The Best of Emerge Magazine

Rating:
Summary: The Best Is Not Included
Review: Curious that the so-called best of Emerge coincides when editor George Curry took over, a sign of self-congratulatory ego. Prior to Curry, Emerge was blessed with lively, diverse writing from an assortment of authors ranging from Shelby Steele, Amari Baraka, Juan Williams, Margo Jefferson, and other A-list writers. Topics published in the pre-Curry years were ground-breaking. Emerge was the first black publication to discuss the AIDS crisis in the African-American community, to predict the fall of African dictatorships. Its most beautiful and best-selling issue of all time examined the impact of Malcolm X long before the release of the Spike Lee bio-pic. Emerge profiled people such as Angela Davis to Willie T Ribbs to Colin Powell to Nelson Mandela. Each issue of Emerge was vibrant. Under Curry, Emerge read like The Crisis - heavily edited, dated, flavorless. It chose to "courageously" ridicule established pariahs like Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas - while ignoring the hypocritical lives of certain established leaders in the black community. The best of Emerge can be found in back issue magazine stores, not in this collection.

Rating:
Summary: A Bygone Journalism Era Brought Back to Life
Review: Journalist/Editor George E. Curry has resurrected the magnificent, hard-hitting, journalistic stories that made the now defunct Emerge Magazine the premier feature news publication in the 1990s. In this 660 + page volume, we are graced with The Best of Emerge Magazine edited by Curry. It is a work of brilliance to combine these stories in one work to be read at the readers' convenience and pleasure. It is also a vital, historical document worthy of being filed with the Schomburg Institute.

The exposes are prolific, provocative and well-written. Who can forget "Kemba's Nightmare," the young college student who got caught in a drug dealer's web? She was sentenced to thirty years in jail, where she gave birth to her son and tore at the heartstrings of countless African Americans, especially middle-class parents, who were reminded "There but for the grace of God, that could be my child." Reported in three parts over several years, Kemba was pardoned by President Clinton just before he left the White House in 2000. Ralph Wiley's insightful essay in 1989 about black athletic superiority is now a classic as is Lee A. Daniels' stunning article, "Targeting Black Boys for Failure." Jill Nelson's story "Amazing Grace" examines the plight of Deborah Lyons, wife of the dishonored president of the National Baptist Convention. Nelson expounds on the subservient role Sister Lyons and other women take in the wake of male religious leaders who continually humiliate and shame their loved ones.

"Driving While Black" and "Thinking While Black" are among other stimulating articles, as well as "Rape of a Spelman Coed" which made us look hard at the issue of acquaintance/date rape in the black community and our attitudes about it. Profiles of Dick Gregory, Johnnie Cochran, Farrakhan, Betty Shabazz, Elizabeth Catlett and Tom Joyner captured the essence of who's who in diverse black America. And did we not look forward to "Friend Fire", the witty column written by Lauren Adams Deleon, which looked at the stupid, crazy, bizarre, but true antics of our folk? There are a great many more great stories, but what remains with me to this day is the MasterCard moment of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, posed as a lawn jockey on the cover of one of the most controversial issues of the publication, and the accompanying article written by Curry himself. Priceless indeed.

This reviewer is of the mind that such controversial issues as the Thomas piece, among others, led to the Emerge's demise, which is contentious in itself. It seems everybody does not agree with putting our dirty laundry out for all the world to view. Loquacious, innovative and groundbreaking, this is the meat of journalistic reporting. I was disappointed when the magazine ceased publication and have not found another quite to my satisfaction to replace it. I say there should be a campaign to bring back Emerge Magazine and I would gladly volunteer as the chairperson. Bring back Emerge!

Dera Williams
APOOO BookClub