Bye bye. Hopefully there is a special Hell for hypocrites with more education than common sense.
He was an elitest whose (poorly thought out) self defense incident didn't convince him that the "common" folk in rougher neighborhoods or professions might also need the right and arms to protect themselves with.
Jeff
Journalist Carl Rowan Dies
by RONALD POWERS
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Carl Thomas Rowan, a well-known commentator and nationally syndicated newspaper columnist once called America's ''most visible black journalist,'' died of natural causes Saturday. He was 75.
He died at about 3 a.m. at Washington Hospital Center, hospital spokesman LeRoy Tillman said.
Rowan suffered from a variety of illnesses in recent years, including diabetes and heart problems, his son Carl Rowan Jr. said Saturday. The ailments did not erode his father's extraordinary work ethic, the younger Rowan said. His father wrote his last column last week.
''Even though he was feeling sick, he said he had to go in and do the column,'' said Rowan Jr., a lawyer. ''He spoke for a lot of people who other people weren't speaking for and came along at a time when there was no one else.''
During a career that spanned more than half a century, Rowan had been a frequent guest on public affairs radio and television programs and had served in the administrations of Presidents Kennedy and Johnson.
''First I see myself simply as a newspaperman and commentator,'' Rowan told one interviewer. ''I inform people and expose them to a point of view they wouldn't get. I work against the racial mindset of most of the media.
Rowan was born in Ravenscroft, Tenn., a dying coal mining town, in 1925. He grew up poor during the Great Depression and in his autobiography told of living with ''no electricity, no running water, no toothbrushes ... no telephone, no radio and no regular inflow of money.''
Still he excelled in school and went on to college. He entered journalism after a stint as one of the first black commissioned officers in the U.S. Navy. He worked as a copy editor at the Minneapolis Tribune.
He returned to the South in the 1950s to report on the Supreme Court's decision requiring school desegregation.
At the time, ''no more than five blacks could claim to be general assignment reporters and few were writing anything serious about the American social, political or economic scene,'' Rowan wrote in his autobiography, ''Breaking Barriers.''
Rowan's reporting on race relations led Kennedy to appoint him deputy secretary of state. Before returning to journalism, he also served as a delegate to the United Nations, ambassador to Finland and director of the United States Information Agency.
He has made race a recurrent theme in his commentaries and columns, as well as in the college scholarship fund he set up 10 years ago.
After reading about a local high school where black students were embarrassed to stand as their names were called during an honor roll ceremony he created Project Excellence to help and encourage black youth to finish school and go on to college.
The program blossomed, giving away millions in scholarships and teaming up with the Freedom Forum to hand out additional ''instant scholarships'' worth millions more.
It is Project Excellence that will be Rowan's ''lasting legacy,'' his son said.
In a Washington Post profile, Rowan was once called ''the most visible black journalist in the country.''
Rowan, who had advocated strict handgun control, found himself in the center of a gun controversy during the 1980s when he was arrested and charged with using an unregistered weapon to wound a teen-ager who intruded into his backyard.
Rowan argued that he had the right to use whatever means necessary to protect himself and his family. The jury deadlocked and the judge hearing the case declared a mistrial.
Despite all the accolades he received during his distinguished career, Rowan Jr. said his father never forgot his humble childhood.
''In a lot of ways he was a small town kid from Tennessee, and every day he got up he was surprised by how far he had come,'' Rowan Jr. said.
Rowan also is survived by his wife, Vivien; son Jeffrey, a clinical psychologist; daughter, Barbara, a former journalist; and four grandchildren.
His three-times-a-week column was nationally syndicated by King Features.
On television, Rowan was a panelist on ''Inside Washington'' from 1967 to 1996.
Besides his newspaper columns and magazine articles Rowan was the author of numerous books. He was a 1995 Pulitzer Prize finalist for his commentaries.
[This message has been edited by Jffal (edited September 23, 2000).]
[This message has been edited by Jffal (edited September 23, 2000).]
