Protesters to BET, MTV: 'Enough is Enough'

On RiShawm Biddle's firing from the Indianapolis Star. This has stirred up a firestorm in comatose Indy. Here's what the editor of the Star had to say yesterday as part of his continuing Mea Culpa Tour:

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Dennis Ryerson
A message to our staff and to you

Here is the text of a message I sent to The Star's information center (news) staff Thursday:

"As you know, our job is to report and present news, not to commit news. This week we committed news in an unfortunate way.

"This morning I was asked to speak at a press conference called by leaders of Indianapolis' black community who demanded an apology for racially offensive words posted recently on our Expresso blog. I did apologize yesterday in a message posted on that blog.

"The offensive remarks have been removed. I also left messages of apology on two voice mail systems of Monroe Gray, the president of the City-County Council, one of the targets of the offensive words.

"A more public apology was requested. At the press conference, I delivered that apology.

"The words posted on our site were hurtful, offensive, insensitive and wholly unacceptable. They were hugely detrimental to our efforts to promote a civil and constructive community conversation.

"The Star is a community leader, and we surely must live by what we expect of others.

"Newspapers in most communities are referred to by readers with these words: 'Our newspaper.' You don't hear that reference to The Star in Indy's black communities. We must do better.

"We must redouble our efforts to ensure fair and balanced coverage.

"We must be an advocate for those who don't have advocates.

"We must ensure that when we write stories and profile leading contributors to community successes, we include all of our communities.

"We must be a leader in promoting thoughtful, smart, sensitive and civil discussions of critical issues, including issues of racism and bigotry.

"All of us have a role in this. Please think about what you can do, and if you've thoughts on specific ways we can improve, please let me know."

What were the words? I won't repeat the incendiary words here because I don't want to compound the hurt. We've also removed them from our Web site.

We posted a story about Thursday's news conference on IndyStar .com, and in our Friday print newspaper. You may find it at Indy Star.com/news.

The news conference was announced by the Democratic Party and led by state Rep. Bill Crawford. Mayor Bart Peterson spoke, as did other community leaders.
The individual who posted the remarks is no longer with the newspaper, leading some critics to conclude that The Star won't allow contrary points of view.

Nothing could be further from the truth. What we can't allow is divisive, blatant slurs that serve to inflame rather than enlighten.

Some people also have said we are walking away from stories about ethical issues involving Gray, the City-County Council president.

That also is not the case. Being civil does not mean we won't report the uncomfortable truth. Being constructive does not mean we will abandon our goal of holding public officials accountable for their actions.

Indianapolis, like all older and large cities, has numerous major issues that must be addressed: our schools, the safety of our neighborhoods, high property taxes, lack of opportunity for all of our people.

We can't address those issues in a climate of mistrust, hate and name-calling. The Star, of all institutions, can lead the way toward civility and tolerance. We want to be the center of community conversation, a designation we won't deserve if our own words promote the intolerance that all of us must work harder to prevent.
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As an avid blogger and commentor in the central Indiana threads, I'm astounded by this tactic on the part of the Indy Star. The online Talkback segment of the news organization is a trolls paradise with the most virtiolic fare to be found anywhere, mostly with race baiting and anti-black diatribes.

The Star recently had to begin censoring posts from readers after a hateful avalanche of posts saying that a Hispanic serviceman who lost his life in the war wasn't fit to mourn because of his national history. The family was so distraught that the Star attempted to scrub their online section of any hurtful posts on this matter, but since the posts were interconnected, it was only a token gesture.

The Black newspaper, the Recorder, makes no bones about their stance on the treatment of Blacks in the community: if they agree with you, you're fine; if they don't (or if you're a Republican), you're a Tom, lost, confused or much worse.

In a televised interchange, Recorder contributor and radio personality Amos Brown went toe to toe with Keyshia Cole in what had, up that point, been a very light interview session on a free concert being held in honor of Colts fans. He talked like she wasn't even there in his attempts to excoriate the Colts organization for not having Black performers. "Do you not see me sitting here?" she asked. Rather than backing off and living to attack another day, he got into it with her, and after she put him in check, he sat down to the rousing applause of those gathered ...for Ms. Cole.

