I Will stay in my lane

Lucius Gantt

The Gantt Report

By Lucius Gantt

Earlier this year, when the moving truck pulled out of my driveway in Tallahassee, Florida to take me home to Atlanta, I was smiling like a Black Cheshire cat.

Once back on the street in Atlanta, it seemed I was in an unknown territory. The city was nothing like I left it when I went to graduate school at The Washington Journalism Center.

I figured all I had to do upon my return was to contact my old employers at The Atlanta Journal, Cox Broadcasting Corporation or WSB-TV and find me a little media hustle to supplement my retirement income.

Not so fast my friends, it didn’t matter where I had worked or what professional experience I had. Today, Atlanta is not a “what you know” city, it is a “who you know” town.

No problem. I just picked myself up, dusted my professional ego off and proceeded to start my media career all over again.

The Black so-called power brokers in Atlanta, as in most urban communities, primarily love the professionals that the non -Blacks love.

The first time I picked up an Atlanta newspaper and turned to the editorial pages I saw a column written by Leonard Pitts, the same syndicated columnist whose column also appears in the Miami Herald.

I have to tell you, Pitts and Gantt once had differences of opinions that were highly publicized in major newspapers and other media outlets. Just Google Leonard Pitts and Lucius Gantt.

I love Leonard Pitts, DeWayne Wickham, Cynthia Tucker, William Raspberry and other Black opinion writers that have won or may have won journalism awards like “Pulitzer Prizes”. Opinion writers listed above are famous for writing for white newspapers and white readers.

Great Black writers like John Russwurm, Samuel Cornish, Ida Wells, Marvel Jackson Cooke, Mary Ann Shadd Cary and many others never won many similar awards because of their skin tones.

The Pulitzer Prize which is so coveted was started at Columbia University after Mr. Pulitzer left the school about $2,000,000 in his will.

The award recipients never tell you but Pulitzer was a hard core Republican, he was indicted for libel and some believe he was as biased as the current US President.

Anyway, some Black columnists will never ever be considered for any special recognition by conservative journalism award givers.

Don’t fret, in my opinion, the best Black writers don’t write for the newspapers and people that Columbia University likes, the best Black writers write for the people whether Columbia University likes and respects their writings or not!

Our community needs all kinds of different Black writers. We need liberal writers, conservative writers, radical writers and revolutionary writers.

The Gantt Report will stay in its lane. Like rappers rap about their experiences, I will continue to write about my experiences.

I write about love and happiness but I also write about exploitation, oppression, social degradation, hate, abuse and misuse.

I hope you enjoy The Gantt Report because the column will not change. The Gantt Report will always be a voice for the voiceless and continue to shine the light on the dark side of journalism and world societies.

I congratulate, respect and support the Black opinion columnists that feel they need to please the white newspaper owners that pay them.

White newspapers, like white political parties, will always believe they only need to hire someone with melanin. In other words, any Negro will do!

 

 

About Carma Henry 24481 Articles
Carma Lynn Henry Westside Gazette Newspaper 545 N.W. 7th Terrace, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33311 Office: (954) 525-1489 Fax: (954) 525-1861

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