Nathaniel Clay

14) The Axeman Cometh: The Emergence of Nate ClayThe Chicago Reporter The Axeman Cometh: The Emergence of Nate Clay
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The Axeman Cometh: The Emergence of Nate Clay
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Black political insiders have known for years that the Axeman is actually Metro News editor and reporter Nathaniel (Nate) Clay.

Clay, 47, was virtually unknown outside Chicago's black community until a year ago, when he began appearing as a regular commentator on local TV talk shows.But he has been controversial in black circles for years.

About two dozen black reporters and activists interviewed by The Chicago Reporter said a major transformation has accompanied Clay's recent emergence.Within the last year he has flipped from a solid black nationalist point of view to a more moderate, integrationist philosophy, they say.

Some observers speculate the change in Clay was spawned by his higher profile in the mainstream media, while others say he is sowing the seeds for an eventual bid for a seat in the U.S. Congress.
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Gus Savage in the Democratic primary, Starks said."We thought Nate was an activist ...
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When Nate supported Reynolds over Savage, he alienated many in the black movement," Starks said.
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Clay himself seems to revel in the attention."I've been called the black Mike Royko and black [political consultant] Don Rose."But I'm the black Nate Clay."

Clay inherited "Hot Skillet" column in 1981 from Charles Armstrong Sr., the founder and publisher of the Metro News.
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"Charlie Armstrong was a maverick who established the Metro News with a militant posture, and the Axeman's job was to be acerbic, to chop off some heads," Clay said.
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The Metro News' circulation of 76,000 is mainly comprised of "middle-class black intellectuals and political types," Clay claimed.

He said he has carried on Armstrong's muckraking tradition.
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"The problem with most black politicians is they tend to play to the gallery, to tell people what they want to hear, regardless of the truth," Clay said."And the black press in Chicago is their echo, their yes men."

But some observers wonder about Clay's transformation.While Starks said Clay has a legitimate role as an activist journalist, "I think also that there's a problem when you switch positions and you cannot explain the switch," he said."Nate borders on that kind of advocacy, and that raises many questions about him, his column and his paper."

Southern ExposureClay was born in 1943 in Sikeston, Mo., at the time a town of 8,000.That same year, a black man accused of raping a white woman was tarred, feathered, hung and dragged from the back of a truck through Sikeston's black community.The Clays soon moved to Memphis, Tenn., where Nate Clay said he learned valuable lessons about politics.

"Blacks back then held no political office and were absent from positions of public authority in the South," he said."I questioned the entire political system."

His parents divorced when Clay was young, and in 1959 his mother moved the family north after she heard that "gold was rolling down the streets of Chicago."
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"If Nate Clay had been born a musical instrument, he'd be a set of clanging cymbals," said Chauncey Bailey, Clay's roommate at Columbia and now a reporter and columnist at The Detroit News.
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"Nate comes from the school of protesting and street organizing.The black press is a more activist press, so Nate is right at home doing what he's doing," he said.
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"I don't think Nate straddles the fence on advocacy.He's an advocate.
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"Nate is also one of the best, least known, political strategists in town."
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"Nate Clay is just trying to enhance himself in the eyes of white media people," Pincham said.
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"Nobody pays Nate Clay any attention," he said.
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"Nate is a mature, seasoned journalist who understands politics in the black community," said Weisman.
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Contrary to the belligerent, hell-raising tone of The Axeman column, Nate Clay, the man, is even-tempered.

He keeps his cool on TV, even when he is challenged by a panel of white reporters.And when Clay appears in his eccentric wardrobe, which runs the gamut from loud plaid blazers to brightly-hued African dashikis, he cuts a colorful figure.

In the future, Clay said he is considering many options: a possible run for Congress in Chicago's first district, and expanding his consulting business.

GlobetrotterOperating on a life philosophy that says, "The more you deal, the more you gain," Clay is rarely idle.

He has been criticized for what some journalists call "junkets" - trips offered by foreign governments in the hope of getting favorable coverage.

"I've collected the names of every minister of tourism in the world," he said."I tell them I'm a travel writer, though I usually end up writing about politics."He has gone, free of charge, "wherever I want to go - Africa, The Middle East, South America."

Despite the criticism, Clay is on a roll.When a reporter called Clay's office last week for a last minute question, he was told "Mr.Clay is unavailable - he's in Jamaica."