Ishmael Reed on ‘Barack Obama and the Jim Crow Media’
Posted By The Editors | May 14th, 2010 | Category: Hot Topics | 18 comments
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By Jill Nelson
Ishmael Reed is a novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, publisher, editor, composer, and teacher who taught at the University of California, Berkeley for 35 years. The recipient of numerous fellowships and wards, in 1998 he was given a MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Award.
Reed, a founder of the Before Columbus Foundation , which annually gives out the American Book Award, is a longtime champion of the work of other writers and has edited over a dozen anthologies. He is a regular contributor to CounterPunch.org, in which a number of these essays first appeared, and also edits and publishes the online zine, Konch. The father of two daughters, also writers, he lives in Oakland, Ca. with his wife, writer, choreographer and director Carla Blank.
Barack Obama and the Jim Crow Media: The Return of the Nigger Breakers is Reed’s fourth book of media criticism. We talked to Reed while he was on the East Coast on a brief tour to promote a book whose publication and scathing critique of racist, corporate controlled media has largely and not surprisingly been ignored by those whom Reed labels the “Jim Crow Media.”
Q. Your latest book was published last month. Would you explain its sub-title: “The Return of the Nigger Breakers”?
A: Edward Covey was a member of a profession whose job was to tame unruly slaves. Frederick Douglass was one of those men who was sent to him, a Nigger Breaker, to be disciplined. Douglass turned the tables on him and thrashed him. I argue that this is the aim of the media, and other institutions that are opposed to Obama. Moreover, with the firing and buyouts of hundreds of minority journalists, black institutions, blacks in general, black celebrities and even the president are being judged by a mostly white media and a handful of acceptable right-wing blacks, a few of whom are farther to the right than the white right.
Q. The book was published by a Canadian-based publisher. Why were you unable to get this book published in the United States?
A: This is attributable to the state of black letters. Serious fiction and non-fiction by blacks are becoming extinct, except for those which uphold the current line coming from the media owners and the corporations: that all of the problems of Africans and African Americans are due to their behavior. Terry McMillan, interviewed in the latest issue of Konch (IshmaelReedpub.com) says that black fiction that is selling is urban fiction that shows blacks at their worst. This is not to say that black criminals don’t exist. But that’s all we get from the mainstream media, television and movies. This is true not only for literature but for theater, film, art galleries and opinion columns as well.
At one time, blacks could respond through writing. James Baldwin served as a diamond megaphone for black aspirations and could debate critics of black people one on one. But with the disappearance of serious black fiction and non-fiction, this is no longer the case. Now this book, which my agent said no American publisher would publish, was published in Quebec. Between April 14 and 20, I did national media in Canada with front page stories in the major dailies and weeklies, a front page story in The Montreal Review of Books and was greeted by crowds in Montreal and Toronto. In Montreal, they had to turn people away. This must have been what it was like when the fugitive slaves traveled abroad and lectured. My advice to young writers is that they seek audiences elsewhere. It’s a big world.
Q. Much of your recent work has focused on media criticism. Why?
A: The segregated American media with its alliance with the right wing and racist forces like the tea party movement—which was created, organized, and amplified by the segregated Jim Crow media—are the most powerful opponents to black and Hispanic progress. It’s not surprising that they have, using the late Carl Rowan’s expression, “outpropagandized” blacks and white democrats and progressives as well. That’s because they have billions at their disposal.
The insurance companies put $350 million out to defeat health care reform and bank-rolled this faux grassroots movement, which is white men, among the most privileged groups in world history. The media have overblown the strength of this movement because racism is big business for them. The coverage of a gun rally that was held near Washington, D.C., on April 19 was typical. CNN didn’t do aerial shots because that would have revealed the small turnout. The media are the mob leaders. And they cater to a niche of people who are addicted to the need to believe in black pathology.
Q. On that point, you wrote very critically about the movie ‘Precious’, and took a good deal of heat for it. Did you feel compelled to speak out?
