R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Before I launch into this opinion piece, I should explain that I don’t have cable.

Not that I think anyone is surprised by that. I’m a college student and a fledgling journalist, which makes me double-broke. It’s an occupational hazard. As one of the side effects of my limited TV options, I think I’ve been consuming a slightly healthier media diet. (I’m on track to lose more than15 intellectual pounds by September. My brain can fit into those jeans from high school again!)

But there are also downsides. I now realize too much of what I consume has been print and web, and too much of it has leaned to the left side of the political spectrum. It wasn’t until after the presidential primary season ended that I realized I hadn’t kept track of what was going on at CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC. So hopefully you’ll understand that this really hadn’t come to my attention until after the primaries were decided. I’m pretty sure this isn’t a case of paternalistic gender roles leading me to view a woman more positively when she loses, as Gloria Steinam discusses here. At least, I’m pretty sure…

Anyway, the nominees had already been decided for both parties when I came across this video montage from the Women’s Media Center by way of Judith Miller’s New York Times blog.

(By the way, Miller had some pretty pointed comments about the recent film, "Sex and the City." I personally haven't seen it and don't have an opinion on it, so anybody that's angry about that can forward responses to her. I'm steering clear of that battle.)

I’d seen some disturbing instances of chauvinism passing for journalism here and there, but nothing like this. I’m far from an apologist for Hillary Clinton, but this clearly demonstrated how blatant sexism had been masquerading as political commentary lately.

“…nutcracker…”

“…looking haggard…”

“…you’re a knockout…”

“…nagging wives…”

My nonviolent, even-keeled nature gave way to disbelief and anger. I really wanted to punch Chris Matthews in the throat. And nothing says “good old boys’ club” quite like Mike Barnicle’s comment about Hillary “looking like everyone’s first wife standing outside a probate court.” Of course, Barnicle… “everyone” has a “first wife.” Though I can’t imagine why anyone would want to leave someone like him or Marc “men-are-allowing-women-to-take-over-the-world” Rudov …

How is it that serious media voices can get away with language like this without loud, public rebukes from journalists? If journalists are upset, I haven’t heard much about it.

In addition to outrageously flouting basic standards of respect or fairness, I see this stuff as a direct assault on all our mothers, sisters, classmates, significant others, coworkers and teachers. That makes it this African American male’s business. Injustice anywhere is threat to justice everywhere. Guys that care about feminism like me aren’t exactly being altruistic.

Something should be done about all this unseemly and socially irresponsible language. But students that beg for every freelance job they can get and watch the Daily Show on the internet usually don’t get to make decisions about stuff like that.

~Geoffrey Dobbins
UCABJ, Vice President

A Letter from a Lakota Parent

The following is an excerpt from a letter a friend of mine, Robert Wilson, sent me about his own experiences with Lakota schools that he sent to The Cincinnati Enquirer. His eldest daughter attended Lakota West and he has two young children that will start attending Lakota schools in the near future.

He asked that I post what he had to say on the blog. I want to stress that these are his thoughts and observations, not those of UCABJ. But his letter does provide a fresh perspective on a story I wrote for Cincinnati Magazine’s June issue (link here for your convenience).

~Geoffrey Dobbins
Vice President, UCABJ

Dear Editor,

My daughter recently graduated from Lakota West High school. When my daughter first started attending Lakota West, her peers treated her like any other student.

During her junior year she became more interested in her Choctaw background. It was then that my daughter’s problems at school began. She started to hear racially insensitive remarks from other students and sometimes even faculty. Classmates called her “fake” for wanting to learn about her ancestry and said she was “obviously white.” They said she should stop acting like she was “something she is not.”

She was active in what Lakota calls its Multicultural Enhancement Club, but I found the group to be unorganized and lacked leaders with experience in cultural diversity issues. Most of the group’s members were African American students, which led me to believe that interest in learning about other ethnic groups was lacking among much of the West Chester community. This disturbed me a great deal.

My daughter is at a point in her life where she is very curious about her roots. Her European roots, her Choctaw roots, and who knows what other bloodlines she may learn about in the future. I think it is healthy for her to learn more about these things. When people say she is being “fake” for wanting to experience these aspects of her ancestry, their comments tell me that parents, teachers, and the board of education at Lakota are failing these children.

Academically, Lakota may score high marks within the state, but if you turn these children loose in a workforce that is becoming more and more diverse everyday, they are going to have some big problems.

