East of the River

Meet Your Neighbor

Joe Madison: Ward 8’s own Black Eagle soars

by: Michelle Phipps-Evans

He is called Joe by many people. To others, it’s Mr. Madison. But to all of his early morning listeners to the WOL-1450 AM (The Power) radio station, he is known simply as the Black Eagle, and he is one of Ward 8’s most famous neighbors.

The Black Eagle perches atop the all-talk African-American-owned Radio One Talk Network from 6 AM to 10 AM, daily, discussing issues of relevance to the African-American community around the country, and taking calls from Mike from DC or Yvette from New York, or even Tyrone from Ohio. These are the listeners who call into Madison The Black Eagle show knowing that Madison never screens his calls, but he challenges all his callers.

“What are you going to do about it?” he asks every single caller about a larger issue on the table. He is clear about not just wanting to discuss a problem, but in finding a solution to it. And Madison deals with every relevant issue to the Black population—whether it is immigration policy, the after-effects of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and the incident involving the Capitol Hill police or President Bush’s Iraq policy.

According to Madison, each of these topics falls within a larger credo that guides his show, which he sums up like this:

“In America, we’re culturally conditioned to believe white is superior and black is inferior,” Madison says on almost every show. The radio host says that on almost every issue, he can point to an instance where black people will be undervalued, underestimated or marginalized. Whether it is McKinney being referred to as a “ghetto slut” by another talk show host or that some TV reporters refer to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as Condi and not Secretary of State Rice as with other members of the president’s cabinet, these individual instances point to the larger picture.

The Black Eagle reiterates his credo time and time again because his “position is to have people recondition how they think, so they never have to undervalue, underestimate or marginalize themselves.” He adds that even the people who suffer most from this phenomenon also perpetuate it.

“That is why ... [I] rely on black experts, reporters from black newspapers,” he continues. “I don’t care what the subject matter is; we can discuss, comment and debate any issue on this planet.” Commentators might include Frances Cress Welsing, the author of The Isis Papers, or Congresswoman Maxine Waters of California or civil rights activist Dick Gregory.

Madison, who is always careful to say he is not a journalist but an activist with a radio show, has anchored himself onto various causes with which he has become synonymous. His most recent all-out fight has highlighted the plight of Sudan, an African country embroiled in a two-decades long civil war that has snowballed into genocide.

“I got involved in Sudan primarily because I had done a show on slavery in southern Sudan. It was a by-product of civil war between northern and southern Sudan,” said Madison who visited Sudan twice and intends to be doing another fact-finding mission in early May. His show led to listeners raising more than $250,000 to pay for more than 7,000 Sudanese slaves’ freedom. Several community activists became involved such as the District’s former congressional delegate, the Rev. Walter Fauntroy and the Rev. Al Sharpton.

To bring more attention to the genocide and to encourage the Bush administration and the Congress to declare what was happening in Sudan a genocide, he and several listeners demonstrated in front the Sudanese embassy in Washington, DC, for 79 days. The protests led to the arrests of regular citizens and others such as Congressmen Donald Payne, Howard Payne, Charlie Rangel and Bobby Rush; actor Danny Glover; and Ben and Jerry of the ice cream empire. Subsequently, Congress declared the situation a genocide.

“The importance of that, once genocide had been declared, meant that the United States had to act,” he said. Now, he has taken the fight against the Sudan even further by encouraging the divestment of U.S. state pension funds from Sudan. Divestment is one of the most “effective ways to end genocide in that the government of Sudan depends on that money and by divesting, it sends a loud message,” he said, adding that Ward 8 Councilmember Marion Barry has introduced legislation on disposing and divesting any pension fund from the District.

Besides the work on behalf of the Sudan, Madison has been jailed protesting against apartheid, gangster rap lyrics, racial profiling and police brutality. He was instrumental in preventing the deportation of 15,000 Liberians from the United States.

The fact that a radio talk-show host-activist can mobilize so many people to get involved in the Sudan campaign, and to have genocide declared, speaks volumes about Madison’s influence. He had been listed in Talker Magazine, the bible of the talk radio industry, as one of its “100 Most Important Radio Talk Show Hosts in America.”

Southeast resident A.J. Evans could attest to Madison’s influence.

“I think he’s one of the most powerful brothers out there, giving you the opportunity to reevaluate everything you ever thought was true,” said Evans, who listens to WOL every morning as he drives to work with his children. “He has made me want to call into his show to let him know what I want to do about it.” Evans’ 12-year-old son, Nicholas, is also a big fan. “He is inspiring,” adds Nicholas.