A: Most of the responses I received from whites and black men and women were 85 percent positive. This propaganda movie had to be challenged because powerful critics were saying that this family was the typical black family living in poverty. I never denied that child abuse occurs in American communities. What the supporters of this movie were suggesting is that incest is “prevalent” in African-American communities! And the media line was that only a few black angry men were opposed to the movie. I pointed out that a number of black women and even white women intellectuals spoke out against the film. In fact, the latest issue of my zine Konch publishes two articles written by white women who are vociferous in their opposition to the movie. Thirty years from now, Precious will seem like an odd throwback to the days when blacks were shown running away from the farmer’s shotgun with chickens in both hands.
Q. Ishmael, your information about the media seems encyclopedic. What do you read, watch, listen to, what sites on the internet?
A: I read three newspapers each day, where the typical portrait of a black man has him in an orange jumpsuit. I watch cable and monitor the opinion pages whose post-race line is usually challenged by reports and studies printed in the same newspapers. I do not come to criticism of the media empty-handed.
Q: Any advice on how to become more critical in news consumption?
A: I have an online magazine. I get useful information each day from those who write on Facebook, Counterpunch.com, Media Matters, FAIR. And Richard Prince’s “Journalisms” are essential.
Q: Do you think technology, particularly the Internet – is loosening the grip of corporate media?
A: Yes, that’s why they’re trying control it.
Q: Given your analysis in the “Jim Crow Media,” how do people of color, progressives and others critique Barack Obama without colluding with corporate America’s agenda?
A: I have some problems with some of Obama’s policies, but as long as these people are threatening to kill him and his family, and calling his mother, a distinguished Irish-American anthropologist, “white trash” and even worse, I’m on his side. All of the stored-up bile of white supremacy has exploded like airborne E-Coli as a result of Obama’s election. One Republican site just put up a photo depicting Obama and Michelle as characters in Sanford and Son. He’s not only the nation’s President but he’s also its chief exorcist, like a St.Patrick stoking the nation’s lizard brain.
The progressives are uncomfortable with Obama because they’ve been opposed to black leadership, historically. The progressive media is just as segregated as the corporate media which they are always criticizing from their glass houses. Richard Prince printed a photo of a Huffington Post Xmas party. One black staffer!! The opposition to Obama from people of color comes from the fringes. He has a 90 percent approval rating from blacks, over 60 percent from Hispanics and he carried the Asian-American vote. Yet these arrogant white progressives say they are his base and that he is obligated to them.
Q: Where do you think American media will be in 5 or 10 years?
A: Newspapers will be dead and buried and maybe some enterprising scholar will write a book about how they fomented racial and civil strife and helped the American government justify useless wars since the 1830s. Mao [Tse Tung] had a habit of sending intellectuals among the peasants from time to time so that they might understand what’s what. That’s what should happen with the “tough- lovers” and post-race entrepreneurs at Yale, Harvard and the Think Tanks. Send them to live in Detroit, Oakland, or Washington D.C. inner cities for a couple of years. See what happens. See what happens.
Jill Nelson is a journalist and author of five books. She lectures widely on race, gender, politics and media.
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[...] Jill Nelson, prize-winning journalist, novelist calls the book brilliant. She talks with Ishmael Reed about Barack Obama and the Jim Crow Media in the NAACP’s organ The DEFENDERS online. [...]
[...] Ishmael Reed talks to Jill Nelson about ’Barack Obama and the Jim Crow Media’ [...]
Great interview. I’m energized by the knowledge that Prof. Reed is speaking truth to power. Prof. Reed keep up the great work, I’m looking forward to reading the book.
excellent interview!
Mr. Reed stoled my idea. LOL! I am glad that someone is writing about the race bias media. I my hometown the three black reporters were fired. Just last week in the daily paper they displayed a picture of black male accused of killing a child and below that picture and article they had white children graduating from high school.
