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Thursday, April 5, 1984 - THE CHARLOTTE POST - Page IB
Images Distorted?
Hadss And Jews Are Mctims
By Tony Brown
Special To The Post
Have the images of
blacks and Jews been
historically distorted?
“Tony Brown’s Journal”
tackles that question on
“Black And Jewish
Images.” Televised nation
ally on public television,
the nation’s longest-run
ning and top-ranked
Black-Affairs television
series has been sponsored
Greg Gumbel
Optimist speaker
Saturday Night
tog Gumbd To Talk Here
Greg Gumbel, ESPN
Sports Announcer, will be
the guest speaker during
the fourth anniversary of
the Optimist Club of Hid
den Valley. The celebration
will be held at 7 p.m.
April 7 at the Teamsters
Union Hall.
Gumbel joined ESPN in
February, 1981, after seven
years as sports anchor at
WMAQ-TV in Chicago.
Gumbel, whose brother
Brian hosts NBC’s “Today
Show,” won Chicago area
Emmy awards in 1978 and
1979 for his high school
football commentaries and
is expected to win Cable
Magazine’s Outstanding
Sports Personality Award
for the third consecutive
year.
The Optimist Club of Hid
den Valley is affiliated with
Optimist International
which is composed of more
than 3,600 Optimist Clubs in
the U.S. and Canada.
Optimist International
encourages development of
youth, the promotion of
optimism, respect for the
law, patriotism and friend
ship among all people.
Tickets for the Annual
Banquet may be purchased
by calling 332-3118 be
tween 9 a.m. and 7 p.m.
Odell Witherspoon is
president of the Hidden
Valley Optimist Club.
At ESPN Gumbel co-
anchors the weeknight
“Sports Center” with Chris
Berman, and also co-hosts
“The NBA Tonight” with
John Andariese.
See Gumbel On Page 9B
by Pepsi Cola Company for
nine consecutive years.
The series will be seen in
this area on WTVI, Channel
42, at 5 p.m. on Sunday,
April 8.
One of the highlights of
this program will be a
filmed history entitled “'The
Distorted Image.” It is a
penetrating commentary
on American attitudes to
immigration, the univer
sality of prejudice and
stereotyping and, above
all, a history of how cer
tain immigrant and ethnic
stereotypes originated and
developed in our society.
While blacks frequently
complain of the negative
portrayals on television
and in the movies, the si
milarity between stereo
types and the building of
prejudice affecting all
groups who immigrated to
America, the use of the
same techniques to de
grade each group in turn,
whether they be blacks,
Chinese, Jews, Germans,
Italians, etc., has a telling
impact.
One example of a racist
depiction of blacks is a
cartoon that appeared in
“Life” magazine in 1904,
shortly after several inci
dents outraged Southern
segregationists and North
ern racists. A future Har
vard team, if the university
continued its liberal policy
of accepting black students
would embrace a new
policy of brawn over brain,
the cartoon suggested.
“Life” showed an ape like,
all-black football team
standing over a huge
watermelon.
In 1909, another cartoon
in “Life” suggested that
Jews were taking over the
country as a reaction to the
quite sudden increase in
the number of Jews in what
“Life” called predictably
“Jew-York.” The Jewish
population in New York
had risen from four percent
to 25 percent in 30 years'.
“Tony Brown’s Journal”
will explore the stereotyp
ing of various ethnic
groups in films, drama,
literature and graphics.
SMOKEY ROBINSON
^.Talented artist
Concert Cancelled
Smokey Robinson Almost
Made It To Ovens Auditorium
By Loretta Manago
Post Staff Writer
Fifteen years. That’s
how long it has been since
Smokey Robinson has per
formed in Charlotte. As a
matter of fact, it was the
last concert tour that
Smokey had made with the
Miracles - sort of a fare
well tour. The year was
1969 and Smokey has just
made his decision to for
sake the world of touring
and performing for the full
responsibility of a Motown
business executive.
There were 12 years that
preceded that monumental
decision that Smokey made
in ’69. They were the
years that Smokey had
taken the group that he had
formed back in high school
to a young man. Berry
Gordy, who was in the
initial stages of establish
ing his own record com
pany, Motown Re
cords. Gordy saw some
thing distinct in the group,
then known as Smokey
Robinson and the Miracles.
That’s where the rela
tionship began - Motown
and Smokey Robinson and
the Miracles. In 1958 “Got
A Job” was released. For
the newly formed group
“Got A Job” represented
their first single. But it was
Smokey’s second tune,
“Way Over There,” that
marked Motown’s first
national distribution. After
the tune, “Shop Around,”
both Smokey and Motown
were basking in the tri
umph of their first mill
ion seller.
While the group’s popu
larity continued to soar,
many a night they could
recall spending in a hotel,
touring city after city in a
span of 12 years. Although
it was a hard decision,
Smokey decided it was
time to put that part of his
career behind him and con
centrate on studio work.
Since he has been a solo
See ROBINSON Page IIB