Some thoughts on the panel discussion at A&T last night kicking off the 50th anniversary activities commemorating the Woolworth's sit-ins:
Against my expectations, Skip Alston and Deena Hayes' behind-the-scenes advocacy for the downtown hotel project did not come up as a topic during the discussion. Hayes and her partner, John C. Greene, attended, but Hayes was not part of the program. Alston and museum co-founder Earl Jones spoke briefly about the museum, but made little mention of their role in developing the museum and no mention of the controversy that sometimes follows them. Credit them for that.
Jesse Jackson was the only prominent national civil rights leader who attended. No mention was made of Al Sharpton's absence. As I mentioned in my last post, the only reference to current Greensboro politics was Jackson's expression of regret that A&T students did not turn out at the polls last November and support the city's first black mayor, Yvonne Johnson. That comment was less a dig at the new white mayor, Bill Knight, than a lament that the bold and courageous actions of A&T students 50 years ago seem to be contrasted by apathy and disengagement in the current generation.
It strikes me that the voluminous commentary about the ethical questions surrounding Alston's backroom advocacy of the hotel are mainly a matter of concern for whites. (I offer the comment thread below the News & Record story, at Ed Cone's moderate-liberal blog and at Guarino's conservative blog as evidence.) In contrast, the black community has other preoccupations and distractions. Journalist Ed Gordon, the host of last night's discussion, referenced "the giant egos in the room" among black media and civil rights figures in previous affairs, and participant Warren Ballentine lamented that civil rights leaders are sometimes so concerned about who gets the glory that they never coalesce behind a program.
The discussion last night was wide ranging and sometimes disjointed, tackling disparate topics such as the need to give young black people trying to break into the entertainment industry a foundation in finance and business training, whether and how to constructively engage young people caught up in thug culture, and institutional barriers to black people obtaining capital to build wealth.
The forum also celebrated the legacy of Joseph McNeil, Franklin McCain, Jibreel Khazan and David Richmond instead of dwelling on the controversies of press moment in the city's race relations. That's probably as it should be.
ADDENDUM: More sit-in anniversary events.
5 comments:
I have to ask.
Of the 181 comments at the N&R story, how do know the race of the commentors?
And guess what. I figured out how to comment here again. Lucky you.
There have been some notable exceptions. The N&R comment thread probably has the best representation of black voices. DeShaun Alston (sp)'s comments on Roch's blog have been a notable exception. Still, looking at the comment thread at Cone's blog, a lot of the time it seems like it's been me, Roch, Andrew Brod, Joe Guarino, Jeffrey Sykes and Keith Brown. We represent an array of ideological viewpoints, but all of us are white guys in our thirties and forties. Specifically to your question about the race of the commenters at the N&R, I have no way of telling what race they are, but judging by their content and tenor I think it's a fair assumption that the percentage that is white folks is disproportionate to the city's demographic breakdown.
Pleased to have you here, Tony.
I would guess that it was whites who were most vocal about the Project Homestead scandal, too. Do blacks look the other way during black scandals? If Skip, Earl and Rev. Michael are rip-off artists, do blacks think, "Good for them!" I recall that my black colleagues were absolutely certain that OJ was innocent. Perhaps they have trouble being objective. That would explain the black silence with the Civil Rights Museum scandal.
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