I argue in my book my outline there is no liberal or conservative bias just a race bias. I look forward to reading Mr. Reed’s book. Jill, I met you when you came to Ohio some years back. I attended Payne Theological Seminary in Wilberforce, Ohio.
Keep up the great work!! Here is part of my rough draft of my work too!
Chapter 2. What Liberal Media? This chapter demonstrates how the majority in the media conveys the overt message of white intellectual superiority. It also explores the myth that there is a liberal bias in the media. What Liberal Media begs the questions that if ninety percent of all blacks voted for a liberal candidate in 2000 why is that none of the major media addresses the issues or looks like the people it is suppose to represent?
Chapter 3 is entitled the Irreligious Right. This chapter speaks to the notion that this country was built on the concept of Christianity. This chapter explicates that Christianity was just the propaganda tool of so-called religious white people to make them selves right in their own eyes.
Chapter 4. White Out demonstrates how the print, visual and radio media is made up mostly of white pundits. It shows how the majority of the media outlets overtly state that people of colors viewpoints and lives are not valued. This enables the majority to push laws, and statues that keep people of color marginalized and oppressed.
[...] Jill Nelson talks to Ishmael Reed in THE DEFENDERS ONLINE, organ of the NAACP’s legal defense… [...]
[...] Jill Nelson talks to Ishmael Reed in THE DEFENDERS ONLINE, organ of the NAACP’s legal defense fund [...]
Absolutely THE BEST assessment of the current nature of the media ever written. We all see the daily, strategic media manipulation designed to tear-down/demean The President but other than a few like myself…there has been silence. This article should go viral and Professor Reed’s book should be on EVERY coffee table. p.s. The FORCES are already working hard to ‘re-write’ the history of this Presidency in hopes of labeling it as a failure….despite the FACT that THIS President has already accomplished more in 2 years than most in 2 full terms. And for those unaware…here’s the article I posted back in September entitled: ” The 244 Accomplishments of President Barack Obama “. Thank You Professor and thank you Ms. Nelson. Of course, we have to share this article and encourage all to do as well.
Click for list: http://blacks4barack.blogspot.com/2010/09/new-244-accomplishments-of-president.html
Enlightening. This explains so much to me about the forces against a black president and minorities in general. It’s like you know something is wrong with the media, but you can’t put your finger on it. Reed puts his finger on it and holds it up to the light for closer inspection. What we see is bigotry and racism that must be dismantled or this nation will continue to rot. Many thanks for this article, Jill Nelson. I will be getting the book and following Reed for further insights from him.
i’m just grateful to know about this book; grateful for the interview, and your this website!!! SO much . . . arrogant / aggressive / willful *ignorance* out there. Plus, this is serous affirmation for my vies: i thought i was the only one seeing this . . .
RE: The Crime of Reporting Crime
Recently in the media industry various outlets and magazines including CNN and other outlets compiled a list of the most dangerous cities in the world of note Detroit was on the list. This is an example of how shallow and worthless journalism, reporting and disinformation have become almost criminal(excuse the pun). Lists like these are often inferences based upon survey data, questionable data collections and subjective media accounts. There is no integrity in impotent lists like these other than tabloid currency.
What is more valuable and practical is crime data and information that is based upon the actual security and risk of harm to individuals and property. Yet this type of crime data has little currency and shock value for the media industry tales of crimes and victims suffering at the end of a gun of a nasty crack head has more bite and as such more ratings and the potential of more eyeballs, blog hits, advertisement fees and data which is based upon sound inferences and accurate crime findings. The reporting of crime is now a commodity that is marketed to make revenue for a number of industries and interests. Crime is big business for the lawyers, bail bond agencies, city and county court departments, correctional facilities as well as companies which sale crime prevention gadgets and of course insurance companies that make money on fear and the specter of being a victim. Crime is a money maker even for the medical industry. It should be noted as well that entire non-profit organizations are created around the industry of crime in America.
