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NAHJ Urges End to ‘Minorities’ Label

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Part 2 of 2 (See here for Part 1)

Current Usage ‘Erases Identities,’ Group Says
Racial Reckoning Touches American English
Slavery Catches Up With Millard Fillmore
Even Pete Hamill Could Misfire
Zuri Berry Challenges ‘Problematic’ Story
Short Takes

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The Census Bureau has predicted that non-Hispanic white Americans will cease to compose a majority of the population in 2043, two years after the total population exceeds 400 million. (Credit: Yahoo News)

Current Usage ‘Erases Identities,’ Group Says

“The National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) will ask newsrooms to stop labeling people of color as ‘minorities,’ ” the organization declared on Aug. 4.

“For decades, the term ‘minority’ has been used to refer to groups of people that are outnumbered by non-Hispanic whites — a word that for too long has perpetuated an ‘us vs. them’ narrative. The term ‘minority’ should not be used any longer to refer to nonwhite groups. Accurate phrases depend on the context or the group that is being referred to; appropriate terminology could include communities of color, marginalized communities, underprivileged, or even emerging majority when referencing statistics and data.

“According to the Pew Research Center, by 2055 the United States ‘will have no racial or ethnic majority group.’ The Census Bureau expects the country will soon have more people of color than white people, and as communities continue to grow and diversify the country, newsrooms need to shift language appropriately so coverage remains accurate and fair.

” ‘Minority’ is often used to refer to a group that is smaller and nonwhite. When people use the word ‘minority’, they rarely specify race or background. Many people use the term when they mean African American, Asian American, Native American, or Hispanic and Latino. The word ‘minority’ has a connotation of ‘oppressed group’. The way it is utilized minimizes historically marginalized people and erases identities. . . .”

, At the Unity: Journalists of Color convention in 2004, Ernest Sotomayor (pictured) Unity president, told Journal-isms, “I haven’t used that word the entire week. I don’t think there were very many people in that ballroom who felt they were minorities.”

In the mid-1990s, the American Society of Newspaper Editors’ “Minorities Committee” became the “Diversity Committee.”

An ASNE president, David Lawrence, then at The Miami Herald, had asked whether ASNE should retire the term after he read a 1991 column by Derrick Z. Jackson (pictured) in The Boston Globe.

That April 7, 1991, column began:

“Let us bury the term ‘minority.’ Minoriteee ends like tineee, which ends like weeneee, which ends like dinkeee. When corporate and newsroom executives utter the mantra, ‘We could use a minoriteee,’ I swear they have invented a human specieee so darn puneee, it is a fait accompleee that the search for a minoriteee will be met with futiliteee. . . .”

Full column at the end of this Journal-isms.

The Central Avenue Dance Ensemble’s “Cake Walk” performance from “The History of Black Dance in America,” 2012. Recorded at the Santa Monica Bay Women’s Club in Santa Monica, Calif. (video)

Racial Reckoning Touches American English

“It’s a word we often think of when we mean ‘easy,’ but its origins are anything but simple,” Deanna Pan wrote Aug. 6 for The Boston Globe.

” ‘Cakewalk’ dates back to ‘prize walks,’ or dances performed by enslaved Africans on Southern plantations, in which their enslavers served as judges and the best dancers were often awarded with slices of cake. Following the Civil War, the cakewalk became a regular feature of racist minstrel shows, where white performers donned garish makeup and costumes to lampoon African-Americans.

“Or ‘sold down the river,’ an idiomatic expression deployed to communicate betrayal. The phrase alludes to the practice of selling and transporting enslaved Africans down the Mississippi or Ohio rivers to plantations in the deep South, where conditions were notoriously brutal. Planters in states like Virginia and Kentucky often exploited enslaved people’s fears of being separated from their families and sold further south to quell insubordination and resistance.

“American English is riddled with words and phrases with racist origins or undertones. Since the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis and the flurry of protests his and other Black Americans’ deaths have inspired, a growing number of public and private institutions are reevaluating their reliance on language with racist connotations or history. . . .”

