It was halfway through James Causey’s introduction of Thomas E. Mitchell, Jr. at his installation into the Milwaukee Press Clubs Hall of Fame on Friday that I realized how much Tom has meant to our Village and the Black Press of America.
Tom is one of those behind-the-scenes orchestrators who may not be a household name but has played an instrumental role in shaping ‘hue-men’ lives through information, education, and advocacy.
For nearly four decades, Tom has performed every duty under the editorial and production umbrellas, excelling in most and taking others to uncharted territories.
As the cornerstone of a small editorial staff, he spends endless hours researching, reporting, and ranking information to empower our community.
His editorials advise and frequently condemn and criticize villagers for their apathy, ignorance, and complicity in sustaining systemic racism, educational apartheid, and political and poverty pimpology.
His articles (like the interview series with Rev. Greg Lewis, which concludes this week) motivate and inspire action and advocacy.
The Community Journal is the only local Black newspaper with an editorial staff—albeit today with more photographers than reporters—and thus, we are generally the only Black media representatives at press conferences and cultural events.
Often, I will be the face of the MCJ at those events.
That’s because Thomas splits his work day—and night—with his most recognizable responsibility: production.
Back when I was running the editorial and production departments, I had a supporting cast (including Tom), and even then, had I been paid by the hour, I would be driving a new car and living on Lakeshore Drive.
Tom is a one-man operation and gets paid a living—albeit challenging— salary for his endeavors.
He would be paid much more at a White/majority/daily newspaper. But, like the MCJ core group, we are not into this for financial reward.
Conversely, while staff will frequently express appreciation for the award-winning final product, I don’t know if sales and administrative staff genuinely know what goes into the production of the paper.
It is a time consuming, fre-quently frustrating (but nonetheless rewarding) creative process that will make or break a newspaper.
Because of Tom’s creativity, we produce the best-looking newspaper in the state, if not the country.
Toward that end, he has merged magazine and web design within a newspaper format to create something that attracts attention and drives circulation.
For Tom and the MCJ, It’s been a long journey to this point, one remembered not just in regards to the product and impact but for the lives impacted both externally and internally.
That journey has witnessed children born, marriages, triumphs and failures. It has also sadly, included a half dozen deaths of MCJ family mem-bers.
I can’t remember what Tom’s employment application entailed 38 years ago, but if written yesterday, it would bring a broad smile to the faces of John Russwurm and Samuel Cornish, founders of the Black Press in 1826.
Indeed, the former student is today the teacher, and while he proclaimed during his acceptance speech at the Press Club event that I was his mentor, I would not hesitate to decree that in the last few decades, I have learned as much from him as he ever did from me. (Save for women, theology, and Africentric culture; not necessarily in that order.)
I would freely admit (but don’t quote me) that Tom is a much better technical writer.
I’m probably more creative and possess a more varied catalog of experiences—particularly regarding civil rights engagements and educational battles—but I still might have to ask Tom the difference between a conjunction and a preposition.
While I have earned more journalistic awards than any contemporary African American in the state, most have been for this column and are the result of my vast experiences and often bombastic writing style.
My Black Nationalist and Africentric slant on issues, combined with my ‘sardonic’ writing style, has made me an anomaly.
Like Causey, who earned his red, black, and green stripes as a teenager at the MCJ under Tom and me, I see myself as a God-ordained tree shaker and griot. Even my name—Kwaku Osei— speaks of my mission and passion (for our village above all others).
I am of the journalistic mode of Martin Delaney, while Tom is more a Frederick Douglass emulation.
Moreover, Tom has that academic ability to pen a story in half the time, with more than four syllable words and little need of editing. While he excels at straight stories, his creative pen is best put to work on his editorials.
I also envy Tom’s stamina and attention to detail. Combined with his art background, those qualities have made him one of the best graphics designers in the country, which is all the more impressive given that he’s self-taught.
While we have never talked about it, I firmly believe Nyame (God) sets people on specific trails and empowers them with the resources and desire to stay true to that calling.
I have no doubt I am where I am supposed to be, and my life journey as a journalist—tree shaker and griot—was ordained. Tom is not fully aware of how fate and faith engineered his destiny. But he is obviously where God intended for him to be as well.
Simply put, I have never applied for a job, and save for my employment with several family businesses and a stint in the military, I have been led down this journalistic trail.
I have gone from paperboy to publisher (associate) with mentorship along the way from Black newspeople.