I think what confused the Star was response to the article RiShawn posted in the context of other Black on Black media interchanges.

For the record, here's what RiShawn said that touched off the firestorm:

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"Then there's the embarrassing spectacle that is Monroe Gray, whose tenure as city-county council president is being marked by a lack of decorum during council sessions, the videos of himself on YouTube and responses to allegations of corruption that wouldn't be acceptable to a child who claimed his dog ate the homework. His act, more Zip Coon than honorable statesman, epitomizes the lack of seriousness some Black politicians show in their work; it's just inexcusable....

"If I hadn't seen this with my own eyes over the past three years, I would have thought they came straight out of 'Scrub Me Mama with a Boogie Beat.' I don't know any powerful Black people like that. Do I? Sadly, we do. Before our eyes stand men and women charged with serving the citizens of this city behaving badly, awfully, arrogantly, as if they didn't receive any home-training. They have been given power for which they could do plenty for the poor Black neighborhoods which they represent. But for them, their jobs offer them chances for self-enrichment, opportunities for petty foolishness and the possibilities of grandstanding on public access television so they can use their 'juice.'

"Meanwhile residents in Martindale-Brightwood fear for their lives, Haughville homeowners see the aluminum siding snatched off their houses and Mapleton-Fall Creek residents watch abandoned homes burn down. Those driving around Lafayette Square hit potholes; sewers continue to overflow on the Southside. Simply put, the very services they expect government to provide fall by the wayside.

"Even worse, the proverbial tap-dancing of Gray and Company is aided and abetted by folks who know better. They understand that many in this town fear the day that a Black man or woman will become mayor, scared that as soon as that happens, Indianapolis will finally be the New Detroit in all its squalor. These blatant, random acts of stupidity deserved to be called out. Those who know better, however, turn away and let the silliness go on."
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Now, I hate race baiting no matter who does it, but I can't help wondering if people in the democratic leadership were more concerned about the racial tone of the post...or the facts behind it.

Perhaps Farai, you could get RiShawm Biddle on your show and interview him. That would be one for the books. I'd pop popcorn and shut down my company entirely for that hour.

Sent by Lalita | 3:43 PM | 11-5-2007

I'm a huge advocate for improving black self-perception. However, the means these protesters are going about their frustration with MTV and BET is uncalled for. Why are they going to Debra Lee's (Head of BET) house? That's her private property. Even the Viacom President's apartment should be off-limits. Take the protest to the company's building; stand outside MTV and BET studios. Better yet, bombard the company's message boards until a change happens and maybe turn off BET and encourage their kids to read a book. But show some class when it comes to a person's residence.

To those protesters, maybe they could take a page from the TV show "Jericho" fans who sent thousands of pound of nuts as a message to CBS after canceling the critically-acclaimed show. That was original!

Sent by Moji | 6:13 PM | 11-5-2007

Social issues like this, I believe, have market solutions. Stop buying the product or replace it with another and see what happens. The internet should be a boon to us as we can now create our own radio and tv station, populated with our own content.

The problem isn't what they're selling: It's that it sells.

Sent by Lalita | 10:41 AM | 11-6-2007

I agree with Lalita that these social issues do have market solutions. Those at MTV and BET are making very lazy and lousy choices. These choices assume that there is no new market, nor enough demand to make a desirable profit. If BET were to host 2-3 hours of music videos with exclusively positive images, they could sponsor it with a host of organizations seeking to uniquely target the African-American audience, and find partners to broadcast it into schools, non-profit camps, community centers etc. I would also imagine that this type of venture would receive a lot of publicity , and the sponsors would be very open to taking on the advertising costs. But that is assuming that they are open to not being lazy.

Sent by Tam from Arlington | 1:07 PM | 11-7-2007