Monthly Archives: June 2023

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) Pat Robertson, a religious broadcaster who turned a tiny Virginia station into the global Christian Broadcasting Network, tried a run for president and helped make religion central to Republican Party politics in America through his Christian Coalition, has died. He was 93.

Robertsons death Thursday was confirmed in an email by his broadcasting network. No cause was given.

Robertsons enterprises also included Regent University, an evangelical Christian school in Virginia Beach; the American Center for Law and Justice, which defends the First Amendment rights of religious people; and Operation Blessing, an international humanitarian organization.

For more than a half-century, Robertson was a familiar presence in American living rooms, known for his 700 Club television show, and in later years, his televised pronouncements of Gods judgment usually delivered with a smile, as a gentle lament that blamed natural disasters on gays and feminists and accused Black Lives Matter demonstrators of being anti-Christian.

Robertson was a happy warrior who was soft-spoken, urbane and well-read, said Ralph Reed, who ran the Christian Coalition in the 1990s.

He was not some backwoods preacher, Reed said. He was very enthralling, avuncular and charming. He had a great sense of humor.

The money poured in as he solicited donations, his influence soared, and he brought a huge following with him when he moved directly into politics by seeking the GOP presidential nomination in 1988.

Robertson pioneered the now-common strategy of courting Iowas network of evangelical Christian churches, and finished in second place in the Iowa caucuses, ahead of Vice President George H.W. Bush.

His masterstroke was insisting that three million followers across the U.S. sign petitions before he would decide to run, Robertson biographer Jeffrey K. Hadden said. The tactic gave him an army.

He asked people to pledge that theyd work for him, pray for him and give him money, Hadden, a University of Virginia sociologist, told The Associated Press in 1988. Political historians may view it as one of the most ingenious things a candidate ever did.

Robertson later endorsed Bush, who won the presidency. Pursuit of Iowas evangelicals is now a ritual for Republican hopefuls, including those currently seeking the White House in 2024.

Robertson started the Christian Coalition in Chesapeake in 1989, saying it would further his campaigns ideals. The coalition became a major political force in the 1990s, mobilizing conservative voters through grass-roots activities.

By the time of his resignation as the coalitions president in 2001 Robertson said he wanted to concentrate on ministerial work his impact on both religion and politics in the U.S. was enormous, according to John C. Green, an emeritus political science professor at the University of Akron.

Many followed the path Robertson cut in religious broadcasting, Green told the AP in 2021. In American politics, Robertson helped cement the alliance between conservative Christians and the Republican Party.

Marion Gordon Pat Robertson was born March 22, 1930, in Lexington, Virginia, to Absalom Willis Robertson and Gladys Churchill Robertson. His father served for 36 years as a U.S. Representative and U.S. Senator from Virginia.

After graduating from Washington and Lee University, he served as assistant adjutant of the 1st Marine Division in Korea.

He received a law degree from Yale University Law School, but failed the bar exam and chose not to pursue a law career.

Robertson met his wife, Adelia Dede Elmer, at Yale in 1952. He was a Southern Baptist, she was a Catholic, earning a masters in nursing. Eighteen months later, they ran off to be married by a justice of the peace, knowing neither family would approve.

Robertson was interested in politics until he found religion, Dede Robertson told the AP in 1987. He stunned her by pouring out their liquor, tearing a nude print off the wall and declaring he had found the Lord.

They moved into a commune in New York Citys Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood because Robertson said God told him to sell all his possessions and minister to the poor. She was tempted to return home to Ohio, but I realized that was not what the Lord would have me do ... I had promised to stay, so I did, she told the AP.

Robertson received a masters in divinity from New York Theological Seminary in 1959, then drove south with his family to buy a bankrupt UHF television station in Portsmouth, Virginia. He said he had just $70 in his pocket, but soon found investors, and CBN went on the air on Oct. 1, 1961. Established as a tax-exempt religious nonprofit, CBN brought in hundreds of millions, disclosing $321 million in ministry support in 2022 alone.

One of Robertsons innovations was to use the secular talk-show format on the networks flagship show, the 700 Club, which grew out of a telethon when Robertson asked 700 viewers for monthly $10 contributions. It was more suited to television than traditional revival meetings or church services, and gained a huge audience.

Heres a well-educated person having sophisticated conversations with a wide variety of guests on a wide variety of topics, said Green, the University of Akron political science professor. It was with a religious inflection to be sure. But it was an approach that took up everyday concerns.

His guests eventually included several U.S. presidents Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump.

At times, his on-air pronouncements drew criticism.

