Revolution Televised.pdf

214 Notes to Conclusion
7. See Omi and Winant’s Racial Formation in the United States for
more details on the Reagan presidency and its effects on racial policy in
the United States.
8. Sut Jhally and Justin Lewis, Enlightened Racism: The Cosby Show,
Audiences, and the Myth of the American Dream, 132, 135–36.
9. One need only take a cursory glance at any of the many newsmagazines
in the late 1990s to see the number of articles that reflected this
supposed concern. To mention just a few of the examples, the August 30,
1999, issue of Newsweek reports, “Who Needs a Fair Deal,” which covers
the Southeastern Legal Foundation challenge of Atlanta’s affirmative action
policies regarding government contracts. U.S. News and World Report
reported on July 19, 1999, that while campaigning George W. Bush would
not endorse Proposition 209, yet he “supports the spirit of no quotas, no
preferences.” The May 9, 1999, issue of the Washington Post featured an
article reporting on the public availability of the files of the Mississippi
Sovereignty Commission and, within that context, discussed Richard Barrett,
head of the Nationalist Movement in Mississippi. Barrett speaks out
against Martin Luther King Day: “The King Holiday is the only tribute
ever made officially to a hostage-taker, who ravaged our cities, debased
our morality and demanded surrender of our nationality as a nation and as
a people. It must be abolished, so that we will be one nation, indivisible.”
He also runs a web site that speaks out against blacks and other minorities
in the country in hopes of saving Mississippi. Many other magazines
have included articles that discussed the preferential treatment of minorities,
such as Mortimer Zuckerman’s “Piling on the Preferences.” Since the
Oklahoma bombings, others magazines have sought to understand the
growing militia movements and have actively discussed the white man’s
marginalized position in America as caused by minority groups. Articles
include: Joseph Shapiro, “Hitting before Hate Strikes”; “Mainstreaming
the Militia”; Peter Carlson, “A Call to Arms”; and Patricia King, “‘Vipers’
in the ’Burbs.”
10. Gray, Watching Race, 148.
11. Comment made at the Guy Hanks and Marvin Miller Screenwriting
Program, April 1998.
12. The National Public Radio program Talk of the Nation also noted
that in 1999 black cable viewership was estimated at 33 percent of the
audience and only 11 percent for the public networks. Talk of the Nation,
NPR, August 25, 1999.
13. For these results, see www.emmy.tv/awards/results.asp; and www
.emmys.org.
14. HBO’s web site contains descriptions of its made-for-television films
and upcoming productions: www.hbo.com. The Showtime series Soul Food,
which ended in 2004, was the only black-cast drama on television. Other
HBO films dealing with African American themes include: Rebound—the