Women in War - Andree "DeDee" de Jongh

Few citizens were more courageous, inventive and important to the World War II resistance effort than Countess Andree "DeDee" de Jongh member of the Belgian Resistance and organizer of the Comet Line. (picture above, 1941)

Kudos to the Magazine Section of the New York Times Website for yesterday's excellent story about Ms. de Jongh written by Sara Corbett. Too often the majority of war movies and historical documentaries or news serials produced throughout the 20th century tend to emphasize the roles of generals, admirals, captains and everyday soldiers immersed in the infinite particulars of the business of warfare.

For the most part the media has tended to portray war as man's business. Despite the wide range of critical roles woman of many nations have played in both World Wars, it's the men we tend to see on the wide screen or the television - too often the stories of people like Andree "DeDee" de Jongh sit quietly in the shadows of the spotlights of history.

In one form or another, intelligence, counter-insurgency, sabotage and guerrilla warfare have been a part of war since mankind first engaged in this unique endeavor.

Members of the resistance from various countries throughout the European theater of operations during World War II played essential roles in most if not all the major battles fought between the Allies and the Axis powers of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Vichy France and the Japanese Empire.

"DeDee" de Jongh, then a 24-year-old nurse helped to organize the Comet Line, a 600-mile long secret route of safe-houses, churches, dangerous railway trips and smugglers paths developed in cooperation with many citizens from Belgium, France, Spain and other countries to escort downed allied pilots, escaped POWS's and others to safety in Spain and England.

She risked her life to help those who fought to destroy the armies of the Third Reich and a madman who led a nation to murder millions to fulfill a warped vision of an "Aryan" society built on mythical ideals of racial superiority. She helped over 400 Allies escape to safety during the war, personally escorting 118 of them herself. Her father Paul de Jongh was betrayed by a traitor in the resistance movement and eventually executed by the Gestapo.

Ms. de Jongh herself was later betrayed and captured in a farmhouse as she was escorting allied men to safety. She was interrogated and tortured by the Gestapo who eventually let her go after she confessed to being the organizer of the Comet Line - they did not believe her.

Those who looked at her 100 pound frame and dismissed her as an 18 year-old school girl truly didn't understand the power of her character; you can't judge a book by it's cover - our vision and our choices and actions shape the reality we see.

Andree Eugenie Adrienne "DeDee" de Jongh's amazing life is proof positive of that, when she left this life back in October, 2007 she left the world and our collective culturegeist a better place.

If you want to learn more details about the Comet Line and the soldiers involved check out www.belgiumww2.info

Eggs & National Public Radio

Few things go better with a leisurely winter Sunday brunch than eggs and NPR radio.

Early this afternoon there was an excellent interview with Gene Roberts, former national editor for The New York Times and co-author of The Race Beat: The Press, The Civil Rights Struggle and the Awakening of America.

In this 2007 Pulitzer Prize-winning book (for history) he and co-author Hank Kilbanoff, a twenty-year veteran of The Philadelphia Inquirer, look back on their experiences as newspaper journalists at the forefront of the coverage of the Civil Rights movement in the 1950's and 1960's.

Jeanette McVicker wrote a really sharp review of the book on the H-Net Website. As she observes, this book is a timely release given the extent to which media is now so intertwined in the lives of so many people.

The media plays such a huge role in shaping the mass-perception of race and culture, our culturegiest, it is essential to examine how the media has and does cover events and stories that impact race and culture in today's world.

Books like this will help us in taking the next step in the journey towards an evolution of how we see ourselves in a world in which the mainstream still gives such tremendous importance to factors like skin color, religion, sex, economic status and country of origin.

Looking back on history and how we analyze our own coverage of the events that shape our lives is critical to our efforts to positively shape the future.

H-Net shows a list price of $30.00 but I just found a used copy of it on Amazon.com for $13.24 including shipping; once I get it and read it I'll check back in with my own review. To be sure I talk, but I also walk.

