THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 4, 1995 TAG: 9506030002
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: LYNN FEIGENBAUM
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
Cornell Fuller of Virginia Beach is a retired U.S. Army colonel. And he was genuinely disturbed Monday when he picked up his newspaper and saw the front-page ``Memorial Day tribute.''
It featured photos of five Vietnam War veterans, all of them white.
``As a black veteran, I take umbrage at an article that paints me out of the picture,'' said Fuller, who served two tours in Vietnam and can't forget that casualties there among black soldiers were high.
``We're asked, why do you always want to discuss Black History Month? This is the reason. If we leave it to other people, we won't be included in history.''
More than a dozen readers, black and white, had similar complaints about the article. Rather, I should say they objected to its being the sole Memorial Day tribute that day.
They didn't object to the story itself, a fine piece. It was one man's moving memories of his Pennsylvania classmates who died or were injured in the Vietnam conflict.
``It was a very nice, thoughtful, searching article,'' said Harriet Schley of Norfolk. But, she added, ``I was very upset when I saw that row of white faces. I'm white myself but I've lived here 15 years and I think your paper has a long way to go on sensitivity to racial issues.''
Minnetta Jones of Chesapeake recalled that, two days earlier, the newspaper had run a photo of two black children placing flags on veterans' graves at Hampton National Cemetery. But with Monday's front page, she said, ``you're telling these children that there are no black veterans.
``That really hurt. Does the paper just not care?''
Vietnam memories are significant to Candace Morgan of Suffolk; she lost many friends to the war, including one still missing. Morgan thought the newspaper should have focused on local people, not a group from Pennsylvania.
``I look at these faces here and I say, goodness, they're all from the '60s but I don't recognize any of them and can't relate to them,'' said Morgan.
Actually, the story that ran on Monday was not originally intended for A1. I'm told it began as a part of a Commentary-section package and got bounced for lack of space.
Not bad, getting bounced to the front page. I think it was a commendable idea to remember lesser-known veterans, the guys next door whose sacrifices may be forgotten over the decades.
But if the guys next door are all white, and that happens, it's our responsibility to offer some balance. Memorial Day, as our readers shouldn't have to remind us, honors veterans of all races.
MISSING PORTSMOUTH STORIES. Peg Moring of Portsmouth wondered why there was nothing in the paper last weekend about the Seawall Art Show.
``On Sunday, you had a whole page, `Let the Festivals Begin,' on Smithfield, the Pungo Strawberry Festival and Afr'am Fest, but not a word about Seawall,'' said Moring.
And not a word, either, about an Air Force band that performed that Friday night at Willett Hall - a concert sponsored by this newspaper. (The auditorium was packed anyway.)
``Sometimes here in Portsmouth we have many nice things,'' she added, ``and we don't feel we get much attention.'' Well, she was right in this case.
Also not in the paper last weekend, and noticed by readers, was the religion page - Betsy Wright's column and the church calendar. Lack of space was the problem, though some callers probably would have found something more secular to leave out.
A REAL NO-NO. Boy, did we get a scolding Friday from readers. They were underwhelmed by a caption on the MetroNews front that said, ``Traffic flowed through the toll plazas Thursday morning without no backups.''
Quipped one caller: ``Is that good news or bad news?''
Bad news, if you're a grammarian.
THE OMBUDSHREW. And, on a final note, several callers let us know that, contrary to our story Tuesday, the Dismal Swamp shrew is not a threatened rodent but a threatened insectivore.
Indeed, my dictionary describes the shrew as ``any of a number of small, slender, mouselike insectivore mammals with soft fur and a long, pointed snout.''
It also defines shrew as a ``scolding, evil-tempered woman.'' Just what a public editor feels like after a long day of pointing out errors and omissions. . .
MEMO: Call the public editor at 446-2475, or send a computer message to
lynn(AT)infi.net.
by CNB