WCS 67: ‘Will write about race without being an asshole’

w/: Dry January consequences + Sasquatch tragedy + Year of the Katt

One of my exes’ top magazine editors wrote that note, back in 1995. His description of the particularly favored scribe was on the new editor-in-chief’s list of the reporters he would be bringing to the mag.

Thirty years ago, not being an asshole when writing on race meant finding ways not to challenge White American orthodoxy. To not pitch stories or write paragraphs and disseminate ideas that were beyond the bosses imagination. Editors in the main wanted their readers to understand White supremacy at their pace.

You know, not be an asshole.

To work in late-20th century high-end magazines meant not treating police abuse as an ongoing crisis. It meant downplaying the related ravages of crack. The nation’s history of redlining remained a boutique topic.

Hip hop was not legitimate music.

A non-asshole Black writer pitched pieces that fell comfortably within readers’ range of assumptions. He didn’t argue contentious points while being edited. The did the opposite of journalism and frequently failed upward.

John McWhorter and John Ridley were my day’s preferred non-assholes. Their rightward stances could make editors and producers and booking agents feel good about their own status quo inclinations.

The way America has managed to have its long list of racial transgressions even up for debate is an all-time media fail. Denialists like Ron DeSantis should not have a leg to stand on. MAGA never should have had a foothold.

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The Full Herb Caen

Herb Caen helped perfect the old-school, three-dot journalism demonstrated below. Before Twitter, the mid-century San Francisco Chronicle columnist mastered the random, loaded, community news nugget that you could bag for future transactions.

As did I, Caen worked on the Sacramento City College Express newspaper, but on the 20th century’s opposite side. (We both learned on typewriters though) This journalist holds a dear place in the heart of West Coast Sojourn. The Full Herb Caen aims to be a useful homage.

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