Decontstructing the Snitch

Bringing healing to our nation's collective culturegeist depends in part on the fair application of a judicial system that is efficient and thorough. The prosecution often turns to the testimony of witnesses in order to try and get to the truth, depending on which side you're on you might see such a witness as a here doing a civic duty or a snitch.

Someone considered a snitch isn't automatically someone of low or questionable character, like Dr. Jeffrey Wigand, pictured above left, the former tobacco executive who revealed secret information about tobacco production at Brown & Williamson that forever changed the way people look at cigarettes and the industry that manufactures them.

In some cases snitches are people of exceptional courage who risk everything for the sake of the truth.

The recent murder of veteran journalist Chauncey Bailey, 57 (pictured above right) by a 19 year-old gunman employed by Your Black Muslim Bakery, a Los Angeles organization linked to fraud, violence and a range of other crimes and the subject of an expose by Bailey. Other journalists, including Chris Thompson have accused Your Black Muslim Bakery of being a cult headed by the infamous Bey family.

But there's been a strange tendency in some African American communities to vilify any residents who cooperate with the police in the investigations of crimes committed in or around neighborhoods disproportionately affected by crime.

It stems in part from years of mistrust and fractured relationships between police and the communities they are sworn to serve and protect. Or sometimes it's merely a case of an organization striking back at those deemed to have challenged its authority or status by "snitching" against it.

Sadly, in the absence of sufficient accessible male role models, many young black kids from these communities often look to the example set by hip-hop and rap artists who often treat "snitches" with scorn and contempt in their music. In some cases it's like a neighborhood "code" of sorts; you don't rat out people from your 'hood to the police.

That's not confined to communities of color either, the same code applied to many immigrant neighborhoods in US cities before 1900.

On this morning's Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC radio, one of the guests was writer Ethan Brown, the author of a new book called Snitch: Informants, Cooperators and the Corruption of Justice

You can get it on Amazon.com for under 20 bucks. He examines some very interesting aspects of the snitch phenom, including the fact that thugs and criminals use it to intimidate witnesses so they can continue criminal activities in these communities.

A former NYPD LT called in to say narcotics officers have to use snitches to prosecute drug cases and emphasized that snitches must be registered with the police and monitored carefully; and they cannot have violent criminal histories.

I was the victim of an ID theft situation a few years ago by a man named Warren Evan Johnson, click this link to a 2005 press release by the New Jersey Attorney General's office. Johnson, 34 at the time, was part of a ring of people who bilked the the state of New Jersey's Unemployment Insurance program for almost $120,000.

Police from Middlesex County would not help me because Evan had agreed to testify on behalf of the state against the others involved in the unemployment indictment. The things he did to me and others who were victims of of his brazen ID theft violations were essentially shielded by the protective cloak of the snitch.

I knew Evan Johnson. As a person he was a compulsive liar, a ruthless thief and the type who would do just about anything if there were some way for him to get an angle or make a buck off of someone else's misfortune. Evan had no conscience whatsoever.

I can't indict the judicial system's use of snitches but I know Evan Johnson was a liar who would say anything prosecutors told him to say in order to save his own ass; that's the type of person the system needs in order to prosecute criminals?

Will Race Impact the NH Primary?

It's cold throughout much of the country but the Iowa and New Hampshire Caucuses are heating up. I've done my own informal poll of sorts, asking people how they feel about Barack Obama's race influencing voter's likelihood of voting for him for president.

For instance I asked a friend from Fishkill, New York. He's a 46 year old white guy who sells printers and other office technology to large government organizations. He's a registered Republican, travels frequently across the Northeast US and is totally disillusioned with the Bush Administration and the GOP, especially their entrance into and conduct of the war in Iraq.

He told me he's not intoxicated with with any one candidate, but that right now Obama seems to be delivering the message that makes the most sense to him. He said Obama's race wouldn't affect his decision to vote for him. Like many I've spoken with, they respect Hillary but don't trust her and definitely don't like her.

