provided by the store's owners. Great PR for both of us!

One day while going there for an impromptu meeting one of the owner's sisters was there -- Bernice. She was tall and elegant looking -- a dance student. She asked my friends and I what our college plans were. Billy and Calvin both were accepted to SUNY Binghamton. I had been rejected by Syracuse and another place or two (horrible math scores!) She told us about her college which none of us had heard of -- but she said it was a good school. We were only mildly interested, but I could hear the drumbeat of war and needed the draft deferrment so I asked a few questions. Then she said it was an all girls school!

I don't think I heard another word.

I didn't even remember the name of the school until the application package came to my house -- Sarah Lawrence College. So less than six months after hearing that name, I was matriculated there, three weeks after Woodstock.

Talk about culture shock! Although only a few miles from the city, it was located in Bronxville, one of the most exclusive, wealthiest places in the nation. The houses and shops looked like my brother's Lionel train set town. A far cry from the Lower East Side. But the campus was a among the most progressive anywhere and the students and faculty were truly smart and well- versed. Almost all were from wealthy families.
Near the end of my freshmen year, at what seemed like a routine anti-war demonstration, four students were gunned down by National Guard troops at Kent State in Ohio.
The 60s/70s upheavals eventually cooled down by the mid 70s, leaving its residue of ending legalized segregation, increased equal employment opportunities, the seeds of the woman's movement and legalized abortion, among other things.
And there suddenly enough Blacks on TV so that it ceased being the subject of conversation at church. And fewer people were going to church anyway. So the younger generation has always known Black news anchors, TV hosts, Oprah, BET, and Black quarterbacks.
Women now hold news anchor positions and seats at the big table at corporations. They comprise nearly 75% of all public relations practitioners in the US. They walk beats with guns and put out fires as well. And I hear Jeanne Paar's son Chris Noth did OK too.
And though there have been attempts to outlaw them, many Little Leaguers are playing with aluminum bats. Gone is mom's old broomstick.
There is no draft anymore -- but there are two wars.
"Happy Holidays!" is replacing "Merry Christmas" as the appropriate seasonal greeting.
The Class of '63 can add an amazing ten more presidents in the 46 years since graduation.
The current one is a tall, charismatic speaker, with two adorable children and an elegant wife who wears designer clothes...
Congratulations to the Class of '63!
Hope you all are well.