NABJ Virtual Monitor 2020

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Q&A WITH DR. SHEILA BROOKS

Student Multimedia Project founder applauds virtual newsroom

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PHOTO ESSAY: COVID RELIEF

Florida A&M opens campus for coronavirus testing, food distribution

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Major leagues take a new stance on athletes showing BLM support

SATURDAY, AUGUST 8, 2020 • NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BLACK JOURNALISTS • www.nabjmonitor.com/2020

Biden words spark controversy Comments on diversity in Black, Latino communities draw fire

BY AK AYLA GARDNER NABJ Monitor

Former Vice President Joe Biden was pressed by a group of five reporters in a headline-making conversation during the joint virtual convention of the National Association of Black Journalists and National Association of Hispanic Journalists on Thursday.

Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, faced backlash for his comments on diversity in political attitudes within Black and Latino communities.

“Unlike the African American community with notable exceptions, the Latino community is an incredibly diverse community with incredibly different attitudes about certain different things,” Biden said. “You go to Florida you find a very different attitude about immigration in certain places than you do then when you’re in Arizona.”

His comments came in response to a line of questioning by NPR’s Lulu Garcia-Navarro on Biden’s plans to engage with Cuba and Latino voters, especially those in Florida, on the issue of providing Cuban migrants temporary protection status.

Senior campaign adviser Symone Sanders told Politico in a statement that the video circling online was “conveniently cut to make this about racial diversity but that’s not the case.”

Sanders said Biden was referring to diversity in opinion among Latin American countries.

Biden tweeted out a clarification, stating, “In no way did I mean to suggest the African American community is a monolith—not by identity, not on issues, not at all.”

According to the Pew Research Center, 26% of Latinos and 6% of Black people voted for President Trump in 2016.

Biden, the right-hand of the nation’s first Black president Barack Obama, found himself apologizing to the Black community in May after he said in a Breakfast Club interview, “if you have a problem figuring out if you’re for me or for Trump, you ain’t black.”

While some saw the comment as a joke, others felt the comment exposed that Biden takes the Black vote for granted—a community credited with reviving his campaign with a primary win in South Carolina ahead of Super Tuesday.

“What I think is true is that Biden and the Democratic Party takes for granted that the overwhelming majority of Black Americans will vote their way,” Steven Woods, a Texas voter, wrote on Twitter.

NABJ VIRTUAL CONVENTION

Historical Virtual Convention Paves Road for the Future

BY CHRISTIAN CRITTENDEN NABJ Monitor

The National Association of Black Journalists and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists entered into the unknown this year with a virtual convention amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This is a historical moment for NABJ,” President Dorothy Tucker said the day before the conference opened. “It is our first virtual convention. It is uncharted waters. It has been both exciting and exhilarating and stressful and frightful all at the same time. I think it’s going to be great. I know it’s going to be great.”

NABJ began to prepare for the possibility of

Top, NABJ President Dorothy Tucker and NAHJ President Hugo Balta welcome attendees to the 2020 Virtual Convention, above.

a virtual convention in early March, and while there was never any plan of canceling the annual convention, the official announcement to make the switch didn’t come until late April. The organization had to move swiftly to make sure everything was in place and that more than a million dollars were not lost in cancellation fees.

“There has been a really big learning curve for all of us,” Executive Director Drew Berry said.

The organization worked to find the best way to move the in-person programming that was scheduled to virtual. With the current climate, programming has been adjusted to make things more relevant.

“There were several workshops that we CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

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One-on-one with Dr. Sheila Brooks

as the NABJ Student Multimedia Project Goes Virtual VIRTUAL

2020 NABJ MONITOR STAFF ASSIGNMENT DESK AKAYLA GARDNER

BROADCAST ERIN DAVIS EBONY KENDRICK DARASHA SINGLETON KAVIENA SPENCER TYRIK WYNN

GRAPHIC DESIGN CARLYNN GREENE

PHOTOGRAPHY NALLAH BROWN

BY RAYMOND LUCAS JR NABJ Monitor

are going to be in more demand than ever.

If you get the skills that you need now, and particularly in this experience, then I know that it’s going to be the best experience that you could ever have. …

[Then] you have to return. You have to return and you have to teach someone else.

You have to give back to the bridge that brought you across. We have to continue to leave a legacy for when we are all gone. So many other young people come along… we have to teach our own.

