The Army And The Air Force Want A Few Good Recruits

"...[W]e live with certain socio-economic realities in this country and for some people going into the military is a step up. I wouldn't subscribe to the military but for some people it's the only way out of the situation. We can't judge other people's decisions. We can only support them in their choices."--Virginia Apuzzo, executive director, National Gay Task Force.

Today's Army is looking for the best and the brightest recruits it can sign up. Those with a high school diploma who score 50 or better on the Army test have any of 300 jobs from which to choose. Many of these jobs require a considerable degree of intelligence, especially those involving technical skills (something minorities will have to master, if they want to compete in our increasingly technological society).

Black Enterprise magazine for September 1982 states that "The US Army is presently one-third black" and that "a significantly greater number of black recruits over whites graduated from high school."

No longer is the Army a refuge for those unable to make it in civilian life. "If you can't do anything else," says Capt. Alvin K. Phillips,the former area commander for recruiting, Manhattan, "we don't want you. We can't use you." The captain, who is black and a University of Arkansas graduate, adds: "If you can't read or write, if you can't do basics, we don't need you because we're not a social agency."

However, if you're what the Army needs, you can sign up for the Army College Fund, which came into being in January of 1982, says Capt. Phillips, as a new "incentive for people to join the military." (It replaced the G.I. Bill which ended in 1976.)

Anyone in college or considering a college education these days knows how expensive it can be. But by enlisting for a minimum of two years, you can accumulate as much as $15,200 toward college. If you decide to enlist for three or four years, the amount increases to $20,100. The Army College Fund is a voluntary program.

Let's say you enlist for two years. As a private (or E-1), you earn $573.60 a month, plus a $213.60 bonus if you have dependents such as a wife and child. (Starting January 1, an E-1 will earn $596.40 a month.) From that amount each month  you can contribute to the fund no more than $100 and no less than $25. If you decide to put aside $100 monthly by the end of your two-year enlistment, you will have saved $2,400. The Army which will put in two dollars for every one dollar you put in the fund will add $4,800 to the pot giving you $7,200. Add to that the eight-thousand-dollar bonus and you have the grand total of $15,200. Even if you receive an educational grant or loan, you still get every penny in your fund account. If you choose to go to school while  in the service, the Army will pay 75 percent of your tuition.

Like the Army, the Air Force is quality-conscious. In its desire to keep up with the latest technological advances, the Air Force places great emphasis on education and encourages airmen to go to their base Education Services Center to inquire about the various educational opportunities available. However, the Air Force is not quite as liberal as the Army (which has been working very hard to change its negative public image) as far as money for eduation is concerned, despite the fact that it provides more of a variety of educational programs. (Ninety-seven percent of Air Force personnel are high school graduates.) As in the Army, an airman can contribute $25 to $100 from his salary each month but only to a maximum of $2,700. The government will match every dollar put in with two dollars thereby bringing the maximum of the government's contribution to $5,400. At the end of your stint, you will have a grand total of $8,100. (In order to qualify for financial aid, you must sign up for at least four years.)


This is an excerpt from an article about the Army and the Air Force that I wrote for the National Scene magazine's special Armed Forces issue published in 1983. The National Scene was an African-American publication that appeared as a monthy supplement insert in African-American newspapers such as the New York Amsterdam News.

Giving The Black Press Praise When It Is Due

GLAAD
80 Varick Street, Suite 3E
New York, NY 10013
April 7, 1992

Attn: Cookie

Dear Cookie:

I am one of the Amsterdam News's contributing writers. Last year I wrote 17 articles for the Am/News, the majority (approximately 10 to 12) of which concerned someone or some issue that was gay.

My reason for writing this letter is to state that I feel that GLAAD has devoted a lot of ink to either praising or condemning gay coverage in the major media while ignoring what is going on in the ethnic press, especially the black press. There was a time the Amsterdam News would not have considered printing anything about gays. The fact that they carried such a large number of such articles from the pen of one writer is worthy of praise. That is not to say that there is no homophobia at the paper, but these articles show that they have matured in their thinking about this subject which is a very volatile one in the black community.

