At Media
BY PAUL ROCKWELL
Special To The CAROLINIAN'
An Analysis
In 1983, Ben Bagdikian, dean of the
Graduate School of Journalism at the
University of California, Berkeley,
published his pioneering work!
‘‘Media Monopoly.” Bagdikian
described the awesome centraliza
tion of media power that has taken
place since World War II.
*. “fiy 1980s, the majority of all
major American media—newspa
pers, magazines, radio, television,
books and movies—were controlled
by SO giant corporations. These cor
porations were interlocked in com
mon financial interest with other
massive industries and with a few
dominant international banks.”
Notwithstanding the clarity and
significance of Bagdikian’s research,
few Democratic Party candidates
have dared to take a clear stand
against “media monopoly” and
media bias. It is true that Gary Hart,
caught with his pants down, lashed
back at the media for personal
reasons. The self-serving pot-shots
that Candidates take at media
coverage from time to time are a far
cry from true media reform.
So far there is only one candidate
with a clear, well-researched, com
prehensive position on media bias
and power. That candidate is not
Gary Hart. It is Jesse Jackson.
In 1978, four years before
Bagdikian wrote “Media Monopoly,"
Jackson gave an eye-opening media
critique at the annual convention of
the Associated Press (reprinted in
Jackson’s new book, “Straight from
the Heart”). Jackson recognized that
corporate media power is more cen
tralized than ever before, and that it
Wake Public Schools
Pilot Project Will
Assist Black Males
Superintendent Robert E. Bridges
announced last week -that the Z.
Smith Reynolds Foundation has pro
vided a $30,000 grant for a new pilot
project in the Wake County Public
School System. The pilot project is
designed to help black male students
take greater advantage of learning
opportunities.
Called the School/Community
Helping Hands Project, the new pro
gram was initiated this school year
by the school system with the
recognition that the development of
black male children historically has
been hindered by a variety of factors
Participating students are matched
with caring black male educators and
ultimately with community role
models in an effort to provide sturdy,
accessible role models for these
youngsters.
“A network of negative factors
significantly affect the development
of young black males,” Dr. Bridges
explained. “Those negative factors in
the community and in school compel
us to develop a new type of response
to the obstacles facing the black male
child as he struggles to become an
adult Through this pilot program, we
will develop a case management
model aimed at positive!;, influencing
black male youngsters at tin niddle
school level who are growing up at
risk of school failure.”
Dr. Bridges indicated that the
$30,000 grant will be used to hire a
coordinator for ’he project. He also
announced additional grants received
from the program, which include the
following:
• $1,500 from Kaiser Permanente
• $1,000 from the school system's
Division of Principals, which is head
ed by Hunter Elementary Principal
Sue King
• Interest earned from a $100,000
endowment given by Capitol Broad
casting Company, inc. The endow
ment was given by Capitol Broad
casting to the Wake County Educa
tion Foundation earlier, but a deci
sion on how the interest would be used
was just made recently.
• $100 each from the PTAs at Wiley
Elementary and Martin Middle
Other commitments have been
received from community organiza
tions. Dr. Bridges said, but have not
yet been finalized.
Eighty black male sixth-graders
are participating in the program,
with eight personal models working
with them. The models include black
male teachers, assistant principals.
DU. BOBI'RT e. bridges
and principals All project activities
are conducted during non-school
time
The models have been working with
the students lor approximately two
months, focusing on the development
of skills in leadership, academics,
and sell concept.
The personal models meet regular
ly with the superintendent to review
progress and to plan. Models have
met with parents and the teachers
who work with each student to assess
performance and work habits.
Dr Bridges began the program
after conducting formal and informal
observations and study ol the
development of young black males
over the period from 1978 to 198f>
Whitley PTA To Help Students
“Just Say No” To Using Drugs
WENDELL—The Whitley Middle School PTA will be
helping parent* and youth cope with the pressures sur
rounding the use of alcohol and othec^rugs during the na
tional PTA Drug and Alcohol Awareness Week, March
d-10. The theme of the week is “Parents and Youth: Fac
ing the Pressure."
