What do you guys think of the comments Bryant Gumbel made at Howard's Commencement?

[Six_Three_Sigma]

Okay Sorors

Let's get this one going here. What's up with Bryant Gumbel (see his comments below). Are we as shallow as Bryant Gumbel appears to imply? What?

I personally am not seeking the so-called "ebony lifestyle" that he speaks about. I'm studying and working hard to support a lifestyle that I can be comfortable and happy with. (Of course that includes having a nice car and also wearing relatively nice clothes.)
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In today's (6/12/01) Chicago Sun-Times

"Much of the Negro community is buried under a blanket of history and circumstance," but nothing will change if "all you're going to seek is a superficial Ebony magazine view of life -- one that accentuates only your cars and your clothes." -- Bryant Gumbel, co-host of CBS' "The Early Show," to graduates of Howard University.

"We're glad that you found time to visit Black America, but we regret that you were not better informed. . . . We don't visit Black America, we live here." -- Linda Johnson Rice, president and COO of the company that publishes Ebony, in an angry letter to Gumbel that she later made
public.

"Ms. Rice's foolish letter has about as much merit as her stated desire to 'not bicker publicly.' Instead of complaining about the truth, maybe Ms. Rice should be more worried about the fact that everyone totally understood the reference I made and applauded it loudly." -- Gumbel, in a statement, according to the New York Times.

[The Original Ape]

I think bryant gumbel should comment on things he's more familiar with; like white people. I'm not a negative racist; but his track record don't exactly convey pride in black people. He's so lucky to have his job commentating; and his attempt to try to arouse applause of an audience he cares little for truly exposes his fake azz!

[ZetaAce]

I think Bryant Gumbel's comments are actually on point. No, he's not the best representation of African Americans, but have you read Ebony lately, it is EXTREMELY superficial. Most of their articles tend to be some version of "How to please your spouse" or "XYZ celebrity, their rise to fame and fortune."

How about an in depth article on saving for retirement, or about how world issues affect us as African Americans? When they do reference these topics (and similar topics) it's usually in a short article or a blurb on a page.

Not to put all the blame on Ebony either, they are reflecting what their audience wants. I agree with Frater Six_Three_Sigma I'm working to have a comfortable lifestylen not to impress the masses. Personally, Icancelled my subscription and got a subscription for the Wall Street Journal instead!

ZetaAce

[Chi_ZETABBW]

I detest Ebony. I only read it over my mom's house. They just recycle stories year after year. No depth to them. Jet is even worse. He was on point, but it just sounds funny coming from him.

[SableCherub]

he's on point...not what people want to hear...but, um, that's the presses duty...to inform and opinionate...and sometimes...put stuff all up in your face...whether you likes it or not...

[Six_Three_Sigma]

I can dig what you ALL are saying. I do think that Ebony is getting a little ridiculous with the content of the magazine. I mean, I know you have to write what the masses want to see, but give me a break. How many times can they write about the most eligible bachelor, the 100 most sexy men, etc. Somehow pages are decidicated to these things and we might get a blurb about breast cancer, AID's or god forbid, teenage pregnancy. They need to stop acting up and put stuff in the magazine that's useful for our community. I mean, for a single african american woman in our community, what is knowing that Deion Sanders (for example) is single going to do for her? Anyway, that's that.

As for Gumble, he needs to revaluate his own self. I really do not think that he can say too much about the black community given that has been rolling with the "others" for a second.

In case he had not noticed, we are doing just fine without the likes of him.


[This message has been edited by Six_Three_Sigma (edited June 13, 2001).]

[SoTrue1920]

As for Gumble, he needs to revaluate his own self. I really do not think that he can say too much about the black community given that has been rolling with the "others" for a second.

No disrespect meant Frat, but I've always found this point of view extremely interesting, especially when you consider that some of our finest scholars, most beloved entertainers, and other celebrities have in the past or are currently married to non-black people. Frederick Douglass' second wife was white. Alice Walker's first husband was a jewish man. Henry Louis Gates (world renowned scholar and head of Harvard's African & African American Studies program) is married to a white woman. Charles Barkley's wife is white. Kobe Bryant's wife is Latina. Even members of the Black Panther Party "talked black but slept white", but it didn't diminish their message at all.

Does it change your mind to know that Bryant Gumbel's yearly celebrity golf tournament is a fund-raiser for the United Negro College Fund, and to date has raised more than seven million dollars?

Maybe I have a vested interest in this because I'm an Af-Am scholar in training and I'm currently married to a non-black man, but to say that because someone married a person of another race that they've completely severed their ties to the African American community is specious at best.