Tonight I watched an interesting political discussion on The News Hour on Channel Thirteen with some poll experts. One was from the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, if you get tired of the media pundits telling you what the polls are saying, go to the UNHSC Website, they've got some pretty interesting poll information in PDF if you want to look at the data in more detail.

"The Love of Liberty Brought Us Here"

The motto of the Republic of Liberia seems at odds with a nation wrestling to find ways to integrate thousands of child soldiers into mainstream society; children permanently scarred by decades of civil wars and regional conflicts with neighboring nations.


On December 14th New York Times reporter Ellen Barry wrote an article examining the incredible trans-Atlantic solution Staten Island resident Musu Sirleaf took to try and shield her teenage son Augustus Massalee from the violence, poverty and lack of economic opportunities available to young African-American males living in the isolated Park Hill section of Staten Island.

In a story that sheds light on the complexity and scope of both the damage inflicted upon and the hope created by the culturegeist, Barry looks at Ms. Sirleaf's controversial decision to send her own son back to live with her relatives in the same war-torn African nation she herself fled as a refugee.

My sister Lisa forwarded me the article and like many who read it my first question was how could a mother send her son back to live in an African country ravaged by a brutal civil war for over 14 years without telling him?

Ellen Barry's article contains some startling insights into the everyday realities of life for young boys of color born into communities like Park Hill. Is Ms. Sirleaf's choice typical?

Certainly not, in fact there are some who might find her decision extreme, even bordering on dangerous or draconian. But if it is tough love, it is a piercing snapshot - a sad testimony of just how serious the levels of violence, drug trafficking and gang violence have become in countless communities across America.

Think about it. Here's a West African nation founded before the Civil War and Emancipation took place in the United States.

Freed slaves from America were populating Liberia as early as 1822; determined to escape the government-enforced laws which kept millions of slaves of African descent in a state of indentured servitude.

Flash forward about 185 years - the violence in the streets of Park Hill, Staten Island, New York is so bad a working mother sends her teenage son to live in this West African nation gripped by civil war.

The same cycles born of greed, fear, violence and moral apathy that permitted the tolerance of an institution like slavery in the United States until Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the executive order known as the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862 - these cycles continue today, in areas of both Liberia and America.

The nation of Liberia was founded along the west coast of Africa by former slaves from the Caribbean and America with a government modeled after the US Constitution in 1847.

Liberia's troubled history is replete with examples of economic exploitation of human and natural resources and government overthrows; today the country's newly elected president, the first female African head of state in modern African history Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf faces a daunting task.

Has the nation simply written off communities like Park Hill?

We're sending US troops to defend democracy in foreign nation? Who's helping the residents of our nation's poorest urban communities enjoy the fruits of democracy?

If we're not careful the gap between socio-economic realities in this nation is going to become so great, we're going to find ourselves a nation that isn't one nation under God at all.

Dr. King - Spiritual Freestyling for Mahalia?

(Photo by Bob Adelman)

I got a spiritual chill tonight while I was watching the Tavist Smiley show on Channel Thirteen this evening and one of his guests was the noted photographer Bob Adelman.

The photographer talked with Tavist about some of the famous photographs he took during the Civil Rights struggle in the 1960's; many of them chronicled in a book called Mine Eyes Have Seen.

Like the photo (pictured left), which was taken by Adelman in Birmingham, Alabama in May of 1963.

It shows black protesters being hosed by members of the Birmingham Police.

Adelman worked with civil rights groups like the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) in an effort to use photography to document the struggle for justice and equality in the south.

One of his most interesting stories concerned the infamous black and white photo of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the famous address he gave in front of the Lincoln Monument in Washington, DC.

Photographer Bob Adelman

Adelman (pictured left) managed to inch his way forward through the massive crowds gathered on the Mall where he shot 3 rolls of film; the most famous photo shows Dr. King as he reaches the apex of the "I Have a Dream Speech".

