Cultural Literacy and the New York Times
One of the few newspapers in America that still addresses
readers who believe in old-fashioned cultural literacy, the New York Times deserves applause for its
December 19, 2013 edition. Reminding us
yet again that we are at once subjects and objects of Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon,
the paper tempers the sting of anxiety, dread, and a winter of discontent by
publishing articles by Ishmael Reed and Charles M. Blow. In the online edition, one finds Reed’s “The
President of the Cool” in the Editors’
Picks section and Blow’s “Defining Moments and Crystal Stairs” at the top
of the Op-Ed segment. Bravo.
Reed uses his considerable musical literacy to suggest that “cool
musicians carried themselves with a regal bearing.” By associating President Obama with such
legendary figures as Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughn, Stan Getz, Milt
Jackson, and Miles Davis, pays a fine tribute to the President’s mastering of
the aesthetics of the cool. And Reed
puts icing on the proverbial cake when he quotes the President’s gratitude to
Theodore Walter “Sonny” Rollins. Two of
the most culturally literate, cool people I know return the favor by saying “Reed
is the epitome of cool” (Ja Jahannes) and “Loved this article. Clearly folks continue to mistake cool with
swagger” (Frank X. Walker). [Emails from Jahannes and Walker to Ward, 19 Dec
2013]
There is no hint of swagger in Blow’s desire to share racial
wisdom with America’s youth regarding how to remain cool while remembering the
deaths of James Byrd, Jr., Emmett Till, and Trayvon Martin as defining moments
of how racial hatred thrives in perpetuity in the United States of America, a
nation that often promotes itself as the moral center of the planet. On the contrary, there is a cool, generous,
and rational measure of cultural literacy in Blow’s reminding young people (and
all of us) of the need to read and absorb Langston Hughes’s poem “Mother to
Son.” I would add that Blow’s excellent advice can only be supplemented by
internalizing Matthew Arnold’s “Dover Beach.” It is crucial to know of ignorant
armies clashing night and day.
In these articles, the writers use cultural literacy to
champion the ethics of balance.
Patience is platinum. To my knowledge, no African American has every played the Edward Snowden card. Let us salute Charles Blow and Langston Hughes for reminding us why that is the case. Indeed, the only acts of black treason were performed when Uncle Y hastened to alert Master Z that his fellow-slaves were plotting to be free!
Jerry W. Ward, Jr.
December 19, 2013
