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Miami Herald ‘Anti-Black’ Columnist Out

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Miami Herald ‘Anti-Black’ Columnist Out:
Salguero Leaving for ‘New Opportunity’
Number of Whites Falls for First Time Since 1790
Ex-NFL Player Displaces Anthony Mason at CBS
Jews of Color Describe Bigotry Within the Faith

Homepage photo: The Big Lead

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In 2019, a Miami Dolphins fan asked Miami Herald columnist Armando Salguero if he would be all right with Colin Kaepernick, right, temporarily quarterbacking while the team tried to find a different permanent option via the draft. Salguero said he would “rather have Satan” at quarterback, the Miami New Times reported. “In case you are not aware, I have no love for Kap,” he continued. “Don’t agree with him. Don’t respect him. If that bothers you, so be it. I will not be silenced.” (Credit: Fox and Friends)

Salguero Leaving for ‘New Opportunity’

Armando Salguero, a Cuban-American sports columnist whose right-of-center opinions have been perceived as anti-Black, said Thursday he is leaving the Miami Herald after three decades.

“Personal news: After a combined 30 years at the Miami Herald,” Salguero tweeted. “I’ll be leaving next week for a new opportunity. I’m blessed to have served Herald readers for three decades, but exciting things are on the horizon. Stay tuned.”

Salguero later messaged Journal-isms, “My decision is based on a great opportunity I’ve been offered to expand my career to covering the entire NFL as a Senior NFL Writer rather than one team.”

Asked for comment, Monica Richardson (pictured), the Herald’s first Black executive editor, messaged Journal-isms, “Armando has chosen to leave for another opportunity and the Miami Herald wishes him well in his next chapter.”

Shortly after Richardson assumed the top job on Jan. 1, Jawan Strader, president of the South Florida chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists, messaged:

“As NABJ South Florida President, we support Monica Richardson in her efforts to address systemic racism within the Miami Herald. Back in September of last year, before Monica was hired as the first black editor to lead the Miami Herald, NABJ South Florida and NABJ demanded a meeting with the publisher of the Miami Herald.

“There were a number of racially insensitive remarks/tweets by the sportswriter Armando Salguero. The Miami Herald listened to our concerns to address systemic racism and diversity and inclusion.

“The recent hire of Monica Richardson is a fresh start to addressing issues involving racism or ignorance on race that may have otherwise been overlooked at the Miami Herald. I believe if she examines the past of the Herald she and her staff will better understand areas within the company that need improvement. I can’t tell you by examining the past if racism would be found, but I can tell you that systemically, it’s been a part of the Miami Herald’s DNA which is why it’s important to have Monica in her role as the executive editor. She’s hit the ground running and has our full support.”

NABJ demanded a meeting with the Herald publisher on Sept. 1, citing “An observed continued pattern of racially insensitive remarks/tweets by sportswriter Armando Salguero,” which NABJ called “disturbing and unacceptable.

“The latest involves a tweet where Salguero wrote: ‘Ryan Tannehill says the United States of America “was founded upon racist ideas…” I am so sick of the America bashing by people who have never lived and would never live anywhere else.’

“After Herald employees and many other journalists of color and Twitter users raised concern about the tweet, Mindy Marques, publisher and executive editor of the Miami Herald, wrote in a tweet: ‘The right to free expression and a free press are foundational to our democracy. @ArmandoSalguero is a @MiamiHerald sports columnist and unlike reporters, columnists have broad latitude to express their opinions. Those opinions do not reflect the views of the Miami Herald.’

“In response, NABJ President Dorothy Tucker commented: ‘I am concerned a columnist who feels it’s ok to insult the Black community may work in a newsroom where Black people are not valued and Black journalists are not respected. Unacceptable.’ . . .”

Whites are expected to account for more than half the growth in only five states, plus the District of Columbia. (Vector illustration)

Number of Whites Falls for First Time Since 1790


“For the first time in the history of the country’s census-taking, the number of White people in the United States is widely expected to show a decline when the first racial breakdowns from the 2020 Census are reported this week,” Tara Bahrampour and Ted Mellnik reported Tuesday for The Washington Post.

[Thursday update: The number of White people in the U.S. fell for first time since 1790, according to new data from the 2020 Census.]

