It is with a heavy heart that I write this — my farewell column for Creative Loafing.
Serving as one of the nation’s only African-American columnists at an alternative media outlet has been a pleasure and working with CL‘s editor in chief, Carlton Hargro, has been a joy; however, I’m moving on to pursue other opportunities.
In The N Word, I discussed issues of race, class, gender, power and access — and topics ranging from pop culture, politics and sports — from a national and local perspective. CL allowed me to merge all of my areas of expertise in one place and to create a voice that is passionate, informed and accessible.
I have taken on people, institutions, cultural practices and social issues — like domestic violence, drunk driving and diversity in education — which has earned me many supporters and detractors. While I did not enjoy the personal attacks and hate-filled comments from some readers, those attacks motivated me to speak the truth and to sometimes say what others couldn’t say, but we all needed to hear.
I built many contacts, conducted numerous interviews and spent hours researching important topics to make sure that my strong opinions were informed. I’ve enjoyed the kind words and strong support that I received from many readers, some of whom offered criticism but in a way that was constructive and conducive to making me a better thinker and writer. I always wanted to offer a perspective that would not be offered in the mainstream media. Sometimes I succeeded and sometimes I failed, but the point is I tried. That is all you can do — except for trying harder, I suppose.
In addition to trying harder, I have a circle of friends and colleagues who offered feedback and support throughout my time at CL. Thanks to Carlton, Kimberly, John and Matt — Carlton and Kimberly for keeping me on point and John and Matt for informing and inspiring my work. Thanks also goes out to my Charlotte crew (Cindy, Derrick, Dee, John, Miranda, Kandace, Okeatta, Sonya and Torrey) for supporting all of my initiatives, picking me up when I was down and floating me story ideas and feedback on a regular basis. Thanks to Lashawnda and Tonya for helping me keep my life in order and to Dan for the impassioned and sometimes heated discussions about current events that spurred many column topics over the years. A special thanks to my fabulous neighbors who kept me fed, entertained and informed. Jeremy and Jessica, Sean and Monica, Rashad and Eddie, Mike and Daylon have been amazing.
I can’t forget Mary C. Curtis and Glenn Burkins whose mentorship and wisdom has helped me to navigate my path in this crazy world of media. I’d also like to thank my detractors like Frank Griffin for constantly motivating me with their mean-spirited, uninformed comments. People often asked how I could write with folks like Frank spewing so much venom — easy: my last name is Burton, not Griffin or Loafing, so his and the hate-filled comments by many others didn’t affect me other than motivating me to do better and be better. You can’t let joyless people steal your joy. Besides, with the great fans and supporters of my work, who has the time to worry about the haters of the world?
When I moved to Charlotte from Los Angeles 10 years ago to work for Johnson C Smith University, to say that I experienced culture shock would be a bit of an understatement. I was like: “Where have I landed?” As the city has grown and evolved, I have grown to love Charlotte and definitely feel that I am a part of the community. I am thankful for the growing pains and a quality of life that is pretty amazing. While I am moving on professionally, I will still be in the area and stay connected to the people and organizations that I care about, like Substance Abuse and Prevention Services of which I am a board member. And I will continue to contribute to Creative Loafing occasionally, so you can look for me online in the future. My weekly column will be going away, but not my love for the city of Charlotte or CL.
Thanks for a great ride. I’m not really getting off the bus — just sliding over.
This article appears in Mar 29 – Apr 4, 2011.
I HATE to see you go Nsenga. There I go hating again hehe. It’s ok to disagree on topics without thinking the other side is simply mean and angry. I think it would have been cool to talk with you in person just to see you try and defend some of your positions. I used to have great debates with a former black co-worker of mine on the same types of topics. I moved the wife and kids last year to another state so it looks like I will not get the chance for such a debate.
You may not know this but you are the reason I began commenting at the CL. Your article was about how you browbeat your students into understanding how wonderful multiculturalism was. I wrote to the CL about how you were SO WRONG and they wanted to publish my email but I got their message a few weeks late since I do not access my email account that often. It’s funny because just a few months later the riots broke out in France over their failed multicultural experiment. In the last few months several Euro countries have publically stated that multiculturalism has failed. The timing of all of this is like a circle being completed where I was right and your were wrong hehe.
I wish you would write one more article that would highlight the venom I have used against you. I tend to be a smart ass but I do not deal in venom.
We agreed on a few articles and I said so when this happened. I am not out to simply disagree with you for the fun of it. The CL has my email address so contact me sometime. I would post my email address on here but you know when you used the word venom, you should see how liberals act when you are not on their side. You would truly know the definition of the word venom then.
As a word of advice quit name and position dropping all the time, it’s kind of yucky.
Good luck on your future endeavors.
Frank
Darn now horny lil devil Frank has no chocolate fantasy.
I have my wife for that Nfamous and she is chocolate BTW.
You would think a few more people would have said good bye.