The National Association of Black Journalists’ Student Multimedia Project may soon be celebrating 31 years with a new name in honor of Dr. Sheila Brooks, CEO of SRB Communications and founder of the program that has been integral in training many successful Black journalists and media professionals in the industry today. The NABJ board will vote on naming the program in Brooks’ honor on Aug. 8.

Since 1990, selected students have spent the week of the convention working with professional journalists. Their work appears online, in the NABJ Monitor Newspaper and on the NABJ News broadcast.

After trying and failing three times, Dr. Brooks saw her dream come to life in 1989, when the board approved the idea. The first project launched in 1990.

Even though she was confident in her idea, the success of the program has surprised her. Current members of the program hear from former student project members of their experiences as they interview them or research background on previous years’ websites for stories. Former “NABJ Babies” continually come back to mentor a new crop of students.

In an interview Aug. 5, Dr. Brooks reflected on a new virtual era for the program, the key to making it successful and her advice for future journalists. Her comments have been edited for space.

Q. How do you feel about the

proposal to rename the NABJ student projects in your honor?

A. I only heard about this late last week…

Q. How do you feel about the PODCAST DEMETRIA BIAS JENNIFER RICE

PRINT-ONLINE CHRISTIAN CRITTENDEN RAYMOND LUCAS JR. NOAH TESFAYE

PUBLIC RELATIONS RAIYANA MALONE NINA STEWART-THOMAS

WEBSITE KENNETH COOPER

virtual student newsroom this year?

A. I think it’s a wonderful change because

it gives our young people just another opportunity to gain some other skills that they didn’t have, those digital skills and the technical skills that come with those digital skills. It’s a great thing because guess what?

We’re in the real world right now, because that’s what the real world and newsrooms are doing. They’re reporting remotely.

They’re working virtually.

Q. How satisfying is it for you

when you see Student Projects alumni become successful journalists?

A. It is so incredibly rewarding and

fulfilling to see so many young people who have come through this week-long, practical experience in student projects to become some reporter or producer or news manager at any newsroom across the country. It’s such a rewarding and fulfilling opportunity for them as well.

Q. What is one of the most

memorable moments for you from the program?

A. I think that there are so many

memorable moments in this program from

COURTESY OF DR. SHEILA BROOKS

over the years, particularly those first 10 years where I ran the program. The ones that I remember the most are making sure when that clock turns 7 a.m., I said, ‘Lock the doors.’ It was like that, you know, Lock the doors. They can’t come in. And oh, yeah, there were several that they didn’t come in that newsroom that day when they didn’t come in for hours because we made sure we had our news meetings, gave our assignments, sent them out on their stories.

And then I would deal with those couple, two or three that were late. But you could not be late. You could not be late to that newsroom. You could not be late to file any story. You could not be late for an interview for a scheduled story. I did not tolerate it. You had to meet deadlines because we know in the real world you must meet your deadlines. And that’s something that I did not tolerate.

Q.

What differences do you see in the Student Multimedia Project today compared to when it first started?

A. I think that truly the only difference

between these virtual student projects now and 31 years ago when we first started is simply that we’ve gone digital. We’ve gone digital at a time that convergence in news is already happening in newsrooms across the country. So why not have this opportunity for you now? We know we were forced into it. It wasn’t something we thought to do. But once it occurred, we figured it out. That’s what we as black journalists do. We figure it out so that we can learn and we can teach. That way we can continue to look at the legacy that so many of you enjoy and so many others for generations to come will enjoy.”

Q. What advice do you have for this year’s wave of students?

A. The best advice that I can give all of

you is to be vigilant in your work, to be diligent in your work and to learn as much as you can, because we are digital. It’s a whole new world out there and those new opportunities in the newsrooms, those jobs

It touches my heart, it’s a heartfelt honor.

Whether the board decides to accept that proposal or not, I still stand committed to this project, as I have from the very beginning. I still stand committed to this organization, to all the young people and the mentors who have come through this organization, because even though this was a vision of mine, it takes a village to make it happen and that’s what’s happened over the years.

When I first came up with the idea in 1986, when I was secretary on the national board, you know, when you’re a secretary, all you do is take minutes. You don’t have a project or an initiative. So I wanted to give back. I wanted us, the organization to leave a legacy for our young people.

That’s what I was looking for. I want you to know that proposal got turned down by the board of directors three times before it was approved in 1989. I presented that proposal to create this project from 1986 to 1989. We just weren’t doing those kinds of projects for our young people that we were focused on a lot of the professional development for our professional journalists, which, you know, I can understand. But we were always committed to young people.