“For five years now, the U.S. Census Bureau’s annual updates of the 2010 Census have estimated that the nation’s White population is shrinking, and all population growth has been from people of color.”

Diversity advocates often cite the nation’s changing demographics as reasons for the news media to seek out people of color as journalists and consumers.

The changes have also fueled the embrace of so-called “replacement theory” by right-wing media figures such as Newt Gingrich and Tucker Carlson. Speaking about Mexican immigrants coming to the United States during the pandemic, Gingrich said the “radical left” wants to “get rid of the rest of us” and would “love to drown traditional, classic Americans with as many people as they can who know nothing of American history, nothing of American tradition, nothing of the rule of law,” Wajahat Ali wrote Monday, updated Tuesday in the Daily Beast.

Bahrampour and Mellnik also wrote, “The new census data, planned for release on Aug. 12, will show definitively how the ethnic, racial and voting-age makeup of neighborhoods shifted over the past decade, based on the national house-to-house canvass last year. It is the data most state legislatures and local governments use to redraw political districts for the next 10 years.

“If the White decline is confirmed by the new data, that benchmark will have come about eight years earlier than previously projected, said William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution.

“ ‘Twenty years ago if you told people this was going to be the case, they wouldn’t have believed you,’ he said, adding that the opioid epidemic and lower-than-anticipated birthrates among millennials after the Great Recession accelerated the White population’s decline. ‘The country is changing dramatically.’

“The United States is also expected to have passed two other milestones on its way to becoming a majority-minority society in a few decades: For the first time, the portion of White people could dip below 60 percent and the under-18 population is likely to be majority non-White. . . .”

​
Ex-NFL Player Displaces Anthony Mason at CBS

“CBS This Morning” is shaking up its co-host lineup with the hiring of NFL analyst Nate Burleson,” the Los Angeles Times’ Stephen Battaglio wrote Wednesday, reporting on the latest example of athletes hired for jobs that formerly required news backgrounds.

“CBS News announced Wednesday that Burleson is joining the morning show’s table alongside current co-hosts Gayle King and Tony Dokoupil starting next month when the program moves to its new studio in New York’s Times Square.

“Burleson (pictured), a former NFL wide receiver, will replace CBS News veteran Anthony Mason, who becomes a culture correspondent reporting across the network’s programs and digital platforms. Mason, who joined the network in 1986, is known for his coverage of music and art, and will continue to appear on “CBS This Morning” in his new role.”

Howard Bryant (pictured), then of ESPN, told the Journal-isms Roundtable in April 2020, “When I look on TV, especially when it comes to Black journalism, I feel incredibly pessimistic and angry in a lot of different ways because you see . . . that there’s movement and opportunity for a lot of different demographics but not Black men. . . . you see Black males being on the air but they’re having ex-players; they’re not journalists. So what ends up happening is, you look at the slotting when you watch television, you see white woman host, Black male ex-player, Black male ex-player or white ex-coach, and then white reporter. . . .” That, in turn, affects the coverage.

Battaglio added, “Burleson will be the second retired NFL player to become a network morning show co-host. Former New York Giants star Michael Strahan has been a part of ABC’s ‘Good Morning America’ since 2014. Strahan left the syndicated ‘Live with Kelly and Michael’ to join ‘GMA’ full time in 2016. . . .”

Battaglio also wrote, “While CBS has tended to stick to morning co-hosts with news backgrounds, Burleson will not be the first non-journalist in the role. Actress Mariette Hartley briefly served as a morning co-host for the network in 1987. Susan Molinari, a former member of Congress with no TV experience, got the job in 1997 and lasted nine months.

CBS declined to comment on Bryant’s observation, but Neeraj Khemlani, president and co-head of CBS News and Stations said in a news release, “Nate is an extremely gifted broadcaster, interviewer and storyteller, whose deep curiosity and enthusiasm are the perfect fit for mornings on CBS.

“His wide range of experience and interests – from news to sports, from music to poetry, and from fashion to cryptocurrency – provides a unique perspective that will deepen the show’s connection with our viewers. He excites audiences in every arena, and we’re fortunate to have Nate joining Gayle and Tony at the table in September.”