[This message has been edited by SoTrue1920 (edited June 13, 2001).]

[Six_Three_Sigma]

Soror, no disrespect taken.

But you should peep the what I wrote. I never said anything about Bryant Gumbel (or any other person) marrying a person of another race and severing their ties to their own race. That was not the intention.

Contrary to that, I happen to know that Bryant Gumble was married for quite a long time to an african-american woman. What I did not know is that he married the white woman he left his wife for. (Is he in fact married to his former mistress?)

My contention about Mr Gumbel is that he has not been in the "trenches" with the masses for a long time. (Maybe that was his own choosing and maybe not.) Be that as it may, he does not know what lifestyles african-americans (as a whole) are seeking. All he knows is what is put out there by the media (a media he's a big part of I might add).

If he wants to know what lifestyles we are seeking he should just ask. He could have done that at Howard. I am sure that if he does this, he would find that most reasonable people are not out there seeking the Ebony lifestyle as he called it. He'd find that most people want to be comfortable, have nice things (which includes nice cars and clothes for some), and have a stable and happy household. If you think about it, these are things that he has (or at least had before he bounced on his wife).

As for the people that you mentioned who were married to white woman, I was aware of those facts. Furthermore, I was not aware of the amount of money Bryant Gumbel's foundation has supposedly raised for UNCF. I'll take your word on that one.

All of that withstanding, I still feel like Mr Gumbel needs to evaluate his life and the situations at hand, BEFORE he starts to make sweeping statements about what others do, can do or cannot do.

In any event, I don't hate on those who choose to marry outside of their race. You should marry who you love.

Anyway, I hope I have cleared up some of the confusion about my feelings on Bryant Gumbel and interracial marriages.

Bluuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-Phiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

[Eclipse]

I know this thread is not about the merits or (lack of) Bryant Gumbel's ability to speak for "us" but I must agree with SoTrue about Bryant being harshly judged sometimes. Not only does Bryant raise money for UNCF every year, but he frequently says that one of his proudest moments in TV was when the Today show went to Africa and broadcast live. Bryant had to really fight for this. The Today show was the first major network to broadcast live from Africa and it was primarily Bryant's doing.

For those of you who don't like Bryant can you share a little about your beef with him?

[Shelacious]

Devil's Advocate position:
As ZetaAce alluded to, I'm not clear on the target audience of Ebony. Maybe their articles are written with that audience in mind. If so, then maybe it is WE who yearn for something different who are remiss in looking for it in a magazine clearly not targeted to us. We wouldn't go to Cosmopolitan and be angry to see a million articles on clothing, make-up and sex, so why do we expect all black publications to provide to us the sustenance we require? I am not ashamed to say I read Ebony or Jet: for celebrity news and general fluff stuff, like like I read Jane, or even upon occasion, People . I read Fortune for business articles, Time (and used to read Emerge) for political and news views. I read Essence for beauty information. Heart and Soul and Muscle and Fitness for health and training info, and so on...

Maybe we should be angry at the BET media group that changed the format of the political magazine Emerge to another Upscale-esce fluff piece? That would be a legitimate complaint, as they changed formats yet expected the same target audience to support the publication anyway.

On Bryant...I will admit that the messenger needs to carry some level of credibility with his/her audience or the message may not be readily accepted. I have never noticed Bryant being particularly interested in discussing and debating the "Negro" experience as opposed to a Cornell West, a Henry Louis Gates, a Julienne Malveaux or even a Lawrence Otis Graham, so I would look at him with a jaundiced eye to hear him talk about the ills of the Negro race...simply because his "credentials" are unknown to me. Then again, he might impress and inspire me.

[SoTrue1920]

The one thing I have to give respect to Ebony on is consistency. Take a look at Ebony from back in the 40s and 50s and look at a copy today and you'll see that the magazine really hasn't changed that much. I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing, but it's a true thing.

Re: Comparing Bryant to Cornel West/Henry Louis Gates/Julianne Malveaux: I can see your point Soror Shelacious (and I even linked him with other scholars in a previous post) but Bryant is a journalist. He's not an editorial columnist like Malveaux (who is one of my sheroes), nor is he a public intellectual like Gates or West. His job is to present as unbiased a representation of the news as is possible in his profession. When he does his sports show, he's able to give a little more editorial commentary, but people expect that from sportscasters, not from their newscasters. However, he chose to editorialize at a private function, and that is within his right. I don't think he was overstepping the bounds of his profession in that capacity because he wasn't acting as Bryant Gumbel: Employee of CBS.