I came along with the vision to create the student projects, but it did take a board of directors to certainly approve it. It did take scores of mentors over all the years to make it happen and to keep it going. I ran the project for the first 10 years. I mean, for the first 10 years, Sunday to Sunday, the young people didn’t have a life, I didn’t have a life and mentors didn’t have a life.

I am humbled. I am honored that a proposal would even be submitted to name this project after me, and particularly because I’m still living. I have to say that because we all know that usually, those kinds of things happen when somebody passes away. So if by chance that this board agrees to name the project in honor of Dr. Sheila Brooks, I will continue to be committed to this organization. I will continue to give selflessly, as I always have, and I will continue to be committed to the best organization in this entire world.

More online at: nabjmonitor.com/2020

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Contested Races for Treasurer, Academic Rep Fleshes Out New NABJ Board for 2020-21 ELECTION RESULTS

BY CHRISTIAN CRITTENDEN NABJ Monitor

Walter Smith-Randolph and Jarrad Henderson have emerged as NABJ’s new treasurer and academic representative, respectively, after two contested races for the board of directors.

Smith-Randolph, the programming chair for this year’s virtual convention and co-chair for the Young Journalists Task Force, defeated Ernest Owens in the treasurer’s race by a 30vote margin, 289-259. During the campaign, Owens said the race could reflect discrimination against him as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, which many feel is not truly supported by the organization.

“I know that he had a lot of concerns in this race,” Smith-Randolph said. “I want to thank him for his competitive spirit and for his love of NABJ. He’s run a few times now. We want to make sure we are listening to all our members making sure that all of our members are included. I want to be a listening ear to everyone.

I want to make sure that no one feels left out.”

Henderson will inherit the academic representative job, a position that was almost re-

TREASURER Smith-Randolph

289

Ernest Owens

259

ACADEMIC REPRESENTATIVE Jarrad Henderson

Walter Smith-Randolph

Jarrad Henderson

moved from NABJ’s board of directors. Henderson received 53% of the vote en route to beating Dr. Milbert Brown Jr. and Russell Motley, who split the other 47%.

The treasurer-in-waiting is currently a reporter and special project contributor for WKRC Local 12 in Cincinnati. In addition to his other roles, he is the vice president of the Greater Cin-

cinnati Association of Black Journalists.

Henderson served as the chair for NABJ’s Virtual Task Force. He has been a member of NABJ since 2008, when he was a member of the student multimedia project. Henderson is also an adjunct professor at Georgetown University who works as a senior producer on USA Today’s investigate team.

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Dr. Milbert Brown Jr.

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Russell Motley

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“The things I promised during this campaign—established voting power for our academic members, raise money for our programming at NABJ, including helping our student projects expand,” Henderson said.

There were two uncontested races. Michelle Fitzhugh-Craig will serve as the next parliamentarian, and Tre’vell Anderson will be the Region IV director.

Fitzhugh-Craig is the founder and publisher of Shades magazine. She has been a member of NABJ since 2000 and has served in multiple roles in her time with the organization.

Anderson is currently the president of the National Association of Black Journalists LA chapter, along with being the co-chair of the LGBTQ+ Task Force The elections committee plans to enact an election code of conduct into place for how candidates and members should conduct themselves during the election season.

Next year’s elections will fill the following positions: president, vice president, vice president of digital, vice president of broadcast, secretary, Region I director, Region III director and a student representative.

Joint virtual convention generates $900,000 for NABJ

BY CHRISTIAN CRITTENDEN AND RAYMOND LUCAS JR NABJ Monitor

Despite fear of losing money when the annual convention went virtual, the National Association of Black Journalists is reporting a 30 percent surplus from this convention — more than expected — paving the way for what President Dorothy Tucker says may be another virtual convention next year if the COVID-19 outbreak continues.

NABJ board members have implemented new financial strategies and gained a plethora of new sponsors, partners and donors. Many of these partners prefer to remain anonymous, but Twitter’s announcement of a $125,000 donation to the organization and Mark Cuban’s gift of $100,000 have helped the organization come out into the black.

Facebook’s $250,000 grant given to NABJ in 2018 still has around $165,000 left to distribute in scholarships over the next three years. From the beginning of this year through March, the unaudited net income was nearly $1.5 million.

The virtual convention resulted in fewer expenses for career fair booths and travel for partners as well as a break in convention registration prices for the 3,173 attendees. Professional member rates started at $190 and $90 for students, down from $325 for professional members last year.