Danielle Natelson, left, Rebekkah Scharf (in a Jews in ALL Hues T-shirt) and Lindsey Newman lead a program for teen Jews of color at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco in 2018. (Credit: Rob Gloster/The Jewish News
of Northern California)

Jews of Color Describe Bigotry Within the Faith

“American Jews of color say their racial and ethnic identities shape their Jewishness in important, positive ways, but that they also face bigotry in settings where white Jews predominate, according to a study released Thursday, the largest-ever of this group,” Arno Rosenfeld wrote for the Forward.

“Respondents to the study describe other Jews presuming they are converts, asking intrusive questions about their backgrounds, and mistaking them for nannies and synagogue security guards. Called ‘Beyond the Count,’ the study captures the experiences of more than a thousand . . . Jews of color active in Jewish life and provides a trove of data that its sponsors hope will help Jewish leaders create more welcoming synagogues, schools and other Jewish spaces. . . .”

In a commentary, Robin Washington, a founder of the Alliance of Black Jews and the Forward’s editor-at-large, wrote for the Forward, “If that’s a dire picture, it’s not exactly news. Jews of color have been pointing out those failings for years, in numerous accounts in the Jewish media and beyond. There are countless examples of worshippers being asked if they’re Jewish, or assumed to be the help, or, in a favorite experience of my own at a suburban Twin Cities synagogue, being mistaken for Rod Carew (my batting average never quite matched his, I’m afraid).

“But it isn’t all j’accuse or woe is me. More than half ‘agreed they have felt a sense of belonging among white Jews,’ the report reads, ‘and 41% agree they have been able to find opportunities to express all sides of themselves in predominantly white Jewish spaces.” Three quarters of the respondents described working for justice and equality — Tikkun Olam — as the most important expression of Jewish identity.”

Worldwide, Do Media Have a Racism Problem?

Aug. 10, 2021

U.N. Votes for Spotlight on Afro-Descendants
School Rips Out Yearbook Pages on ’20 News Events
Black Reporter Was Right in Rejecting WWII Spin
Cleveland Residents Train to Cover Meetings
Blacks, Latinos Not Set on One Term for Identity
Satisfaction With Asian Americans’ Treatment Dips

Passings: James French, Jim Stricklin
Rough Road for Afghans Who Helped U.S. Media
Drive Starts to Honor Historic Black Paper
2 Public Stations Disclose Diversity Figures

Short Takes: Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC); protecting journalists at protests; Gannett Co. and crime reporting;  stonewalling over anti-pipeline policing; Michael Paul Williams; Chicago Reporter; Urban One’s planned casino; Jose Andino; Hollywood Foreign Press Association; Bloomberg Media and Ebony; Eric Ludgood; Los Angeles Times outreach; John S. Knight community journalism fellowships;

LZ-Granderson; Jovita Moore; Robert Rodriguez; teaching African American history; Jared McCallister; Laura Lopez; Paul Cheung; Lottie Joiner, WLBT in Jackson, Miss.; The 19th anniversary; Mexican cartel death threat by video; Venezuela’s El Bus TV; Google News Initiative in Latin America. 

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A New Zealand media organization’s apology “came after a months-long deep dive into their own reporting which found their coverage of Maori issues had ‘ranged from racist to blinkered’ “

U.N. Votes for Spotlight on Afro-Descendants

The American news media generally don’t pay much attention to the United Nations, so it’s not surprising that a decision last week by the General Assembly to call attention to “the ills of racism, racial discrimination and the legacy of enslavement around the globe” received little coverage.

But the U.N. action comes after a report that noted that “no State has comprehensively accounted for the past or for the current impact of systemic racism” and called for a transformative agenda to tackle violence against Afro-descendants.

The development provides an excellent opportunity for media around the world to examine their own roles in propagating that racism, as some U.S.-based outlets have done in the past few years, many focusing on their roles on the wrong side of the civil rights movement.

Internationally, for instance, the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, through its LatAm Journalism review, spotlighted “four Brazilian Black media outlets that produce anti-racist journalism with a racial perspective” last November. The review explained that, “Despite comprising more than 55 percent of the Brazilian population, Black people are still a minority in the country’s major newsrooms, mainly in leadership positions.”