As concerned parents, my father and I questioned administrators of the school about the situation. My daughter wanted to wear traditional Choctaw dress to school to celebrate American Indian month. A number of her classmates told her “it isn't Halloween” and said she should take off the costume. These comments made by those students hurt her feelings so severely she came home crying. I asked her if she discussed the issue with counselors, teachers or principals. She said she had spoken with administrators at the school and that they weren’t very helpful.

My father plays an active role in the North American Indian Council of Greater Cincinnati and my daughter asked the chairperson of the council – Jean Marie Brightfire Stophlette – if she would be interested in speaking at one of the school’s multicultural events. Jean, being the warm-hearted and ambitious person she is, said yes. When Jean visited the school, she privately spoke with administrators about the concerns my father and I had discussed. Jean supplies cultural diversity training for companies all over the country. One of her more well-known rolls has been cultural diversity trainer at Procter & Gamble.

She offered to help the school address its issues. She also proposed an assembly that would aid teachers and students in being less judgmental towards people that are different from themselves. Jean was not happy about their response.

The generalizations and the bigotry are rampant at that school and it is not subtle. It is out in the open where kids and teachers alike hear it every day and do nothing about it. To them it's just kids being kids.

Unfortunately, this is not a perfect world and we will all be subjected to people who either don't know any better and were raised to believe they are privileged because of the color of their skin. These types of things make me cringe but we should not have to put up with these incidences in our schools. We send our children to school to learn, not to resent one another.

There needs to be strict guidelines put in place just like there are in the workforce for such behavior. There needs to be cultural diversity training within the schools. And YES, I DO agree with the NAACP about getting the justice department involved.

When there is an act of discrimination against a company by either an employee or customer, the justice department steps in and either imposes a fine, or strict guidelines which include training employees and managers on not only how to accept different cultures but how to deal with people who don't accept differences very well.

When subjected to any type of discrimination by customers in my area of work, we were not only trained to ask the customer to leave, we were EXPECTED to do it. I would do this regardless of company policy anyway because it is a moral and ethical response. It is also the law. When the staff at Lakota fails to confront problems like these, in a way they convey that they condone the behavior. That is not acceptable by any standard.

Thank you for reading and understanding a very important issue that needs addressed.

Robert Wilson

Lakota Parent

Inappropriate Use of Slang

What happens when media organizations use slang? This (Fox Calls Michelle Obama's "Baby Mama") and this ("In Memphis, somebody ought to fetch one of those low-hanging, welt-raising switches, because Joe B. Scott is fixing to be a ballplayer again.") The second instance isn't as severe as the first, but it's tacky nonetheless.

2008-2009 Executive Board Announced

Alicia Gaynor is the 2008-2009 president of the University of Cincinnati Association of Black Journalists, a collegiate affiliate of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ). Alicia transferred to UC in fall 2007 from Florida A&M University and promptly joined both UCABJ and the UC chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. During the 2007-2008 school year, she was the UCABJ's secretary and UC SPJ's treasurer. The Kingston, Jamaica native spent the 2008 spring quarter as a deejay for Bearcast, UC's student-run radio station, and is working toward a journalism degree with hopes of becoming a news anchor. She's currently interning at CinWeekly's new online entertainment guide, metromix.com, which launches in mid-September.


Geoffrey Dobbins is the vice president of the University of Cincinnati Association of Black Journalists and a senior journalism major at UC. Dobbins won two scholarships at Wright State University in Dayton, studying mechanical engineering there for several years. His frustration with the cold metal and wheels of that field and the interest he always had in writing eventually caused him to change majors and schools in January 2007. Geoffrey's developing skills as a writer helped him win an English Composition Prize from the university’s Department of English & Comparative Literature in spring 2007. In the fall, he interned with Cincinnati Magazine as a fact checker and a Web content writer. He has also interned with The Cincinnati Herald, the city's African American newspaper and his stories have appeared in the campus newspaper, The News Record. Geoffrey is pursuing a career in print media, where his passion for truth-telling and social justice will serve him well.


Sophomore Zulekha Pitts is the secretary of the University of Cincinnati Association of Black Journalists. She's currently interning at CinWeekly's new online entertainment guide, metromix.com, which launches in mid-September.


Junior Armond Prude is the treasurer of the University of Cincinnati Association of Black Journalists. He's currently interning at CinWeekly's new online entertainment guide, metromix.com, which launches in mid-September.