“We had no intention of canceling the convention,” Berry said. “We couldn’t reveal that in

PHOTO COURTESY OF NABJ

The 2020 NABJ board gathers in Birmingham, Alabama. The board avoided financial losses this year despite moving the annual convention to a virtual format.

March. We had already started in early March planning for the possible virtual convention. So we were way ahead, but we just couldn’t tell everybody that because we had contractual obligations that would have cost us a lot of money.

If we would have announced it earlier, we would have taken a $1.4 million hit.”

In addition, Berry said, bringing the board together instead of having members travel for inperson meetings saved money, and the organization made other cuts in the budget to trim costs.

The surplus comes as NABJ joins with the National Association of Hispanic Journalists for this year’s convention.

NABJ has shown a surplus before when joining forces with NAHJ. In 2015, NABJ was facing a debt of over $700,000 but a joint convention with NAHJ the following year brought the association back to its feet with a surplus of $1.2 million. The official figures for this year have not been released yet.

“We were able to pay off all those debts,” NABJ Treasurer Greg Morrison said. “We’ve had a surplus situation every year since then.”

From that point on, NABJ has been much more comfortable financially, even after the Miami convention’s expenses exceeded expectations last year by about $500,000, for a total of $2.4 million because of record-breaking attendance. That extra attendance also brought in added revenue.

NABJ has also been able to provide relief to some members experiencing financial hardship by dipping into funds set aside from other projects.

“We went through about 150 applicants for folks and listened to what their stories were,” Morrison said. “Hopefully, we were able to help someone pay a phone bill one month or a light bill one month.”

Achieving a surplus is a jump over the first hurdle, but remaining in the black amid the national economic turmoil is a task for the incoming treasurer who will be elected after polls close at 5 p.m. ET on Aug. 7.

“To those who doubted it saying, ‘It’s not gonna work,’ we’re going to prove you wrong,” Morrison said. “We’re still here and we will be here.”

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Pandemic, Other Challenges Greet Tucker in NABJ Presidency

BY TYRIK WYNN NABJ Monitor

Dorothy Tucker’s first year as president of the National Association of Black Journalists has been full of challenges.

After taking the helm of a financially healthy organization, Tucker faced the prospect of huge losses when the COVID-19 pandemic threatened the cancellation of the annual convention.

On top of that, the television journalist suffered as a patient of the fast-spreading virus herself.

But she has made a hands-on approach the hallmark of her presidency, ensuring that at

AUGUST 2019 NABJ elected Dorothy Tucker as its 22nd President.

The NABJ/NAHJ Virtual Convention was designed to mimic the real thing.

Tucker, NABJ members go viral in a natural hair celebration.

Historical Virtual Convention Paves Road for the Future

OCTOBER 2019 NABJ & Tucker honor the legacy of Rep. Elijah Cummings and celebrate Gwen Ifill's "Forever" Stamp.

DECEMBER 2019 Tucker creates Each 1 Reach 1 Membership Drive to increase membership.

MICHAEL A. MCCOY/ASSOCIATED PRESS

President Dorothy Tucker speaks at African Methodist Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., in January.

board meetings in Los Angeles and Birmingham earlier this year, board members got out of the conference room and visited newsrooms in those cities.

“We talked to news managers that we had never spoken with before. We met with people that we hadn’t had the opportunity to see in person before,” she said. “We had a chance to really engage with some news managers there and push our mission of more blacks in the newsroom and more blacks in management.”

While planning her first convention, a joint conference with the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, Tucker and the board had to navigate a pandemic that made a large gathering unsafe.

After lengthy negotiations with the Marriott Corp. over the contract for the hotel’s convention space in Washington, D.C., the organizations pivoted to a virtual convention.

“This has really been a historical moment for NABJ. It is our first virtual convention,” Tucker said. “It is uncharted waters. It has been both exciting and exhilarating, and stressful and frightful all at the same time.”

The stress extended to Tucker’s private life and health as well. She caught the virus, but she kept working through it, she said.

“I just sat my butt down and continued to do NABJ work and I continued to do the research for the stories I needed to do for CBS Chicago,” she said.

She said she plans to continue working for her priorities of greater representation.

“It is critical that we expand our push for more blacks in top management positions,” she said. “I have had the opportunity to talk to newspapers, publishers, television CEOs and that is the one thing I have repeated time and time again.”

JANUARY 2020 FEBRUARY 2020 NABJ launches the RoundUp monthly newsletter.

NABJ & Prof. Bramlett-Solomon team up to survey the treatment of Black journalists in newsrooms.