A statue of former president Millard Fillmore stands outside City Hall in Buffalo, N.Y.. Because of his support for the Fugitive Slave Act, the University at Buffalo has taken Filmore’s name off a building. (Credit: John Hickey/Buffalo News)

Slavery Catches Up With Millard Fillmore

“The University at Buffalo’s decision to expunge the names of three politicians from UB facilities does not, as critics will insist, erase history,” the Buffalo News editorialized Aug. 8. “Rather, it brings history into sharper focus, which is entirely fitting for an institution of higher learning.

“The three historic figures whom the university decided it will no longer honor with buildings, roads or other facilities are: Millard Fillmore, the 13th president of the United States; James O. Putnam, a former state senator and UB chancellor who expressed racist views; and Peter B. Porter, a congressman, regent of the state university system and a slave owner.

“Fillmore did some great things for the City of Buffalo. His legacy as president is complicated, but his support in the White House of a national pro-slavery law is beyond dispute.

“Through much of his career he referred to slavery as an evil practice, but Fillmore’s actions as president contradicted that view. He served as Zachary Taylor’s vice president until Taylor’s death in July 1850. Tensions between slave states and free states were roiling the nation, and members of Congress hammered out a package of five bills that became known as the Compromise of 1850.

“One was the Fugitive Slave Act, which amended a law from 1793 that authorized local governments and federal agents to capture and return runaway slaves found anywhere in United States territory to their owners. The 1850 law increased the penalties for anyone harboring escaped slaves or failing to help return them. . . .”

Even Pete Hamill Could Misfire

Pete Hamill (pictured), the New York newspaper columnist and author who died Aug. 5 at 85, was justifiably hailed as a master of the craft. But even he could misfire. Hamill was part of the media frenzy condemning the Central Park Five, the five Black and Latino men who as teenagers were wrongly convicted of the brutal rape of a jogger in New York City.

They are now known as “the Exonerated Five.”

Lynell Hancock wrote in 2003 for the Columbia Journalism Review:

“In his April 23, 1989, piece in the [New York] Post, A SAVAGE DISEASE, Pete Hamill, the celebrated city columnist, painted a menacing backdrop that would color the coverage to come [PDF]:

” ‘They were coming downtown from a world of crack, welfare, guns, knives, indifference and ignorance. They were coming from a land with no fathers. . . . They were coming from the anarchic province of the poor.

” ‘And driven by a collective fury, brimming with the rippling energies of youth, their minds teeming with the violent images of the streets and the movies, they had only one goal: to smash, hurt, rob, stomp, rape. The enemies were rich. The enemies were white. . . .'”

However, Hamill also excoriated then-local businessman Donald Trump after Trump placed full-page advertisements in four New York newspapers calling for the state to adopt the death penalty for killers. He made clear that he was voicing this opinion because of the rape and assault of the jogger.

Hamill said Trump’s “scream for vengeance could be considered premature by some” and decried his “violent language” “as if it were coming from someone who walks around with bodyguards.”

“Snarling and heartless and fraudulently tough, insisting on the virtue of stupidity, it was the epitome of blind negation,” Hamill wrote about the Trump ad.

“Hate was just another luxury. And Donald Trump stood naked revealed as the spokesman for that tiny minority of Americans who live well-defended lives. Forget poverty and its causes. Forget the degradation and squalor of millions. Fry them into passivity.”

Zuri Berry Challenges ‘Problematic’ Story

Zuri Berry (pictured), a senior managing editor at Washington NPR affiliate WAMU-FM, is pushing back against a story that reported that Berry is “being investigated as the subject of multiple complaints from staffers over 11 months, according to three employees who requested anonymity,” as Sasha Fernandez reported July 20 for Current.

