THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 7, 1997 TAG: 9702070531
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 62 lines
True or false:
1. Forty-five percent of U.S. newspapers don't have any nonwhite reporters.
2. Whites aged 18 to 25 are more likely to use crack cocaine than blacks in the same age group.
3. More young black men are in college than are in prison.
All three statements are true, CNN commentator Farai Chideya told Old Dominion University students Thursday in a speech aimed at puncturing myths about black America.
She spoke to 100 people at Webb Center as part of ODU's celebration of Black History Month.
Most newspapers don't have black reporters, she said, citing a study by the American Society of Newspaper Editors. Overall, Chideya said, only 5 percent of newspaper reporters and 2 percent of editors are black.
And that, she said, contributes to the nation's distorted images of African Americans as ``morally depraved and ahistorical.''
``If I based my knowledge of black people on the news media, I wouldn't want to live next to a black person, either,'' she said.
In terms of drug use, she said, government statistics show no correlation with race. However, she said, whites are more likely to take drugs when they're younger and blacks when they're older.
There are more than twice as many young black males in college than in prison, she said, again citing federal statistics. ``The overall majority of African Americans are proceeding toward a future of achievement.''
Sometimes, the myths are true, but the explanations have been blurred. Blacks, Chideya said, ``are significantly more likely (than whites) to commit crimes. I have no problem saying that. But I will tell you in the next sentence that crime correlates not with race, but with socioeconomics.''
Many of those myth-checks are in her book, ``Don't Believe the Hype.'' Chideya, a Baltimore native, was hired as a reporter by Newsweek magazine after she graduated from Harvard University. From Newsweek, she went to MTV and then, last February, to CNN.
She told the students to take an active role in fighting inequality. ``We're still in a situation where we can't expect to expend equal energy for equal rewards; we're not there yet,'' Chideya said. ``You can get depressed about that or you can deal with that. . . .
``Ask what your relationship is to equality. Are you walking around roadblocks or are you asking that they be removed?''
For example, she encouraged them to write letters to politicians in support of President Clinton's proposal for tax credits and deductions for college costs. ``If we have a situation where we encourage people, regardless of economic means, to get an education, that will do a lot to reshape inequality,'' she said.
And, she said, it's not enough to criticize the media. If you don't like what you read in the paper or see on TV, write letters. They will be read, she said, and they might encourage changes.
She was asked if the media was too soft on the government. ``What they are biased towards now is power,'' Chideya said. ``The news media has become entranced with supporting power, not with questioning power.'' ILLUSTRATION: HUY NGUYEN/The Virginian-Pilot
Farai Chideya, a CNN commentator, helped Old Dominion University
celebrate its Black History Month observance in a program on campus
Thursday.