MARCH 2020 NABJ postpones regional conferences amid COVID-19 outbreak.

MARCH 2020 NABJ & Getty Images collaborate for a new Inclusion Scholarship.

APRIL 2020 Tucker announces that she had contracted COVID-19 but has fully-recovered from the illness.

APRIL 2020 NABJ announces that the NABJNAHJ convention will be virtual for the first time in the organization's history.

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picked out in March that didn’t make the cut because we had to make room for COVID-19 as well as talk about the racial reckoning that’s going on in the country,” convention programming chair Walter Smith-Randolph said.

FEELS LIKE THE REAL THING

NABJ has done its best to provide attendees of this year’s virtual convention with as close to the in-person experience as possible. Participants have the opportunity to be a part of over 100 sessions and panels, some of which have been pre-recorded, so they can go back and rewatch if they’ve missed something.

In addition to the panels, one added feature of this format is the ability to schedule interviews with recruiters at the career fair, one of the most important parts of the convention. In the past, lines could last for hours, but now members can sit one on one with recruiters and have a private interview.

One added incentive is that NABJ was able to partner with Grubhub to provide over 1,500 meals, so members could feel they were a part of an actual luncheon from home.

“I think the thing I enjoyed the most was the luncheon experience,” NABJ member and past student representative Kyra Azore said. “I feel like NABJ thought about their members when they did that. They thought about how their members would feel, how they could get the most out of this.”

A VIRTUAL STUDENT NEWSROOM

JUNE 2020 NABJ releases several statements in support of black journalists during a nation-wide awakening over race.

Images courtesy of NABJ and Canva

The annual NABJ Student Multimedia Project has gone completely virtual as well. A team of professional journalists and students have made the switch, with the students reporting on multiple platforms from across the country.

“I never expected the student projects to go virtual like it did this year,” Dr. Sheila Brooks, founder of the project, said. “But isn’t it a wonderful change? I think it is. I think it’s a wonderful

change because it gives our young people just another opportunity to gain some other skills that they didn’t have, those digital skills, technical skills that come with those digital skills.”

JUST A FEW GLITCHES

There was a lot of anticipation and uncertainty from the members on how the virtual format would work for them. The unknown nature of the convention didn’t stop 3,713 members from registering.

“I was so excited that the conference moved virtually because I really do believe that the networking pool would be maximized,” NABJ member Kamara Daughtry said. “There are so many people who will be able to connect.”

The organization provided each registrant with a link to the website and their own password. Once participants gained access they were taken to an interactive dashboard that has links to the career fair, specials events, workshops and more.

Of course, when dealing with technology there will be hiccups and bumps in the road, but most of the issues have been minor.

“Some of the workshops would have technical difficulties,” student Brittany Jarret said.

“I’d click on a workshop and there would be a black screen and they would let you know that it was moved to Zoom, so that was a little frustrating because I was missing out.”

NABJ already has begun to put pieces in place if a virtual convention is required for next year.

Even when the in-person conventions return there could be some forms of the virtual format that remain because of the success of this year.

“I think there’s going to be some sort of virtual component at every convention going forward,” Berry said. “It won’t be this big grand thing unless we have to, but there’s going to be some sort of virtual component. It makes it accessible to more people.”

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Black Journalists Seek Truth Over “Objectivity”

BY NOAH TESFAYE NABJ Monitor

When newspaper editor Ida B. Wells was investigating lynchings of Black Americans following Reconstruction after the Civil War, her priority was not objectivity. It was to tell the truth about the horrors that were being faced

by Black Americans.

Today’s Black journalists covering stories about Black America often find themselves faced with a premise of objectivity that not only was not created by them, but also forces them to conform to a standard that inhibits their ability to seek the truth as Wells reported it.

“If the argument is all reporters should seek truth, then that is something we all should agree on,” said Aaron L. Morrison, who covers race for the Associated Press. “But if the argument is certain reporters, by virtue of who they are, cannot be perceived as objective when they report a story, I think that is an outdated, false narrative that needs to die.”

Truth vs. objectivity has become a point of debate in newsrooms where the role of Black journalists has been restricted in covering racial issues such as Black Lives Matter and equal time is given to the resistance against protesters, such as in Republican Sen. Tom Cotton’s controversial “Send in the Troops” op-ed in the New York Times.

Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and correspondent for “60 Minutes’” “60 in 6,” Wesley Lowery wrote about the challenges that exist when covering topics of race specifically pointing to the concept that is ubiquitous in discourse surrounding current-day journalism: objectivity.

