Posted January 31, 2003

Richard Prince's Book Notes™: 10 to Start February

As Black History Month begins, we report on 10 recent books by or about black journalists (and an extra one for good measure). More will follow as the month progresses:

Herb Boyd

Herb Boyd, national editor of The Black World Today Web site, has edited "Race and Resistance: African Americans in the 21st Century" (South End Press, Cambridge, Mass., $17, paper). Along with pieces by academicians Angela Y. Davis and Manning Marable, writer bell hooks, and activists Amiri Baraka and Salah Booker, are those by commentator Julianne Malveaux and free-lance journalist Todd Burroughs, who writes a chapter on "Race and the Media" with Alice Tait of Central Michigan University. "The writers, scholars and activists assembled here . . . are emblematic of the thousands who, with each passing day, take a more determined interest in ridding our world of debilitating hazards, be they toxic, sexist, homophobic or racist," Boyd writes in his introduction.

Lynne Duke

Lynne Duke, a reporter for the Washington Post, has "Mandela, Mobutu, and Me: A Newswoman's African Journey."(Doubleday, $24) Keith B. Richburg, a former Washington Post bureau chief in Africa, enraged many with his 1997 reflection, "Out of America: A Black Man Confronts Africa," in which Richburg thanked God that his ancestors had made the Middle Passage to America.

Duke, whose time in Africa followed his, seems like the anti-Richburg as she chronicles her 1995-1999 posting in Johannesburg, her base for covering much of the continent below the equator. She calls this an "impressionist reporter's memoir," and says, "I loved my work. I loved living in Africa -- the way it felt, so foreign but familiar; so much another world, and yet a world that was my heritage . . . (it) ranked for me as the most privileged perch a reporter could find. I milked it to the fullest." She says she "prayed and cried over African suffering."

Duke is now a correspondent for the Post in New York. "The strength of 'Mandela, Mobutu, and Me' is its refusal to gloss over complexity," said Washington Post reviewer Matt Steinglass, who lives in Togo.

Karen Hunter

With the Rev. Al Sharpton, Karen Hunter, editorial writer at the New York Daily News, has written "Al on America" (Kensington Publishing, $27) the now-presidential candidate's self-described "manifesto for change." "The frequency with which Sharpton's observations recur suggests that the book was cobbled together from taped dictation and escaped a thorough copy edit," wrote Jabari Asim, who is black, in the Washington Post. "As a result, the activist's thoughts on various topics acquire a nerve-deadening sameness." But in the New York Times, Adam Nagourney, who is white, said, "'Al on America' is nothing if not provocative."

Hunter also co-authored "I Make My Own Rules" with LL Cool J (1997), "Ladies First," with Queen Latifah (1999), and "Revelations" with Mason Betha (2001).

Joyce King

Joyce King, broadcaster for 20 years, resigned from CBS Radio in Dallas in 1999 to write "Hate Crime: The Story of a Dragging in Jasper, Texas" (Pantheon, $24). She covered all three trials of those arrested in the 1998 dragging death of James Byrd Jr., but she says her employer declined to grant her leave to write this book.

"I worked for CBS Radio when I covered all three trials in 1999, then resigned a 20-year broadcast career to chase this dream (book). There was no agent, no publisher, only blind faith that America needed to hear/read this story from a completely different perspective," King told Journal-isms.

"Journalists of color should read 'Hate Crime' because sometimes we really need to be available and willing to take on those assignments that are even more difficult to look at because of the racial aspect. This was a case I always found I had insufficient rage over, but had to maintain my professional balance to get the job done. Once the job was over, I wanted to explore confronting why I was so affected by it. Make no mistake, I wanted to just let go and move on. Jasper had me, I didn't have it.

"When we *own* our pain, we can have power over that pain and get others to respect that pain. Until we have the courage to face things like slavery (and its lasting effects), lynching, the everyday indignities associated with being black, affirmative action or even a dragging, we will never get others to acknowledge and respect the place that pain has in American history. Many people, including a few journalists, have told me they don't plan to read 'Hate Crime' to avoid the journey of pain. Mr. Byrd, and nearly 4,000 others who were lynched, didn't have that option. And the pain we face compared to the pain they endured is like a grain of sand on the beach.

"I was saddened to see there were only a handful of black journalists who covered Jasper. As much as we work hard to make sure we're not pigeonholed with 'black stories' or 'black issues,' we must also remember the black perspective has many facets, many voices. And what a great talent pool! To my knowledge, only two black women, myself and a television reporter from Houston (the book is dedicated to her) covered all three trials, day in and day out. What a sad commentary."

Reon Laudat

Reon Laudat, a former Cincinnati Enquirer features and lifestyles reporter under the name Reon Carter, has "It's a Love Thang" (St. Martin's Press, $6.50, paper), a romantic novel about two African American journalists vying to land the same reporting job.

The two compete for an exclusive interview with a reclusive multi-millionaire at a nudist colony. "I'd sold a couple of romances before this one that were more serious or melodramatic in tone, but I felt somewhat stifled because I was trying to force myself into a mold," she said. "I have an offbeat sense of humor and I've always been drawn to the quirkiest characters and situations."

Kevin Powell

Kevin Powell, a writer who specializes in hip hop culture, has edited "Who Shot Ya? Three Decades of Hip-Hop Photography," with photographs by Ernie Paniccioli. (Amistad/Harper Collins, $29.95). It made bet.com's Best Books of 2002.

