Journalist, family and friends share memories of legendary Philadelphia journalist Chuck Stone.
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Chuck Stone was a larger than life icon, a celebrity journalist if there ever was one. His stylish crew-cut and luxurious bowties were the perfect compliments to his exquisite vernacular, which got its grooming from the tattered thesaurus that sat on his desk. As a sanctuary for the most vulnerable, Stone was herald a hero; not just to the more than 75 criminals who surrendered themselves to him in fear of being brutalized by the racist police, but to his family who knew him simply as Charlie-boy.
Wearing a bowtie – as did most of the male journalists who spoke Saturday afternoon at the historic Mother Bethel A.M.E Church for a memorial service honoring one of the founding members of the National Association of Black Journalist – Gene Seymor, Stone’s nephew – who started working at the Philadelphia Daily News in November 1981 – recalls the great times he had as a kid when his uncle dropped in for a visit once a year.
“He was his own caravan,” Seymor said, equating his uncle’s visit to a circus coming to town, “he’d tell funny stories, make funny faces; he was a very silly man.”
It wasn’t until Seymor was 10 years-old, which was in the early 60’s, that he was made aware that this “very silly man” was an important part of history. It was then, Seymor says, that this magical figure became even more magical.
But despite being the life of the party and a songbird in his own right – a fan of Count Basie and an indulger in Vocalese – Chuck Stone was widely considered a very serious and militant journalist. A publication who profiled him after his death referred to as “the angry man of the Negro press.”
“We have the right to be angry, and to use that anger in a constructive way journalistically,” explains Washington Post columnist Joe Davidson, who was fourth to speak on Saturday, “that doesn’t mean that our news stories are diatribe and filled with our own opinions about everything. But it means using the anger that we have when we’ve seen injustice, or poverty, or when you see things that are wrong… use that energy, use that emotion to really influence and inform – particularly inform – our writing, our broadcasting, so that we can do whatever we are able to do within ourselves, within our talents, to advance the situation for black people, and for the community in general. So I think anger is another lesson we can learn from Chuck.”
In addition to anger, Davidson – who remembers meeting with Chuck Stone at Broad and Girard in the early days of the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalist at what was then the Institute of Black Ministries – says another thing we can learn from Stone’s career –who in 1981 dissolved a hostage situation at Grateford Prison – was trust.
Les Payne, a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist and one of the founding members of NABJ, confirms Stone’s trustworthiness, as he recalls Malcolm X summoning Stone to his Chicago hotel room for advice a week before his assassination.
“Chuck didn’t just report the news; he often gave advice to civil rights leaders,” says Payne, who met Chuck Stone in the summer of 1973, “he was tough; he put in work; he didn’t mail it in; he was a witness to history and a pioneer in daily journalism.”
“We forget journalism can be a joyful noise, says Seymor, “My uncle loved his work; it bought him sheer joy. He was about getting through and getting things done; he was a making a joyful noise!”
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