He argues in a New York Times opinion piece that objectivity in newsrooms today really means objectivity from the eyes of white editors and reporters. That piece has re-centered Black journalists in discussions of covering not just race, but all issues.

Lowery, like many Black millennial journalists, learned journalism around the end of the Bush era and the start of the Obama era. Journalists were questioning how objective their in-

BEBETO MATTHEWS/ASSOCIATED PRESS

dustry was in covering the Bush administration amid questionable information from U.S. officials regarding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“The idea that we want our journalism to be objective, meaning we want it to communicate objective truths, is completely inoffensive and completely correct,” Lowery said. “But that’s not what I think people are talking about and certainly not what I’ve been talking about in this space.

“Rather, what we’re talking about is in the pursuit of being able to claim this objectivity, newsrooms at times are contorting themselves in ways and punishing reporters for things that do not actually impact their journalism in tangible ways.”

Instead of sometimes facing direct and overt racism, some Black journalists are questioned on their ability to remain objective and unbiased on a story. Morrison sees this as a deflection from the true problem.

“The very assumption is based in white supremacy because what it says is that white re-

Aaron Morrison, right, who covers race for the Associated Press, says sometimes Black journalists are questioned on their ability to be objective on issues of race.

porters bring objectivity to those same stories, and we know that to not be true,” Morrison said. “We know that it is possible for a story about police brutality to give much more voice to the law enforcement side than it does to the community side.”

It’s this dual standard that Morrison sees in the newsroom. It appears not only in covering race as it pertains to politics, but in sports as well.

Master Tesfatsion was covering the NFL for the Washington Post at the time San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick was protesting police brutality when he learned firsthand about objectivity being shaped by white editors and writers.

“The sports editor of the Washington Post told a white person to write a story about sports and race and the NFL and involving NFL players and he told that white reporter to go talk to me to get an understanding of what angle to take,” Tesfatsion said. “That was extremely disrespectful because you value my perspective enough to have someone else pick my brain to understand what the best angle for a story would be, but you don’t value my perspective enough to empower me to write that story.”

Lowery says this is part of the contortions used to avoid calling racism what it is: racist.

“There are all these concessions made to the imaginary white guy reading the coverage without any consideration for if the reader may be a person of color,” he said.

But on a topic seen as “white,” Black voices have also been silenced.

When Allison Davis, an NABJ founding member, was a producer for the “Today Show” from the 1980s through the 2000s, she had booked a Black dermatologist to cover the importance of wearing sunscreen in the summer.

She received a response that Davis saw as willfully ignorant at best.

“I’ll never forget my senior producer or my executive producer saying ‘Oh we can’t book her,’ and I said ‘Why? She’s a dermatologist. She teaches at Georgetown.’ And she goes ‘Well she’s Black. What does she know about sunburns?’”

This attitude manifests in how not just Black reporters but all reporters cover topics like race. For Yamiche Alcindor, “PBS NewsHour” White House correspondent, it meant confronting her newsroom in the coverage of Trayvon Martin following his murder and how his image in no way should dictate nor justify negative coverage of his death.

“I had to explain that ‘In the culture I live in, people have gold teeth, people smoke marijuana, people skip school sometimes, people might get in trouble,’” Alcindor said. “At the end of the day, they are regular 17-year-olds doing what 17-year-olds in Miami do. And I’m so grateful that in my newsroom, they listened to me. In my newsroom, I felt like we humanized Trayvon Martin.”

Alcindor says showing the full picture is how she centers all of her reporting: seeking to tell the truth.

“I approach stories in a way to be objective and fair, but it’s about telling the truth and being accurate,” Alcindor said. “I think we should always be seeking to tell the truth in a raw way that really illuminates the issue at hand.”

Journalists of all races have biases. Morrison sees this discourse surrounding objectivity in newsrooms as racist because it is applied only to Black journalists. He says it can be equally damaging for Black journalists to distance their race or experiences from their job.

“The moment you begin to do that, you compromise the journalism,” he said. “If you don’t acknowledge the life experience, the lived experience you have, if you don’t acknowledge that affects the way you approach the work, it’s almost like a form of dishonesty.”

Lowery and Alcindor say an important factor to address the problem is leadership, and that leadership, which is now predominantly white, has not prioritized Black and other nonwhite voices.

“Newsrooms, which are made up of very smart people, could have solved these problems a long time ago if they decided these problems were urgent to be solved,” Lowery said.

