Of Bishop Tutu

Last Friday, Callie Crossley, the Nieman Program’s Seminar Program Manager, left us a cryptic message. “There is a possibility that next Tuesday (November 18) evening you MAY have a chance to interact with someone pretty special.” Notice the MAY is capitalized. We all spent the weekend speculating – Barack? Michelle? Condi Rice? Bill Russell. Several of us had plans Tuesday night. Chris Vognar, Alfredo and I had plans to attend an event at the Kirkland House, the Harvard dorm we are assigned to. I had been looking forward to it for a while, since I want to become fully involved in the House. (I’ll explain the House system later.) By Tuesday morning we heard nothing from Callie, so I made mental plans to go to Kirkland. At 11:15, Bob Giles, the Nieman Curator sent us a note, informing us who the mystery guest would be, Bishop Desmond Tutu, the South African cleric and activist who so valiantly fought against apartheid in the 1980s. He won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1984. I can’t recall ever seeing Bishop Tutu speak in person and I definitely have never met him. So I was excited. So was everyone else in the class. The visit was programmed and set up like one of our regular weekly seminars, but we actually went to his hotel to meet him. A mini road trip from Cambridge to Boston. When he entered the small ballroom/dining room for the meeting, he was so full of grace. Dressed modestly in black, with a simple black sweater, he smiled and greeted all of us. He had an extensive conversation with Thabo, our South African Fellow. (Interestingly, South Africans represent the largest segment of the Nieman Program’s International alums). He spoke for about 30 minutes about his perceptions of journalism and his relationship with the media. He talked about Obama. The War. Mandela. He answered questions for another 30 minutes, giving us deep insight with a touch of humor. (Again, these are off the record, so no details.) You might notice there is no picture of Tutu and me on this posting. For the first time all year, I didn’t have my camera. Don’t ask. So today’s photo is courtesy of my buddy Carla Broyles of the Washington Post. After Tutu left and we gathered ourselves together to get ready to go, I slipped out of the room for a quick tour of the hotel. Tutu was in one of the corridors of the hotel. A group of Africans, perhaps tipped off that he was staying at the hotel, stopped him for a quick chat and laugh. I made eye contact with him and thanked him once again for speaking to the Niemans. I reached out to shake his hand and instead of a standard shake, Bishop Desmond Tutu gave me a Soul Shake. Brothers know what I am talking about. What can be better than that? Thanks Callie, you hooked it up.

 

Bishop Tutu and the Niemans. Callie, the sister in red on the left, was the mastermind behind the event.

 

Of Aunt Jemima and Dolemite

Nancy Green, a former slave, served as the original model for Aunt Jemima

Louise Beavers is all smiles as Delilah Johnson in Imitation of Life

Dolemite is a bad m-----------------------r

One of the interesting things about my schedule is that because all of the classes are in the African and African American Studies program, things tend to overlap and complement each other. On more than one occasion, something that has come up in one of Carpio’s classes became relevant in Shelby’s class. But the best thing is that on any given day, in any given class I can learn something new about something I thought I knew. Take Wednesday. Professor Gates’ lecture was entitled, “Sell-Outs or Race Men and Women: The Strange and Curious History of Uncle Tom.” He started out by showing us clips of the original 1934 version of  “Imitation of Life.” Based on the book by Fannie Hurst, Gates said the movie – along with “Green Pastures,” – is one of the most important black films of all time. In Louise Beavers’ portrayal of Delilah Johnson, she is a direct embodiment of Aunt Jemima, from her wide-tooth smile, to the fact that she is makes a mean pancake. Incidentally, she gives the recipe to the white woman that she takes care of and wants nothing in return other than to continue taking care of her. The movie also perfects the Tragic Mulatto character in Peola, the little light-skinned girl who doesn’t want to be black. Gates raised an interesting question. Why is Peola light enough to pass for white when her mother is so dark? The movie brings to the screen the theme of racial betrayal that James Weldon Johnson wrote about in 1912 in, “The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man.” We also related the movie to the writings of Paul Lawrence Dunbar, DuBois, Fanon and E. Franklin Frazier. Go pick up the movie. It is a classic.

         Which brings us to another “classic.”

         “Dolemite.”

         We watched it Wednesday night in Carpio’s Humor screening. I am not sure of “Dolemite” was meant to be a comedy, but we laughed through the whole movie. I have seen my share of blaxsplotation movies, but I had never seen “Dolemite.” Maybe I knew something. From a production standpoint, it was probably one of the worst movies I have ever seen. I lost count of how many times we saw the boom mike. Plot? Still trying to figure it out. The acting was stiff. The fight scenes were slow. I could go on. We all left the screen baffled. But “Dolemite” is a cult classic, mainly because of Dolemite’s use of rhyme, which falls between funny and vulgar. But strip away Dolemite’s pimp-clad delivery and he presents narrative poetry from the black oral tradition. On two occasions, he recites, “Shine and the Titanic,” and “The Signifying Monkey.”

