To Be or Not to Be a Talking Head
Nguyen, Tram
Books To Be or Not to Be a Talking Head Debating Race By Michael Eric Dyson Basic Civitas Books. 412 pages. $26. By Tram Nguyen Engaging in racial justice politics can be a lonely and...
...Michael Eric Dyson does all of the "don'ts" frequently and vociferously...
...His loving tribute to Marvin Gaye and soul music was touching, and the Katrina book was a fiery polemic at a time when most racial justice advocates were still trying to figure out what to do about the disaster...
...Politicos both right and left have disavowed the race lens, which is variously depicted as divisive, a distraction from economic inequality, or a poor excuse for personal irresponsibility...
...or Imus, confusing corporate lingo about diversity and cultural competence, and the resurgence of unabashed, "politically incorrect" enjoyment of racial stereotypes in everything from reality shows to campus ghetto parties...
...As someone who fights the battle of words and ideas on many of these issues, albeit on a much smaller scale, I found myself reading this book as an active participant, framing my own arguments in comparison to Dyson's or cheering him on for a pithy turn of phrase and a lightning-quick riposte...
...you stop beating them over the head with race guilt and start using an "opportunity frame" instead...
...Organizing, not to be confused with mobilizing, is ultimately what changes people's minds," wrote Deepak Bhargava and Jean Hardisty in a 2005 Nation article challenging progressives to stay focused on the grassroots...
...And that's the difference between listening to another talking head, and the powerful effect of witnessing people who are living with injustice stepping forward to speak out...
...At its worst, I think we risk debasing ourselves with attention-grabbing gimmicks...
...Whether it was Arianna Huffington, during her campaign for California governor, bum-rushing Arnold's photo op (some admired her chutzpah while others ridiculed it), or Katrina vanden Heuvel of The Nation telling a shocked Stephen Colbert that during the Bush years, "We never lost our head, while too much of the media gave head," the media star strategy has its pitfalls as well as benefits...
...But," she added, "I think I would have been much more affected if I had been able to hear directly from these people talking about what happened to them...
...Media stars may be necessary messengers to penetrate the airwaves in a market-driven, individualistic society, but getting a word in edgewise is not the same as sustained and thoughtful discussion...
...What ultimately forces change is human beings seeing fellow human beings act from a place of deep conviction...
...This collection showcases Dyson's rhetorical talent and the agility of his thinking, but more than that it provides an interesting cross section of the public discourse about some of the most important issues of our times...
...Despite his understandable desire to show range and reach, Dyson would benefit from being more discriminating about his appearances and interactions...
...You gain exposure that you might never have had to the huge audience watching comedy news or network TV, but is it only to be portrayed as a laughingstock or a loony...
...And no matter how eloquent, knowledgeable, or incisive the argument—and there are moments in this book when Dyson is brilliant, especially in dissecting the O. J. Simpson trial or crossing swords with Ward Connerly over affirmative action—Dyson is but one voice in the wilderness of punditry...
...So more and more energy goes toward prepping for, and grabbing hold of, those few minutes of air time in which to state your case...
...To argue that race still matters in a post-civil rights society afraid of more "polarization" is to swim against every current...
...Expert-driven advocacy and charismatic figures, they argued, were no substitute for building the broad-based consensus that leads to changes in attitudes and policies...
...In recent years especially, communications and media strategy have become all-important in the arsenal of social change...
...everyone is talking about framing and reframing the debate...
...And his willingness to debate the indefensible Ann Coulter and acknowledge her as someone he finds to be "a smart and worthy opponent," even including her recommendation on the book's back-flap, is a further misstep down the path of pundit self-promotion...
...she had never imagined so much suffering could be going on in immigrant communities...
...There's a fine line between using the limelight to contribute leadership on ideas as a public figure, and publicity for publicity's sake...
...Debating Race, one of his latest books, is a thick collection of Dyson's transcribed talk—in magazine interviews, on radio, TV, and town hall debates with friends and foes across the political spectrum...
...But neither prose effort struck me as an intellectual adventure, which is precisely what Debating Race delivers...
...Now don't get me wrong, I believe that media is important...