Treasurer’s Race Sparks Debate on Treatment of LGBTQ+ Members

BY NOAH TESFAYE NABJ Monitor

This year’s treasurer’s race not only was a reckoning on finances, but also sparked a forum for concerns from the LGBTQ+ community.

Just before the beginning of NABJ’s first virtual convention in August, NABJ member Ernest Owens tweeted a thread detailing his concerns and frustrations about how NABJ treats its LGBTQ+ members and the LGBTQ+ Task Force.

The thread led to an outpouring of public comments from LGBTQ+ members of the organization expressing their experiences with homophobia and transphobia within the organization, signaling this moment as the catalyst for substantive policy changes to ensure a commitment to include all of NABJ’s members.

In 2017, when Tre’vell Anderson, who

identifies as non-binary, was registering for the 2017 New Orleans convention, they saw that the only gender options were male and female, leaving no space to identify themself or fellow LGBTQ+ members. Anderson and Owens, fellow co-chair at the time, got a resolution passed at the 2018 convention to expand gender identity options.

Current co-chairs Anderson and Femi Redwood say they would like access to the gender self-identification data to better support their members.

“Right now, the way things are set up, we can’t reach our task force members, which means I can’t help anyone who, let’s say, they’re gender nonconforming and they’re trying to deal with the situation that their newsroom in Iowa,” Redwood said. “I can’t help them because we can’t reach them.”

When speaking to members of her task force, Redwood says she hears many personal experiences of discrimination from

CARLYNN GREENE/NABJ MONITOR

members, including how career fair employers are not as welcoming to gender nonconforming interviewees.

“What I hear most often is the career fair, when gender non-conforming folks are going to the booths, they’re not getting a warm reception,” Redwood said. “And that

means from the job, they’re not getting the same interviewing opportunity. So maybe the person that they’re speaking to is completely cold. They don’t say anything rude, but it’s cold.”

While NABJ’s San Diego chapter founder Jerry McCormick would “like to believe that NABJ is not homophobic,” he feels his experiences say otherwise.

“I’ve been on elevators back in the day when we identify these little rainbow stickers, I remember when your young lady said, ‘I don’t want to get too close to him, he might have AIDS,’” McCormick said. “I remember that. And so, I thought we had evolved past that.”

Tucker responded to the outpouring of comments via her Twitter account: “To our LGBTQIA members. I hear you. Please let us get through our first virtual convention and I promise we will thoroughly look into your concerns Looking forward to working with @

NABJ Task Force Chair Femi Redwood.”

When asked why NABJ had not put out a statement condemning homophobia and transphobia that some members on social media wanted to see, Tucker responded, “I want to do it the right way. When I put something out, I want to not only be able to say, which I think that all of our members know, that we’re not going to tolerate anybody being disrespected. You know, this is a family that’s going to love everybody and allow them to be who they are, no matter what their sexual orientation is. But I want to be able to put something out that says, this is what we believe, this is what we will do, and this is how we will make things better.”

Anderson hopes that in the future, the organization and its members can speak out in condemning homophobia and transphobia by members and implement inclusive policy with the same urgency and care that the task force strives to do every day.

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FLORIDA A&M OPENS CAMPU PHOTO ESSAY BY NALLAH BROWN NABJ Monitor

When the COVID-19 virus struck Tallahassee, Florida, the home of Florida A&M University, the campus community responded with urgent care.

FAMU invited Second Harvest of the Big Bend to set up emergency food distribution on campus starting April 7 serving 1,140 families.

On April 25, FAMU’s Bragg Stadium opened its gates to serve as a free COVID-19 testing site. The site, open 9 a.m Monday through Saturday, conducts up to 500 tests per day.

No physician referral or appointment is required.

“It’s proven to be a valuable community resource,” said FAMU Student Health Service director, Tanya Tatum. “We started with an understanding of being open for two weeks and have grown from there.”

The site has conducted tests for more than 27,000 people.

Testing for COVID-19 and food distribution continue daily at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee. From top left, volunteers wear protective clothing and socially distance, as do medical personnel, top right. At right, Tanya Tatum (left), director of FAMU Student Health Services, serves as the logistics coordinator for COVID testing, and above, People wait in line for the first day of free COVID-19 testing.

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Clockwise from top left, Second Harvest of Big Bend distributes 1,140 food packages to those waiting in the car, walking and riding a bike. A community member pulls up to take his turn in receiving food from the Second Harvest of Big Bend. Two volunteers of the group prepare packages of food supplies, below. And volunteers direct lines of cars to receive their free food.