The story quoted André Santana (pictured), founder and editor of Correio Nagô, which, “Santana said, was an attempt to counter the traditional press, which reproduced many stigmas about the Black population. ‘We saw little Black presence in journalism and when we saw it it was a very negative approach. There is still this, especially in stories about security, violence. It is always an approach of criminalization, linked to misery. The outlets [of Black media] work to show the diversity that exists in Black communities. Yes, there are many problems, but it also has a lot of potential, a lot of good things,’ he said. . . .”

Last month, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, issued a statement “seeking to bring awareness to a coalition of U.K. journalists calling for stronger initiatives to combat the underrepresentation, inequity and racial bigotry that still persist in this important industry.”

Meanwhile, in Ukraine, Karolina Ashion (pictured), a Black Ukrainian television presenter and producer, shared last month “what she describes as the most painful moment of her career: when her former boss — then the director of Ukraine’s 1+1 media conglomerate and current Minister of Culture Alexander Tkachenko — allegedly told her that her appearance on a popular morning show would hurt the network’s ratings.”

The U.N. General Assembly did not specifically mention the media. But it “unanimously adopted a resolution establishing the United Nations Permanent Forum of People of African Descent, a 10-member advisory body that will work closely with the Geneva-based Human Rights Council,” the U.N. reported.

“The new Forum will serve as a consultation mechanism for people of African descent and other stakeholders, and contribute to the elaboration of a UN declaration – a ‘first step towards a legally binding instrument’ on the promotion and full respect of the rights of people of African descent.

“Further, it will work to identify and analyze best practices, challenges, opportunities and initiatives to address issues relevant to people of African descent as highlighted in the Durban Declaration [PDF] and Programme of Action, which was adopted 20 years ago at a landmark UN summit against racism and discrimination.”

The report continued, “Negotiations on the modalities of the Permanent Forum have been under way since November 2014, when the General Assembly officially launched the International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024).

“Through the resolution adopted on Monday – which articulates the new body’s mandate for the first time – the Assembly expressed alarm at the spread of racist extremist movements around the globe, and deplored the ‘ongoing and resurgent scourges’ of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. . . . “

It’s not difficult to imagine that the media, especially if state-controlled, can play a role in oppressing unpopular groups, Black or otherwise.

Uganda provided a vivid example in 2014, when the tabloid Red Pepper published a list of the ‘top 200 homosexuals” under the headline “Exposed,” a day after the country’s autocratic president, Yoweri Museveni, signed an anti-gay bill.

This column wrote in December about a noteworthy apology in New Zealand. One of the country’s biggest media organizations, Stuff, wrote, “No matou te he; We are sorry,” to its Maori population.

The mea culpa “came after a months-long deep dive into their own reporting which found their coverage of Maori issues had ‘ranged from racist to blinkered’ over the company’s 160-year history,” Flora Drury reported for the BBC.

“The investigation does not make for pretty reading. Scouring its papers, journalists found early, openly racist front pages and recent letters full of bile. It found a tendency to over-report on Maori child abuse cases, while playing down similar crimes in the European, or Pakeha, community. It found countless occasions where it simply hadn’t bothered to ask the Maori community for their side of the story, siding instinctively with the more powerful white population.”

Racism is not strictly an American phenomenon, and in many countries, media are part of the power structure. Who knows what would result from worldwide introspection?

Were the media in South Africa and Rhodesia part of the apartheid system?

What about the genocide in Rwanda or the Nigerian civil war? Which sides do the media take when ethnic and racial conflicts flare in Asia, Europe and Latin America? And what preconceived notions led them to those positions?

In a 2018 story about Ilia Calderón becoming the first Afro-Latina to anchor the evening news for a major broadcast network in the U.S., Univision, Lori Montenegro, national correspondent for Noticiero Telemundo, commented to NBC News about Spanish-language television. “The situation is not limited to the television industry. In general, it is harder for people of color to make headway, break barriers, and stigmas in almost every field. It is something that as a society we continue to struggle with. It is a conversation that still makes a lot of people uncomfortable.”

Amara C. Enyia (pictured) is the managing director of Diaspora Rising, “a transnational advocacy organization working on issues of concern to the Global Black Diaspora around the world.” She wrote “A Global Commitment to Combatting Anti-Blackness: Why The World Needs a Permanent Forum on People of African Descent” on July 29 for Ms. magazine.