“Children and teens face enormous pressure to use
alcohol and other drugs,” explained Sally Mitchell, presi
dent of the Whitley Middle School PTA. "The PTA
believes that parents and other adults can relieve that
pressure by teaching them the facts about drugs, develop
ing their self-esteem and acting as good role models."
Two publications offering advice to parents wanting to
keep their children and teens drug-free are available from
the national PTA. “Young Children and Drugs: What
Parents Can Do and Drug Abuse,” and “Your Teens:
What Parents Should Know,” may be obtained from the
national PTA by sending a stamped, self-addressed
envelope ol the national I’TA Program Department/
Drug and Alcohol Abuse Prevention Project, 700 North
Kush St., Chicago. III. 60611-2571.
The students at Whitley Middle School will be forming
a “Just Say No” club for students at Whitley. The "Just
Say No" program represents a' balanced and comprehen
sive approach to pit enling drug abuse. The club is
designed for groups ol children 7-14 years old, united in
their resolve to say no to drugs. What began as a single
club in an Oakland grade school in January 1085 has
blossomed into an estimated 15.000 clubs today with new
clubs being formed every day.
Activities will be planned for the week of March 6-12,
with a drug and alcohol expo planned on March 15 in the
school gym. This expo will be open to the public. Anyone
interested Is invited to attend. The expo will be open from
7-8:30 p.m. and will feature booths set up by different
(See PTA, P. 2).
AN OFFICIAL WELCOME—Dr. jerry A. Moore, the featured
preacher lor the Religious Emphasis Week Observance at
Slww University was enthusiastically received by the
faculty, stall, students and congregation. In the photo, local
representatives who extended a welcome to Moore, pastor ot
19th Street Baptist Church. Pictured a n et' in mi,hi, Mm .a
Edwards, assistant seoeiaty. N; L Bepaiuseit .. «1
Transportation—Governui Ma n's dirsn ec, D . J*rny
Moore, Dr. Talbert 0. Shaw, president, Shaw Umvcisity: Ui.
Vernon Ma'one, Wake County Cdmiiassionei, and Lawrence
Wiay. assistant city manage' iwe m Raleigh. ,
is difficult to find significant dissent
on the networks. Jackson argued that
fairness within the media is integral
to genuine freedom of speech for all
Jackson made another point which
most media critics-including
Bagdikian himself—tend to overlook:
The U.S. media comprise one of the
Jackson recognized that corporate media
power is more centralized than ever before,
and that it is difficult to find signficant dis
sent on the network. Jackson argued that
fairness within the media is integral to ge
nuine freedom of speech for all Americans...
Americans. In essence, he said,
monopoly of communications and
freedom of speech for everyone can
not survive together
Iasi bastions of institutional .segrega
tion. Ownership and control of the
media is virtually all-white.
At the time that Jackson gave his
RALEIGH, N.C.,
MONDAY
FEBRUARY 29. 1988
NC's Semi-Weekly
DEDICATED TO THE SPIRIT OF JESUS CHRIST
Apparent Drowning
ELSEWHERE 30c
VOL. 47, NO. 27.
Raleigh Man Found Dead
No Foul
Play Is
Suspected
Police found the body of a Raleigh
man in a creek behind Washington
Elementary School last week.
Police said there was no evidence
of foul play.
James W. Thorb, 22, of 468
Dorothea Drive, was found about 3:30
p.m. Thursday lying face-down in a
shallow creek, his body partially
submerged, said Sgt, C.E. Lewis. The
creek runs between the school and the
Dawson-McDowell connector and is
near the Heritage Park Apartments
where Thorb lived.
Police told the family there were no
apparent signs of foul play and that it
looked like Thorb slipped and fell and
drowned, according to Thorb’s sister,
Goldie Simmons.,
Ms. Simmons said she last saw her
brother Tuesday shortly after 6 p.m.
as he headed toward the school with
some triends. The family became
concerned when Thorb did not return
home Tuesday night and began sear
ching for him Wednesday morning,
his lather, James Thorb, said.