The title appears to be taken from a 1995 song by the Notorious B.I.G., which was interpreted by Tupac Shakur as a reminder of Shakur's 1994 shooting. Given that both Tupac and Biggie were later shot to death, the title seems in poor taste. The book, however, traces rap back to the late 1970s, with photos of entertainers many of us had forgotten. It's a kick to see Paniccioli, who, having been born on Feb. 26, 1947, is the age of some of the rappers' parents, get such a charge from documenting the hip-hop culture. "It is this outsider status that has propelled Paniccioli's craft," Powell writes. "Seeing these kids and their energy reminded me of Little Richard, who was that metaphorical piano falling off the building or that gunshot that makes you duck," writes Paniccioli, who is a Cree Indian. "And when I saw these rappers, I saw that magic again."

Bernestine Singley

Bernestine Singley, a mediator and consultant, has edited "When Race Becomes Real: Black and White Writers Confront Their Personal Histories" (Lawrence Hill, $26.95). It includes "Crazy Sometimes" by Miami Herald columnist Leonard Pitts Jr., "The Night I Stopped Being a Negro," by columnist and Newsday editor Les Payne, "Son of the South" by John Seigenthaler Sr. of the Freedom Forum, "Race, Rage and the Ace of Spades" by commentator Julianne Malveaux, "Race Fatigue" by Ira J. Hadnot, staff writer at the Dallas Morning News and "A Funky Fresh Talented Tenth," by free-lancer Toure.

Elmer Smith

Elmer Smith, a Philadelphia Daily News columnist who has been at the paper for 20 years, previously as a boxing writer and sports columnist, has "Out of My Mind" (August Press, $16, paper) a collection of his columns.

"Columns don't work because we agree with them. They work because we can relate to them, whether we agree or not," Smith writes. "It's not easy to be mindful of an audience without falling into the trap of trying to adopt their point of view. But that is precisely the thin line where a columnist must find his balance. For the last 14 years, I've been trying to find that delicate balance."

Ralph Wiley

Ralph Wiley co-wrote "Growing Up King" (Warner Books, $24.95; Time Warner Audio, abridged, $25.98) by Dexter Scott King.

"It was hard. Hard to research, hard to structure, hard to write the book so as to make it read easy and yet be deeply exploratory, to maintain a certain lightness of touch almost in spite of the heaviness and darkness of some of the subject matter," says Wiley, an author and former senior editor at Sports Illustrated who now writes for ESPN. He told Journal-isms he was contacted by Dexter, who is the second son in the King family, and his editor. Dexter and an adviser "were more than a little ambivalent, thinking people had a poor opinion of Dexter. I tried to show them people's feelings about Dexter had nothing to do with him, [and that] his family's lives [were] worthy story subjects. So I agreed to do the book, dove into it, [and] found all Coretta Scott King's life and all four of her children's lives, and the lives of those around them, to constitute a compelling tale, especially told from the perspective of what starts out as a 7-year-old boy."

King and Wiley explore what it is like to be the son of a historical figure who must deal with the psychological effects of having his father killed while still young, and, in Dexter's voice, is defensive about criticism that he has tried to charge the public for parts of the King legacy that many feel should be in the public domain.

Juan Williams

Juan Williams, senior correspondent for National Public Radio and author of a biography of Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, has co-written "This Far By Faith: Stories from the African American Religious Experience" (William Morrow, $29.95), a companion book to a PBS series from Blackside Productions scheduled to air in June. The co-author is Quinton Dixie, a professor of religious studies at Indiana University. The book is described as the story of how religious faith inspired the civil rights movement, though it starts with slavery. It doesn't omit blacks' Muslim heritage. "Faith and faith alone stands as a mighty sword to defend as well as a mighty arm of comfort and a mighty trumpet declaring to the world that this child, black, white, brown or any other color, is God's child," the authors conclude. "The story of black America is a story of faith fulfilled."

A Day in the Life of Africa

Various photographers contributed to "A Day in the Life of Africa" (Tides Foundation, $50), the 14th installment in the best-selling series of photo books that document the life of a region during a single day, in this case Africa on Feb. 28, 2002. All profits are to go to AIDS education programs in Africa. The project sent more than 100 photographers out across all of Africa's 53 countries to document the diversity and breadth of the continent.

"What will strike most people is "my God, I didn't know people in Africa smiled," said Washington Post Photo Editor Michel E. duCille, one of the five picture editors. "In the Africa [we usually see] they're not smiling. Why have we been seeing Africa [pictured as] only war, AIDS, famine. . . ? This book touches those things, you can't ignore them, but you don't have to be gratuitous with it. Plus, we set out to be sure we captured real life, those little slices of life that are ordinary."

The photos in this coffee-table book are top quality, and its opening panoramas of Mount Kilimanjaro, the Pyramids, Victoria Falls and the Namib Desert immediately set the standard. Introductory pieces are by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, and Howard French of the New York Times, who formerly covered Africa, has an essay, "Africa in Perspective." The participating African American photographers (the photojournalists came from 26 countries) include Anthony Barboza, Stanley Greene, C.W. Griffin, Andre Lambertson, Eli Reed, Jeffery Allan Salter and Jeffrey Henson Scales. A photo exhibition of 150 images is to travel this year to Atlanta, Washington, D.C.; Detroit; Chicago; New Orleans and two other U.S. cities, all with free admission.

Send tips and comments to Richard Prince rprince@maynardije.org.

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