Q&A with Derrell Connor: WIBA’s ‘Outreach’ host doesn’t mince words
As a teenager, Derrell Connor was often told he had the gift ofgab.
But it took Connor another 20 years to find his niche doing talkradio in his adopted hometown of Madison.
Now, as host of “Outreach,” which airs weekly on WIBA/AM 1310,Connor enjoys perhaps the biggest stage for any African-Americanmedia voice in the area. Connor also writes a column for Channel3000 and freelances for Madison Magazine.
And when it comes to discussing racial issues, Connor doesn’tpull any punches. he frequently talks about the importance ofpersonal responsibility and continues to hammer on the need togenerate more wealth within the black community.
At the same time, Connor calls out injustice and discriminationwhen he sees it. He’s been a staunch supporter of the proposedMadison Prep charter school, which is aimed at tackling thedistrict’s embarrassingly high achievement gap between whitestudents and children of color.
Connor, 43, grew up in northwest Philadelphia, then later movedwith his mom and grandparents to California, where he attended SanFrancisco State University. while in California he met his wife,Laura, a native of Chicago. Connor followed her back to the Midwestand they’ve been in Madison since 1992. Laura Bush-Connor is aRealtor with First Weber. The couple has three young children.
Connor has worked a variety of sales jobs, including as anaccount executive at Mortenson, Matzelle & Meldrum. For threeyears he served as chairman of the Urban League of GreaterMadison’s Board of Directors. He’s also a member of the GreaterMadison Chamber of Commerce’s Minority Business Advisory Counciland has actively been involved with Big Brothers/Big Sisters.
An admitted radio novice with no formal training, Connor got hisstart in broadcasting in 2004 when he won a Clear Channel contestto host the local sports talk show “Fanline” on WTSO-AM. That gigworked out so well that Connor was offered a chance at a regulartalk show by WIBA operations manager Tim Scott. “Outreach” debutedin June 2005 and has enjoyed a six-year run on WIBA. It generallyairs from 6-8 p.m. on Thursdays.
The following is an edited interview.
Capital Times: as one of the fewAfrican-Americans working in local media, how do you assess theMadison scene from that perspective?
Derrell Connor: one of my first realexperiences with the local media was when I was board chairman ofthe Urban League and we had just hired Scott Gray as the newpresident. We set up a press conference at the Concourse Hotel tointroduce Scott and sent out releases to all the local media. Ithought I had commitments from Channel 3, Channel 27, Channel 15and the Wisconsin State Journal. And none of them showed up.
I remember being really angry about that because we talk allabout diversity and inclusion but the fact of the matter is thatwhen anything happens in troubled neighborhoods, like Allied orBroadway Simpson, the media is the first one there. but here we hada case where the largest civil rights organization in the city hasjust hired a new CEO and we can’t even get one local media outletto show up. I thought that was ridiculous and inexcusable.
CT: That must have been a shocker, givenMadison’s reputation as a liberal city.
DC: Don’t get me wrong. I think Madison is agreat town and I enjoy it here. I know the city has prided itselfas a place of inclusion and diversity but in many instances we’renot as diverse or inclusive as we think we are.
CT: Can you offer some other examples?
DC: look at the nightclub scene. We have seenso many places close down from Club 7 (aka Club Hilltop) to ClubMajestic to the stuff going on with R place on Park. I understandthat unfortunately you have a few people that are going to ruinthings for everybody else. but I have never been a believer that acertain type of music makes someone go out and commit crimes orthat it attracts a criminal element.
Listen, if you’re a business owner and you run a goodestablishment and stuff happens outside your establishment that youhave no control over, I don’t think it is necessarily the businessowner’s fault. If you call the police, which is what you aresupposed to do, that shouldn’t be a strike against you.
It’s like saying that because a convenience store gets robbedseven times over a few months you should just close it down. Thestore can’t stop itself from being robbed.
As for R place, what does this recent shooting have to do withthem? It didn’t happen inside the club. It’s funny to me how RickFlowers has never had an incident inside his establishment but hislicense (gets revoked) anyway. There was a shooting at the HighlandGates Retail Center on Gammon Road too. Are we going to shut downthe strip mall also?