I have enclosed one of my recent articles in the paper. It is about Audre Lorde's appointment as New York State Poet. Other gay-related articles include: a profile of singer Blackberri (8/15/91); an interview with poet Vega (3/16/92); and an interview with Reggie Williams of National Task Force on AIDS Prevention (3/28/92).

Praise by GLAAD would let them [those at the paper] know that the [gay] community appreciates their willingness to print gay articles and it would encourage them to continue along that path.

Sincerely yours,

Charles Michael Smith

Fifteen Minutes Of Fame

Gary Morston
XXX West 141st Street
New York, NY 10031
May 10, 1995

Dear Gary:

I guess Andy Warhol was right--everybody will be famous for 15 minutes. That article about you in the June issue of Essence was your 15 minutes of fame. I was glad to see it. All these years I've been wondering what happened to you. The last time I remember seeing you, you were living in Brooklyn and working the counter at the Oscar Wilde bookstore.

You may remember that we first met through a personal ad your friends placed in the New York Native. That was in 1983. I later ran into you at that year's Gay Pride Parade on, I believe, Weehawken Street [in Greenwich Village].

The strange thing about the article is that it never mentions you as a gay man, which is how I remember you identifying yourself. In the article you're quoted as saying "not many women have shied away when they learn I'm a single dad." Maybe you were bisexual all the time. Maybe you didn't want to out yourself in a national magazine. Anyway, I'm glad you're alive and well and parenting.

I hope we can stay in touch (my number is on the reverse side, which is a copy of a call for submissions flyer for a book of essays that will be published in the fall of this year. I started editing the book two years ago. [The book was Fighting Words, which was published in 1999 by Avon Books.] I always enjoyed our phone conversations, especially about education. [Gary was a schoolteacher.] The name Piaget (correct spelling?), the guy who was an education theorist, always brings you to mind because you were the first one who told me about him.

Say hello to your son Corinthian for me.

Sincerely yours,

Charles Michael Smith

Blacks With AIDS

Black gay men with AIDS are invisible as far as most of the black press is concerned. Fortunately, Essence magazine doesn't see it that way. In the August 1985 issue, there is a beautifully written, although disturbing, article by Marie Blackwell which details the psychological and physical deterioration of her 36-year-old brother Chet, who eventually died a little over a year after being hospitalized when it was suspected that he had the dreaded disease.

Any African-American who believes, after all this time, that AIDS is a white man's disease, should be required to read this piece, entitled "AIDS in the Family." Blackwell writes that shortly before Chet's death, his body, which had once been "tall, lean, and muscular," had gone down to 98 pounds and "contorted itself into a fetal position--he couldn't straighten his limbs. His eyes were bulging with fear, and he kept the covers over his head the entire time" she visited him in the hospital.

Blackwell confesses that she was "almost totally ignorant about the extent of AIDS contagiousness." If her family had been readers of the Native, a lot of their fear and ignorance after Chet's release from the hospital would have been dispelled. But Chet was fortunate to have a family that loved him enough to be there when he needed them, whether at home or in the hospital.

The family, admits Blackwell, "were angry at him" for being gay because his "choice" of lifestyle had such a profound "impact on all of us." But, "whatever Chet's sexual preference, he was still our big, silly, lovable brother" who, among other things, "cheered us up when we were on punishment."

Jill Nelson's sidebar, "The Facts About AIDS," excellently capsulizes statistical and medical data in nontechnical language. She makes one interesting parenthetical  comment: The discovery of AIDS in Africa "coincided with its discovery in the United States." In other words, there's some doubt in her mind about the African connection.

I wish that Native writer Craig Harris's short story, "Cut Off From Among Their People," which appears in the black gay literary magazine Blackheart 3: The Telling of Us, had been reprinted in the same issue of Essence. It would have given a gay perspective on the disease.