After a devastating earthquake in 2010, he said Haitians were cursed by a pact with the devil made by the slaves who rebelled against French colonists centuries earlier, and in 2020, he spoke out against the Black Lives Matter movement, saying it wants to destroy Christianity. Of course, Black lives matter, Robertson said, but the movement is a stalking horse for a very very radical anti-family, anti-God agenda.

To insinuate that our movement is trying to destroy Christianity is disgraceful and outright offends our Christian siblings who are a part of our movement against racial injustice, responded Patrice Cullors, a BLM co-founder.

Robertson also claimed that the terrorist attacks that killed thousands of Americans on Sept. 11, 2001 were caused by God, angered by the federal courts, pornography, abortion rights and church-state separation. Talking again about 9-11 on his TV show a year later, Robertson described Islam as a violent religion that wants to dominate and destroy, prompting President George W. Bush to distance himself and say Islam is a peaceful and respectful religion.

He called for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in 2005, although he later apologized.

Later that year, he warned residents of a rural Pennsylvania town not to be surprised if disaster struck them because they voted out school board members who favored teaching intelligent design over evolution. And in 1998, he said Orlando, Florida, should beware of hurricanes after allowing the annual Gay Days event.

In 2014, he angered Kenyans when he warned that towels in Kenya could transmit AIDS. CBN issued a correction, saying Robertson misspoke about the possibility of getting AIDS through towels.

Robertson also could be unpredictable: In 2010, he called for ending mandatory prison sentences for marijuana possession convictions. Two years later, he said on the 700 Club that marijuana should be legalized and treated like alcohol because the governments war on drugs had failed.

Robertson condemned Democrats caught up in sex scandals, saying for example that President Bill Clinton turned the White House into a playpen for sexual freedom. But he helped solidify evangelical support for Donald Trump, dismissing the candidates sexually predatory comments about women as an attempt to look like hes macho.

After Trump took office, Robertson interviewed the president at the White House. And CBN welcomed Trump advisers, such as Kellyanne Conway, as guests.

But after President Trump lost to Joe Biden in 2020, Robertson said Trump was living in an alternate reality and should move on, news outlets reported.

Robertsons son, Gordon, succeeded him in December 2007 as chief executive of CBN, which is now based in Virginia Beach. Robertson remained chairman of the network and continued to appear on the 700 Club.

Robertson stepped down as host of the show after half a century in 2021, with his son Gordon taking over the weekday show.

Robertson also was founder and chairman of International Family Entertainment Inc., parent of The Family Channel basic cable TV network. Rupert Murdochs News Corp. bought IFE in 1997.

Regent University, where classes began in Virginia Beach in 1978, now has more than 30,000 alumni, CBN said in a statement.

Robertson wrote 15 books, including The Turning Tide and The New World Order.

His wife Dede, who was a founding board member of CBN, died last year at the age of 94 . The couple had four children, 14 grandchildren and 24 great-grandchildren, CBN said in a statement.

____

Former Associated Press reporters Don Schanche and Pam Ramsey contributed to this story.

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Pat Robertson, broadcaster who helped make religion central to ... - The Associated Press

Theatre professional and producer A. Prescod-Lovell. Photo by John Midgley

I have worked in and adjacent to the theater industry for approximately seven years. Within that time, I have frequently been in rooms where I am the only Black person. Through my previous work in theater journalism, I have worked to promote a more inclusive and diverse industry, a cause that is both dear to my heart and imperative to the field. And I am here to tell you, forget everything you previously learned about Broadway. Historical documentation of the grand ole Great White Way is incomplete. While the term, inspired by the bright white lights illuminating the grand theater houses in Manhattan, had nothing to do with Broadways lack of racial diversity, it set the tone for what the industry would become. Yet the success of Broadway and the wider theatrical landscape owes in no small part to the brilliance of Black people and the stories written, developed, and performed by them.

Many believe the historical presence of Blacks in New York theater began with the minstrel shows of the early 1830s. However, it was Whites who initially wrote, produced, and acted in blackface in those productions, specifically for White-only audiences. Black people found minstrelsy troubling and dehumanizing because the shows portrayed racially stereotyped Negro life comically and derogatorily.

What is not largely known is that the Black theater experience preceded minstrelsy including one of the most commercially successful theaters that catered to Black narratives, created by Caribbean immigrants living in New York City. In 1821, William Alexander Brown and John Hewlett, two free Black men from the West Indies, co-founded the African Grove Theatre in Lower Manhattan, responding to the need for stories that provided a sense of dignity for Black people. The two men entertained and educated diverse audiences with a range of theatrical productions, including Shakespearean works. A young Ira Aldridge, an American-born British actor who became the first Black actor to achieve international success, got his start at the Grove.