He was an elitest whose (poorly thought out) self defense incident didn't convince him that the "common" folk in rougher neighborhoods or professions might also need the right and arms to protect themselves with.
Jeff
Journalist Carl Rowan Dies
by RONALD POWERS
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Carl Thomas Rowan, a well-known commentator and nationally syndicated newspaper columnist once called America's ''most visible black journalist,'' died of natural causes Saturday. He was 75.
He died at about 3 a.m. at Washington Hospital Center, hospital spokesman LeRoy Tillman said.
Rowan suffered from a variety of illnesses in recent years, including diabetes and heart problems, his son Carl Rowan Jr. said Saturday. The ailments did not erode his father's extraordinary work ethic, the younger Rowan said. His father wrote his last column last week.
''Even though he was feeling sick, he said he had to go in and do the column,'' said Rowan Jr., a lawyer. ''He spoke for a lot of people who other people weren't speaking for and came along at a time when there was no one else.''
During a career that spanned more than half a century, Rowan had been a frequent guest on public affairs radio and television programs and had served in the administrations of Presidents Kennedy and Johnson.
''First I see myself simply as a newspaperman and commentator,'' Rowan told one interviewer. ''I inform people and expose them to a point of view they wouldn't get. I work against the racial mindset of most of the media.
Rowan was born in Ravenscroft, Tenn., a dying coal mining town, in 1925. He grew up poor during the Great Depression and in his autobiography told of living with ''no electricity, no running water, no toothbrushes ... no telephone, no radio and no regular inflow of money.''
Still he excelled in school and went on to college. He entered journalism after a stint as one of the first black commissioned officers in the U.S. Navy. He worked as a copy editor at the Minneapolis Tribune.
He returned to the South in the 1950s to report on the Supreme Court's decision requiring school desegregation.
At the time, ''no more than five blacks could claim to be general assignment reporters and few were writing anything serious about the American social, political or economic scene,'' Rowan wrote in his autobiography, ''Breaking Barriers.''
Rowan's reporting on race relations led Kennedy to appoint him deputy secretary of state. Before returning to journalism, he also served as a delegate to the United Nations, ambassador to Finland and director of the United States Information Agency.
He has made race a recurrent theme in his commentaries and columns, as well as in the college scholarship fund he set up 10 years ago.
After reading about a local high school where black students were embarrassed to stand as their names were called during an honor roll ceremony he created Project Excellence to help and encourage black youth to finish school and go on to college.
The program blossomed, giving away millions in scholarships and teaming up with the Freedom Forum to hand out additional ''instant scholarships'' worth millions more.
It is Project Excellence that will be Rowan's ''lasting legacy,'' his son said.
In a Washington Post profile, Rowan was once called ''the most visible black journalist in the country.''
Rowan, who had advocated strict handgun control, found himself in the center of a gun controversy during the 1980s when he was arrested and charged with using an unregistered weapon to wound a teen-ager who intruded into his backyard.
Rowan argued that he had the right to use whatever means necessary to protect himself and his family. The jury deadlocked and the judge hearing the case declared a mistrial.
Despite all the accolades he received during his distinguished career, Rowan Jr. said his father never forgot his humble childhood.
''In a lot of ways he was a small town kid from Tennessee, and every day he got up he was surprised by how far he had come,'' Rowan Jr. said.
Rowan also is survived by his wife, Vivien; son Jeffrey, a clinical psychologist; daughter, Barbara, a former journalist; and four grandchildren.
His three-times-a-week column was nationally syndicated by King Features.
On television, Rowan was a panelist on ''Inside Washington'' from 1967 to 1996.
Besides his newspaper columns and magazine articles Rowan was the author of numerous books. He was a 1995 Pulitzer Prize finalist for his commentaries.
[This message has been edited by Jffal (edited September 23, 2000).]
[This message has been edited by Jffal (edited September 23, 2000).]
), I'll let them remain nameless - we know who they are.