NAACP Rips Gates Headline

ROXBURY--The Boston chapter of the NAACP held a press conference yesterday at the People's Baptist Church, stirring the current controversy over Boston Magazine's headline, "Head Negro In Charge," in its April profile of Henry Louis Gates, Jr., W.E.B. DuBois professor of the humanities.

Leonard C. Alkins, president of the Boston NAACP, joined with presidents of surrounding branches--along with Reverend Charles R. Stith, national president of the Organization for a New Equality and Dr. Joan Wallace-Benjamin, president of the Eastern Massachusetts Urban League--in demanding that Boston Magazine publicly apologize for the headline.

"In my opinion, neither the city of Boston nor the nation itself possesses the interracial maturity to manage the use of a racial epithet on the cover of a mainstream magazine like Boston Magazine," said Wallace-Benjamin.

"This is an insensitive statement," Alkins said. "Would you ever see Head Caucasian In Charge, Head Cuban In Charge or Head Greek In Charge?"

Boston Magazine editor R. Craig Unger '71, who is a Crimson editor, did not attend the press conference and could not be reached for comment yesterday.

But in a statement released Sunday night, Unger defended his headline on the grounds that the term is accepted throughout the black community.

"It is a term that has been widely used by black intellectuals and writers, such as Harvard professor Cornel (R.) West ('74), The New York Times' Brent Staples, and Gates himself in his interviews with us," Unger's statement said.

Area branch presidents of the NAACP stressed the need for a public apology.

"We require and deserve an apolo- gy," said Joyce Williams, president of theNewport County Branch of the NAACP. "How hard isit for someone to apologize? We want [him] to sayhe'll never to do it again."

An attempted meeting on Monday between themagazine's editors and Stith, Alkins andWallace-Benjamin fell apart when Stith and othersobjected to the inclusion of black communitymembers who supported the editors, according toStith.

"We are not interested in a black debate. Thereis a diversity of ideas [within the blackcommunity]. The debate [is between] theAfro-American community and Boston Magazine," saidWallace-Benjamin.

The conflict quickly became a shouting matchbetween Stith and Reverend Eugene Rivers on thesidewalks outside the magazine's offices, a sceneplayed out in front of television cameras.

"It was clear that the intent of BostonMagazine was to try to spin their way out of thiscontroversy rather than to deal with the problemthey had created by using a racial slur on thecover of their magazine," Stith said. He saidRivers' support of the magazine is based solely onmonetary influence.

"He is by his own admission on the payroll ofthe magazine," Stith said. "The only people thatdefend them on this are the people they arepaying."

Several speakers also compared the controversywith two local incidents, the racially motivatedFall River attack and the two teenagers inAmesbury who wrote racial slurs in letters to ateacher.

"When a mainline media outlet like BostonMagazine publishes racial epithets on its cover,it in effect desensitizes and at worst legitimizesthe sorts of things that we've seen happen inAmesbury and Fall River," Stith said.

"We want an apology, we want it addressed,"Wallace-Benjamin said. "Nobody gave [the editors]a poetic license."

Wallace-Benjamin also refuted Unger's attemptsto legitimize the headline through citing thephrase's use in the black community.

"The use of language is critical...Every ethniccommunity has internal jokes and colloquialisms,[but] it is not okay for people outside of thatculture to use them," Wallace-Benjamin said."While Mr. Unger clearly feels it is unfair to becriticized for this matter, he just does not `getit.' What we see here is an egregious example ofarrogance and unwarranted entitlement."

Wallace-Benjamin described the Urban League'scurrent outside efforts to exert pressure onBoston Magazine. Along with sending out 1,000letters to Urban League members asking them toexpress outrage and to contact the magazine andits publisher, she said, attempts to contactadvertisers will be made. Gates could not bereached for comment yesterday

An attempted meeting on Monday between themagazine's editors and Stith, Alkins andWallace-Benjamin fell apart when Stith and othersobjected to the inclusion of black communitymembers who supported the editors, according toStith.

"We are not interested in a black debate. Thereis a diversity of ideas [within the blackcommunity]. The debate [is between] theAfro-American community and Boston Magazine," saidWallace-Benjamin.

The conflict quickly became a shouting matchbetween Stith and Reverend Eugene Rivers on thesidewalks outside the magazine's offices, a sceneplayed out in front of television cameras.

"It was clear that the intent of BostonMagazine was to try to spin their way out of thiscontroversy rather than to deal with the problemthey had created by using a racial slur on thecover of their magazine," Stith said. He saidRivers' support of the magazine is based solely onmonetary influence.

"He is by his own admission on the payroll ofthe magazine," Stith said. "The only people thatdefend them on this are the people they arepaying."

Several speakers also compared the controversywith two local incidents, the racially motivatedFall River attack and the two teenagers inAmesbury who wrote racial slurs in letters to ateacher.

"When a mainline media outlet like BostonMagazine publishes racial epithets on its cover,it in effect desensitizes and at worst legitimizesthe sorts of things that we've seen happen inAmesbury and Fall River," Stith said.

"We want an apology, we want it addressed,"Wallace-Benjamin said. "Nobody gave [the editors]a poetic license."

Wallace-Benjamin also refuted Unger's attemptsto legitimize the headline through citing thephrase's use in the black community.

"The use of language is critical...Every ethniccommunity has internal jokes and colloquialisms,[but] it is not okay for people outside of thatculture to use them," Wallace-Benjamin said."While Mr. Unger clearly feels it is unfair to becriticized for this matter, he just does not `getit.' What we see here is an egregious example ofarrogance and unwarranted entitlement."

Wallace-Benjamin described the Urban League'scurrent outside efforts to exert pressure onBoston Magazine. Along with sending out 1,000letters to Urban League members asking them toexpress outrage and to contact the magazine andits publisher, she said, attempts to contactadvertisers will be made. Gates could not bereached for comment yesterday