Ms Simmons said she had reported
Thorb missing to the police Wednes
day night.
Thorb's body was spotted Thursday
afternoon by a woman who had been
looking for him. Lewis said. Thorb's
younger brother. Nate Forbes, iden
tified the body at the scene.
The banks of the creek are steep,
but the water is very shallow and
footprints along the bank indicate
See POLICE, P. 2)
;tr*r*lcSi3 »tttdcutv
«£2S~ *—*•"
About 400 N.C. State University
students attending a Black
Awareness Forum told ad
ministrators and student leaders
Thursday that support programs and
administrative practices must be
changed.
The students noted that only eight
percent of the university's black
students graduate in four years.
Members of the predominantly
black audience at Stewart Theatre on
the NCSU campus added that only 41
percent of black students were
graduated in five years and 48 per
cent were graduated in six years.
About 24 percent of the entire student
body is graduated in four years.
When questioned about why the
graduation rate of blacks isn’t higher,
NCSU Provost and Vice Chancellor
Nash N. Winstead said, “The reason
they don’t graduate is they leave. The
reason they leave is they aren’t hap
py with the programs here."
Winstead, who has held his position
since 1974, told students that admis
sion requirements had been relaxed
so more blacks could enroll at N.C’.
Stale. In addition, he said, the univer
sity spends about $750,000 a year for
tutoring and remedial courses. He
said such help has helped the gradua
tion rate, but he added that there is
room for improvement.
“The programs are not failing,” he
said. “They’re not working as well as
we’d like to have them work.”
Students offered additional sugges
tions for improving the graduation
rate:
They said white faculty members
should be trained to recognize and ap
preciate black perspectives in
classroom work and homework
assignments. "We don't write with a
white, middle-class, suburban at
titude,” said one student in reference
(See NCSU STUDENTS, P. 2)
address to the AP, the Hollywood
Reporter listed the top executives at
the three major networks-ABC, CBS
and NBC. Of the 133 top network ex
ecutives, only one was black—“a
scandalous eight tenths of one per
cent,” as Jackson put it.
“Although ABC s ‘Roots' set televi
sion viewing records,’’ Jackson said,
‘ Few know that there were no black
producers, assistant producers,
writers or directors involved. The on
ly thing black in ‘Roots' were the ac
tors seen on the screen. And even
there, two white actors received
more money than all of the black ac
tors combined.”
Jackson is the only presidential
candidate who consistently exposes
media racism and bias. In a 1980
speech at the Capitol in Washington,
D.C., Jackson analyzed the prevail
ing media imagery of blacks and
minorities:
“We are projected as impotent
when we’re important, and projected
as liabilities when we are in fact
assets. The media constantly engage
in five aggressive acts against the
black and brown community. We are
projected as U) less intelligent than
we are; (2) less hard-working than
we are; (3) more violent than we are;
(4) less patriotic than we are; (5) less
universal than we are.
“They do not call Sen. Kennedy a
‘white senator’ or the president the
‘white president’ because their skin
color is self-evident. When they refer
(See JESSE JACKSON, P. 2)
Voters Are
Urged To
Use Power
With Super Tuesday approaching
on March 8, many people are thinking
about voting. Voting is a very impor
tant decision that many people make,
but that many don’t make. One of
those who remembers the struggle to
get the vote, which culminated in the
Voting Rights Act of 1965, is Rev.
Benjamin F. Chavis, executive direc
tor of the United Church of Christ
Commission for Racial Justice.
Rev. Chavis recently recalled some
of the events that took place in
Marion, Ala., in 1965 and told what is
happening there today.
According to Rev. Chavis, what
happened there on the night of Feb.
10, 1965 “was to change the course of
history dramatically. It would also
have untold effects on the right of
African-Americans to vote in the
South and throughout the country.”
On that night, voting rights ac
tivists, including Albert Turner from
the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, had organized a march.