Harris's superb story is about Jeff, a grief-stricken black gay man who attends his lover's funeral and is given the cold shoulder by the family of the deceased. Although Jeff was faithful to his lover, "spending endless hours by his side, covering hospital bills, always keeping [the family] abreast of his condition" while the lover was hospitalized, the family disregarded these acts of love by not asking Jeff for his assistance in making funeral arrangements.


This article was originally published in the New York Native (August 11-25, 1985). It was an item in a "Media Watch" column I wrote for the paper.

Giving Freelance Journalists Respect

Wilbert A. Tatum, CEO/Editor-in Chief
New York Amsterdam News
2340 8th Avenue
New York, NY 10027
July 25, 1989

Dear Mr. Tatum:

As a longtime contributor to the Arts and Entertainment page, I think it is a disgrace that [editor] William Egyir, while I was speaking to him about a manuscript of mine that has been sitting in type a long time, disconnected the call. And when I called back, I was told that he was "tied up." Over the years I have dealt with many editors, and they have always taken the time to discuss a piece with me. Mel Tapley [the Arts and Entertainment editor] has always been such an editor (I'll be glad when he comes back from vacation so I won't have to deal with Egyir, who behaves like someone uncivilized.)

I thought you should be made aware of the behavior of one of your subordinates because it is a reflection on the paper. It is such bad behavior that has convinced me to join the National Writers Union so that journalists who work freelance such as myself will get the respect we deserve. After all, it is the writers who are the backbone of any paper.

Sincerely yours,

Charles Michael Smith

Black Teens Deserve More Than Just An Entertainment Magazine

Toria J. Smith, Managing Editor
Black Teen
c/o Sterling Group
475 Park Avenue South
New York, NY 10016
June 2, 1986

Dear Ms. Smith:

After looking through Black Teen, I was greatly disappointed in its contents. A magazine that calls itself Black Teen should, I feel, be about more than singers and musicians.

At a time when our black youth are confronted by brutal policemen, drugs, unemployment, low self-esteem, they need a full-service magazine that can help them move forward in this world. That is not to say that there shouldn't be any entertainment articles. But an entire issue devoted to entertainers? Our youth deserve something better. If our youth are our most important natural resource*, then why is there no article about selecting the right college or career or about black teen achievements or about our African heritage or about the responsibilities of being a parent?

I would like to write for Black Teen, but not if it continues in its present direction. If we are to survive as a people, our young will need to know more than who's the hottest singer or group.

Sincerely yours,
Charles Michael Smith


Note:* I should have used the term "human resource."

In Defense Of The Black Press

"I still don't think that there is a future for a young person working in a predominantly Black medium. Let's face it, twenty years from now Ebony magazine could be out of business. Or if it's not out of business, it would be something that would not give you the benefits, the rewards for your abilities that you would get if you went to a larger publication or one that was better integrated. Why work for Ebony when you can work for Newsweek or the Washington Post?"--Stanley Robertson, executive producer, Universal Pictures Television (Players magazine interview, December 1978, pp. 29-30).

Although Mr. Robinson has the right to speak his mind, I think he should be reminded (daily, if necessary) that his attitude toward the black press does more harm than good.

His statement would lead any young black considering a career in journalism to think that unless he is employed by Time or the Washington Post, his career will be going nowhere.

The fact that this statement comes from an experienced journalist and television executive adds weight to it in the mind of a young black. (Interestingly, Mr. Robertson writes a column called "L.A. Confidential" for the Los Angeles Sentinel, a black weekly.)

True, the salaries and fringe benefits at a predominantly white paper are more attractive than anything a black paper can offer.But this will change when a financially strong black press is given strong community support. Bringing in a cadre of dedicated young journalists will help immeasurably to arouse this support.

The increase in young blood will bring with it new ideas and new approaches that will stimulate the content in the black press. (To quote Joseph Nazel, a black writer, "the Black press is angry because it is not receiving the community support it so desperately needs." He also writes that this happened because "integration into the pages of the white press usurped much of the stature of the Black press" resulting in the loss of reporters, readership, and advertising revenue.)

