The Need for Black Radio
The Need for Black Radio
By Alton H. Maddox, Jr.
Nearly fifteen years ago, I went to the FCC in Washington, D.C. to conduct research on the future of Black radio in the tri-state area. I went through reams of papers. My worst suspicions were confirmed. A conspiracy was afoot to dumb down Blacks in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. I returned to New York and delivered my findings to deaf ears.
On Labor Day, an article entitled “Millions of reasons for a Carib station” appeared in the Daily News. Bob (Spikeman) Frederick is quoted: “Here’s an enormous community that is hungry for a voice and starving for information … But we have no full-time radio station where they can get it. It’s a huge void.” The fallacy in this reasoning is that all persons of African ancestry are not in the same boat in New York.
When Michael Griffith was murdered in Howard Beach, the blood thirsty did not wait to ascertain his national origin. The color of crime in the United States is Black. Whites have no special, racial epithets for persons from the Caribbean. For some crazy reason, we divide ourselves. This is consistent with Blacks financing our own oppression.
Michael Griffith’s mother and his brother insisted that I represent the family including Cedric Sandiford. I balked. I was just recovering from a criminal prosecution for my involvement in searching for the truth in the death of Michael Stewart. They believed that no other lawyer existed in New York who would go nose-to-nose and toe-to-toe with white supremacists.
My hesitation for getting involved in Howard Beach was financial. While I was being prosecuted in 1984 and 1985 by Robert Morgenthau, no client would touch me with a ten foot pole and there was no defense fund even though there was always a huge court turnout. Physical presence is important but it does not pay bills.
Fortunately, I saw Michael Griffith’s family as victims of racial oppression and sharing a common thread with all other persons of African ancestry. Whites on the other hand, view all of us as perpetrators. It is only Blacks who get lured into discussing our plight in terms of race and class.
We need an African radio station in New York to keep all of us focused. In this country, we share common problem despite our places of birth or the places of birth of our parents. Amadou Diallo was born in Africa. Patrick Dorismond was from Haiti. Countless victims of racial violence and their parents were born in the United States. Race is the common factor.
I was involved in relief efforts to Haiti and to Princeville, NC. This was before I was barred from radio for helping my people. Recently, a dear sister of mine called me about spearheading a relief effort to Alabama as well as Mississippi and Louisiana. I had to decline the invitation. A relief effort requires access to the media.
Black leaders stayed out of the Deep South until after Bush 43 made his cameo appearance. When they finally arrived to boost television ratings, their hands were empty even though some, like Rev. Al Sharpton and Rev. Jesse L. Jackson had weekly radio programs. These programs could have been used to solicit basic necessities for our impoverished sisters and brothers.
Residents from Perry County, Kentucky, in coal mining country, sent three tractor trailers full of supplies after gaining access to a one hour program on a radio station in the county. The supplies arrived this past Saturday, September 3, from a small and impoverished county. We live in the largest metropolitan area in the United States.
As of this past Tuesday, no trucks had arrived in any state in the Deep South from the tri-state area inhabited by more than four million persons of African ancestry. I heard no radio-sponsored, solicitations this past Sunday on radio. Kiss-FM announced that it would unveil a future relief effort after Jeff Foxx went off and returned from a vacation. These radio hosts are buffers.
If our sisters and brothers in the Deep South had to rely on Blacks in the tri-state area, they would all be dead by now. It really is an example of self-centered, Black leadership which is more concerned about endorsing white candidates for political office rather than helping man-made, hurricane victims who, through their civil rights activities in the 1960s, made it possible for these leaders to be in political office in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. For example, Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin is from Baton Rouge.
In a time when there is a War on Blacks, our access to radio stations is a must. First, the rules of the FCC note that distinctive communities are entitled access to the public airwaves. These rules are being honored in the breach in the tri-state area. Whether it is the African drum or radio microphones, communications is a survival tool.
The New Orleans Police Department admitted that its own lack of access to communications contributed to the loss of life and limb. There will be more acts of terrorism and man-made disasters. When they hit close to home, there will be an unnecessary loss of life for lack of communications.
