Nonprofit Thursdays Report

We start this Nonprofit Thursday recalling the zest that Judge George W. White had for community and self-help. Obit writers, including us, noted his affability, but he was steadfast in his pursuits and possessed of a certain feistiness to boot. The time of his passing has poignancy reminiscent of  the natural passing of the seasons.

The judge’s proudest community achievement was undoubtedly the establishment of the Cleveland chapter of the United Black Fund. This weekend will witness not the judge’s funeral but also the retirement party of his longtime UBF colleague and friend, Ruby Terry, who served as both board chair and then chief executive officer for more than twenty years.

The bookend events perhaps form a springboard for the launch of UBF’s next phase, which will be led by its new president, Cecil Lipscomb. We had the chance to chat with Mr. Lipscomb for a few minutes when we stopped at UBF offices earlier this week. He is an impressive young man with a bold agenda for a vital agency in need of a shot in the arm.

Lipscomb was presented as a candidate to the UBF board through the efforts of Barbara Danforth, former YWCA Cleveland president and CEO who this year launched a new career as executive search consultant. She appears to be off to a great start!

Judge White charted an independent course as a politician. He would probably applaud the efforts of the Cuyahoga County Young Democrats in their sponsorship of a series of panel discussions addressing the issue of city, county, and regional  population decline.

Tonight’s panel discussion, “Media and Self-Esteem of the County”, is the second of an eleven part series. It will focus on the County’s image in the local and national media.  Tonight's panel will be moderated by radio personality Bijou Star [aka Kim Sadler] of Radio One Cleveland.  Panelists will be Kenny Crumpton and Angelica Campos (Fox 8) Colby "Colby Colb" Tyner of Radio-One, Felicia Haney of the Call and Post, and Rocky Robinson of Plain Dealer.

The series aims to provide in-depth and often surprising information regarding the state of Cuyahoga County through eleven topical discussions - each focusing on an aspect of life in the region. The program is intended to involve and elicit input from the public. 

The eleven panel discussions will culminate in the “Why Stay Conference” scheduled for September 2012. Emphasis is on ways regional government can retain the so-called Echo Generation, the 80 million tech-savvy Americans born between 1977 and 1997.

The panel discussion is free of charge and is open to the public.  No reservations are required, so head over after work to Loft Works in midtown [1667 E. 40^th street, Suite B1]Midtown from 6-8:30PM.

For more information, please contact Charmaine Pope, Co-chair, Why Stay Executive Committee, at 216.200.2761. 

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If you have been curious about the Occupy the Hood movement, you might want to head over to The Audacity of H.O.P.E. Foundation tomorrow. Topics being addressed include firsthand reports from homeowners victimized by fraudulent foreclosures, and how to fight back against them.

The program will start at 6PM at 11239 Superior Ave in the Glenville area just north of University Circle.

No charge, no reservations, all are welcome. Contact Natalie Fitten of Occupy the Hood Cleveland [216.383.4873] or Griot Y-Von

[audacityofhopefoundation@yahoo.com / 216.355.3374].

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The Cleveland Council of Black Colleges Alumni Association and the Metropolitan Cleveland Alliance of Black School Educators (Metro  CABSE) are sponsoring their annual Historically Black College & University College Fair.

The event will take place this Saturday from 8:30AM until 12:30PM on the main campus of The Word Church South MultiPlex in southeast Cleveland. Contact:

 Mary Rice [216.932.4639 • 216.570.1200 • meryldene@aol.com ]

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OPENINGS/OPPORTUNITIES

The Mahoning Youngstown Community Action Partnership is looking for an executive director.

The successful candidate will be responsible for the operations and management of the community action agency. The preferred candidate will have a master’s degree in nonprofit management or public administration, together with a minimum of five years experience in a nonprofit executive leadership position.

For more information contact The Prout Group  [1111 Superior Ave., Cleveland OH 44114 • 216-771-2260].

