Savage Portrayals: Race, Media and the Central Park Jogger Story

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments I AM ETERNALLY GRATEFUL for the generosity of spirit of the members of the Central Park Five—Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, and Korey Wise—whose lives provided the inspiration for this project and who have embraced me as I worked to tell a part of their stories. The idea to write about the media coverage of the attack on the Central Park jogger began for me while I covered the story as a journalist. At that time, what the account should look like and the message it should deliver were just a blurry image. My journey to completing this book included many difficult roads that I could not have traveled had it not been for the support of numerous people, whose belief in my project—which sought to forge an alternative path, away from traditional metanarratives in sociological research—kept me going through many dark days when the task seemed impossible. Early support came from members of my dissertation committee at Fordham University, particularly Robin Andersen and E. Doyle McCarthy from the university’s Communication and Media Studies and Sociology and Anthropology departments, respectively. Since our days in the sociology doctoral program , the intellectual generosity of Joyce Weil has been a continuous source of help to me. My current home institution, St. John’s University in Queens, New York, has provided institutional and financial support that has helped bring this project to fruition. The university’s Institute for Writing Studies has been vital. My writing partnership with Anne Geller, director of the institute’s Writing Across the Curriculum, sustained me, particularly during the school year. She heard and read many versions of significant parts of the manuscript. Her insightful questions prompted the self-reflection needed as I worked to create my narrative path. I must also thank the director of the institute’s Writing Center, Harry viii Acknowledgments Denny, who helped me wrestle a chapter of the manuscript into shape. A grant from the St. John’s Center for Teaching and Learning supported my work with Herstory, the memoir writing group whose structured memoir writing pedagogy provided a foundation for some of my work. I am indebted to Herstory and its founder Erika Duncan, who read and critiqued my early forays into memoir writing. A grant from the St. John’s Summer Support of Research Program was invaluable for helping me complete the project. My department at St. John’s provided institutional support via several graduate research assistants , particularly Donna Truong and Frances Adomako, who provided important help. I am very thankful for the encouragement I have received from colleagues in my department, particularly Roderick Bush, Judith Ryder, and Roberta Villalón. I am also indebted to colleagues outside my institution who read drafts of the proposal and the manuscript and provided guidance, mentorship, and detailed and thoughtful feedback. In particular, the intellectual support and generosity of Carolyn Brown, Judith Byfield, Karen Fields, Venus Green, Wanda Hendricks, Donna Murch, and Deborah Gray White propelled me forward. In addition, I thank Deirdre Royster, whose insightful comments early in the process were instrumental. I must express my deep feelings of gratitude to my colleagues, friends, and family outside of academia, whose various forms of support helped make this book possible. Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, and David McMahon supported my project in their own work. In particular, Sarah Burns provided research support . My editors at Temple University Press have been invaluable. In particular , I thank Janet Francendese and Mick Gusinde-Duffy, as well as copy editor Lynne Frost, who have been central. I am also deeply grateful to my extended family, whose support for me is always palpable. I thank my parents, Hugh and Ruby Byfield; their lifelong support has been inspirational. I also thank my siblings, Judith, Brian, and Byron. The Browne, Dock, Sheppard, Whitehead , and Wright families also have been the core of my world for decades and have kept me going. In particular, my mother-in-law, Sarah Dock, and lifelong friend Ruth Browne have championed me unflaggingly. My final words of thanks go to my husband, Clarence, and my children, Kenya and Camara, to whom this project is, in part, dedicated. Their support throughout this long process has been breathtaking. ...