Who is this Nicholson fellow?

Just a guy I saw in the Washington Post as far as I know. Feels like he's pushing the Bell Curve nonsense the Wall Street Journal is resurrecting recently.

there are two paragraphs in the work that are damning.  it's as if he had diarrhea of the digits.   take those two paragraphs out...and he gets away clean.

Found this: he apparently contributes a column to Slate with this tag:

David Nicholson, a former book reviewer for the Washington Post, is at work on a novel about black men and violence called The House of Eli.

Err..."contributes" should be "contributed." The column in question ran several years ago. In one entry, Nicholson refers to himself as black.

take those two paragraphs out...and he gets away clean.

The two paragraphs were the message.

In one entry, Nicholson refers to himself as black.

Oh, well...there's never a shortage of such.

I guess maybe I'm now numb to that Bell Curve b.s., but what struck me about Nicholson's article is his totally misunderstanding (IMHO) of the purpose of such marches, including the original March on Washington.  Such events are meant to galvanize public opinion and inject into the public dialogue the critical issues of racial disparity in this country.  A march cannot--and was never intended--to serve as a mass organizing meeting to develop consensus on a Black Agenda.  Even in the 60's, no one expected marching would solve problems, but would draw national (and international) attention to them and to show the strength of commitment to solving them.  At the time of the March on Washington, the Civil Rights bill was pending in Congress, and the sheer numbers at the March made an intimidating force legislators straddling the fence could not overlook.  Time and time again, we see that getting things done means not just drawing attention to an issue, but hammering out solutions in back rooms, board rooms, city halls, state houses, etc.  And building public understanding of the urgency for a given solution is vital to that process.

Nicholson is also off the mark in looking to "powerful black executives...from Fortune 500 companies" as saviors for Black America by taking sabbaticals to lead traditional civil rights organizations.  True, such executives can play a critical role in addressing the problems that plague us, but it takes politicians, grass roots organizations, institutions, and EVERYONE to do their part.  Unfortunately, many executives in Fortune 500 companies lack the motivation and the credibility to be anything other than token leadership.  At any rate, let's keep these execs in place where they are, and put pressure on them to build corporate initiatives (like worker protection,  fighting for affirmative action, etc.) that help the cause.  I'd much prefer that to any NAACP boycott or Urban League program.

Finally, let me add that no one is seriously expecting Sharpton, Farrakhan, or Jackson to become another Martin Luther King; we became disabused of that notion long, long ago.  What we do appreciate about them (at their best) is their ability to articulate for the national media the issues of race that confront us as a people and as a country.  That's all.  I don't expect they can single-handedly solve any of our problems alone, or that they can serve as our un-elected co-presidents of Black America.  But like P6, if they are able to spearhead and develop a plan of action around specific issues that I think makes sense, I am definitely down.