Fernandez also wrote, “Monna Kashfi, WAMU’s interim chief content officer, announced during a meeting July 7 with station journalists that the Human Resources division of American University, WAMU’s licensee, is investigating Senior Managing Editor Zuri Berry. Management has reassigned Berry’s reporters to other editors, according to the employees, who asked for anonymity because they feared retribution for speaking publicly about the investigation.

“Three female journalists of color who have left WAMU’s newsroom since January 2019 told Current that their decisions were prompted by Berry’s behavior toward them.”

The allegations come amid turmoil at the station. On Aug. 7, “J.J. Yore, the general manager of WAMU, stepped down under pressure amid staff complaints about the station’s newsroom culture, including the treatment of Black and other minority employees,” Elahe Izadi and Paul Farhi reported for the Washington Post.

Berry messaged Journal-isms on Friday, “I’ve refrained from commenting on this situation publicly to preserve the privacy of others and to allow for the process at WAMU to take place without added influence. However, I have a number of issues with the Current article. It is both deeply unfair and problematic.

“There is no doubt that I’ve had failed relationships at WAMU, but nowhere in the article does it detail how those failures are a manifestation of gender bias or toward women of color in particular. All of my direct reports are women, and for that matter all of my hires have been women as well. What I find most concerning is that, while Current clearly spoke with two of my prior direct reports, the author didn’t speak with any of the other women of color I’ve managed or hired who remain on staff.

“I believe their experiences are dramatically different. And I take umbrage with the notion that I have some implied bias against people of color. That erases my own blackness and that of others on staff I’ve supported, hired and uplifted.

“Unfortunately, this is a complicated matter. At least three people quoted anonymously in the article have had problems with other people of color, including two who sought to undermine another editor of color. And none of these former or current staff members are aware of the lengths to which many problems were mediated through human resources — mostly for their benefit and to protect their privacy.

“But at the root of these failed relationships is a push to hold people accountable for their behavior, performance and professionalism. WAMU is struggling right now with how to balance accountability with support for people of color. As I noted in the email to staff that was shared with Current, I’m appalled that my push for accountability and productivity has created harm or added to a culture that values work over people. That’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot during this process.

“This is messy. The Current article does a good job of painting me as a villain, but it doesn’t accurately represent how I manage in full or the good relationships I have with others in the building. And it doesn’t take into account how many of the actions I’ve taken were done in concert with other editors, my supervisor and human resources.

“I wish I could go into further detail, but I can’t at this point.”

Berry joined WAMU in January 2019 after being managing editor for news and digital at WFAE-FM in Charlotte, N.C., deputy managing editor for news and multimedia at the Boston Herald, manager of web content at WFXT-TV in Boston, and content producer and writer for The Boston Globe’s Boston.com.

Short Takes

Linda Shockley says, “I look forward to enjoying my family, helping my church and pursuing local historic preservation projects.” She has seen thousands of students come through her program. (Credit: Dow Jones News Fund) 

Veteran sportswriter Bill Rhoden wanted to help transform an industry in which few African Americans are writing about sports and even fewer are in sports department leadership positions. The Undefeated is giving him the chance by sponsoring the Rhoden Fellows.

“Kerry Washington is on the September 2020 issue of Town & Country donning a draped one-shoulder lavender gown by Cushnie topped with a full fabulous Afro hairstyle,” Jacqueline Laurean Yates wrote Aug. 5 for ABC’s “Good Morning America.” ” ‘This was definitely not a normal photoshoot,’ said Washington in a post revealing the cover. ‘It was a socially distanced, labor of love.’ ” . . .

Remaining journalism programs in Mexico, such as one above at Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico City (ITESM), see double-digit enrollment numbers as a welcome blessing. (Courtesy Maria Del Carmen Fernández Chapou)

A July 29 discussion of the Washington Post Metro Seven and the current state of diversity and inclusion in the news business, a talk sponsored by the New England chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, has been posted. Leon Dash, Ron Taylor and Richard Prince were panelists. Ana Goñi-Lessan of the Houston Chronicle moderated. The Metro Seven were inducted into the National Association of Black Journalists Hall of Fame a year ago this week.

