Friday Fire: Why Are Black Journalists Dying At An Alarming Rate?
Gone way way too soon, but the legend isn’t the only one
JA, yeah I’m calling you out. Get back to me with that quote from our interview. I really need to address why Black writers are dying quick, fast and in a hurry. I didn’t want to name names or give statistics here out of respect, but trust there is a very unfortunate trend developing. I hope some journalists speak on this strictly because of concern.
I’ll have an hypertension feature with the parents of Donovan McNabb sometime next week, but is it all about stress or a Black diet? If not, then what? Obesity?
Why are we dying doing something we love? Are too many Black writers capitulating to corporate interests, thusly going against their legendary soul grain? Are Blacks allowed to have their own voice? Are Whites? What’s the difference? Who is allowed to be anonymous? Do we fight too much just to gain a modicum of “credibility”? Our the legacy of our families at stack just to get some g’damn respect?
Sphere: Related Content
August 1st, 2008 at 11:33 am
I remember hearing Michael Wilbon on Tony Kornheiser’s show one time, talking about a conversation he had with Tim Russert back in February. They traded stories of late night bad meals on the road, stressing to meet deadline, and just the overall difficulty of being on the road so often in your 40s and 50s. Wilbon lived, Russert died, but I am quite sure there are other journalists white and particularly black who could tell a version of this same story. Factor in the fact that black men die earlier because of a myriad of issues, and you have yourself a problem. Mr. Ralph wiley also died of heart related issues too..
August 1st, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Max Robinson (Founder of the National Assoc. of Black Journalists) died at 48 Ed Bradley died from complications of Leukemia, Ralph Wiley died of a heart attack and Michael Wilbon had a heart attack in January. Robyn Roberts is battling breast cancer and has completed her chemothrerapy treatments.
These are Blacks in a field where the battle is constantly uphill for Roberts it’s twice as hard because she’s a woman. I’m sure there is all types of scrutiny, mind games and the like that they have experienced. Mizzo and AXG you’ve both as well as myself have been given “The Look” at a press conference or any event you’re covering where they feel you shouldn’t be.
Imagine delivering the evening news to a nation where the majority of the population is waiting for you to fall on your face so one of theirs can take their “rightful place”. Even those behind the scenes and in high places wait for you to slip.
I can’t begin to measure the stress as well as travel schedule (Bradley’s early years) being exposed to many things that our bodies are not used to by traveling to different places. As well as the stress of everyday life. I’m not a doctor so I can’t say but, stress IMO plays a huge, huge part in this
August 1st, 2008 at 2:10 pm
I know you don’t want to mention names, but this is a trend I am only mildly aware of. I know Wiley, and Robinson. I know that Roberts was fighting cancer. How many others are we talking about? How prominent? We know there are health disparities in general between blacks and whites…in my own profession around 35 I realized that a few black male professors had been hit by prostate cancer. Just last year a prominent (white) female theorist died of lung cancer (and she didn’t smoke).
August 1st, 2008 at 2:37 pm
Sup Kenyatta…it’s been awhile. Give my best to the fam.
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I think Rashad hit the nail on the head. The job is brutal. Athletes in the prime of their careers show the effects of extensive travel and poor diet. We ALL know that trips to the Coast in football or basketball or baseball tend to sap players of their store of energy. We know that young players with poor diets eventually change their practice or lose their careers. So, there is no question that older cats are playing a dangerous game.
August 1st, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Honestly, I don’t think it’s just black journalists. I’ve seen black people die earlier than they should who work all kinds of jobs. Anyone who is black and worked in a corporate world knows how hard it is on you. It’s Stress: the Extinction Agenda. Having to face pressures that your white colleagues will never have to go through. Increased scrutiny for everything. Not fitting in to the culture of the place. Having to do more, to get less recognition. Of course diet, and lack of exercise fits in to this. Because you’re working more to get recognition, you typically aren’t going to eat healthy and probably aren’t getting the exercise you need. Also, maybe the best advice is to relax and take a break from work once in a while. Many of us forget that in the pursuit of a better life, maybe the life we’re trying to achieve isn’t really that good for us if it’s going to kill us to get there.
August 1st, 2008 at 6:09 pm
Preach, Kos. Black people die earlier than white people period, for a number of reasons (we didn’t need CNN to spell out for us what we already know). The fact that journalists are being spotlighted is merely a microcosm of being black in America. We have to understand that the human body was not meant to handle excessive amounts of stress. The paycheck may look good, but at the end of the day, you can’t put a price tag on peace of mind and joy in your spirit, bills or no bills.
