Bradley Prize

Annual Conservative Event takes no stance on Presidential Primary

Good morning all. This is truly “a camera person’s reflection” today. For the past 3 days I’ve spent much of my professional life providing and managing a 5 person video camera crew at the conservative annual Bradley Prize awards event in DC at the Building Museum. The overall production is served and manned by several companies.

My group is hired by Warner AV from the Chicago area. They provide the equipment and other technical gear. We provide the professional camera ops…who by the way have over 200 years of collective experience between us. Since it’s DC we work all “flavors” of events and “my people” work for a long list of clients. The 4 others on my team are the BEST available on that date that I know and trust to provide the highest technical standards. There are 4-5 others who are also a part of my go to list. I call this “organization” the “Pro’s from Dover”. A reference to Hawkeye & Trapper from MASH. We are very good at what we do. Have a good time doing it…and are pretty liberal and somewhat irreverent. We also believe in Freedom of Speech and the value of a functional 2 party system. We have worked events for every possible type of group in DC.

With that background here’s my personal reflection on what I experienced from Sunday through Wednesday night. My big take away is none of the GOP hopefuls for the next Presidential primary challenge were mentioned by name from the stage. Mike Pence’s face was recognizable in at least 3 visuals. We saw the back of Trumps head once in a video introducing former Education Sec DeVoss, who was the most high profile of the 3 prize winner’s. In her speech she advocated for “burning down” the Federal Department of Education. She said that a few of it’s functions could be moved to other departments. After the awards were given, the 3 winners gathered at a round table for an “unscripted” conversation led by a moderator. Her view on defunding the Ed Dept was challenged by the others, who included an academic economist. Eventually he sort of agreed with her, but it felt half hearted. She is a strong personality and getting rid of the Federal Department of Ed is her mission. The economist was a strong advocate of “Free market” and few or no restrictions on corporations. As a group they hate taxation of almost any kind. They advocated for taxing goods that are purchased. Not income tax…so I assume that means houses, boats, cars, jewelry…etc.

They never talked about gun violence or the influence of the NRA. Not for 1 second. They did talk about feeling the victim of secular culture and that liberals like my crew were somehow threatening their way of life. I did want to shout out and say “hey we are here, helping you tell your story”. The only…and I mean ONLY people of color in the building were hired professionals who were a part of the production team, the musicians, the security staff, the valet parking staff, the catering and flower people and the cleaning crew. There was A LOT of diversity in that group. None of the invited guests were black or brown. To be fair they never said a word supporting White Supremacy. The only thing that came close was one mention of liberals and progressives erasing history and tearing down statues. They also never mentioned Trans people or Trans or gay rights…just some comment about “men not playing women’s sports”….and they moved on quickly from that. I believe it was DeVoss during the round table. That one felt like a dog whistle to me.

The National anthem was sung by a wonderful boy’s choir from Baltimore. They hit a high note I don’t think I’ver heard before. Again it was an all white choir…from Baltimore.

The musicians who performed for entertainment after the speeches were all white, except for the lead female vocalist who reminded me of Aretha Franklin…in voice and size.

The entertainment for the past few years has been a big band playing 40’s music. This year they moved up to the 50’s and the early days of Rock & Roll. They included artists performing Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Elvis and the Shirelles all playing 3 of their classic songs and then jamming together on Johnny Be Good…when the seated audience moved over the cocktail party.

My thought that I shared with my crew after the show was that the conservatives really do want to take us back to the 1950’s with segregation, no abortion, no civil rights, etc. They had a chance to visualize diversity but did not do it. For the leader of their Shirelles to be the only minority on that stage…in that whole part of the venue felt like a bad message to me. A missed opportunity. Rock & Roll was born out of the Blues, a fact they mentioned in their video that led up to the music segment. The person they highlighted in this transition from awards and round table to having some fun, was Les Paul. A polish immigrant who invented the electric guitar. Les deserves the mention…he was a genius…but his invention was first used by mostly black artists in juke joints, in the VERY segregated Jim Crow south. That was not mentioned. Nor was the fact that Elvis learned his craft by crossing over the railroad tracks to the black clubs to see Little Richard and learn from him.

My final observation is that the parents of the conservatives in that audience on Wednesday night thought that Elvis & Chuck were Satan personified in the 50’s. Now they seem ok, much less threatening compared to todays artists….and it’s fine to have black music played by white folks with a token black artist on stage. Who they body shamed by the way. Some of you may say what about the musical “Hamilton” which uses black & brown folks in white roles…liberals love it. Well that’s about visualizing diversity and equality. When you have only one black person “invited” to your party of 400-500 people…that does not send a “big tent” message…now does it ?

I honestly don’t know if I can do that show again in good conscience. I felt the ghost of Little Richard flying around the room and all that he and his contemporaries had to deal with to become “Mainstream” and accepted by the white audience….he was still an outcast Wednesday night….the architect of rock & roll was nowhere to be seen or felt in the Smithsonian’s Building Museum…my favorite venue to work in DC.

These views are all mine and should NOT reflect on Warner AV or anyone else.