This damage to the stature of the black press will not be rectified, if blacks like Mr. Robertson, who have "made it," continually play down the importance of the black press. This is not to say we should discourage anybody from going to the other side, either.

We need them there also (blacks make up approximately 4 percent of the working press). But we shouldn't cut off our noses to spite our faces. The white-controlled metropolitan dailies cannot and will not give the black community overall coverage. And we should not expect them to. That is why the black press is so important to the people and the events that would otherwise go unnnoticed or receive scant coverage.

Mr. Robertson's statement also ignores the historical reason for the existence of the black press today and in the past. It was the racial attitude of whites. (The 19th and 20th centuries saw the emergence of numerous newspapers and magazines catering to a black audience.By 1910, there were 288 black newspapers with a combined circulation of half a million.)

In the words of the late black journalist-author Roi Ottley, "Feeling among Negroes was negative to the white dailies. They felt those organs could not be trusted to tell the truth about the Negro." Although the white press today is not as hostile to blacks as it once was, there still is a need to "let the people know the true state of things."

The black press can do this better than the white press because the black press has a stake in the community.

This does not mean that the black press is perfect. There are a few black papers that are using unethical methods to attract readers.

Writes Ron Reynard in Players magazine, "Many small community newspapers are doing an excellent job. Others, however, seem intent on giving the Black community the shaft. Shrill editorials, misleading headlines and the stance that 'if it's Black, it's right,' do no service to the Black community."

But despite these shortcomings, the truth still remains--we need the black press as much today as did our forefathers in their day. That's why it is foolish for the black community to allow its support of the black press to decline any further.

This article was originally published in the New York Amsterdam News (September 20,1980). It was also published in the Black American, another New York-based weekly.

The 'Dam News Is 103 Years Old

The New York Amsterdam News marked its 103rd anniversary in 2012. Old timers used to refer to the paper as the 'Dam News because of its sensationalistic front-page stories.

But many prominent names in the African-American community wrote for it, among them were W. E. B. DuBois, historian J. A. Rogers, and Ted Poston, who later wrote for the then-liberal New York Post. Short story writer/novelist William Melvin Kelley's father, William Melvin Kelley, Sr., was an editor there.

As a former freelance contributor to the New York Amsterdam News, I want to wish the paper a happy anniversary. May it have 103 more years!

Stealth Lesbianism

In 1989 I went to work at the Black American newspaper (later renamed the New American) as a proofreader, then later as a proofreader/copy editor. (I worked there until May 1991).

The owner of the paper, Carl Offord (now deceased), once wrote a front page story that had a homophobic headline that is indelibly printed on my mind--"The White Lady and the Faggot." It was an attack on Diana Ross, who had given a concert in Central Park that year (1983) and then-mayor Ed Koch, who had kissed her hand (or her cheek). I'm sorry I didn't save that issue because it is a classic example of blatant homophobia in the black press. The article suggested that Koch, rumored to be a gay man, might give Ross AIDS.

Anyway, I'm the one responsible for getting writer/filmmaker Michelle Parkerson's article, an appreciation of the beauty of black women, published in the paper. I edited out all the references to her girlfriend and the word "lesbian" because of the paper's homophobia. I gave the manuscript to the art director, who had it typed and pasted up.

When Mrs. Offord, the office manager, saw it in the paper, she was upset that we hadn't cleared it with her. Obviously, even though it was toned down, the article's homoeroticism still shone through. I told her that she hadn't been in the office that day, so we weren't able to get her consent. "That doesn't make any difference," she replied. I immediately pointed out that Parkerson was a very good writer;despite her anger, she agreed.

I wanted the Parkerson piece in because (1) it was better written than a lot of the stuff they were publishing and (2) I wanted to see how successful I'd be in slipping in an article with subliminally gay content. Parkerson became a Trojan horse.

It would have been a lot harder to do what we did at the New York Amsterdam News because it is a larger operation, occupying a whole building and with more eyes to oversee things. The Black American was in a single suite of offices and had a smaller staff.

I later sent Parkerson a copy of her article via her Washington, D.C. address.