Still, before the warm glow of retrospection fades entirely, it's worth taking note of one of the most interesting domestic stories that went largely unremarked upon in our annual summing up:
At the end of 2002, the secretary of State, the president's national security advisor, the CEO of the world's largest media company, the head of the world's biggest financial services firm, the CEO of the world's largest mortgage lender, the leader of American Express, as well as the globe's most recognized athlete and the finest actress and actor in the world, as selected by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, all had one thing in common:
Every single one is African American.
I have to wonder: Why must the media be antagonized for failing to celebrate the fact that two of the Bush administration's top advisors, who came into office in January of 2001, are black? Did the media somehow fail to comment on this fact when it was made public more than two years ago? And did the media really drop the ball in pointing out Halle Berry and Denzel Washington's remarkable achievements? As I recall, it was that the lead story on Oscar night, and for days afterward. (For what it's worth, I've seen that accomplishment prominently celebrated in year-end stories. Maybe Rutten should read more.) And I notice that Rutten ignores the overly fawning coverage that was given all year to Notre Dame football coach Tyrone Willingham, one of the few blacks to reach the pinnacle of college coaching success.
Stanley Crouch offers up some of his always-provocative ideas:
Writer and social critic Stanley Crouch thinks the success of people like Powell and Rice "hasn't been allowed to become part of the general national discussion because some people think stressing what they have accomplished gives a false impression of what has been going on in the United States." Focusing on individuals' achievements, Crouch said, "distracts people who are looking for distraction from the fact there has been no serious move by federal government to reduce the ongoing violence by street gangs that has killed 10,000 black people over the past decade. That level would not be tolerated if it had been perpetrated in the white community by the Aryan Resistance."
I think there certainly is a desire by many in what would be considered the "civil rights community" to downplay any good news from "black America." I'm reminded of a great quote from Jim Sleeper's memorable review of William McGowan's Coloring The News:
This country's vast race industry of activists, consultants, foundation officers, civil rights lawyers and government monitors enhances its funding, job lines and moral cachet by playing up bad racial news and discounting the good. Whatever his mistakes, McGowan is right to argue that journalists should be investigating the race industry, not working for it.
But there's another explanation. Perhaps we've become accustomed to these accomplishments, and no longer regard them as overwhelming news:
Martin Kaplan, director of USC's Norman Lear Center and associate dean of its Annenberg School of Communications, wondered whether "the media, like the country, hasn't come sufficiently far in the struggle for social justice that we are just less race sensitive. We didn't notice this landmark because what's been accomplished is more ordinary. We don't report these individuals' successes in a racial context for the same reasons we no longer routinely report the race of people accused of crimes -- because it's irrelevant."
I personally think that is the case.
