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Celebrity Giving Takes Center Stage at Black Colleges...
Black POW's treatment strikes some as racism...

Today’s News: Celebrity Giving Takes Center Stage at Black Colleges:

11/13/2003

Legendary singer Ray Charles’ $1 million gift to Dillard University this week has officials at black colleges and universities hoping that his benevolence will have a ripple effect for alumni and others who support the institutions.

America’s 102 historically black colleges and universities have long operated with modest funds when compared to their white counterparts. One explanation for the schools’ lower levels of alumni giving is the long-standing gap between the wealth of blacks and that of whites.

As black affluence grows in this country, due in great part to the fields of entertainment and professional sports, some black institutions of higher education are reaping benefit.

Three years ago, Charles donated $2 million to Wilberforce University in Ohio, the largest single gift that the private university has ever received. The money was to be used to fund scholarships in music, dance, theater and voice. It will also be used to establish a chair in which musicians, artists and scholars can visit the school and serve as temporary lecturers.

This month, the 73-year-old singer struck again by donating $1 million to Dillard University in New Orleans for the creation of a program about black culture. The donation will create an endowed faculty position and program devoted to the musical, culinary, artistic and linguistic contributions of black Americans.

Charles’ philanthropy follows that of talk show host Oprah Winfrey, who, in February of this year, became the largest donor to Morehouse College’s Capital Campaign—“The Campaign for a New Century.” Winfrey pledged to give Morehouse $5 million for an endowed scholarship fund which will assist more than 200 Morehouse students.

Is such giving a trend?

“Celebrity support of the nation’s Black colleges is picking up,” Tola Thompson,
communications director for the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education, told BlackAmericaWeb.com. NAFEO is the nation’s largest association of historically and predominately Black colleges and universities. “But celebrity giving is still rather spotty at best. There are a few who are doing it, and making a positive impact, but it’s not nearly as en vogue as it should be.”

Still, there is no denying that black institutions of higher learning eagerly desire these mega gifts. Howard University has, in recent months, received more than $6 million in gifts from the combined giving of publisher John H. Johnson, Time Warner chairman Richard D. Parsons and entertainment mogul Sean “P-Diddy” Combs.

Aside from the monetary value, these gifts offer other benefits to the university.
“This type of celebrity buy-in offers a university instant visibility and credibility,” says Jennifer James-Prior, assistant vice president for the Office of University Communications for Howard University.

One such example of a celebrity relationship increasing a college’s visibility is Bennett College in Greensboro, N.C. Last year, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., visited Bennett for a campus-wide cleaning project and befriended Johnnetta B. Cole, president of the 130-year-old women’s college.

This year, the North Carolina senator convinced her husband, Bob Dole, a former Kansas senator and former Republican presidential candidate, to volunteer as chair for the college’s upcoming fund-raising campaign. His job is to attract leaders from business, academia and philanthropic organizations to raise $50 million for Bennett. (Cole, former president of Spelman College and a celebrity in her own right, has reinvigorated the campus since coming aboard.)

Perhaps the most well-known celebrity to have raised and contributed millions of dollars to black colleges throughout the country is radio personality Tom Joyner. Through his Tom Joyner Foundation, Joyner has helped countless black college students who’ve encountered financial difficulties complete their education.

Many in the academic arena hope that the general public will begin to emulate the recent show of philanthropy toward black colleges and universities by celebrities.

However, David Hoard, North Carolina A&T State University’s vice chancellor for Development and University Relations, is not so optimistic. Hoard fears that the attention drawn to major celebrity gifts is cultivating a “savior mentality” which will distract institutions from building a secure foundation of support from its alumni.

“In reality there are not that many celebrity saviors out there,” said Hoard. “I hope that my fellow HBCUs are waiting around for a celebrity to give them a large gift, because it might not happen.”

Hoard encourages HBCUs to stick to strong fund-raising operations which he says includes broadening outreach and committing to the hard work of getting out and personally developing new relationships.

Black POW's Treatment Strikes Some as Racism:

William Douglas
Knight Ridder Newspapers
Nov. 16, 2003 12:00 A

WASHINGTON - Pfc. Jessica Lynch's capture and dramatic rescue is the feel-good story of America's war with Iraq. But some African-Americans don't feel so good about Lynch's story. Instead, they ask: What about Shoshana Johnson?

Johnson, an Army specialist, belonged to the same 507th Maintenance Company as Lynch. Unlike Lynch, Johnson fought to stave off their Iraqi captors. Like Lynch, she suffered serious injuries. But only Lynch got the headlines, the TV movie, the prime-time television interviews and a biography penned by a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer. Lynch, in short, got the full American celebrity treatment, while Johnson largely got ignored. Many African-Americans think that's simply because she didn't have the right "face."

African-American suspicions of a racial double standard were reinforced last month when it was revealed that Johnson, who was shot in both ankles, will get only 30 percent of her monthly pay in disability benefits. Lynch, who had a head injury and broken bones in her right arm, right leg, thighs and ankle, will get 80 percent disability pay. Lynch's book, I Am a Soldier, Too: The Jessica Lynch Story, claims that she also was raped and sodomized by her Iraqi captors.

"Shoshana is getting the shaft, and people are outraged about it," said Mary Mason, a Philadelphia talk-radio host whose show was bombarded with callers complaining about the disparity in treatment. "It's ridiculous and complete racism."

Johnson and her family in El Paso say they have no proof that the issue is rooted in racism, but they've engaged the Rev. Jesse Jackson to press the Army to increase her disability benefits. Lynch, through a spokesman, stressed that she and Johnson are good friends and expressed hope that "Shoshana gets 100 percent" of what she deserves.

Others think race hovers around the edges of this story. They see Johnson's plight as another chapter in the long struggle of Blacks trying to get their due from White society.

"There before you is the American dilemma: We are unfair in treatment and view when it comes to people of color," said William Smith, a Vietnam veteran and media adviser for the National Association for Black Veterans.

Robert Thompson, a professor of television and popular culture at Syracuse University, said he doubted that race was the reason that Lynch became a media celebrity. But, he added, with her good looks and compelling story, Lynch looked like a figure from Central Casting at a time when the Pentagon desperately needed one.

Just weeks into the battle, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Gen. Tommy Franks were enduring heavy criticism over whether their battle plan provided enough ground forces to get the job done. The rescue of Lynch on April 1, filmed by the U.S. forces who raided the hospital where she was being held, helped stem the criticism.

"It was clear that she was going to become the icon, the star of the miniseries that was the war with Iraq. I think everybody was looking for a symbol of the war with a happy ending," Thompson said. "Jessica Lynch fits the profile of the type of casting American television has done for years."
And the early version of Lynch's story was good - too good. The Washington Post's initial front-page report said Lynch had suffered knife and bullet wounds while ferociously fighting off her attackers. Pentagon officials later said Lynch was hurt when her Humvee crashed after being hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. Lynch, in an ABC interview to air Tuesday, says that her weapon jammed and that she never fired a shot. She also criticizes the military for hyping her story.

So do national civil rights leaders.

"There appears to be unequal treatment between Johnson and Lynch (on the benefits issue)," NAACP President Kweisi Mfume said.

Army officials say both women's disability benefits are based on the extent of their injuries and how they will affect their employment and lifestyle.

"There is no double standard in the Army," Army officials said in a written release about the controversy. "Every soldier is treated equally when they go before a Physical Evaluation Board, and in all situations race is not an issue."

Lynch and Johnson get different benefits because a military Physical Evaluation Board placed them in different categories, the Army said.

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