The other day, “The Wall of Shame” came down.
There was no media coverage, no mass gathering in some foreign country.
This happened right here at The Virginian-Pilot.
“The Wall of Shame” is the name my assistant, Deborah Alexander Marshall, gave to the bulletin board just outside my office. Even visitors and Pilot staffers seeing the board for the first time would often comment, “This is a wall of shame.”
And with good reason: The board is littered with trash and garbage in the form of correspondence from readers. Many of them are obvious racists, judging from the nature of their submissions.
An example: Someone clipped out The Pilot front page photos of the victims of the Cole tragedy and drew heavy black X’s across the faces of all the minority victims. The white Cole victims were labeled “Nine Real Americans.”
An example: Remember the wonderful story last fall by staff writer Louis Hansen about Aurora Scott, the young black track star? Well, a reader who frequently sends us diatribes chastised The Pilot (“your afrophile rag”) for devoting space to “this little black afro.”
An example: Someone scribbled “Monument to a Monster” on a Pilot photo of Norfolk’s Martin Luther King Jr. monument, adding this wish: “May a thousand rodents rain their dirt on it.”
And that’s the mild stuff. Much of what I get couldn’t be printed in a newspaper.
Clearly, there’s a lot of hate out there, racially motivated and otherwise.
I have maintained “The Wall of Shame” partly as a reminder that King’s dream of one nation is far from a reality, and partly, I must confess, to show fellow staffers what the public editor must endure on a regular basis.
But the nation’s recent celebration of Martin Luther King Day, with the multiplicity of calls for forgiveness, tolerance and racial accord, prompted me to remove the bile from my bulletin board.
I know it’ll keep coming. Already, “a concerned citizen” has mailed me a bumper sticker: “Earth’s Most Endangered Species: THE WHITE RACE Help preserve it.”
In days gone by, some of the correspondents of this ilk might have roughed up Freedom Riders or thrown rocks at picket-carrying civil rights demonstrators. Or worse, they may have taken part in lynchings.
Today, they channel their pent-up rage into the pen, typewriter, computer and telephone.
Each time I receive one of these submissions, I think: “What a waste.”
I wonder how the person could have better used his or her time connecting with the newspaper. Specifically, I wonder if the person perhaps knows of someone making a worthwhile contribution to the community — someone we might wish to profile because they work for community betterment.
The newspaper’s annual AfricanAmericanToday supplement, which will be published Thursday, attempts to do just that — shine a spotlight on do-gooders.
This year’s edition features 20 African Americans under age 30 who are “setting a proud example of leadership for the future,” to quote the promotional ads.
There will be, for instance, a feature on Benny Lee Harris Lumpkins Jr., an Old Dominion University student who is directing a stage play at the Chrysler Museum, and one on Mary Franklin, a former public housing resident who is now a teacher’s assistant and whose work with “at-risk” students has won praise. And many more.
If history repeats itself, I’ll hear from some irate readers the morning of the publication for AfricanAmericanToday. They’ll accuse us of pitting blacks against whites, promoting a black agenda, having liberal bias, etc. They’ll accuse us of failing to spotlight white accomplishments. I’ll tell them we do that every day and some readers will understand; others will slam down their phone.
If you’re tempted to exhibit such behavior, let me make a suggestion: Rather than berate us, tell us about a story we’re missing, preferably a positive one. Maybe you know someone who has really turned his or her life around and is now making a significant contribution to Hampton Roads. Think of persons in your church or school or organization who are achieving and tell us about them.
All your calls won’t result in stories. But some might, if not in the main paper, at least in our city tabloids.
Believe me, this will be a far better use of your time and energy. And I’ll have fewer potential blocks for “The Wall of Shame.”