Madison is more than a radio-activist host. Born and bred in Dayton, Ohio, Madison was a church leader, athlete and political activist at a young age. He was a high school All-City football player; college All-Conference running back, and an award-winning baritone soloist with his high school and college concert choirs. He received a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Washington University in St. Louis, Mo.

Madison started his social activism quite young. After graduation, he worked briefly as a communications specialist for several corporations. But the civil rights movement, assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr., Medger Evers, Malcolm X, John and Robert Kennedy during his years as a student activist beckoned him to what he called the “unfinished agenda of the civil rights movement.”

At the age of 24, he became the executive director of the Detroit chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Later, NAACP president and CEO BenjaminHooks appointed him director of the national political action department. During the nine years he directed this, Madison organized national voter registration campaigns that produced one million new voters. In the mid-1980s, he led four highly publicized marches to register voters called The Overground Railroad.

During his civil rights activities, Madison began a career as a radio talk show host, where he combined his role as a civil rights activist and media personality to make an impact on public policy in the nation and around the world. Before heading six years ago to the 25-year-old Radio One empire, which is owned by mogul Catherine Hughes, Madison worked for 13 years at Silver Spring-based WRC radio when it was an all-talk station.

Madison has been recognized by many including Ebony magazine’s 50 Black leaders of the future, the 1996 NAACP Image Award, the Good Brother Award from the National Political Congress of Black Women and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference Journalism Award, among others.

About his Ward 8 neighborhood, Madison gushes about the Walter E. Washington Estates. “Everyone said southeast is the place to be,” he says. Madison has been living in Ward 8 with Sharon, his wife of more than 25 years, since the development was built in 2002.

“East of the River is going through a renaissance,” he adds, explaining why he and his wife left Montgomery County and headed to Ward 8 after their children finished school, “the infrastructure is improving, and the homes are still affordable and increasing in value.”

And he is clear that activism always has to involve his community.

“You cannot just move into the neighborhood, go to work, go home and shut the door. You’re going to have to provide leadership,” said Madison who recently retired as president of his homeowners’ association. “And I believe that when you have a clean neighborhood, it sends a loud, unspoken message that this community does not tolerate disorder. I don’t expect people to come from somewhere else to keep my neighborhood clean. And this takes leadership.”

For more information on “Madison, The Black Eagle,” listen every day to WOL-AM 1450 or XM Satellite, call in to comment at 866.801.TALK (8255), visit his Web site at www.joemadison.com or visit WOL’s Web site at www.wolam.com.