By Alton H. Maddox, Jr.
Nearly fifteen years ago, I went to the FCC in Washington, D.C. to conduct research on the future of Black radio in the tri-state area. I went through reams of papers. My worst suspicions were confirmed. A conspiracy was afoot to dumb down Blacks in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. I returned to New York and delivered my findings to deaf ears.
On Labor Day, an article entitled “Millions of reasons for a Carib station” appeared in the Daily News. Bob (Spikeman) Frederick is quoted: “Here’s an enormous community that is hungry for a voice and starving for information … But we have no full-time radio station where they can get it. It’s a huge void.” The fallacy in this reasoning is that all persons of African ancestry are not in the same boat in New York.
When Michael Griffith was murdered in Howard Beach, the blood thirsty did not wait to ascertain his national origin. The color of crime in the United States is Black. Whites have no special, racial epithets for persons from the Caribbean. For some crazy reason, we divide ourselves. This is consistent with Blacks financing our own oppression.
Michael Griffith’s mother and his brother insisted that I represent the family including Cedric Sandiford. I balked. I was just recovering from a criminal prosecution for my involvement in searching for the truth in the death of Michael Stewart. They believed that no other lawyer existed in New York who would go nose-to-nose and toe-to-toe with white supremacists.
My hesitation for getting involved in Howard Beach was financial. While I was being prosecuted in 1984 and 1985 by Robert Morgenthau, no client would touch me with a ten foot pole and there was no defense fund even though there was always a huge court turnout. Physical presence is important but it does not pay bills.
Fortunately, I saw Michael Griffith’s family as victims of racial oppression and sharing a common thread with all other persons of African ancestry. Whites on the other hand, view all of us as perpetrators. It is only Blacks who get lured into discussing our plight in terms of race and class.
We need an African radio station in New York to keep all of us focused. In this country, we share common problem despite our places of birth or the places of birth of our parents. Amadou Diallo was born in Africa. Patrick Dorismond was from Haiti. Countless victims of racial violence and their parents were born in the United States. Race is the common factor.
I was involved in relief efforts to Haiti and to Princeville, NC. This was before I was barred from radio for helping my people. Recently, a dear sister of mine called me about spearheading a relief effort to Alabama as well as Mississippi and Louisiana. I had to decline the invitation. A relief effort requires access to the media.
Black leaders stayed out of the Deep South until after Bush 43 made his cameo appearance. When they finally arrived to boost television ratings, their hands were empty even though some, like Rev. Al Sharpton and Rev. Jesse L. Jackson had weekly radio programs. These programs could have been used to solicit basic necessities for our impoverished sisters and brothers.
Residents from Perry County, Kentucky, in coal mining country, sent three tractor trailers full of supplies after gaining access to a one hour program on a radio station in the county. The supplies arrived this past Saturday, September 3, from a small and impoverished county. We live in the largest metropolitan area in the United States.
As of this past Tuesday, no trucks had arrived in any state in the Deep South from the tri-state area inhabited by more than four million persons of African ancestry. I heard no radio-sponsored, solicitations this past Sunday on radio. Kiss-FM announced that it would unveil a future relief effort after Jeff Foxx went off and returned from a vacation. These radio hosts are buffers.
If our sisters and brothers in the Deep South had to rely on Blacks in the tri-state area, they would all be dead by now. It really is an example of self-centered, Black leadership which is more concerned about endorsing white candidates for political office rather than helping man-made, hurricane victims who, through their civil rights activities in the 1960s, made it possible for these leaders to be in political office in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. For example, Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin is from Baton Rouge.
In a time when there is a War on Blacks, our access to radio stations is a must. First, the rules of the FCC note that distinctive communities are entitled access to the public airwaves. These rules are being honored in the breach in the tri-state area. Whether it is the African drum or radio microphones, communications is a survival tool.
The New Orleans Police Department admitted that its own lack of access to communications contributed to the loss of life and limb. There will be more acts of terrorism and man-made disasters. When they hit close to home, there will be an unnecessary loss of life for lack of communications.
posted by Attorney Alton Maddox at 9:49 AM
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