Enyia messaged Journal-isms on Monday, “I think one of the biggest issues with media as it relates to the Continent and the Diaspora, is the lack of context in reporting. Media outlets have been complicit in fomenting much of the ignorance or mischaracterization of issues of relevance to the Continent/Diaspora, presenting flat narratives, leaning on tropes about Africa, or allowing government institutions (e.g. ministers and electeds) or institutions like the World Bank or IMF to drive narratives.

“This could be because of structural issues — such as the number of journalists (Black/African), the number of Editors, etc. I’ve also seen a trend of launching ‘Black’ sections for news (e.g. NBC Blk or ABC Soul). These things, while helpful, may only be a sign of news agencies offloading their content into one box where they don’t have to actually work to change the structure in the main newsrooms.”

Asked whether this phenomenon was worldwide, Enyia replied, “I think it’s a worldwide issue, but I should qualify my statement to say major mainstream outlets. I’ve found that independent media outlets have really proliferated in the last several years — some that do more focused, in-depth work, others that are focused on unpacking narratives, blogs, etc.

“In the U.S, it’s definitely a problem because of the outsize role the US has in influencing global media. But this does not let off the hook similar issues taking place in places where press freedom is restricted (e.g. Zimbabwe, Uganda, Eswatini, etc.).”

The ripped-out pages. Executive Director Hadar Harris of the Student Press Law Center said, ‘The controversy at Bigelow High School is only the latest in a number of egregious censorship cases that we have seen in yearbooks across the country this year to wipe certain aspects of the past school year out of our collective memory.” (Credit: Student Press Law Center)

School Rips Out Yearbook Pages on ’20 News Events

The Student Press Law Center said Friday it “condemns the overt censorship by school officials at Bigelow High School in Arkansas, who removed a two-page spread in the yearbook after it was published.

“The spread outlined important events in the world that took place over the academic year, 2020-2021 including the 2020 election, the deaths of public figures like Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Alex Trebek, the impact of COVID-19, the 2021 Super Bowl, the death of George Floyd and more. After school officials said that they had received ‘community backlash’ about the spread, they ripped out the pages from the yearbooks before they could be fully distributed. . . .

“The yearbook adviser, Meghan Walton (pictured), resigned because of the censorship, saying ‘I did not authorize the removal of these pages, nor do I support it in any way. Deciding to resign was the most difficult decision I have ever made. However, I needed to stand up for myself and for the students who created that yearbook spread.’

[Walton explained in a message to Journal-isms Tuesday: “I tried to just resign as adviser to student publications (yearbook and newspaper) and stay employed as an English teacher. I even volunteered to continue teaching a beginning journalism class without a publication since my background is in print journalism. They declined, saying that the yearbook was the best one to come out of Bigelow (other than those two pages), and I had to choose between continuing on as adviser or resign from the district.

[“I chose to resign since I strongly feel as if my journalistic integrity has been questioned, and it would unfairly put a target on the backs of myself and my students.”]

“SPLC Executive Director Hadar Harris said, ‘The controversy at Bigelow High School is only the latest in a number of egregious censorship cases that we have seen in yearbooks across the country this year to wipe certain aspects of the past school year out of our collective memory. We are very concerned that this is just the tip of the iceberg for both yearbooks (which are currently being released) and for student newspapers beginning to report on the new school year.’

“In June, yearbook sales were paused by school officials at West Broward High School in central Florida due to coverage of the Black Lives Matter movement in the yearbook. . . .”

More than 40 percent of students enrolled in the district are Black, according to the Broward County Public Schools website. At Bigelow, the student body “is something like 3 percent minority,” Walton told Journal-isms.

“As a war correspondent in World War II, Charles H. Loeb advanced with U.S. troops into the Philippines, survived a kamikaze attack and filed a number of detailed reports from Japan, including ones on Hiroshima’s bombing and the nation’s formal surrender. Here he gazes on Manila’s ruins.” (Credit: Loeb family photo)

Black Reporter Was Right in Rejecting WWII Spin

“ ‘Loeb Reflects On Atomic Bombed Area,’ read the headline in The Atlanta Daily World of Oct. 5, 1945, two months after Hiroshima’s ruin,” William J. Broad reported Monday for The New York Times.

“In the world of Black newspapers, that name alone was enough to attract readers.