<--Back to East of the river	Print This Page
Meet Your Neighbor
Joe Madison: Ward 8’s own Black Eagle soars
by: Michelle Phipps-Evans
He is called Joe by many people. To others, it’s Mr. Madison. But to all of his early morning listeners to the WOL-1450 AM (The Power) radio station, he is known simply as the Black Eagle, and he is one of Ward 8’s most famous neighbors. The Black Eagle perches atop the all-talk African-American-owned Radio One Talk Network from 6 AM to 10 AM, daily, discussing issues of relevance to the African-American community around the country, and taking calls from Mike from DC or Yvette from New York, or even Tyrone from Ohio. These are the listeners who call into Madison The Black Eagle show knowing that Madison never screens his calls, but he challenges all his callers. “What are you going to do about it?” he asks every single caller about a larger issue on the table. He is clear about not just wanting to discuss a problem, but in finding a solution to it. And Madison deals with every relevant issue to the Black population—whether it is immigration policy, the after-effects of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and the incident involving the Capitol Hill police or President Bush’s Iraq policy. According to Madison, each of these topics falls within a larger credo that guides his show, which he sums up like this: “In America, we’re culturally conditioned to believe white is superior and black is inferior,” Madison says on almost every show. The radio host says that on almost every issue, he can point to an instance where black people will be undervalued, underestimated or marginalized. Whether it is McKinney being referred to as a “ghetto slut” by another talk show host or that some TV reporters refer to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as Condi and not Secretary of State Rice as with other members of the president’s cabinet, these individual instances point to the larger picture. The Black Eagle reiterates his credo time and time again because his “position is to have people recondition how they think, so they never have to undervalue, underestimate or marginalize themselves.” He adds that even the people who suffer most from this phenomenon also perpetuate it. “That is why ... [I] rely on black experts, reporters from black newspapers,” he continues. “I don’t care what the subject matter is; we can discuss, comment and debate any issue on this planet.” Commentators might include Frances Cress Welsing, the author of The Isis Papers, or Congresswoman Maxine Waters of California or civil rights activist Dick Gregory. Madison, who is always careful to say he is not a journalist but an activist with a radio show, has anchored himself onto various causes with which he has become synonymous. His most recent all-out fight has highlighted the plight of Sudan, an African country embroiled in a two-decades long civil war that has snowballed into genocide. “I got involved in Sudan primarily because I had done a show on slavery in southern Sudan. It was a by-product of civil war between northern and southern Sudan,” said Madison who visited Sudan twice and intends to be doing another fact-finding mission in early May. His show led to listeners raising more than $250,000 to pay for more than 7,000 Sudanese slaves’ freedom. Several community activists became involved such as the District’s former congressional delegate, the Rev. Walter Fauntroy and the Rev. Al Sharpton. To bring more attention to the genocide and to encourage the Bush administration and the Congress to declare what was happening in Sudan a genocide, he and several listeners demonstrated in front the Sudanese embassy in Washington, DC, for 79 days. The protests led to the arrests of regular citizens and others such as Congressmen Donald Payne, Howard Payne, Charlie Rangel and Bobby Rush; actor Danny Glover; and Ben and Jerry of the ice cream empire. Subsequently, Congress declared the situation a genocide. “The importance of that, once genocide had been declared, meant that the United States had to act,” he said. Now, he has taken the fight against the Sudan even further by encouraging the divestment of U.S. state pension funds from Sudan. Divestment is one of the most “effective ways to end genocide in that the government of Sudan depends on that money and by divesting, it sends a loud message,” he said, adding that Ward 8 Councilmember Marion Barry has introduced legislation on disposing and divesting any pension fund from the District. Besides the work on behalf of the Sudan, Madison has been jailed protesting against apartheid, gangster rap lyrics, racial profiling and police brutality. He was instrumental in preventing the deportation of 15,000 Liberians from the United States. The fact that a radio talk-show host-activist can mobilize so many people to get involved in the Sudan campaign, and to have genocide declared, speaks volumes about Madison’s influence. He had been listed in Talker Magazine, the bible of the talk radio industry, as one of its “100 Most Important Radio Talk Show Hosts in America.” Southeast resident A.J. Evans could attest to Madison’s influence. “I think he’s one of the most powerful brothers out there, giving you the opportunity to reevaluate everything you ever thought was true,” said Evans, who listens to WOL every morning as he drives to work with his children. “He has made me want to call into his show to let him know what I want to do about it.” Evans’ 12-year-old son, Nicholas, is also a big fan. “He is inspiring,” adds Nicholas. Madison is more than a radio-activist host. Born and bred in Dayton, Ohio, Madison was a church leader, athlete and political activist at a young age. He was a high school All-City football player; college All-Conference running back, and an award-winning baritone soloist with his high school and college concert choirs. He received a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Washington University in St. Louis, Mo. Madison started his social activism quite young. After graduation, he worked briefly as a communications specialist for several corporations. But the civil rights movement, assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr., Medger Evers, Malcolm X, John and Robert Kennedy during his years as a student activist beckoned him to what he called the “unfinished agenda of the civil rights movement.” At the age of 24, he became the executive director of the Detroit chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Later, NAACP president and CEO BenjaminHooks appointed him director of the national political action department. During the nine years he directed this, Madison organized national voter registration campaigns that produced one million new voters. In the mid-1980s, he led four highly publicized marches to register voters called The Overground Railroad. During his civil rights activities, Madison began a career as a radio talk show host, where he combined his role as a civil rights activist and media personality to make an impact on public policy in the nation and around the world. Before heading six years ago to the 25-year-old Radio One empire, which is owned by mogul Catherine Hughes, Madison worked for 13 years at Silver Spring-based WRC radio when it was an all-talk station. Madison has been recognized by many including Ebony magazine’s 50 Black leaders of the future, the 1996 NAACP Image Award, the Good Brother Award from the National Political Congress of Black Women and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference Journalism Award, among others. About his Ward 8 neighborhood, Madison gushes about the Walter E. Washington Estates. “Everyone said southeast is the place to be,” he says. Madison has been living in Ward 8 with Sharon, his wife of more than 25 years, since the development was built in 2002. “East of the River is going through a renaissance,” he adds, explaining why he and his wife left Montgomery County and headed to Ward 8 after their children finished school, “the infrastructure is improving, and the homes are still affordable and increasing in value.” And he is clear that activism always has to involve his community. “You cannot just move into the neighborhood, go to work, go home and shut the door. You’re going to have to provide leadership,” said Madison who recently retired as president of his homeowners’ association. “And I believe that when you have a clean neighborhood, it sends a loud, unspoken message that this community does not tolerate disorder. I don’t expect people to come from somewhere else to keep my neighborhood clean. And this takes leadership.” For more information on “Madison, The Black Eagle,” listen every day to WOL-AM 1450 or XM Satellite, call in to comment at 866.801.TALK (8255), visit his Web site at www.joemadison.com or visit WOL’s Web site at www.wolam.com.