According to Adelman, after King was at the podium for some time speaking, at about 12 minutes into the speech, he paused as the crowd applause swelled and a woman loudly urged Dr. King, "Tell 'Em about the dream Martin!"

The woman was none other than unparalleled gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, who later sang a stirring rendition of "How I Got Over" after King's speech.

Adelman says that in response to  Jackson's urging, Dr. King reached up and removed the sheets of paper with his speech written on them and put them into his pocket.

He then proceeded into the uplifting and hair-raising "I Have a Dream" portion of the speech which is recognized as the apex of the speech; none of it was scripted.

Something about the moment Adeleman described struck me as so profound, so powerful; so full of hope and healing.

I wondered to myself, had Dr. King shared this vision with Mahalia Jackson before the speech? Did he plan to share it with the crowd that day?

What a conversation that must have been. Words like that can only come from the deepest of spiritual places.

Did those words just spill out of his heart?

Watch the speech:

FCC Changes Could Impact Minority Ownership of Radio & Television Stations

Monitoring the way the media reports on issues related to race and culture is one of the main reasons I started this blog. With so many Americans logging on, tuning in, downloading, uploading and sharing content these days - the media plays a pivotal role in how our collective culturegeist, the very nature of our cultural and racial identity is shaped.

Last night I stayed up to watch some of the testimony of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Commissioners (Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate pictured above)as they were grilled on C-SPan in front of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee in preparation for a scheduled December 18th vote on proposed rule changes to the cross-ownership ban the commissioners argue Congress grants them the right to alter in light of the evolution of today's media environment.

Making it easier for large media organizations to own more media outlets isn't exactly looking to the interest of diversity of ownership in media and a number of people feel the FCC is rushing to vote on this before getting feedback from those who would be most impacted.

If you're not familiar with the FCC and what they do, take some time to get at least a cursory understanding of their role and oversight responsibilities. It's important that all Americans do.

Who was at the table testifying? FCC Chairman Kevin Martin; FCC Commissioners Michael Copps, Jonathan Adelstein and Robert McDowell; and Deborah Taylor Tate, FCC commissioner and chairman of the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service.

I watched the prepared statements delivered by Deborah Taylor Tate and and Robert McDowell. Both Republican Commissioners also got teary-eyed and nostalgic as they thanked outgoing US Senator Trent Lott for his years of service in a gush of emotion. My take was that they both spent an exceedingly long time waxing philosophic about how much media has changed, repeating themselves with lists of iPods, podcasts, digital cable, network television etc.

Each of us knows about the plethora of choices we all have in the way we consume media - my sense is they came off as trying to side-step the big issues. Essentially and I'm not an expert, the FCC is granted the authority to make adjustments in rules that govern who can own media outlets.

So if, for example there are too few companies controlling the majority of media outlets, the FCC can make it more difficult for a company to own newspapers, radio stations and television stations in the same city or market. But they can also do the opposite.

The FCC flat out refused to delay the vote scheduled for next week when Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) asked them to do so.

Many public advocate and media watchdog groups are concerned that relaxing the restrictions imposed by the FCC on companies wanting to own different media outlets in a given city, region or market is going to hurt the chances for companies primarily controlled or owned by minorities or women to bid for, or obtain licenses to operate television and radio stations in the US.

I'm not suggesting that Tribune or Fox doesn't have a right to own a variety of stations and cable channels, but there is also an inherent and compelling interest in making sure that there is some degree of diversity amongst the make up of the executives who own and control the companies that create and distribute the content that Americans access.

You can check out the videotaped testimony of the FCC Commissioners and the Q&A by the members of the Senate Committee on C-Span for yourself and form your own conclusion.

Ebony Magazine Axes 3 Top Executives

As a quick follow up to my post-Thanksgiving blog on Ebony Magazine's recent cover story on Michael Jackson, the following article published on the Folio Website on November 27th details an executive shake-up at the magazine in the wake of slumping ad revenue figures. The dip in ad sales at Ebony and Jet are being felt by magazine publishers all over the US but the magazine isn't helping itself by offering up 'puff pieces' like the Jackson article.