“Charles H. Loeb was a Black war correspondent whose articles in World War II were distributed to papers across the United States by the National Negro Publishers Association. In the article, Mr. Loeb told how bursts of deadly radiation had sickened and killed the city’s residents. His perspective, while coolly analytic, cast light on a major wartime cover up.

“The Page 1 article contradicted the War Department, the Manhattan Project, and The New York Times and its star reporter, William L. Laurence, on what had become a bitter dispute between the victor and the vanquished. Japan insisted that the bomb’s invisible rays at Hiroshima and Nagasaki had led to waves of sudden death and lingering illness. Emphatically, the United States denied that charge.

“But science and history would prove Mr. Loeb right. His reporting not only challenged the official government line but also echoed the skepticism of many Black Americans, who, scholars say, worried that race had played a role in the United States’ decision to drop the experimental weapons on Japan. Black clergy and activists at times sympathized openly with the bomb’s victims. . . .”

Broad also wrote, “search of databases suggests that few if any journalists of Mr. Loeb’s day approached his level of detail and tight focus in telling of the radiation poisoning.

“The Times sought to ignore the topic altogether. Beverly Deepe Keever, a professor of journalism, analyzed its coverage of the Hiroshima bombing and reported that out of 132 articles she examined, she could find only one that mentioned radiation. . . .”

Pulitzer Prize nomination, anyone? Jon Funabiki, longtime diversity advocate who recently retired as journalism professor at San Francisco State University, messaged Journal-isms, “I’ll gladly sign the petition.”

Cleveland Residents Train to Cover Meetings

Some 250 Cleveland-area residents have been trained as Documenters, “a nonprofit program that pays community members to take notes (and often live tweet) at public meetings of the school board, city and county councils, and other municipal bodies,” Amber C. Walker wrote Wednesday for The Grade.

“The notes are then posted on the Documenters website, where they are publicly viewable and searchable.

“As legacy newspapers across the country face corporate consolidation and staffing cuts, local K-12 education coverage suffers. Niche publications like Chalkbeat and The 74 have emerged to fill in the gaps, writing stories traditionally covered by education beat reporters at newspapers.

“There are also programs like The Documenters that take a different approach. While traditional reporting outlets tend to focus only on the bigger stories, The Documenters’ notes give a more complete picture of what is happening at the school board meetings. . . .”

Blacks, Latinos Not Set on One Term for Identity

“Most Black Americans, 58%, do not have a preference between the terms ‘Black’ and ‘African American’ when asked which term they would rather people use to describe their racial group,” Justin McCarthy and Whitney Dupre​e reported for the Gallup organization. “The one in three who express a preference divide evenly between preferring each term.”

​They also wrote, “Hispanic respondents were asked a similar question about their preference among the terms ‘Hispanic,’ ‘Latino’ and ‘Latinx’ — with this final option being a newer, gender-neutral term favored by some Hispanic Americans.

“Most Hispanic adults (57%) say it does not matter to them which term is used, though nearly one in four (23%) prefer ‘Hispanic’ and 15% prefer ‘Latino.’ Few expressed a preference for ‘Latinx’ (4%).”

McCarthy and Dupree continued, “In the current survey, for the first time, Gallup asked a follow-up question of Black respondents who did not have a preference whether they lean toward one term over the other if they had to choose.

“Black Americans were fairly mixed on the question, with a slight preference for ‘Black’ (52%) over ‘African American’ (44%). Four percent had no opinion either way. . . .”

Satisfaction With Asian Americans’ Treatment Dips

. . .  Separately, Gallup found that 46 percent of Americans — an all-time low — reported being satisfied with the treatment of Asian Americans. It’s a sharp decline from last year’s 60 percent, Bianca Brutus reported for NBC News.

“The poll was conducted this summer and follows a surge in anti-Asian attacks this year.

The survey “additionally revealed a decline in the perception of relations of Asian Americans with other racial groups. Between white Americans and Asian Americans, 67 percent said relations were good or very good, and between Black Americans and Asian Americans, 58 percent agreed relations were favorable.

“Additionally, 30 percent of Black Americans were satisfied by the treatment of Asian Americans in comparison to white Americans at 50 percent and Hispanic Americans at 44 percent.”

Brutus also wrote, “Since the surge of Asian hate crimes, Black Americans have often been inaccurately portrayed as the main perpetrators. According to a report by the Southern Poverty Law Center published in February, the majority of all U.S. hate crimes are committed by white people, but Black Americans have been disproportionately listed as the perpetrators by state law enforcement and the FBI.”

