The Pain of Losing Les Payne

By Gloria Dulan-Wilson

Hello All:

The shock of losing the immortal Les Payne, the consummate journalist, is hard to bear. I consider Les a friend and a colleague. I had the distinct pleasure of having worked side by side with him on several assignments – though I wrote for predominantly Black publications and he wrote for what was then New York Newsday.

Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalist Les Payne 

We always ran in concentric circles throughout the Black communities covering the stories relevant to Black people. Les was always to the point – where I was basically emotional when it came to covering Black stories and Black issues. I always admired him his ability to cut through the codes and the BS foisted upon us by the meanstream.

I admired the fact that he walked the fine line of writing for a white-owned newspaper and still say what he had to say. At the time the New York Newsday, not to be confused with Newsday (Long Island), had more of an Urban (read Black) slant, hence a fairly large Black readership; and Les was one of their best, and most highly regarded writer.

Les, Gil Noble and Bill McCreary were the three men I admired most among Black journalists. All three were out in the trenches, and each had their own mission to make sure that Black people had as much of the truth about what was going on as they could possibly provide.  And this was by no means easy. 

However, Les was the brother who,  at the end of the day, would hang with you at the Black clubs and talk about what was really going down – stuff you couldn't put in the papers. Les had the inside track on what was happening behind the scenes. We could laugh at the lunacy of Rudy Giuliani,  talk at length about his gestapo/il duce behavior and his insults to former mayor David Dinkins,  and the  impending demise of the Black community in New York, as we knew it, started under the Giuliani administration, and completed under Bloomberg.  We looked at the paucity of  quality education and educators in the schools and the political pawn that the chancellors of education turned out to be.

Our combined mission was to keep Black people informed and involved – and Les was the perfect reality check. However, as editor of the New York Newsday, he faced stiff competition because the paper was not allowed to be circulated in Manhattan – and primarily covered and circulated n  Brooklyn and Queens. Having a wider circulation would most likely have given them the revenue to continue publication.  But it was clear to him that there was a shift in the winds when that was not forthcoming.  He often thought they were planning for it to fail.

So, the New York Newsday shut down in 1995, under what Les considered specious circumstances. He had actually gone before the board with a proposal to open it up to NYC,  bring in more African American and Latino journalists, reflective of the diversity of New York; but the concept was “shot down.” It appeared, according to Les, there was just too much Black view for the comfort of the owners, whose main offices were on the left (west) coast.

I remember the night of the final edition of the paper, we all stood at the bar at our favorite gathering place in Harlem, Perks,  and toasted the demise of one of the finest publications for the people. Les was visibly shaken, upset, yet philosophical. “Well, I got to have a job. I don't know what's next – but I guess Brooklyn won't be my beat anymore.” he joked. I half offered him an opportunity to write for the Daily Challenge – the paper I writng for at the time, and he gave me the “Are-you-for-real?” stare, and started laughing. Okay, so I was a little naive at the time – there was no way the Daily Challenge could match the major salary he had been receiving at New York Newsday. It became one of our standing jokes when we would run into each other in later years.

My other joke would be to say, “I want “Less pain” from Les Payne!"  Or, “I need more of Les!” With big hugs and looks into each others' eyes – and the resigned shaking of our heads, as if to say nobody know the trouble – because the world was getting progressively crazier and crazier – the trick was how to write about it and not become infected and affected by it!

I was always awed by the fact that Les had won a Pulitzer Prize but still chose to hang with us. To me that was the mark of a true Black man – a true brother. He could take conversations so far into the intellectual stratosphere you'd need an oxygen mask to breathe the rare air. Other times we'd compare notes on who had the craziest what and when. Of course there was no way I could ever outdo him - he had been to South Africa during apartheid at a time when he could have easily lost his life under their racist regime. He was also the first Black investigative reporter I knew – actually the only Black investigative reporter I ever knew.  I was in awe!

While he was talking and or commiserating with you, his eyes would be subtly scanning the room to see who was on scene and what was going on. He would spot political figures and synopsize something they were involved in and make predictions about where they'd end up, and pick up the conversation you were having without missing a beat. Les was always looking up just above the crowd slowly making his way through the room.  But then, that was the advantage of being one of the tallest guys in the room.  Then that ready smile would break out on his face when he saw someone he liked; or a slight look of wary seriousness if it was someone he didn't quite trust.  He dressed in a style that I called medium cool - just enough to pass for business attire, but casual enough to hang out.  

I had asked him on several occasions to write the definitive book on Les Payne and how to be a real BLACK journalist. He shared my views on those among us who wanted to be accepted by the meanstream (my term for the white media), but who would never take a stand for Black people. And there were several who had already sold their souls to do so. Les was definitely not one of them.

Few journalists had the courage to write it like it was in meanstream newspapers – he was a advocate for Black people who spoke Truth to power without beating you over the head with it.

My condolences to his family, fans, friends and colleagues and the readers who have gained so much from his insight and wisdom over the years. 

There actually ought to be a course taught on the Les Payne methodology of investigative reporting; followed by Les Payne Black Journalistic Style 101 and 201; to break the cycle of wannabe journalism and begin a new era of those Black journalists who speak truth power the Les Payne way.

Funeral Arrangements for Les Payne are as follows:  Viewing will take place at Abyssinian Baptist Church, Monday, March 26, from 5pm to 8pm; services will be held Tuesday, March 27 at 10:00 am at Abyssinian Baptist Church.

Our brother is now with the Ancestor/Angels, making sure that all the news he writes from now on is good news 

Stay Blessed &

ECLECTICALLY BLACK

Gloria

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