My criticism stems from a belief that Jackson has shaped the nation's culturegeist in innumerable ways through the impact of his music which changed MTV and paved the way for Hip Hop and rap music to become a part of the mainstream entertainment industry. Read below:

Three Top Execs Fired at Johnson Publishing
Ebony and Jet publisher looks to stem advertising slide.
By Jason Fell 11/27/2007

Three top-level executives were laid off Monday from the Johnson Publishing Company, publishers of Ebony and Jet magazines.

The departure of those executives--Jeff Burns, Ebony senior vice president and associate publisher; Ebony senior vice president and Midwest advertising director Dennis Boston; and Barbara Rudd, Ebony vice president and Western advertising director--was confirmed by the publisher.

On the heels of the layoffs, Nijole S. Yutkowitz was named vice president and group advertising director for Ebony and Jet. Yutkowitz formerly served as national advertising director for Jet.

"We've decided to merge our advertising leadership to be more cohesive, especially to meet the changing landscape of the advertising world," Johnson spokesperson Wendy Parks told FOLIO:, noting that she does not expect any additional layoffs. When asked about the circumstances surrounding the individual layoffs, Parks declined to comment.

Burns, who was reached by phone Tuesday evening, said he was "shocked" by his sudden termination, and indicated that the three layoffs may indeed be connected. He said the decision came down from president and CEO Linda Johnson Rice, daughter of company founder John H. Johnson.

"The company is restructuring and slimming down, and trying to run mean and lean," Burns said. "They're trying to turn around the slide in advertising, which has of course affected the entire advertising industry." Through September, Ebony was down 8.7 percent in ad revenue ($46.5 million) and 10.3 percent in ad pages, when compared to the same period last year, according to Publishers Information Bureau figures. Jet was down roughly six percent in both ad revenue and pages over the same period.

Burns said he had pioneered unconventional marketing campaigns during his tenure with Johnson, having helped create several signature event marketing programs including Ebony's annual Outstanding Women in Marketing and Communications awards and Ebony's annual Hollywood in Harlem film festival. "If you're in a period when you're trying to increase and hold on to sales, you want your strongest, most creative sales representative on board to do just that," said Burns.

Neither Boston nor Rudd could immediately be reached for comment.

Mental Issues Afflict Thousands of Children Displaced by Katrina

Years after the nation watched in horror as thousands of people of all races struggled to deal with the after-effects of the coastal flooding caused by Hurricane Katrina, the New York Times reported in Friday's paper that thousands of children who's families were uprooted and forced to move, are experiencing a range of mental and physical symptoms linked to the traumatic post-hurricane experiences.

From depression, behavioral changes, rashes and poor performance in school to suicide, the US Government's failure typified by FEMA's response in the day's immediately following the flooding is still claiming victims to this day.

A-Train Attack Camera Hound Identified

As the A-Train Attack gains momentum today's New York Post reports that the now notorious and shocking videotape was shot by 17-year old Kadejra Holmes of Harlem between the Rockaway Boulevard and Broadway Junction A-Train stops.

The young auteur learned her craft in TRUCE, (The Renaissance University for Community Education) which appears to be a city youth program that teaches filmmaking to Harlem kids.

The Post reports that efforts to confirm the authenticity of the film are currently underway.

A lot remains to be seen in this case, Holmes is due in court on December 11th after she was arrested on September 3rd along with another unidentified juvenile for an assault of a 24 year old woman on a J-Train.

Did she just happen to be there with her camera? Or was she involved? Was this staged?

Detective's MP3 Blunder Catches NYPD Red-Handed

I think the culturegeist is served by justice and fair enforcement of the laws. One of the most difficult issues about race in America relates to the glaring inequities in a legal system that disproportionately treats defendants of color differently.