Vaudeville performers Bert Williams (left) and George Walker, pioneers in Black theater and community empowerment.

Another pioneering individual was George Walker. In 1908 at his home in Harlem, Walker founded the African American Theatrical Organization, primarily to improve the professional standing of Blacks. Walker and his business partner Bert Williamsa key figure in the development of Black entertainmenthad starred in In Dahomey: A Negro Musical Comedy, the first full-length all-Black musical comedy to play in a prominent Broadway theatre. The musical debuted at the former New York Theatre on February 18, 1903. Though the production ran for only 53 performances on Broadway, it would move to tour successfully in England for four years. Walker understood then the only way to survive on The Great White Way was to organize an all-Black network and become self-sufficient.

Eighteen years later, Blacks would produce, write, direct, and star in Shuffle Along, an all-Black production that would revolutionize the theater industry. The Broadway production Shuffle Along ran for 504 performances from May 23, 1921, to July 15, 1922, at the 63rd Street Music Hall (the City demolished the theater in 1957). Once the production closed on Broadway, it went on to tour for three years. Not only did Shuffle Along promote the brilliant songwriting team of Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake, and creative librettists F.E. Miller and Aubrey Lyles, the show exposed the exceptional artistry of Josephine Baker, Adelaide Hall, Hall Johnson, Florence Mills, William Grant Still, Will Vodery, and Paul Robeson, among others.

By the 1960s, while Blacks proudly proclaimed Black Power and protested for their civil rights, a new Black theater form emerged from the struggle. The groundbreaking play A Raisin in the Sun set the stage for the Black Theater Movement of the 1960s. Lorraine Hansberrys story of a loving Chicago Black family showcases the real-life challenges of racism and housing discrimination. The production opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on March 11, 1959, making Hansberry the first Black woman writer to have her play on Broadway.

Playwright August Wilson also wrote brilliantly about the complexity of racism in America. Wilson wholeheartedly embraced the larger Black Arts Movement that poet and playwright Amiri Baraka elevated by drawing attention to the revolutionary advances in Black music, literature, drama, and the visual arts. In 1968 in Pittsburgh, Wilson co-founded and directed the Black Horizons Theatre (BHT) along with a group of student activists to provide space for Black performers to reflect their points of view. Modeled on Barakas Black Arts Repertory Theater in Harlem, New York, and Spirit House in Newark, New Jersey, the BHT featured plays by noted writers Ed Bullins, Sonia Sanchez, Baraka, and others.

These stories provide merely a brief overview of some of the numerous contributions and essential inroads made by Blacks in the theater through the years. Amidst what felt like small wins in pioneering their own kind of theater, Blacks in the 21st century still find themselves lacking equity and equal representation at all levels on Broadway [and theater] beyond. As Forbes senior contributor Lee Seymour wrote in his 2020 piece, Were Not Going Back: Inside Broadways Racial Reckoning, The $15 billion industry has long styled itself a progressive bastion, yet maintains an overwhelmingly white leadership class and workforce.

As I observe Black people in theater fight for justice, they consistently vie for increased equality and inclusion in America. Ironically, the COVID-19 pandemic that shut down the world in 2020 forced many people to examine and think seriously about their circumstances through a social justice lens, igniting a burning desire for change. The prevailing sentiment within many marginalized communities was that when the world does reopen, it cannot continue doing business as usual.

In the wake of George Floyds murder at the hands of Minneapolis police, a powerful call for change echoed across the United States, driving protesters into the streets to demand justice and declare that Black Lives Matter. At the same time, over 300 Black, Indigenous, AAPI, and Latino theater makers issued a blistering statement that called out Broadways systemic racism. The letter, accompanied by a petition signed by some of the industrys most elite power players, was led by an anonymous group of theater professionals called We See You White American Theatre. As the global pandemic and Broadways shutdown left countless theater employees struggling financially, these creatives of color finally reached a breaking point. They refused to be silenced any longer and demanded an end to the whitewashing of their industry.

In the wake of protests against the senseless, ongoing killings of unarmed Black people at the hands of police officers and White private citizens, theater artists like LaChanze, Audra McDonald, and Vanessa Williams united with a single question: How do we explain this to our kids? They elicited the support of their friends and the Broadway community and established Black Theater United (BTU) in June of 2020. Theater professionals including Wendell Pierce, Billy Porter, Phylicia Rashad, Norm Lewis, and others stood together with a mission to help protect Black people, Black theater, and Black lives of all shapes and orientations in communities across the country. From this, BTU would draft A New Deal for Broadway to advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion in all aspects of theater, from casting and production to leadership and management. The initiative also provides support and resources for Black artists, including avenues for mentorship and funding. Significantly, in 2023, BTU partnered with the City University of New York to launch year-two of The Broadway Marketing Internship Program, creating new opportunities for emerging Black talent.

