EverythingUnderground focus on media by Editor Ron Wynn

Jan 2007

Everything Underground on the media
By Ron Wynn

            John Ridley has distinguished himself for decades as a writer, producer and commentator. While the film Undercover Brother was wildly uneven, it also contained some clever and biting sections that celebrated African-American culture even as it was lampooning it. Heâ€™s done very procative and sharp radio essays for National Public Radio, hosted an engrossing, often heated film and arts discussion program on A&E and written some excellent books that merged the pulp fiction, detective and science fiction genres.
           But all Ridley's past accomplishments haven't insulated him for heavy criticism for a controversial essay he penned in the December issue of Esquire. Ridley titled it "The Manifesto of Ascendancy for the Modern American" Esquire didn't blot out the other letters in the slur) where he sharply criticized what he saw as an overemphasis among Blacks on such things as police brutality and perceived incidents of racism rather than focusing on building businesses and embracing those African-Americans who were now in high positions of influence within the political and business community. The two he singled out were Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice, and he cited their role in a 2001 resolution of a problem involving an American surveillance plane that had crashed in China. Ridley felt that instead of Blacks celebrating that moment as a landmark and source of cultural and racial pride, instead people were obsessed with a controversy in Cincinnati with police shootings that led to a riot. Ridley didn't mince words, saying among other things that it was time for those African-Americans who had â€ascended€ to leave behind those unwilling to advance. a€
           This essay not only triggered a wave of letters to the editor carried in the February issue now on sale, it led to calls by some observers for a boycott of businesses advertising in the magazine, plus widespread condemnation of Ridley as a turncoat, traitor and elitist. It's similar to, yet also quite different from the reaction generated by recent comments from Bill Cosby regarding the parental shortcomings of some African-Americans or Oprah Winfrey's denunciation of inner-city schools and the obsession with materialism among many young Blacks.
           Ridley's essay can be read online at esquire.com (he also wrote additional articles in the Los Angeles Times and Time magazine explaining his choice of the â€œNâ€ word). No one should attack him without reading it first, because then youâ€™re simply reacting in a vacuum without knowledge. Having read it a couple of times, thereâ€™s a very evident anger and resentment coming through in its tone and focus. As with any work that addresses complex problems in a broad manner, thereâ€™s both indisputable truth and extreme oversimplification in Ridley's essay. But he certainly had a right to present it, just as his critics have an equal right to respond in kind.
What will hopefully not happen here is the compromising of another project heâ€™d been working on in conjunction with Spike Lee, a film about the 1992 Los Angeles riots. I was very curious to see what these two would do with this event, and would hate for people to immediately dismiss it solely due to Ridley's involvement. Thereâ€™s also another issue here, the continued desire of some within our community to censor and silence any and everyone who dares utter a dissenting opinion on anything.
                        Frankly I disagree with most of Ridley's essay, and frequently myself in disagreement with other African-American writer/commentators/broadcasters whose views fall on the right-wing side of the spectrum. My own opinions would probably be derided by some as hopelessly naÃ¯ve and left-wing, a leftover relic of 60s optimism long since dashed by the realities of post-Civil War Republican domestic polices and the rise of justifiable cynicism and anger in the aftermath of broken promises and continued disinterest in the problems of everyone not earning a six-figure income.
But no community should ever quash discussion or dialogue. Itâ's great that African-American websites like Black News.com and Black America Web give space to such writers as Joseph Phillips, Dr. Earl Ofari Hutchinson and Gregory Kane because people need their comfort zones confronted, views challenged and perspectives expanded. My own positions on a host of issues from gun control to gay marriage, abortion rights to immigration frequently put me on the opposite end from all these people, but reading their views and either hearing or seeing them is instructive and inspiring because it forces me to consider other sides of difficult questions.
          The problems facing Black America are so vast that there is plenty of room for discussion, disagreement and alternatives regarding strategy and tactics. One need not agree with most, all, or any of John Ridley's commentary to realize it represents a well-written, thoughtful essay on very tough issues facing all of us. I don't agree with many of the conclusions reached, but I also don' think Ridley's work should be dismissed out-of-hand, and certainly shouldn't be ignored.

Ron Wynn is editor of Everything Underground