         These poems, and many like them, started cropping up in the early 20^th Century as a counter to the “New Negro Movement.” The NNM was designed to kill the Old Negro of Sambo and Uncle Tom and set out to prove that the Negro was as capable as any white man. The New Negro was tall and erect. Proud and strong. But there was also an underground discourse that was anti-religious and rooted in black vernacular. It was the Ying to the New Negro’s Yang, a kind of “Politics of dis-Respectability.”

         These poems were vulgar, used dialect, and were considered the audible sign of stupidity and ignorance. It celebrated everything the upper class railed against.

         Both movies are well worth watching.

Hannah Allam

Hannah and Marvin. When it was much warmer in Cambridge

When I first saw the list of 2009 Nieman Fellows, I saw several people whose work I was familiar with, but the only person I knew personally was Hannah Allam. I met her in 2005 when she was NABJ’s Journalist of the Year. She was probably the youngest NABJ Journalist of the Year ever and is one of the youngest Nieman’s  in our class. She is also one of the bravest. Shortly after 9/11, Hannah whose roots extend to Egypt by way of  Oklahoma, became an expert on Islam. When her company, Knight Ridder asked for volunteers to go to the war zone, she raised her hand and was shipped to Baghdad. She eventually became the Baghdad bureau chief. Not even 30, but running the coverage of a dangerous war in the most dangerous city in the world. She experienced sexism, but also witnessed death almost daily. When it got too much, she would escape to Egypt or America or to the NABJ convention, but she always returned. She finally left Baghdad for good after she lost her 13^th friend to the war. She opened up a bureau in Cairo. She was closer to home, but continues to travel throughout the Middle East to cover conflict. Hannah doesn’t look like your typical war correspondent, but I don’t know a better one. Oh yeah, on one of her trips she ran into a basketball team at the airport. She met a dude named Marvin Black, fell in love and got married. Marvin actually spent a lot of time with us early on in the school year. Brilliant brother. He was in 3 of my classes and was quickly becoming a favorite of Professor O’Donovan, who teaches the slavery course.  But eventually, he had to return overseas to continue his basketball career. Hopefully, he will return after the season.

David Jackson:

David Jackson, a Chicago Native, is one of the Nieman Fellows this year

Last Sunday, after Convocation, David Jackson, sweating and panting, walked into the Lippmann House and wanted me to pick up his book bag. I did and it had to be a good 50 pounds. There were a couple of shopping bags nearby. David had carried all of these bags on his bicycle from the grocery store. David does a lot of things on his bike. During our first week in town, he got a citation for riding his bike carrying a trashcan. David was carrying all of that food because instead of catering his Sounding dinner, he was gonna cook instead. We would learn in his Sounding that in David’s former life, he was a chef. That he was and still is a classical guitar player. That he once walked around Chicago wearing a sandwich board for a journalism project. But David, who works for The Chicago Tribune, is also one of the best investigative reporters in the country. So unassuming is David. I occasionally see him around Cambridge on his bike or run into him in the Science Center’s cafeteria. One of the nicest guys I have ever met. But don’t mess up in Chicago. Lord knows how many people David has gotten convicted or put in jail behind his in-depth reporting. He has exposed corruption, taken on the Nation of Islam and broke the story on Tony Resko and his dealings with Barack Obama. One thing that David did not tell us is that he has been a Pulitzer finalist at least three times and took home the prize in 1998.

 

Soundings

Soundings:

One of the best things about the Nieman year thus far has been the Monday Soundings. Soundings are a long-standing Nieman tradition, where one of the Fellows tells his or her story. With 30 Nieman Fellows, from all over the world, it is obvious that we are all diverse with interesting backgrounds. The Soundings just prove it. Every Sounding so far has been an eye-opening experience, with each Fellow sharing stories about growth, triumph and sometimes heartache. Deep stuff every week. But the best part of the evening is always the dinner. For each Sounding, the honored Fellow is responsible for providing dinner, which is a meal generally from their home state, region or country. Interestingly, most of the early Soundings have been done by our International Fellows, so we have dined on food from Morocco, Peru, Iran and Argentina for example. Great stuff. Unfortunately, Soundings are off the record. So I can’t tell you what was said (except for stuff that might be public knowledge), but I will use the Soundings to introduce you to the Fellows and talk about my experiences with them. Mine is December 15.