Passings

James French, founder of The Charleston Chronicle, photographed in his office in 2005. (Credit: Post and Courier)


James French, Founded Charleston Paper

“James French, who played a central role in the Lowcountry’s African American community as founder and editor of The Charleston Chronicle, died on July 31,” Adam Parker wrote Aug. 2 for the Post and Courier in Charleston, S.C. “He was 94.

“For decades, French’s Chronicle was both a gathering point for Black leaders and a means to distribute information about issues impacting African Americans in the Charleston area. It celebrated local accomplishments and tackled big concerns such as gentrification, racial injustice and economic problems.

“French started the weekly paper in the summer of 1971, two years after he retired from the Navy. In 2016, French handed the reins to his grandchildren Tolbert and Damion Smalls. . . .”

Jim Stricklin, left, with camera, with WMAQ-TV colleagues Carol Marin, producer Don Moseley and engineer Silvio Costales in 1984 in Washington, D.C.

Jim Stricklin, Chicago Photographer, of COVID

“When Billy Jennings was a young news photographer at WMAQ-TV, it hit him. He’d landed a big job in a big market with big on-air talent. He started to pace the newsroom floor,” Maureen O’Donnell reported Aug. 3 for the Chicago Sun-Times.

“Jennings remembers telling Jim Stricklin, a cameraman who’d covered everything from Chicago street gangs to prison riots, he was nervous.

“’Let me tell you something,’ he said Mr. Stricklin told him. ‘There are times you’re going to go out without a reporter — but they are never going to go out without you. You’re the tip of the spear. If you didn’t shoot it, it didn’t happen. Tell that story with your pictures, and you’ll be fine.’

“After that, Jennings, who’s now WMAQ’s chief photographer, said, ‘I just kind of settled down.’

“Mr. Stricklin, who was one of WMAQ’s first Black news photographers and had a 40-year career, died July 26 at Kindred Chicago Lakeshore Hospital of COVID-19, according to Marita Joyce Stricklin, his wife of 57 years. The Hyde Park resident, who was 88, became ill despite having been vaccinated against the coronavirus, she said. . . .”

O’Donnell also reported, “Mr. Stricklin was a steward for the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians, according to retired WMAQ anchor Art Norman. . . .

“If a fledgling reporter didn’t know the right questions, ‘He leaned over and told you what to ask,’ WMAQ-TV political reporter Mary Ann Ahern said. . . .”

Rough Road for Afghans Who Helped U.S. Media

“In July, a coalition of news organizations and press groups — including the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Committee to Protect Journalists — wrote to the Biden administration and Congressional leaders with an urgent request. They sought humanitarian relief and a special visa program for journalists and support staff who contributed to US media coverage of the war in Afghanistan,” Jon Allsop wrote Friday for Columbia Journalism Review.

On Aug. 2, two weeks after the request was sent, the State Department acted on the request, announcing a refugee program for Afghans who have worked for US news organizations, NGOs, or other projects, and plugging holes in an existing plan for Afghans who have worked for the US military.

“It was a welcome development; still, details were scarce, and the requirements we know about seem onerous. Media referrals to the program must come from a news outlet’s most senior leader. (That person must be a US citizen.) And even though the US has arranged transport out of Afghanistan for many of those who served the military, people eligible for the news-related program will have to make their own way to a third country, apply to the US government from there, and wait months for a decision.

“The State Department has pledged to support Afghanistan’s neighbors in dealing with refugee flows, and said that its process will further ‘evolve’ — but for many Afghans, just getting to the border is dangerous and expensive. ‘This is incredibly hard,’ Antony Blinken, the secretary of state, acknowledged. . . .”

The Richmond Planet license plate was designed by Ricky Parker of Dream for Purpose, a creative firm in Richmond, Va. (Credit: Reggie Carter)

Drive Starts to Honor Historic Black Paper

While researching the life of Thomas Washington, a Black man in Essex County, Va., who was lynched in 1896, Reggie Carter came across his story in multiple Virginia newspapers, but one outlet stood out to him, Tamica Jean-Charles reported Wednesday, updated Friday, in the Progress-Index of Petersburg, Va.

