Thursday, July 25, 1968
Page 7
Harvey Elliott
Of Black Television
Black America is getting quite
an examination this summer by
the major television networks.
The documentaries of recent
weeks (and there will be more,
throughout August) are
practically the only non-rerun
material on television.
ABC is sponsoring Time For
Americans, a six-part
presentation by ABC News,
studying aspects of white racism
in the areas of industry, urban
and suburban life, the mass
media, the police and education.
Two weeks ago, the fourth
show of this series was shown.
Entitled "Prejudice and the
Police," it consisted of an open
dialogue in Houston, Texas,
between the police and the
townspeople (nine of each).
The .major charges were
distrust and discourtesy on both
sides, police brutality and lack
of cooperation from the
community. The Negroes had
their questions and the white
policemen spent an hour evading
the answers.
The cops seemed more
concerned with defending the
capital-P Police capital -D
Department than about trying to
achieve any rapport with the
blacks. One policeman probably
summed up the attitude of the
police when he described the
conference not as a "peace
talk," not as a "means of
understanding,' but as "a way
to blow off steam."
The only person who could
have spoken for both groups was
silent. A Negro policeman was
present, but he didn't say a word
during the entire hour.
On Sunday, July 28, the fifth
part of the ABC series will be
shown on Channel 5 at 4:30
p.m. "White Racism and Black
Education" will examine the
Boston School System,
spearheaded by Jonathan Kozol,
author of "Death At An Early
Age," a scathing indictment of
the Boston schools and their
contribution to "the destruction
of the hearts and minds of Negro
children."
The following evening,'
Channel 5 will present "Can
White Suburbia Think Black?"
at 7:30 p.m. Cameras will focus
on an interfaith, interracial
group in New Rochelle, N.Y.,
who will discuss their attitudes
toward one another, much in the
manner of the earlier police
confrontation in Houston.
On another channel and
another network, Xerox is
sponsoring a CBS series called Of
Black America. This seven-part
unit has already examined the
black soldier, and "Black
History: Lost, Stolen, or
Strayed," both narrated by
comedian Bill Cosby. This latter
show reviewed the treatment of
the Negro in American History
texts, the absence of recognition
of Africa's contributions to
Western culture, and the
changing Hollywood sterotype
of the Negro from Amos V
Andy to Guess Who's Coming
To Dinner.
Next Tuesday night, the
fourth part of the series will
spotlight "The Negro in Sports
and Music." The two-part
program will focus on
professionals Jackie Robinson,
Ray Charles and Aretha
Franklin, and their effects on
color barriers in their respective
fields.
Is current Negro participation
in sports and music tokenism?
Or is the color barrier truly
broken? Next week's show
promises to examine these
aspects.
Future programs will deal
with:
An examination of slavery
and attitudes established during
slavery that have persisted until
today, to be televised on August
13.
A filmed 6-week visit to
Ghana by three black
Washington, D.C., high school
students, in an effort to discover
how pertinent Africa is to today
in Black America, to be shown
on August 20.
My Neighbors
And the final program will
deal with black and white
attitudes toward each other, due
on September 2.
With the exception of the
final show, all CBS segments of
Of Black America will be shown
on Tuesday nights, at 11:30
p.m. on Channel 11 (or at 10
p.m., if you can pick up
Greensboro's Channel 2).
The two series are certainly
the most worth while viewing on
summertime television, and most
ef the earlier programs have
been critically acclaimed as
' ' fascinating" and
"thought-provoking."
With three shows next week,
there's still time to get in on the
rest.
"Reassuring the way every
body snaps to it when we walk
through, eh?"
1
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The Old Book Feature
Case will be filled this
coming week with novels
discarded from a North
Carolina library because
they were worn out.
Which means they were
mighty popular novels.
Good reading fairly oozes
from the shelves, at
prices that start low and
get lower as the week
rolls on.
25c each
15c each
5c each
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
for anything
left on
Saturday
in the Intimate Bookshop
119 E. Franklin Street
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