Information is Power

February 21, 2005 Issue

“Ladies and Gentlemen, a lot of lies have been perpetuated in this society, and the biggest lie is that we belong to four different races … And now they have been able, with that theory, to stigmatize and stereotype people that are being exploited,” said media entrepreneur Tony Brown during a Pitt Black Action Society-sponsored lecture here Feb. 17. “Only six out of 4,000 genes determine the pigment of our skin. The only difference between a White person and a Black person is a genetic sunburn.”

Success comes largely through acquiring knowledge and information, emphasized Brown, a television and radio journalist and commentator, film director, and host of PBS-TV’s longest-running series, “Tony Brown’s Journal.” “Whoever has the most information has the most power,” he told the William Pitt Union Assembly Room audience.