Elaine with you while Rebecca's on vacation. Rebecca phoned today and the first thing I asked her is what many e-mails have asked: When is she coming back? She thinks at the end of the month. But warns it might be the day after Labor Day. She says hello to everyone, that she misses everyone and that she wants Sherry to know she's decided she'll take men in bikinis over baggy bathing suits because "the bulges are more noticeable." "Tell them," she added, "those are the sort of non-deep things I've been contemplating." But she's been contemplating deep things as well.
I'll be with you until Rebecca's back. She asked that and if you can continue to put up with me, I'll continue filling in for her.
Now let's note Democracy Now! (for Mike and for the importance of real news).
Bush Won't Meet With Sheehan, But He'll Talk About Her
President Bush emerged from his ranch in Crawford, Texas yesterday and addressed for the first time the rapidly growing antiwar protest outside of his property. What began as a one woman vigil has now grown into the central antiwar action in the US. Before this week, there was very little coverage in the corporate media of antiwar families whose loved ones have been killed in Iraq, but now Cindy Sheehan--whose son Casey was killed in Iraq-- has grabbed international headlines by camping out in Crawford.
President Bush, speaking to reporters on Thursday:
"This is America. She has a right to her position, and I thought long and hard about her position. I've heard her position from others, which is: Get out of Iraq now. And it would be a mistake for the security of this country and the ability to lay the foundations for peace in the long run if we were to do so."
President Bush has thus far refused to meet with Cindy Sheehan at his ranch, instead sending emissaries. Sheehan has vowed to remain in Crawford until Bush agrees to meet her. She has also indicated she may camp out at the White House once Bush returns from yet another vacation. He has taken more than 320 days of vacation since assuming the presidency 5 years ago.
Bully Boy had to make a statement. Why did he have to make a statement? Because people are talking about this issue. That's you, that's me. We need to continue to talk about it. People Magazine is doing a story on Cindy Sheehan. Read the story in line at the super market. If you like it, buy the magazine (if you have the money) and pass it on. You can give it to a friend. You can leave it in a break room at work.
"What if a right winger finds it, picks it up and throws it in the trash?" What if. S/he saw it and knows people are seeing it. Think of it as your "nah-nah" for the day.
There's, I believe, a sample of the article available online. It's by Stephen M. Silverman and entitled "President Bush Will Not Meet Grieving Mom." I haven't read the full article (I go grocery shopping tomorrow and will read it while I'm in line) but if you read it and you think it's a good telling of the story, pick it up (if you can afford it) and pass it on.
Think how wonderful it would be if this edition of People Magazine was one of their best selling issues of the year, think what that would demonstrate.
Now I want to note something from The Common Ills today:
Martha e-mails to note Eugene Kane's "Publisher's influence is sadly overlooked" (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel):
In Johnson's magazines, the accomplishments of black people were detailed in depth, as opposed to the usual reports of dysfunction and mayhem other major magazines and newspapers of the time used to define black people.
He was a major figure in American journalism.
So it was disappointing this week to see many major news organizations apparently felt Johnson's death paled in comparison to that of news anchor Peter Jennings, a respected professional but nowhere in the same league with Johnson in terms of historical significance. I believe if Ted Turner or Rupert Murdoch had died this week, their obituaries would have been on the front pages of most U.S. papers.
John H. Johnson deserved no less recognition.
One reason he didn't make front-page news most places is that the mainstream news media isn't filled with people who grew up with Ebony and Jet in their living rooms.
Just as missing white women dominate the news cycle while missing women of color get ignored, the death of a noteworthy black figure often shows how little most members of the conventional media know about non-white heroes.
Martha thinks this should be noted (I agree) and wants it noted who's talked about this. I can toss out Cedric's "Anybody talking about John H. Johnson? Why not?" and Mike's interview with Jim but I'm sure there are others making the point.
[On Wednesday we noted seven articles on Johnson and concluded with the following:
We've noted Johnson twice this week already. But since it appears that there is a feeding frenzy over a "pretty, blond gone missing" (who knew Jennings was blond?) means Johnson gets overlooked. Now maybe there's not footage of Johnson yucking it up while fully dressed above the waist and just wearing boxers below, but Johnson did accomplish a great deal. So we'll take the time to again note his passing.]
It is an issue. It's one that some aren't even grasping is an issue but it is an issue. There will be something at The Third Estate Sunday Review this Sunday. There are two ideas being tossed around currently and we're all in agreement that at least one will go up even if we're not pleased with the final draft. It is important, the way this has played out in the press and that's all I'll say at this point so I don't blow any input I could offer on The Third Estate Sunday Review pieces in this. (Also, this topic makes me angry and these mid-morning entries are written quickly with not a great deal of time to reflect on them before they go up.) I will say that Kane's point are strong and I agree with them. It's a shame that in the "era of the blogs" this is an issue that's been addressed mainly by print columnists. I'll also say that it seems to me that Kane's column is the strongest thing in print thus far on this topic. (To read it, click here.)
This is an issue. It's an issue because the press has stopped covering the news to go into tributes on Peter Jennings. Whether he deserves them or not is beside the point when another man passed away who was a giant to many. And his death, John H. Johnson's death, is greeted with silence by comparison. Jennings achieved his dream which was to broadcast the news. Johnson achieved his dream which was to build up magazines from scratch and to own his own business.
Johnson's death, coming after so much coverage of Michael Jackson, isn't a big deal to the press and, intended or not, the message is sent that the mainstream press will wallow in covering an African-American who's accused of a crime and it will ignore noting the death of a man who built a business up from scratch. One story degrades, one uplifts.
People who are asking why the death of John H. Johnson has been so little noted have a perfectly reasonable question. And I'll give credit to C.I. (who's been on this from the start), Cedric, Mike and Jim for raising the issue. If you haven't read Cedric's entry, please do. I'll give you a sample of it.
"Anybody talking about John H. Johnson? Why not?" (Cedric's Big Mix):
Wednesday night is a church night so if you get an entry on a Wednesday, you better know it means something to me. I'm tired and sleepy and just got back from church but there's something that's bothered me all week.
Did you know that Peter Jennings died? I guess you did. I guess you couldn't listen to the radio or the TV without knowing about it. I guess you think he's the only one who died in the last few days. There were actually quite a few people who died.
One of them was John H. Johnson.He started and published Jet and Ebony. Now I'm guessing if you never heard of them you don't get that those were important magazines. They helped fight stereotypes and they also helped people see what blacks could be and were. Back in the day, you didn't have Dr. Huxtable and the Huxtable clan. You didn't have a Denzel or anyone like that. If you saw a black person on your TV set they were usually a criminal or a maid or some servent. Now maybe they were a guest star on a musical special. That's about the most that could be hoped for.
My grandparents can tell you about it, my mother can tell you about it. (My father could tell you about it if he were still alive.)
You know when you pick up People Magazine and all the people in the ads are white? That's pretty common. Ebony & Jet were important enough that Johnson could get advertisers to use black people in the ads.
And not only did they uplift a people and inspire by offering something other than the usual stereotypes, the magazines could also address politics and civil rights. All of this was dreamed up by John H. Johnson. He knew we could support a magazine, support more than one magazine. Nobody opened the doors and said, "Man, let me give you some money to start up." He had to take out a long using his mother's furniture. That's how he started out. How he ended up was as the owner of two important magazines. In my community, his death is a big topic. He was a major businessman. He was a success story.
We can say we're all in this together but we have to back up the talk. We can say everyone's included, but we have to include everyone.
"Peace Quotes" (Peace Center)
In separateness lies the world's great misery; in compassion lies the world's true strength.
Buddha