As a teen, Rae Moore, the only African American reporter at the old Milwaukee Sentinel, plucked me off the street and provided me with a job as a Sentinel copyboy.
Later it was Lee Barrows, head of the mass communications department at UWM, who recommended me for an internship at the Star Times under Robert Thomas.
From photojournalist to sports editor to managing editor there, I was later offered the editor’s slot by Patricia Pattillo (formerly Thomas) for this publication, where I have spent my entire adulthood.
Tom’s journey was different, but it’s obvious he was destined to be my Tonto, Friday, and Abernathy—until a few years ago when we switched roles.
A couple of decades ago, Thomas stepped into my shoes as the editor, while I’m the second reporter, columnist, and editor of the Healthy Start Magazine.
As associate publisher, we work in concert. I will occasionally ‘suggest’ a story or theme. I’ll also edit and proofread, but his writing rarely requires anything other than to dot an ‘i’ or cross a ‘t.’
Thomas may not be the first person in the office, but he is always the last to leave. He does everything, as Causey revealed, including taking out the garbage when needed.
The condition of his office chair speaks volumes about Tom’s commitment and work. There is a large imprint of his butt on the chair he regularly sits in in the production room, and while the chair used to sway to the right, it now leans left, if you get my drift (no pun intended).
When Tom started at the MCJ, you could classify him as ‘conservative-leaning. I don’t think he ever voted Republican, but by today’s toxic and oversimplistic labeling, he would have been classified by missionaries and gullible Black folks as a ‘traitor.’
In case you’ve been blinded by the light cascading off the armor of the ‘great White savior knight,’ the truth is that label is disingenuously utilized by missionaries and other special interests to control Black political pawns into thinking any African American Christian, free thinker or follower of traditional Black values and mores is a ‘turncoat.’
Indeed, the apparent clue that Tom was a member of the ‘Talented Tenth’ was his upbringing in a two-parent, middle-class family that sought to achieve the American dream.
It was also a strong Christian family of Black professionals, which means it supported what is disingenuously considered today antiquated and ‘politically incorrect.’
Against that backdrop, Tom sought employment with us back when pork chops were cheap and African American politicians were scarcer than Black Green Bay Packer cheerleaders.
His acknowledged philosophy was best summed up in a column I tricked him into writing on the qualities of a potential wife.
He was subsequently attacked and ridiculed for admitting such blasphemous requirements, including his preference for a goal-oriented fellow Christian without a ready-made family.
He also wanted someone with an education who spoke English as a first language.
Ironically, he did marry one of his original critics who didn’t fit his profile.
With the same vigor and value system he put into the paper, he assumed a surrogate father role, helped to develop a church marriage ministry, and even took on an additional job when his wife was between jobs at one point, and continued to work at when his wife started her own business.
His reward? Suffice it to say she wasn’t at the Milwaukee Press Club’s HOF installation event, and the divorce was finalized three days later.
Along with the late African historian and culturalist Taki Raton, I can take partial credit for moving Tom from the myopia of partisan race belief in ‘His-story’ as a propaganda tool to membership in the Africentric global majority—our diaspora. From ghetto to the village.
Taki explained the Maafa, and I introduced Malcolm. Taki introduced Tom to Amenhotep while I spoke of Africentric nationalism.
Of course, Tom is his own man and adds his own dressing to the cultural salad.
But he now mentors on the realities of American apartheid, that the two political parties are merely different wings on the same bird, and how our empowerment will come from within, if at all.
Equally important, Thomas accepts the wisdom of the late Polly Williams, who once posited, “We have no permanent friends, nor permanent enemies, merely permanent issues.”
Tom has always been open to exploration, clarity, and research, each essential qualities of a good journalist but crucial for representatives of the Black Press. He carries the torch lit by Russwurm and Cornish, ever faithful to the mission and motto of the Black Press, ‘to plead our own cause….’
The same can be said of his commitment to educate and inform the Black community. To advocate for and to defend the oppressed and to challenge the status quo. You might not see his name, but you have benefitted from his words.
Above all else, Thomas E. Mitchell, Jr. is a good brother. He can be relied upon to carry the flag of unity and Black empowerment amid attacks from special interests on both sides and House Negroes and terrorists within.
Given his upbringing, I doubt if Tom has ever been in a serious fistfight in his entire life. But he’s one of those brothers who you know will have your back.
Hotel
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