The editors, writers and photographers of Time could have walked blindfolded in any direction in any of New York City’s five boroughs and ran into some African American who was directed impacted, or had a loved one killed, by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
When queried about the deplorable omission, TIME spokesperson Kerri Chyka only say: “TIME is declining to comment at this time.”
Well, I guess so. There is no possible explanation for this abominable oversight. Black workers, firefighters, police officers and others were also murdered by terrorists on this unforgettable day. Yet TIME could find not a single African American to profile or photograph? As I pointed out in a previous 9-11 feature, blacks also lost loved ones and, in fact, were denied the opportunity to even give proper burials because many bodies was never found.
It doesn’t make sense. But this does: the issue in question was published when the magazine apparently has no African American editors. Sounds about right. They and other white media have proven throughout history of their ability to overlook anyone that doesn’t look like them, lest they shoot for 50 points – or shoot a white victim. Otherwise, Time, like the rest of the nation, treat African Americans as if they don’t exist.
“There certainly are African Americans on Time’s masthead,” is all that Time spokesperson Ali Zelenko emailed Journal-isms. However, Zelenko could not provide a response when asked to name them. I wouldn’t expect Zelenko to.
“I will reiterate that diversity has been, and remains, an important priority at Time,” Zelenko would only say.
A Time announcement said, “To create this special edition, award-winning photographer Marco Grob worked with the editors of TIME to produce an astonishing set of forty portraits coupled with dramatic oral histories from survivors and leaders including George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, General David Petraeus, George Pataki, Rudolph Giuliani, Valarie Plame Wilson, Tom Browaw, Daisy Khan, Howard Lutnick, James Yee, and many more. Additionally, for the very first time, the only four survivors of the attack on Tower Two of the World Trade Center who were above the point of impact tell their stories.”
Whether in heroism or sorrow, white American media decision-makers manage to omit African Americans with sickening regularity. Hollywood is no different. Jason Thomas, a former Marine, selflessly rescued a pair of Port Authority police officers from the rubble, which was chronicled in the Associated Press. Thomas was portrayed by a white actor in the film World Trade Center. I find it very hard, in fact impossible, to believe that this scenario could have ever been played out in reverse. Had Thomas been a Caucasian hero, white Hollywood would have even thought about portraying him as a black man.
– terry shropshire
