Right-Wing Propaganda Machine is in High Gear
by George E. Curry
Editor-in-Chief, NNPA News Service
The Radical Right's propaganda machine is humming in high
gear. It has launched an all-out attack on U.S. Commission on
Civil Rights Chair Mary Frances Berry. Not only are some of
the attacks deeply personal, many of her attackers either
distort or conveniently omit her position on whether there is a
vacancy on the independent agency for George W. Bush to
appoint a Black conservative.
When DeWayne Wickham, a highly-respected columnist for ''USA Today'' and former
president of the National Association of Black Journalists, wrote a column that accurately
states Berry's position, he was accused of having a conflict of interest by a White
journalist who himself had a clear conflict of interest.
Let's begin with Berry. Resident conservative sage George F. Will, writing under the
Washington Post headline, ''The Uncivil Commissioner,'' accuses Berry of promoting
''racism-is-everywhere-and-explains-everything monomania.''
This is the same George Will who helped coach Ronald Reagan in 1980 for a debate with
Jimmy Carter. He then appeared on ''Nightline'' to praise Reagan's ''thoroughbred
performance.'' Will neglected to point out that he had helped train the ''thoroughbred.''
What galls the Right-wing is that Mary Frances Berry has one of the sharpest minds in
the nation, she uses her voice to champion the cause of the downtrodden and she
refuses to be bullied by the Far Right.
Astoundingly, Right-wing commentators who profess to favor free speech are trying to
silence progressive journalists for expressing their views.
Wickham, who has been my friend for more than 25 years and is a fellow panelist on
Black Entertainment Television's ''Lead Story,'' earned his own headline on the
conservative National Review's Web site: ''DeWayne's World.''
John J. Miller, the National Review's political reporter, wrote: ''Wickham is entitled to his
opinion, however obnoxious. But in defending Berry and her views, he ought to admit that
he once worked for her.''
First, Wickham has never tried to hide his past association with Mary Frances Berry. In
the first paragraph of his biography, which is available to anyone who logs on to the
USAToday Web site, is this sentence: ''From 1978 to 1980, Wickham took a sabbatical
from his journalism career and worked as a special assistant to Dr. Mary Frances Berry,
who ran federal education programs in the Carter administration before the creation of
the Department of Education.''
Second, that association was more than 20 years ago. If having worked for a
government official is a crime, even the statute of limitations would have expired by now.
Moreover, Wickham is a columnist and is paid to express his opinion. That's what he did
and he did it well.
If the issue is one of shuttling between government jobs and the media, Miller could cite
some much better and more recent examples.
Diane Sawyer of ABC-TV not only worked as a press aide to Richard Nixon, she
followed him to San Clemente, Calif. to help write his memoirs. David Gergen, a popular
talking head, served in high-level White House posts for the Reagan and Clinton
administrations. George Stephanopoulos was on the staff of House Minority Leader Dick
Gephardt and in the Clinton administration. Syndicated columnist and TV host Armstrong
Williams worked for Clarence Thomas at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Columnist and television personality Tony Snow was a speechwriter in the administration
of George W. Bush's father. Tim Russert, host of NBC's ''Meet the Press'' worked in the
late 1970s and early '80s for Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
Finally, Miller did not disclose to his readers that as recently as 1998 - just three years
ago - he was vice president of Linda Chavez's Center for Equal Opportunity, a Right-wing
think tank in Washington, D.C.
According to a report titled, ''The Assault on Affirmative Action: An Organized Challenge
to Racial and Gender Justice,'' published by the liberal Institute for Democracy Studies in
New York, the Center for Equal Opportunity ''operates primarily in the arena of public
opinion and political pressure.''
The report says, ''Chavez, former director of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
(1983-86), was one of the leaders of the Reagan administration's crusade to reverse the
government's position on civil rights programs such as school integration (mandatory
busing), affirmative action, bilingual education and pay equity.''
CHAVEZ, who was George W. Bush's initial choice for Secretary of Labor before she
was pressured to withdraw, is a long-time foe of Mary Frances Berry, dating from the
days Chavez was staff director of the commission.
As a syndicated columnist, Chavez has continued her attack on Berry. In a column
distributed on Dec. 11, she wrote: ''Mary Frances Berry, the chairman of the U.S.
Commission on Civil Rights, is a bully...her outrageous behavior in this incident is nothing
new.''
If someone wants to talk about people acting in a partisan manner or having a
conflict-of-interest, there are better examples than Mary Frances Berry and DeWayne
Wickham. In Miller's case, he could cite himself.
blackpressusa.com
George E. Curry, editor-in-chief of NNPA News Service and Black Press USA.com, is
former editor of Emerge: Black America's Newsmagazine. |