None of the data collected nor the lists directly evaluate the ratio or metric about actual danger to victims. Most victims of crime know thier assailants and many of them are family and friends. Crime data and information that provides insights on the pathology of crime is never the news that is reported by the media. Cause and effect reporting regarding crime in the media is very rare and more often the domain of college studies and research conducted by academic interests for publication in academics journals and trade publications. The real hard core data and truths about crime are often never reported in the daily media outlets.
Factually most people are rarely victims of remote danger or stranger inflicted criminal acts. Most people are safer with strangers than actual people they have a history or relation with. In reality with regard to family crimes and spousal abuse, the victims are at risk often from other family member and not strangers. In the area of property crimes many of these crimes are also committed by criminals who know the victim. One of the nasty little secrets about crimes that is known to most police departments is that criminals will flip on each other and most crimes can be solved not by police investigations by the the offer of rewards and plea deals. In the real world most crimes are caused by a very small percentage of the population most people never commit a crime and are never a victim of a crime. Yet this truth is rarely reported in the media especially when it comes to cities like Detroit and other urban venues.
Reporting and information of this nature at end of the day does not make anyone safer it only demonizes entire cities with fiction and disinformation. A city like Detroit which is often demonized by the the publication of lists which claim Detroit is the most violent venue in America are always in a defensive and recovery mode as they try to defend the myths and disinformation that these publications have created about the city and its residents. It often takes decades to recovery from the ugly images of the city that are created by articles which inflate the level of crime in the city. Entire neighborhoods are destroyed and demonized by false accusations of being crime infested venues. New business are handcuffed by the fictional portrayal of crime in areas where business are located. The crime of reporting crime must stop!
I listened to an interview with Prof. Reed this morning on WPFW – Wash. DC He will be in DC in early February. He needs to have a place to discuss his book and meet people! Busboys and Poets?
Mr. Reed is right on target. White Progressives are not only living under the illusion that people of color and whites are on the same page, but seem to be able to ignore history, just as plantation owners insisted their slaves were happy. Can any legislation actually eradicate racism? No, because it runs deeper than that. This nation was founded on slavery. Liberals, since the election of Obama have settled into their ideological easy chairs like the battle is over. And the racists are riding around in their Chevy’s flying the Confederate flag as if the South had risen again. Thanks for being the one to bring to our attention that the Emperor isn’t wearing any clothes.
Interesting enough, I experienced the following conversation with a white co worker. Our position was door to door sales, in a rural area; we approached a home with a vehicle in the drive. It was my turn to make contact with the homeowner, so I made my way to the door, and as I stood on the porch, I glanced around at the typical items found on the porch of any rural home, and proceeded to ring the doorbell. Several moments passed and I rang the bell again and turned towards my coworkers, who waited in the company van. As I turned to knock once more, I noticed the blazing confederate emblem affixed to the front of the vehicle, I hurriedly made my way to the van. As I closed the passenger door, to prepare my notes, I muttered(not spoke, hunh?) that this house wasn’t meant for me. Apparently one of my coworkers overheard and asked why. I paused, and then mentioned the confederate vanity plate. He replied, nonchalantly,’Oh, that’s just heritage”……. out of time didn’t have time to proof…
In regard to D.W. Griffith & “Birth of a Nation” when is Oscar Micheaux’s story going to be told? Irks me everyday! tag = “books change the world”
Take it back < watching Ishmael reed on cspan support and read Ishmael Reed > learn to program or be programmed.
Today I resolve to only listen to those who by their words and actions only judge people by the content of their character and not the color of their skin. Thank you MLK.
Donald Trump has shown us more than we needed but suspected about himself by joining the Birthers and now suggesting and saying that our President was not qualified for Columbia, Harvard, etc. Trump is our current N word Breaker. Also, the Republican Party has not said a word- so they are also involved. Our bleached blond Carnival Barker is the little boy here and he is showing us his behind. It ain’t pretty! He has just fired himself and hopefully people of good will …will boycott products that support Trump’s shows.