The Bryant Gumbel people see on CBS every morning is a completely different animal than the Bryant Gumbel people see in interviews. I'm no big fan of the man after how he treated his now ex-wife, but I have a lot of respect for him. If possible, try to get a copy of the Chris Rock Show episode with Bryant, or do a search in your local library on profile pieces he's done with magazines over the last couple of years. He has been a very, very outspoken critic of race and racism in the media, especially in light of how long it took him to convince the Today Show to do a series from Africa.

Here's a piece written by Jill Nelson (author of "Volunteer Slavery) about Gumbel and some of his feelings on race: http://www.usaweekend.com/97_issues/...nt_gumbel.html

[IotaNet]

To the Group -

SoTrue1920 is SO on-point with her latest post. I have been a "Bryant Watcher" for a very long time and he has been a very outspoken critic of racism in the appropriate forums.

A lot of Black people get hung up on the fact that Bryant speaks ultra-correct english and is fair complected. Bryant is one of the most high-profile Black journalists in history and the type of journalism he is paid to do demands this approach.

I have read many interviews with him over the years and just as in the one ST linked, he pulls very few punches. White people are very fond of calling him arrogant and I think we sometimes get pulled into that hype without doing our own research on the man.

While I was not particularly "down" with the way his marriage situation ended, "nobody knows what goes on behind closed doors" so I really can't comment on his personal life. Furthermore, a lot of Black people who don't like Bryant today, didn't like him BEFORE the deal with his marriage became public. (Would we like him any more if he had left to be with another sista?)

Be that as it may, we also need to deal with his message. He was totally correct in his assessment of Ebony Magazine. It is shallow and superficial at best. Then again, perhaps thats the product that the Johnson organization wants to publish.

Either way, I think we need to avoid getting hoodwinked into a "Blacker-than-thou" debate about Bryant. The man spoke the truth. The fact that some folks don't like him doesn't make his statements any less true.

------------------
IotaNet
Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc.
Alpha Eta Chapter, Spring, 1980

Kappa Kappa Psi Honorary Band Fraternity
Zeta Nu Chapter, Spring, 1979

[This message has been edited by IotaNet (edited June 26, 2001).]

[Shelacious]

Originally posted by SoTrue1920:

but Bryant is a journalist. He's not an editorial columnist like Malveaux (who is one of my sheroes), nor is he a public intellectual like Gates or West. His job is to present as unbiased a representation of the news as is possible in his profession. When he does his sports show, he's able to give a little more editorial commentary, but people expect that from sportscasters, not from their newscasters. However, he chose to editorialize at a private function, and that is within his right. I don't think he was overstepping the bounds of his profession in that capacity because he wasn't acting as Bryant Gumbel: Employee of CBS.

I agree with you completely Soror SoTrue1920! That's why I would call his commentary "unqualified" as provided in the initial email. I have no clue from where he gets his ideas. If I listened and he brought something to the table that was thought-provoking (not that I would necessarily agree with him...Ward Connerly is thought-provoking, yet I agree with very little of what he says) and had some basis in historical fact/foundation, I would listen to him. Clearly, the original quote was taken out of context, so he may have laid a sound foundation during his speech prior to the "Ebony" quote that supported his statement. That's why I can only argue the merits of the statement based upon what was presented above!


IotaNet: I have not been a "Bryant" watcher...that's why his opinions are unqualified to me, as would be Bernie Shaw's, Al Roker's and Ed Bradley's. Maybe I will now tune in more often when he airs his personal views, since it does seem he has a track record to given them in differing venues. I didn't have any clue about his marriage. I truly knew nothing about the man except that I'd heard that he and Greg Gumbel had treated their mother less than "motherly".

You are correct that there are some "black folks" that will not give you a hearing if you do not fit the prescribed notions of a "down brother/sister"--that is unfortunate and short-sighted. There are many "black folks" who bring interesting views to the table yet don't bring the requisite "look, background or pedigree" and as such their opinions are ignored or minimized in the community as a whole. This of course is the start of a second issue I won’t begin here.

[sistermoon]

Shelacious,
Your comment
"I truly knew nothing about the man except that I'd heard that he and Greg Gumbel had treated their mother less than "motherly".

rings true for me ... and thus my opinion has been formed, not shared. but if you treat your mother like dirt ... there is an issue ...

[littlegirlblue]

I agree about Ebony. Year after year they have the 100 Most Sexy Bachelors and 95% of them are not just everyday people. They are mostly doctors, lawyers, Presidents of a company. Not your everyday up-and-coming black man.

The 100 Most Influential Leaders is getting old year to year, but it is real lovely to see Soror Barbara West Carpernter's picture in there.