...Grassroots organizing by itself, we understand, is not enough...
...And that's just the race debate among political types...
...By Tram Nguyen Engaging in racial justice politics can be a lonely and frustrating enterprise in an era of colorblindness...
...Having read only two of his fourteen books (Mercy, Mercy Me: The Art, Loves, and Demons ofMarvin Gaye and Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katri-na and the Color of Disaster), I will nevertheless venture to say that I was not overly impressed with Dyson as a scholar or writer before embarking on this review...
...These encounters were often stimulating, even sometimes enlightening, but left me wondering how much I had changed anyone's mind...
...They won't be moved to do anything about it unless Tram Nguyen is the editor of Color-Lines magazine and the author of "We Are All Suspects Now: Untold Stories from Immigrant Communities After 9/11...
...That's what good debate does: It makes you sit up and pay attention, then stirs your mind to sharpen its own understanding...
...As he puts it, what he does "is adjunct to, not separate from, the action...
...It doesn't reach beyond the neighborhood or the community group...
...But Dyson has a point when he rejects the either/or of activism versus public advocacy...
...Everyone needs a communications consultant all of a sudden...
...At best, perhaps you get a moment to interject a widely resonant image or description that provides a little deeper insight about an issue...
...And I believe the pervasiveness of media and technology today creates new and different conditions for social change than thirty or even ten years ago...
...But not everyone has the skills or the personality to be an effective media star...
...A few years ago, political scientist Franklin Gilliam at the FrameWorks Institute argued that Americans know about the existence of disparities and inequalities along the color line, and they don't really care...
...While promoting my first book two years ago, about immigrants after 9/11, I hit the lecture circuit and plunged into the responsibility and the privilege of being portrayed as an "expert" on the topic in town halls, a few public television appearances, and radio shows around the country...
...The segment included from The View, for instance, where he's invited "in honor of Black History Month" and gets berated inanely by the hosts about why he doesn't like Condoleezza Rice, doesn't contribute anything in the way of substance or understanding other than the realization about how far we still have to go in the popular discourse about race...
...To even consider moving the discussion to a popular scale, you'd have to figure out how to navigate through a landscape littered with the controversial iconography of racial straw men like O.J...
...Whether because of those conditions, foundation-driven interest, or the example of rightwing think tanks, many progressive organizations have increasingly turned to a political strategy that puts more emphasis on the media star...
...Segregated public schools, affirmative action, immigration, the abandonment of the black underclass, the justice system, the war in Iraq, and the assault on civil liberties all make an appearance in the book's expansive list of topics...
...Organizing is about developing the skills, confidence, and practice among ordinary people to speak out in their own voice...
...That's what I often asked myself during my own brief stint as a talking head...
...During one of my talks at a university, a student in the audience thanked me for talking about the abuses of the detention system...
...Progressives have long bemoaned the marginal access we have to the airwaves and the resources to reach and win over wider audiences...
...His lonely position made me think about the potentials and pitfalls of this political communications strategy...
...Part of the problem for racial justice activists, apparently, is that people are sick to death of hearing about America's race problem...
...And don't talk about problems and disparities, heroic struggle, and socialized government programs...
...On a Colbert Report segment promoting Debating Race, Dyson broke down the meaning of white supremacy in less than thirty seconds, without departing from the banter and jokes of the show's format...
...I tend to agree with Bhargava and Hardisty: At the core, broad-based campaigns that allow the people affected to expose injustice and make demands in the public square can have the most impact on the debate...
...As a communications strategy, Gilliam recommended, talk about solutions and empowering people...
...It doesn't shape an understanding for millions...
...In the sum of these countless public appearances, what impact can be measured, what contribution can be found...
...Dyson is one of the few, if not the only, progressive pundits of color regularly making the rounds on Night-line and NPR, along with The O'Reilly Factor, The View, Real Time with Bill Maher, and The Colbert Report...
...This is where Dyson's oeuvre is most vulnerable...
...I got on the air with an FBI agent, with anti-immigrant callers, and once was close to having to debate a Minuteman (who, rather thankfully, didn't show up...
...Don't use a rhetorical tone...
Vol. 71 • September 2007 • No. 9