Bottom line is that Joe Balles, the Madison Police Departmentand the city have had it in for this bar for a long time and theywere going to use any reason at all to shut it down.
CT: so are bars that attract anAfrican-American crowd held to a different standard?
DC: to a degree and especially when it comes tocomparing bars on campus. For instance, take the Mifflin StreetBlock Party. I heard the police say that because there were twosexual assaults and three stabbings there they were going to”ratchet it down.” Wait a minute here. We had two sexual assaultsand three stabbings and you are going to “ratchet it down”? Youshould be shutting it down. If there was a block party on AlliedDrive and there was just one sexual assault, you’d have it shutdown. Those are the kinds of inconsistencies I’m talking about.
CT: Lately, you have been speaking out insupport of the Madison Prep charter school aimed at improvingacademic performance and graduation rates for at-risk kids. Howfrustrating has that controversy been?
DC: We all look at the achievement gap andagree that something is missing. And you can talk about parentalinvolvement all you want but let’s face it: Some parents justaren’t very good parents and there is nothing you can say or do tochange that. but this is about the kids. The question remains: Whatare you going to do when you have a 48 percent graduation rate andthe high incarceration rate for so many young African-American men?so along comes someone like Kaleem Caire who says “You know thereare a number of charter schools that focus on at-risk kids.” Youget the Urban League behind this and suddenly everybody is up inarms, saying it’s racist or sexist or whatever.
But if the situation were reversed, if we had a majority ofwhite kids in this situation we’d be coming up with all kinds ofcreative ideas, We’d be saying “What is wrong here? What kind ofstuff are you teaching these kids?”
With Madison Prep, what we have is a bunch of folks standing upand saying “We have a problem here and this is a starting point.”These kinds of schools have worked in other communities and maybethe Madison School District can find something that will work here.but I’m not afraid to say this: There are some in this communitywho use the smokescreen of racism and discrimination because theydon’t want to see African-American students who may have flounderedin one type of school succeed in another type of school. they areafraid that if Madison Prep is successful it somehow will make themlook bad.
CT: I still don’t think the public understandsthat Madison Prep isn’t just for African-American students, it’sfor all at-risk students.
DC: There are people out there who keepinsisting that this is just for black kids because it’s an UrbanLeague thing. And to be honest with you, even if it was, so what?these are the ones suffering. they are the ones hurting. but we seea black CEO and hear Urban League and people just assume that’sit’s just for black kids without even asking the question.
CT: What about the costs? Some School Boardmembers are saying Madison Prep could be a budget buster.
DC: my question is, what is the alternative?nobody is asking that question. everybody said “What about thegirls school?” and the Urban League said fine. Instead of 120 boys,we’ll split it up; 60 boys, 60 girls. so now you have to house thegirls in another building, which costs even more money. I’m afraidwhat is going to happen in November (when the School Board votes onMadison Prep) is that people are going to say we can’t afford thisand that will be their out.
The last thing I’ll say on this is that I am always hearing thatthe black community needs to stand up and get more involved inschools. well here is a situation where folks are saying “OK. Wehave this achievement gap and how are we going to address it?” Weare using Urban Prep (in Chicago) as an example, which for the lastfour years has a 100 percent graduation rate and all those kidshave gone on to college. they are all African-American men, youngmen. Here is something we can do as a starting point. is it thewhole answer? No. but it is a way to try to address the issue. Youcan’t in one breath say you want people to stand up and takeresponsibility and when they do, you have all kinds of issues withit. well, which one is it? If not this, what is the alternative? Ifyou say we can’t do Madison Prep, what are you going todifferently?
CT: You’ve been successful in making a careerhere but do you feel like Madison has a very large black middleclass?
DC: yes and no. If you look at the MadisonSchool District you’d say no. There are definitely some issues withthe economy right now. Black unemployment is very high. a lot ofpeople are suffering. but to me this isn’t a black and white issue.There are a lot of people in the same boat financially and the onlycolor that matters is green. you talk to rich people of color andthey are not talking about this stuff at all. It’s only the middleclass and poor talking about these issues. Rich folks aren’tworried about an achievement gap because they have the means tosend their kids to the best schools.
So you have middle and lower class blacks and Asians and whitesand Latinos fighting over the scraps when really those same folksshould be mobilizing together.
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