(Credit: LA Johnson/NPR)

“There are now too many big places like New York, Chicago and Washington where the concerns of ‘minorities’ have become a majority interest.” (Credit: The Atlantic)

‘Minor’ call, major gaffe

By Derrick Z. Jakson, Boston Globe, April 7, 1991

Let us bury the term ” minority.” Minoriteee ends like tineee, which ends like weeneee, which ends like dinkeee. When corporate and newsroom executives utter the mantra, “We could use a minoriteee,” I swear they have invented a human specieee so darn puneee, it is a fait accompleee that the search for a minoriteee will be met with futiliteee.

At best, I think of “minoriteees” as midgets. Circus midgets are never ringleaders. They are the boobeees. At worst, I think, “eeensie weensee minoriteee crawled up the water spout; down came the rain and . . .”

Minority is built on a pretty sorry root word, “minor.” Minor means “lesser.” It means “lesser in importance, rank or stature.” It means “lesser” in seriousness or danger; requiring comparatively little attention or concern.”

Last but not lesser, “minor” means “A person or thing that is lesser in comparison to others of the same class.”

How small can you get? “Minority” is so ingrained in white-dominated culture when talking about black, brown and yellow people, it is often used when it makes no sense.

Recently, Mayor Tom Bradley of Los Angeles said about the 1990 census, “Traditionally, those from the minority community have been undercounted. . .” This comes from an African American mayor of a giant city which is only 37 percent made up of Anglo white people.

The U.S. is still mostly white. But as the percentage of Latino and Asian Americans has grown dramatically, the percentage of white Americans has shrunk from 83 to 80 percent, or 76 percent, after subtracting white Latinos.

There are now too many big places like New York, Chicago and Washington where the concerns of “minorities ” have become a majority interest. Boston’s public school system is 80 percent children of color. The University of California at Los Angeles recently announced that its percentage of students of Asian descent has passed that of white students.

As late as the 1950s, sociologists subdivided Eurpoean Americans into “cultural minorities. ” As sure as white flight to the suburbs, the term was shortened and gladly handed off to people of color, people who have not uniformly shared in the trafficking of economic and political power.

Eradicating the term “minority” is a beginning toward forcing this country to recognize ethnic and color groups in specific contexts. All people of color might be suffer from discrimination and bigotry. Some groups clearly work together on common agendas. In Massachusetts, the head of the state’s black political caucus is a Latino man.

But there is also no question that people of differing Asian descents are in vastly different economic circumstances. Miami Cuban Americans have amassed far more power than Puerto Ricans. Many African Americans have accused college administrators of bragging about ” minority” enrollments and “staff” while padding the figures with more preferable students of color and black secretaries.

Many people of color have come to assume white business and educational leaders to be disingenuous when they lump together “women and minorities.” This grouping is odd on face value, since women are the majority gender of this country. Then, having given themselves a choice, white men often make white women the alpha and omega of any commitment to diversity, and at that, it is still hideously imperfect.

Call me an African American. Call me a black person not just “a black,” which raises the question of, “black what?” e. Call me a person of color which is different from “colored.” Colored suggests coloring in or over something. Of color means simply having a color, as is.

Just do not call me a “minority.” By the dictionary alone, the term is a blatant diminution of one’s humanity. People of color do not say, “Golleee Miss Molleee, what is wrong with those majoritieees?” Western culture does not allow for white people to be thought of in the abstract.

In baseball, the minor leagues are the chump leagues. In music, sad songs are sung in a minor key. In government, the minority party is out of power. To call a human being a “minority ” is to shrink them in the mind to somewhere between mouse and gnat at the very time their numbers are becoming a lion’s roar. A ” minority” can be nothing more than a midget, unseen and unwanted by the gargantuan majoriteee.


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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@yahoogroups.com

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