The march would show, again, that
African-Americans would not be in
timidated by unbridled violence in
flicted on them by Alabama officials
every time they tried to register.
Soon after the march began,
Alabama state troopers rioted. They
began beating and clubbing the
demonstrators, among them an
84-year-old marcher named Cager
Lee. Lee’s grandson, Jimmie Lee
Jackson, immediately came to his
grandfather’s aid and carried him to
a nearby black-owned restaurant.
The troopers followed, still clubbing^
everyone in sight, including Jimmy
Lee’s mother. When he tried to pro-''
tect her, the troopers promptly shot
the young man, point-blank, in his
side. Then, propping him up, they
shot him twice again. Jimmie Lee
Jackson died seven days later.
This was the death which prompted
voting rights organizers to initiate the
Selma-to-Montgomery march to pro
test his murder. On March 6,1965, the
march was set to begin on the Ed
mund Pettus Bridge in Selma. As
movement organizers from the SCLC
(See VOTERS, P. 2)
Former Athlete Hopes
For Life After Basketball
BY ANGELA SANDERS
Special To The l\VKOI.INIAN
What happens to a dream
deferred... or does it explode?
For former Duke basketball player
Tommy Amaker, a lifelong dream of
playing professional basketball came
to an abrupt end when he was cut
from the roster of the Seattle Super
Sonics last October.
Faced with a choice of pursuing a
career in one of the minor basketball
leagues or trying other interests,
Amaker chose, perhaps, the road less
traveled. After years of putting
basketball first, Amaker put years of
dreams, hard work and preparation
on hold to pursue other interests.
A 1987 graduate of Duke University
with a major in economics, Amaker
didn't have to ponder too long before
accepting an offer from Eugerie
McDonald, executive vice president
for Duke University, to return to
Durham as a manager intern where
he is learning the business of educa
tion.
As an intern Amaker helps screen
potential agents as part of a service
Duke offers to its prospective profes
sional athletes. He also works on pro
jects with the university’s investment
and finance divisions.
“I’ve always had an interest in
business,” says Amaker, a 6’0” man
with a face that belies his 22 years. “I
admire men who are successful en
trepreneurs.” Businessmen like
developer Clay Hamner and ex
ecutive vice president of South
Square Motors Aaron McCrae rank at
the top of #Amaker’s list of lole
models.
(See FORMER ATHLETE, P.2)
Hfchanics Atld p
Bl'«'ZrLBZT
Mechanics and Farmers Bank was
organized in January 1907 under
authority of a charter issued by the
Legislature of the Stale of North
Carolina. The group of nine persons,
who acted as original incorporators,
was headed by William R. Fitzgerald,
who at that time was a well-to-do
black businessman who owned
several brickyards and who supplied
practically all of the brick used in the
construction of the major business
buildings and churhes located in
Durham.
Approximately 19 months after
securing the charter, the bank opened
for business on Aug. 1, 1908 in
quarters located at 112 W. Parrish
St., Durham, which it had rented
from North Carolina Mutual Life In
surance Co. The location of the new
bank had been suggested to Fit
zgerald by John Merrick, one of the
original incorporators who was also
president of the insurance company.
Throughout the trying years of its
infancy. Dr. George Adams served as
cashier and the principal employee of
the institution. When in 1918 he died at
the age of 42, the bank had weathered
its first 10 years of existence with fly
ing colors and had begun to enjoy the
confidence of both white and black
people living in the town of Durham.
The bank has been fortunate in hav
ing a succession of good management
teams, each of which has
demonstrated competence in the field
of banking. It was not until 1935,
however, that its resources exceeded
the sum of $1 million. This figure had
grown to more than $7 million at the
end of 1957 and as of the end of
December i960, its assets had grown
to nearly $6» million.
As its name suggests, the bulk <pf
the bank's customers were
mechanics and (tobacco) farmers,
most of whom were black, who made
(See BANK. P, 2'
MS. Jl'l.lA TAYI.OH