The Final Call

Gil Noble: A servant of his people

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Gil Noble

Mr. Noble was among the first Blacks to be hired by local and national news organizations during the civil rebellions of the 1960s.  The inability of White reporters and broadcasters to obtain interviews within Black communities led to the aggressive recruitment of Black men and women for positions in electronic and print media. Mr. Noble, a newscaster at the Harlem-based radio station WLIB since 1962, was hired in desperation by WABC-TV in 1967 and quickly assigned to cover the Newark rebellion.

His work ethic, photogenic appeal and presentation skills earned him a weekend anchor spot and in 1975 he assumed the host position of “Like It Is,” a public affairs program that would run until its last segment in October 2011 when a stroke hospitalized Mr. Noble.  “Like It Is” earned eight Emmy Awards under his leadership. The success of this small budgeted show was due to Mr. Noble positioning it against the best Sunday morning news shows with creative programming that was thought-provoking and exceptional in its selection of topics and personalities interviewed. Here was a show that seriously analyzed current events, Black history, culture, and showcased Black personalities in a manner that skillfully stripped away the myth of Black inferiority.

Providing a platform for Black men and women who were freely demonized in general media, but humanized on “Like It Is,” drew large viewership and overt and covert opposition at the same time.  Among the guests who angered the opposition were Stokely Carmichael, Adam Clayton Powell Jr., Dr. Leonard Jeffries, Robert Mugabe, Fannie Lou Hamer and the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan. One of Mr. Noble’s earliest interviews with Min. Farrakhan was in the early 1970s discussing the Honorable Elijah Muhammad’s teachings on education and the curriculum of the University of Islam. It was this broadcast that reinforced the demand of Black parents and educators for community control of neighborhood public schools in New York.

In his remarks at Mr. Noble’s funeral April 13, Minister Farrakhan said Mr. Noble struggled mightily with opposition, “but his character prevailed. He never sold out. He was a brother of enormous integrity.  When you can achieve great things in life without compromise, you have truly achieved.”

Minister Farrakhan’s focus in his brief remarks was service. He said that those who live to serve others “never die” and referred to a traditional church song, “What we do for God, it remains.” He said that everyone tastes of disappointment, errors and sin; however, God in his mercy assigns sin and error to the grave. But there is no grave that buries service, he continued.

Minister Farrakhan explained to the packed church that Mr. Noble was “born for us.” He said that sometimes what a person is born for takes a hold of the person. And, that it’s actually God having answered the longing of a people through a woman’s womb just as Jesus exemplified an answer. “Truth is more important than any life there is,” he continued, “that’s why this man will not die because he lived for the truth.”

Mr. Noble, in addition to his focus on local and national issues, embraced the liberation struggles in Africa and their heroes. He was aided, strategically, by a Pan-Africanist, Elombe Brath, a graphic artist on staff at WABC-TV, who volunteered his services to the programming of African and Caribbean issues. Shows that exposed injustices in Gaza brought cries for equal time from groups such as the Anti-Defamation League in 1982. Gil Noble’s response to these demands was that there are 168 hours in the week and that his one hour of public affairs existed to offset the other 167 hours of misinformation. On at least three occasions, a local activist group, CEMOTAP, co-led by Ms. Betty Dopson and Dr. James McIntosh, mounted large demonstrations that successfully eliminated talk that “Like It Is” would be terminated or reduced in time.

Mr. Noble died at the age of 80 and is survived by his wife of 52-plus years,  Norma Jean; his son, Chris; his daughters, Lynn, Lisa, Leslie and Jennifer; and his grandchildren, Alexandria, Jordan, Jasmin, Jade, Christian, Elijah, Kayla, and Miles.