Send your Nonprofit Thursday info to:    nonprofits@cuyahoganews.net

Deadline for consideration is Fridays at 3pm.

• • •

Imus show was intentional assault on all black women*

America is once again wrestling with the fault lines of race, gender, class and free speech, courtesy of schlock jock Don Imus' stupidity, bigotry, and crassness.

Unless your unit has just returned from its third tour of duty in Iraq, you have surely heard the uproar over Imus' despicable remarks about members of Rutgers University's women's basketball team, which lost the NCAA Championship game here last week at Quicken Loans Arena. Imus made his remarks the next morning in a segment on his radio talk show where he and his producer discussed the Rutgers players.

In their exchange the two men referred to the young Rutgers women as looking "rough", being "hardcore ho's" and "wearing tattoos". It was an escalating conversation of ridicule that culminated in Imus' characterization of the women student athletes as "some nappy headed 'ho's".

Imus has a long track record of racist, sexist and ethnic crudity. His show once labeled tennis star Venus Williams an "animal" and he has routinely ridiculed and degraded people of color, especially women, as unattractive or otherwise "less than".

Imus first made only a brief and perfunctory half-apology on his show, but has shown increasing amounts of contrition in a vain attempt to keep pace with growing calls for his firing. The two-week suspensions imposed by his CBS radio network and its simulcast partner MSNBC have not ended calls for his dismissal.

Imus, who is 66, honed his insult-talk style here in Cleveland in 1970, where he developed both a large following and an assortment of critics who called for a boycott.

Holland Cooke, a news talk industry analyst with Cleveland-based McVay Media, recalls that in 1970, when Imus first left Cleveland, a newspaper headline blared "Garbagemouth Goes to Gotham".

Cooke, who says "there are half a dozen reasons why this guy ought to be fired", thinks the decision will ultimately be based on the money involved. "His employers are hoping that Americans' notoriously short attention spans will fade", he says. The highly profitable show has already taken a hit as several advertisers, including Procter & Gamble and Staples, have canceled.

Of all the issues ignited by Imus, race has been the easiest to discuss. Virtually everyone has denounced Imus for his racial and ethnic crudity but his denunciation of essentially all black women, especially those of richer hue, through his insult of the young Rutgers women, seems relatively glossed over.

This is no small matter, as it is symptomatic of the place accorded black women in American culture. It raises questions again about the effects of mostly male black rappers who routinely denigrate black women with language far worse than that employed by Imus. In fact, Imus himself, along with some of his more vocal supporters, claims that a double standard is being applied to his conduct.

(The extended nature of the rap industry makes it more difficult for civil rights advocates to target, but cable station BET might be a good place to start.)

Barbara Danforth, president and CEO of the Cleveland YWCA, condemns both the rappers and Imus. Her organization has the twin goals of eradicating racism and empowering women. Danforth and her daughter saw the Rutgers young women from courtside, and were enormously impressed with their poise, fortitude, and achievements.

Danforth says that she would have counseled the young women not to meet with Imus. "He does not deserve a meeting with the team." She would further advise the young scholar-athletes that "they have to stand up and be proud of who they are."

"Incredulous" that Imus received a mere two-week suspension, Danforth was also appalled to discover that Imus has the economic strength, built upon his following, to speak as he does. She sees him "standing on the racist, sexist foundation this country is built on".

Danforth agrees that "most folks go immediately to the racist nature" of Imus' remarks. This speaks, she says, "to the invisibility of gender-related issues in America. Most people don’t think there are gender issues in this country, that there is no glass ceiling anymore."

Danforth notes that "the meaning of a message can change depending on the messenger. Words are very hurtful, very powerful." She wishes that Imus had picked on somebody his own size, because black teens struggle against so many hurdles already."

But bullies are astute at picking their targets, and who is less powerful in America than young women of color? Where are their defenders?

When black men are as attuned to systemic attacks upon black women as women as they are to attacks upon themselves, attacks on all black people will diminish.

--
* originally published at Cleveland OH in The Eastside News, April 2007.