The Richmond Planet, a Black-owned newspaper, covered Essex County’s only documented lynching.

Jean-Charles wrote, “Sometimes referenced as a newspaper ‘born in the wake of freedom,’ The Richmond Planet was cultivated by 13 freed slaves. The Richmond Planet fiercely campaigned for racial equality and was unafraid to call out the city’s injustices.”

She continued, “Carter is now embarking on his latest project, The Richmond Planet Plate. The license plate honors a former Black newspaper in Richmond and its fight for racial equality.

“In order to have the license plate offered in the DMV, Carter must acquire 450 pre-registrations and have it passed in the General Assembly with the backing of a politician. . . .

“Carter has until Dec. 31 to collect the needed orders in time to present his plate to the assembly floor. He’s already secured the backing of Sen. Joseph Morrisey (D-16) and Del. Jeff Bourne (D-71) and Mitchell’s descendant, John Mitchell Jr. and the Richmond Planet Foundation. . . .”

2 Public Stations Disclose Diversity Figures

Two public radio stations last week disclosed their staff diversity figures.

At Minnesota Public Radio, Managing Editor Sarah J. Glover, immediate past president of the National Association of Black Journalists, listed these figures:

“On July 26, 2021, MPR News had a staff of 67 full-time and regular part-time employees.

“Of those 67 people, 15 identify as people of color and 52 identify as white.

“Of those 67 people, 34 identify as female and 33 identify as male.”

In Boston, WGBH, which markets itself as simply “GBH,” reported Aug. 3, “GBH’s workforce is 80% white, according to data released by the organization in July. The 863 employees span departments such as TV, radio, digital news, event planning, human resources and more. Racial diversity is lower among the executive team, which is 89% white, higher among content producers and higher among advisory and fiduciary boards.

“Jon Abbott, the president and CEO of GBH, discussed the data with Arun Rath on GBH’s All Things Considered Tuesday.

“ ‘To be 20% diverse wasn’t terrifically surprising to me,’ he said. ‘It was disappointing, and obviously we are going to be working on that part of our representation of diverse staff, with regards to race, over the next few years. And I think, I know, in the last year we’ve made a range of investments in our recruiting, in our outreach and training and our work across our staff.’  “

Short Takes

“Michael Paul Williams is a man of perspective, but he gained a new one in an old institution on Thursday, when both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly honored him for winning the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in the Richmond Times-Dispatch,” Michael Martz reported Thursday for the newspaper. Martz added, “The proclamation lauded his prize-winning work for columns he wrote last summer about the protests that roiled Richmond over police treatment of racial minorities and the palpable shadow cast by monuments to Confederate leaders erected long after the Civil War. . . .” (Credit: Bob Brown/Richmond Times-Dispatch)
“The John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships today named 10 Community Impact Fellows for 2021-2022,” the program announced Wednesday. “The fellows are veteran and emerging journalism leaders who will work remotely in their communities on practical solutions to address the U.S. journalism industry’s long-standing neglect of communities of color. Their projects will address news and information gaps affecting Native American, Black, Latino, Asian and other communities that have been significantly impacted by the pandemic, systemic racism and the deterioration of legacy local news outlets.” They are, top row, from left, Dr. Paulette Brown-Hinds, Lawrence Daniel Caswell, Celeste Fremon; middle row, Simon Galperin, Geoffrey King, Jennifer Larino, Sara Lomax-Reese; bottom row, David Rodríguez Muñoz, Jodi Rave Spotted Bear and Sonam Vashi. (Announcement)

“After boarding a bus in Venezuela’s capital, Juan Pablo Lares sits in front facing the passengers, turns on a microphone and speaker, and delivers the news while a colleague holds a black cardboard frame around his face to mimic a television screen,” Regina Garcia Cano and Juan Pablo Arraez reported Thursday for the Associated Press. They also wrote, “That rudimentary news delivery system is one of several ways journalists are fighting to preserve press freedom in the South American nation. . . .” (Credit: BBC/YouTube)

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Richard Prince’s Journal-isms originates from Washington. It began in print before most of us knew what the internet was, and it would like to be referred to as a “column.” Any views expressed in the column are those of the person or organization quoted and not those of any other entity. Send tips, comments and concerns to Richard Prince at journal-isms+owner@groups.io

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