In July of 2020, industry veterans Reggie Van Lee, T. Oliver Reid, and Warren Adams established the Black Theater Coalition (BTC) as a nonprofit entity dedicated to increasing Black representation in theater by 500 percent by 2030. Through mentorship, training, and networking opportunities, BTC works to create a pipeline for Black artists to attain leadership positions in the theater industry. In March 2023, BTC announced a partnership with AMC Networks for a Production and Casting Fellowship program for Black theater professionals looking to branch into the worlds of television and film. The Casting fellow will have a comprehensive learning experience in all aspects of the casting process. The Television production fellow will support AMCs development and production team with creative, technical, and organizational tasks. The fellowship, open to emerging Black storytellers in Atlanta or New York City, will commence on July 25, 2023.

This spirit of unity in the family, community, nation, and race has been a common theme throughout the history of People of Color, especially in theater. However, diversity isnt as simple as just black and white. The real question is, what else does it take for full representation?

When the theater is a place where all people are included, diversity is celebrated, and everyone has equal access to the theatrical experience. The theater can become an even more powerful force for social change and a beacon of hope in a world that is too often divided. It is up to us as audiences and stakeholders to ensure this potential is realized, so the theater will become a space where everyone is valued, and a great range of experiences are presented and documented. Then the theater of the future will take shape and the history books will include those stories.

By A. Prescod-Lovell

A. Prescod-Lovell is a Brooklyn-based theater professional, producer, and founder. She is the founder of OurBKSocial.com, a digital platform dedicated to showcasing the people and places of Brooklyn, New York. Prior to this, Ayanna worked as a freelance theater journalist with bylines in several esteemed publications such as Variety, Harpers Bazaar, Playbill, Theatermania, American Theatre, and Exeunt NYC. In addition, she served as a theater co-editor at The Brooklyn Rail. Ayannas experience in theater production also includes her role as co-producer on the Broadway production of Pass Over in 2021. Her passion for theater and Brooklyn culture is evident in all her work.

Community Connectionsexamines issues and ideas of meaning to diverse communities throughout New York City and across the United States. Presented by The WNET Group, home to Americas flagship PBS station.

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Blackness and Ethnic Representation in Broadway Theater - MetroFocus

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Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee joined nine other Democratic state and territorial governors Friday in signing a letter to nine school textbook publishers calling on them to resist censorship, especially when it comes to U.S. history.

The effort was led by New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, whoishead of the Democratic Governors Association.

We are deeply troubled by the news of some textbook publishers yielding to the unreasonable demands of certain government representatives calling for the censorship of school educational materials, specifically textbooks, the letter begins.

We write to you out of concern that those who are charged with supporting the education of this countrys students, such as yourselves, may be tempted to water down critical information to appeal to the lowest common denominator. We urge any company who has not yet given in to this pressure to hold the line for our democracy.

McKees office did not respond to requests for comment.

The move came a little less than a month after Florida authorities worked with textbook companies to correct 66 social studies textbooks previously declared to contain inaccurate material, errors and other information that was not aligned with Florida Law, according to a statement from the Florida Department of Education.

The scrubbing came after only 19 of 101 submitted textbooks were approved by the state education department for use in Florida schools. The objections from the department included:

Other governors who signed the letter included: Maura Healey, of Massachusetts; John Carney, of Delaware; J.B. Pritzker, of Illinois; Wes Moore, of Maryland; Michelle Lujan Grisham, of New Mexico; Jay Inslee, of Washington; Albert Bryan, of the U.S. Virgin Islands; and Kathy Hochul, of New York.

The letter was sent to the Association of American Publishers, which represents the leading book, journal, and education publishers in the United States and the following publishers:

Cengage Learning, Goodheart-Wilcox, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, McGraw Hill Education, Routledge Taylor and Francis Group, Savvas Learning Co., Scholastic, and Teachers Curriculum Institute did not respond to requests for comment.

Pearson declined to comment.

Rhode Island Current is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Rhode Island Current maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Janine L. Weisman for questions: info@rhodeislandcurrent.com. Follow Rhode Island Current on Facebook and Twitter.

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Rhode Island Gov. McKee Calling on Textbook Companies to Resist ... - The 74