August 1st, 2008 at 8:09 pm
Of course, if them thar folks who was so disgruntled on the plantation decided to bounce, they could work for/with one another and probably feel a great deal better about working for themselves. Short-term sacrifice, long-term gain. Gotta have your own!
August 1st, 2008 at 8:27 pm
Uh…exactly!!
August 1st, 2008 at 10:32 pm
I firmly believe that fast-food outlets and liquor stores are more highly concentrated in ‘minority’ neighborhoods in efforts to keep African Americans drunk (they under stress-give em a 40), overweight (let em die early) and oppressed (where else can they feed thier family for $5.00?). Thankfully, LA is trying to combat this with thier latest ban: “On Tuesday, Los Angeles City Council unanimously agreed to ban the opening of new fast food outlets in South LA for one year, in the hope this will give time for healthier restaurants to gain more of a foothold in a part of the city that one recent survey said had 30 per cent childhood obesity.” (http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/116693.php)
Lets hope it sticks and other cities catch on…Im willing to bet more than one member of the LA City Council is African American, its just a shame its taking this long to tackle the issue, but hopefully we are on the right track and got some healthy alternatives for our innner-city folk.
August 2nd, 2008 at 1:05 am
So wierd that this is the topic, and reading the comments - especially by Kos, and it reminded me immediately of this lunacy I read today:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121755336096303089.html
August 2nd, 2008 at 1:17 am
Miranda, any excuses will do!
August 2nd, 2008 at 1:53 am
The environment is brutal no matter what, and like everyone said double or triple the stress for a black journalist. And stress influences everything else.
BTW, Miranda — that is the most absurd article that I have ever read — and considering the absurdity level of coverage of Obama that is saying a lot…
August 2nd, 2008 at 3:08 am
Miranda, MODI-
That article looks like it was written by a journalist that has nothing better to write about. Remember, the Wall Street Journal is now owned by Rupert Murdoch, who also owns Fox News.
To all-
I was thinking about this question more during the day. I think the bigger question about the early deaths of black journalists, is what effects do their deaths have on the next generation of black journalists and journalism pertaining to the black community.
August 2nd, 2008 at 8:21 am
Thank you so much kos. The quick answer is their legacies die with them so there are no longer the soul models needed to propagate a consistent relationship to the field futuristic.
There’s no one to talk to. There’s no helping hand. There’s no style to emulate. There’s no group to run with. There’s no past to be passionate about because the struggle of those before is basically erased.
This is why we’ve done so many of these interviews. When the writers we’ve spoken with are faced with an issue we’ve documented here, hopefully another link in the chain will surface (by referencing our conversation as they speak on said issue) and the next best will be conceived…
August 2nd, 2008 at 9:34 pm
RE: the WSJ article. Wow, just wow. I know campaign season can be the silly season but wow, just wow. The stupidity of the American electorate never ceases to amaze me but that’s partly how we have the current fool in the White House because he was supposedly someone you’d want to have a beer with. Screw that because I want a putative leader that has the skills for the job. People get the heroes they deserve but that can be amended for the politicians they deserve as well.
August 4th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
I know the topic morphed since Miranda dropped that link. I’m staying there.
The shame is how facile imagery works on the electorate to influence votes. I can testify as someone from both city and rural texas that as long as somebody “came real,” he would be treated “real” without having to try any awkward fitting in.
A visitor to our house trying gumbo for the first time remarked to my mom, “Wow, I love this broth! How’d you make it.” We died laughing at gumbo as “broth.” I mean, don’t write me, I know that technically you could say that, but not a soul I grew up with ever asked for it like that…
…wouldn’ta cared had he asked for grey poupon with his barbecue. We would have laughed again, and he still would have been a friend.
just be you and let “game recognize game, real recognize real.” I wrote about this w/respect to living in Brooklyn - AdAge: http://adage.com/bigtent/post?article_id=125783
To be fair, a good part of the Wall Street Journal Story was debunked …by its own readers. Check the thread: http://forums.wsj.com/viewtopic.php?t=3522
But there is a valid point to examine in the way we allow ourselves to be swayed. It’s difficult, but I believe they give us enough to trust our instincts if we allow that.
Much peace,
e