Media/arts column
By Ron Wynn

    Add the name of Teri Woods to the ever-growing list of 
African-American
writers who are steadily selling books despite being rejected and 
ignored by
the "mainstream." Woods first major seller True To The Game got
rejected by 12 major publishing houses. Undeterred, Woods decided to 
try
selling her own book the old-fashioned way, straight to the reader on 
the
streets. As detailed in the latest Savoy, Woods took her book to 
the
playgrounds, and throughout the neighborhoods of Harlem. Three years 
later,
Woods has become a millionaire and the owner of her own imprint 
publishing
firm. She's also been interviewed and profiled in such publications as
Newsweek. Besides having one of her books scheduled soon to 
become a
major movie, Woods is now helping other black writers. She's publishing
B-More Careful by Shannon Holmes and Kwame Teague's The 
Adventures
of Ghetto Sam: A Novel of 2.

    Although things aren't quite as bad as they used to be, it's still 
not
every day that an African-American artist, especially one with the 
profile
of Ruben Studdard, gets on the cover of Rolling Stone. The 
article by
Toure focuses on Studdard's current album of covers, traces his musical
influences and background (heavy doses of Donny Hathaway and 
contemporary
gospel), and even talks about his background as a former scholarship
football player at Alabama A&M before quitting to devote full attention 
to
his music. It is an interesting look at a vocalist that many people 
adore,
and others find completely derivative.

    Everyone with any concerns about justice have to be disheartened by
Amnesty International's latest findings about the death penalty. Their
report says that 200 African-Americans have been executed since 1977 
for
killing whites. During that same time TWELVE (12) whites have been 
executed
for killing blacks. This wide gap speaks to many things, among them 
racism,
the vast inequity in quality of representation available to blacks and
whites, and the reality that the death penalty in America has nothing 
to do
with crime and everything to do with politics. The lone crime 
specifically
cited in the Constitution as meriting the death penalty is treason. Yet 
when
Tailban collaborator John Walker Lindh was arrested in a situation 
where he
was directly aiding forces killing American soldiers, he was allowed to 
plea
bargain down and never faced any treason charges. You have to wonder if
Lindh had been a black man from a poor family whether the American
government would have been just as willing to overlook his activities.  
The
death penalty is inherently bogus anyhow because the notion of the 
state
killing someone to avenge crimes done to the state is ludicrous on its 
face.
But those who argue for it lose any and all credibility when they try 
to
claim politics and money don't influence the decision to seek the death
penalty in various cases.
    If the day ever comes when the death penalty is reserved only for 
the
most heinous of crimes, and gets uniformly and fairly enforced on any 
and
everyone regardless of race, creed, color, gender, religion or national
origin, then maybe its proponents will have a case. But until that day
comes, no one in America should be executed.

    Clark Johnson lit up the screen playing Detective Meldrick Lewis in 
the
acclaimed series Homicide: Life on the Street. He's directed 
several
other television shows, making an occasional guest appearance here and
there. But he's now front and center as the director of S.W.A.T.,
which opened as the top grossing film in the country its first week 
out.
Granted, S.W.A.T. is formula action-filler, tailored to ease 
A-list
stars Samuel L. Jackson, Colin Farrell, L.L. Cool J and others in and 
out of
sequences while providing enough car crashes, explosions and fireworks 
to
keep audiences riveted, or at least awake. But directors in Hollywood,
especially African-American ones, keep working only when their films 
click,
so it's good news for Johnson that S.W.A.T. got off to a good 
start.
Hopefully, it will lead to more work and better movies down the line.