Charges of excessive use of force or illegal tactics used by some members of the NYPD against black or Hispanic defendants in the arrest or interrogation phase are frequently dismissed as concocted accusations of racism. But tonight on the 11pm Channel 7 Eyewitness News broadcast an "Exclusive Report" aired about a bombshell revelation in a Bronx court.

An NYPD officer identified as Detective Christopher Perino has perjured himself in a court case after the defendant, Erik Crespo who was 17 at the time, revealed in court that he had an MP3 recording of the interrogation in which the detective clearly threatens to prevent the defendant from seeing a judge in an effort to coerce a confession about a gun apparently used in a shooting in an elevator on Christmas Day, 2005.

The recording was revealed by the defense only after Detective Perino testified falsely under oath that he had neither questioned the then-17 year-old alone repeatedly about the gun in question. Once the tape was revealed, the prosecution immediately tried to cut a deal with the defense according to defense attorney Mark DeMarco.

Details are hard to find online as I write this as the story doesn't appear to be on their 7 Online Website at the moment but I'm curious why Channel 7 presented it as an "Exclusive" as the story appeared in this morning's New York Post?

Maybe because the story is buried in an article on the bottom left-hand side of page 29 - an article about the plight of recently deceased hotel "Queen of Mean" Leona Helmsley's dog Trouble takes up 3/4 of page 19.

White Subway Passenger Beaten By Gang of Black Teenagers

I just finished watching a tape of a nasty blight on the country's culturegeist, I've blogged about people using video to capture racism on tape before, but for the first time since the truck driver Reginald Denney was pulled from the cab of his truck at an intersection in South Central during the LA riots and nearly beaten to death by a hysterical mob, the media is captivated with an image of an innocent white person being attacked by black people who appear to be out of control.

Once again, technology helps to lift up the proverbial rock and this time we are reminded that ignorant racist acts don't just happen to people of color.

By now the infamous video clip of an emotionally-charged group of, what appear to be, black teenagers on a New York City subway verbally accosting and then physically beating a lone white passenger is being seen on computer screens across the globe.

Among other Websites, TheSmokingGun.com has posted the video and generated an array of viscious, hate-filled commentary penned by intellectuals with charming screen names like "IH8Mexicans" (really...) who've unleashed a slew of racist commentary as a means to vent internalized prejudices and stereotypical generalizations.

But there are also some like me who are simply fed up. Someone on the SmokinGun.com observed correctly that if there was no videotape of the incident, and the guy had pulled out a gun and shot one or more of them - there would be a deafening outcry by some African-Americans and an obligatory press conference on the 6pm news by an indignant Al Sharpton.

Why don't I see more outrage from African-Americans like myself and others who are disgusted by what I see on the tape?

When someone like Bill Cosby or Jesse Jackson and other prominent African-American figures attempt to raise issues related to the public behavior of some young black girls and boys who are disproportionately products of economically disadvantaged urban areas, they're often attacked by members of the black community who accuse him of taking aim at an already maligned minority.

Chiding him (and others) for siding with the same people who see them as stereotypes; even less than human sometimes.

Too often African-Americans as a people shy away from the uncomfortable realities the extensive social problems produced by the institutionalized racism and prejudiced woven into the thread of this nation.

Some members of the black press ripped into Jesse Jackson some years ago when he confessed that he felt nervous walking the streets of Washington, DC alone at night when he saw large groups of young African-American males walking towards him.

Take a look at the video, when I watched it all I could think was; "What the hell is the matter with these kids?". Marginalized economically, products of a public education system that has failed them and apparently completely disconnected from the repercussions of their actions.

The only positive in this mess is that it was captured on tape and the footage is clear enough that the faces of some of them can be identified by the NYPD and MTA authorities; and the kids, as well as their parents will be identified. Until all Americans can have a constructive dialogue about incidents like this, it will continue to infect our collective culturegeist like a virus.