Support Gil Noble!!
by James McIntosh
I have a favor to ask. If you could help in spreading the word about Gil Noble's plight. He's a mentor of mine in a journalistic sense.
I want to make sure his insightful program doesn't get lost in the madness that is occurring nowadays. This gentleman has dedicated 30 years of his life telling it "like is" and I want him to continue. Even if you haven't heard of him please forward this email to as many folks as you know. Thank you and bless your souls this holiday season. With all my love to you and your family
PIONEERING JOURNALIST GIL NOBLE IN TROUBLE.
It seems like everyone who has something or connects with the community is getting yanked off the air waves. Remember the situation with Living Color? Then we had the removal of 'Roc.' We had Arsenio being taking off after he interviewed Minister Farrakhan although countless individuals ranging from Barbara Walters to Tim Russert to Larry King had no such penalties. Let's not forget Living Single and all the upset that caused when it was removed. Cats may recall the hoopla caused with the popular show 'New York Undercover?' Again, you had a popular show that was cutting edge. Suddenly they said no more Hip Hop could be played. They then diluted the story lines and soon that too went away in the wind. All these shows were thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated by many within the community.
This year we saw the drama surrounding Tavis Smiley and BET. There was a similar situation here in the Bay Area with my removal from KMEL after 11 years. You can peep out the details in this month's Source Magazine. Now we have to deal with the possible removal of Brother Gil Noble and his popular show 'Like It Is.' Before any of us came along Gil Noble was holding it down in New York and bringing forth the issues that mattered when no one else would. Gil is a pioneer for all of us who have strived to keep our communities informed.
In the aftermath of 9-11, he has been one of the few to give voice to other perspectives. It seems like when you have something to say and people start listening it becomes a problem. There's definitely something foul going on here folks. You can't tell me all these sudden removals from the media are coincidental. Here's the situation surrounding Gil Noble.
BROTHER GIL NOBLE, HOST OF "LIKE IT IS" NEEDS OUR DIRECT HELP Power to the People!
Brothers and Sisters,
Brother Gil Noble, the Pan Afrikan Host of the legendary "LIKE IT IS" Black Issues TV show in New York is under the threat of his show being taken off of the air.
We must move quickly to support our brother.
HOW WE CAN HELP?
Write, call and e-mail ABC to show strong support for Gil Noble. Mentioning how much Black people support ABC is good. CEMOTAP Committee to Eliminate Media Offensive to Afrikan People is spearheading the defense and hosting the following meetings.
The address of the local ABC headquarters, the building at which "Like it is" is taped and where Tom Kane (general manager and president) works is 7 Lincoln Square, N.Y. NY, 10019 USA. The phone number is 212 456-7777. Please Call, write and email to express your support for "Like It Is." email reports of your contacts to BASHLEFI@aol.com. A support rally is being planned. Details will be provided early next week.
The time and place of the meeting is Cemotap HQ 135-05 Rockaway Boulevard, South Ozone Park, N.Y. 11420 at 7:30 pm. on Tuesday night, December 18, 2001. It is not a mass meeting but a meeting to plan a larger rally and coordinate a strategy of support.
1. What we want the leaders in attendance or their representatives to be able to address is how each organization can contribute resources, (people, flyers, remarks at the rally etc.) to get out the word and attract people.
2. We feel that at the rally itself a collection should be taken for the purpose of purchasing advertising on Gil's show to run ads for a community calendar to announce the events of our respective organizations. If we are able to raise the money to air 15 to 20--- one minute commercials on "Like it Is " it will benefit Gil, the community and our respective organizations.
3. We may at the rally itself also at least mention other communications/media issues that are either pressing or festering over time, e.g. Emmis Communications, the New York Post, etc. Although the immediate purpose of the meeting and subsequent rally will be Like it Is, we will need to decide if and how these other issues should be folded in.
4. There may be a need for additional pressure, e.g., demonstrations, boycott etc. with respect to Disney/ABC regarding Like It Is and other issues. Remember these are the clowns responsible for trash such as "I got the Hook-up," all the racist Jackie Chan stuff and everything else put out by Miramax, Dimension films and the other Disney Aliases.
I have also spoken to Maddox who has affirmed that he and UAM are in support of all that has been suggested so far. He will send a representative to basically confirm that and bring any new suggestions that may come up between now and Tuesday. Nothing is written in stone. Send your own suggestions. These are just ideas that CEMOTAP expects to bring up. The main purpose of the meeting is to concretely plan and commit to the support rally.
Editor's note: When I lived in New York, I listened to "Like It Is" every Sunday. Gil Noble provided accurate information to that community despite the fact that his program was on a Disney owned network. That's why I listened to it.
One time Mr. Noble interviewed young men (Home Boys) in the South Central area of Los Angeles. They stated that Mayor Tom Bradley (now deceased) was a member of the Trilateral Commission. They also stated that the police don't want to see young people use their skills to initiate entrepreneurial enterprises because they know that crime would decrease as a result. The skills that young men acquire in selling drugs are skills that they wanted to use to engage in legitimate businesses.