My Reply to John Schlagetter's Reply
I was not to elegant with my words, and a raised a new issue that I had not before, but I think I got my points across. As you can read below I belatedly informed John I have been posting our email exchange to my blog. I assumed he read it, so I hope he is not displeased. He tends to be one not afraid of an open discussion, and as former candidate for council he must know his words are open season to public consumption. Here is my reply:

Subj: Re: Comments on 1230 the Buzz on 08/18/2002
Date: 08/19/2002 10:20:03 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: CincyBlog
To: john@foregenitor.com



John,

Thanks for your reply. I am a regular listener to you and the Jay Love show. I do have a good idea of yours, Jay's, Emmanuel's, and Shawn's various opinions. The one opinion you all seem to share is that the "white man" has done harm and is doing harm to the "black man". I take great offense to your statement ".....I would be remiss in not identifying the ways in which whites, in fact, repress and oppress non-whites." If you had stated repress and oppress in the past tense, I would agree, as stated I find that to be wrong. If you are implying that non-whites are being "oppressed and repressed" currently, then I say show me examples of laws on the books that oppress or repress non-whites today. If you think non-whites are being "treated" poorly by "whites", then I say what a grossly biased generalization.

While I understand you are doing a show, I do have a problem with what you did in taking a call from a member of the New Black Panther Party. To me, that group is no different from the KKK or any neo-nazi group. If Mike McConnell from WLW took a phone call from the a local KKK member and failed to fervently challenge nearly every claim that KKK member stated, he would be lambasted by everyone for giving a platform to clear and open racists. Every media outlet would rightfully condemn him, and the outlet you appear on would surely be leading the charge. When a similar caller appears on the Buzz, and it does to almost every show everyday, there is not media outlet condemning the Buzz, outside of myself and maybe Sensible Don's website. I realize that you are not a regular daily host and don't have a position of power at the station, but do you not agree that giving a nearly open and unfettered forum to hate groups makes the Buzz at least partially complacent in fostering these hate group's agenda?

I really enjoy listening on Friday's to the "Week in Review." I think it is generally very entertaining and informative, but often everyone on the show let the extremists off the hook for their clearly racist comments they often make. I would encourage you to encourage the powers that be at the station to take care to try and not give a blank check to hate groups.

Thank you again for your reply. As a note: I have my own local blog and I have reporting on our conversation, and I often report on what happens on Jay Love's show, so you can retort my comments there if you ever have the notion to disagree with me. Have a good day.

Brian Griffin

Ohio News Network Stories
Nine Arrested Following Cincinnati Festival
Fight Breaks Out At Black Family Reunion
Both of these stories are mostly AP wire info and from the ONN affiliate WXIX FOX19

1230am The Buzz of Cincinnati
I was surprised by the Buzz's front page listing some news. One of the stores was about the occurrences at the Black Family Reunion this weekend, including a link to today's Enquirer story about yesterday's day two of the riots. This is a good step for the Buzz. They should include a regular news section on their website. I would hope it is as objective as the listing of the stories today. My only suggestion is that they create permanent pages with the news stories or create some type of archive.

More youth disturbances downtown
The Enquirer's take on day two. They finally got the quote from Cecil Thomas that WXIX had early yesterday.

Taft books six top shows for fall season
Some good news. This are some varied and different acts I have not seen visit Cincinnati since I have been here. I would like to see Jon Stewart myself.

The Cincinnati Post: 'Wilding' mars black family event
Here is the Post's take on the riot. I am not one to call this a "wilding," what ever that is claimed to be. I call it a riot.

Cincinnati festival ends with more arrests
The AP wire story from Columbus Dispatch about day two of the riot. This time it was a true "mini-riot," as this is such a quantifiable event. (Note the slow drip of a sarcasm.)