Word: mfume
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...Unlike the sit-in activists of old, today's civil rights leaders have shifted the focus of their lobbying efforts from policymakers to image-makers, reasoning that TV and movies are the most powerful sphere of influence in modern America. A watershed moment came Wednesday, when NAACP leader Kweisi Mfume shook hands with NBC president Bob Wright on a comprehensive plan for NBC to hire more minorities in its creative, production and business divisions. Most notably, NBC will add a minority writer to each show entering at least its second year next fall, a move the network says will lead...
...officially changed its pressure focus from legislatures to Hollywood boardrooms, claiming that entertainment industry imagery is now the best way to effect social change. The NAACP quickly followed suit, threatening network boycotts unless the Big Four increased minority representation in their programming. NBC's the first to buck, but Mfume said agreements with the other three networks are imminent...
...diversity agreement would signal a major effort to go beyond such quick fixes. It would also score a much needed victory for the N.A.A.C.P., which has spent much of the past decade dogged by financial woes, an embarrassing sex scandal and a dimmed place on the national political radar. Mfume, 51, has been lauded for putting the organization back on solid financial footing and increasing its sagging membership rolls. But he has been criticized for failing to steer the organization into such controversial issues as affirmative action and welfare reform...
Diversity on TV is not exactly a front-burner issue for many African Americans either. And it's likely that Mfume will face some grumbling from civil rights old-liners that any goodwill covenant with the networks that lacks enforcement teeth is not worth much. But Mfume may wind up having more impact by playing the Negotiator than the Terminator...
Midwest bureau chief Ron Stodghill was co-author of Mfume's 1996 memoir No Free Ride