‘Surviving Deep Waters’: A Black TV reporter takes a long dive into D.C. news
,” Johnson, 71, writes about growing up poor and without a father in Louisville. For fun, he’d drop from tree branches hanging over the Ohio River and dog-paddle back to shore, unable to actually swim. At 14, he left home to study at a seminary. But he gave up on the priesthood, because “I was also drawn to those things that most 15-year-old boys crave: girls.”
In 1972, while working at a television station in Cincinnati, the senior news editor told him, “I don’t think you’ll ever be a good writer, Bruce.” Johnson was the only Black reporter employed at the station, and the editor had made the comment loud enough for everyone in the newsroom to hear.“Was it the kind of test that every journalist must pass at some point?” Johnson wondered in his book.
Johnson quickly made a name for himself covering poverty, crime, racial discrimination, Marion Barry and D.C. politics. But there were still times when he was forced to contemplate whether a White editor had made an offensive remark because he was a racist — or just a jerk.When Johnson asked a White news director why he wasn’t on the list to cover a hurricane, the director replied, “You’re not covering the hurricane because your hair doesn’t blow in the wind.
Johnson wrote that he heard his mother’s voice saying to him: “Don’t move. Uncurl your fists, but don’t sit back down because it will look like you’re backing down.” The peace between Johnson and the director was brokered during a meeting with the general manager. After the meeting, Johnson shook the news director’s hand and walked out.But he never received an apology or an explanation for the comment. That news director eventually left, and a new one was brought in.
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