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Black Coaches Tackle Job Discrimination Collegiate and Professional Football Coaches Join to Compete Against Systemic Racism

BY RAYMOND LUCAS JR. NABJ Monitor

After Offensive Coordinator Eric Bieniemy and the Kansas City Chiefs left Miami as Super Bowl champions, many were surprised that for two straight years, he was not offered a head coaching position in the National Football League. Bieniemy, who is Black, joined a long list of other Black coaches who have been passed over.

The number of Black head coaches remains low at the collegiate and professional levels. In the NFL, only 3 out of 32 head coaches are Black, according to a recent count, and in the top Division I Football Subdivision (FBS), only 14 out of 130 are black, according to an analysis by the Associated Press.

In contrast, Black players make up a majority in those leagues. The difference is in how the hiring is done “When you’re an athlete, the decision is

AP

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Top, Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy. Above, Pepperdine coach Lorenzo Romar.

made on the floor,” said Arizona State football coach Herm Edwards, who also played and coached in the NFL. “You let them compete and then you get to determine who the best players are.”

Coaching, on the other hand, is more about the job interview.

“It’s not so much what they’ve done. It’s the

ability to go through the process of interviewing so you can find out about them and find out even though they might not look like you, you might have similar philosophies on how you do things,” Edwards said. “But until you approach that and allow those people to have a voice in that room of influence, you don’t know.”

After years of systemic racism against coaches, two groups have decided to fight back and create their own systems to create more visibility for Black coaches.

In July, college basketball coaches across the country announced The John McLendon Minority Initiative. McLendon, who passed in 1999, is a member of the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame and the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame and is known for both his coaching and civil rights activism.

The initiative will fund two to three positions per university for people of color to get into athletic administrative positions. The goal is to give programs more confidence in hiring more people of color.

Then this month, Maryland football coach Michael Locksley announced the formation of the National Coalition of Minority Football Coaches, a non-profit organization that will identify and groom both male and female coaches of color.

In the National Basketball Association, eight of the 30 teams are led by a black coach and in the Women’s National Basketball Association, two of the 12 teams have a black coach at the helm but neither of them were women, according to analysis of the teams’ coaching staffs.

In 2019, 87 of the programs at the Division I level in women’s college basketball had a black head coach, and 59 of those coaches were women, according to the National Collegiate Athletics Association. On the men’s side, 102 programs were led by a black male of 353 D1 programs.

“There are search firms that are predominantly white and the search firms subconsciously may hire people that they’re more comfortable with,” said Pepperdine Head Coach Lorenzo Romar. “A lot of times, to be honest, a token African-American coach gets included in the process and never really had a chance to get the job.”

While search firms may look for coaches that they are comfortable with, Howard University Head Coach Kenny Blakeney knows the importance of a coach whom a player can look up to.

“You know, I came from a household where I didn‘t have a dad,” Blakeney said. “I was raised by a single parent. I understand the value of having not only a male influence but a black male influence in a person’s life.”

High School Hoops Star Looks To Create A Movement

BY RAYMOND LUCAS JR. NABJ Monitor

The future of college basketball may include Historical Black Colleges and Universities in a highly visible way. Hoping to uplift the larger Black community, some top high school athletes are taking a harder look at predominantly Black schools to develop their sports careers.

Chatter about top-ranked recruits going to HBCUs began on the West Coast, when San Diego native Mikey Williams tweeted, “Going to an HBCU wouldn’t be too bad.” ESPN ranks him as the third best basketball player in the high school class of 2023, but as a sophomore he likely won’t commit anytime soon.

Hillcrest Prep’s Makur Maker #20 is seen against Sunrise Christian Academy during a high school basketball game at the Hoophall Classic, Sunday, January 19, 2020, in Springfield, MA. (AP Photo/Gregory Payan) The story is different for Makur Maker, who decided to pass on bluechip basketball programs like Kentucky and Kansas to spark a movement when he committed to Howard.

Maker’s brother, Thon, plays for the Detroit Pistons.

“I need to make the HBCU movement real so that others will follow,” he wrote on Twitter to announce his decision. “I hope I inspire guys like Mikey Williams on this journey. I am committing to Howard University and Coach Kenny Blakeney.”

Blakeney, Howard’s head coach, cannot comment on the commitment until Maker signs his formal letter of intent, but he is happy to see HBCUs getting attention at the top

levels of college sports.

“I’m so happy for the culture,” Blakeney said. “HBCUs have a community, caring nature about them where some student athletes may have a better chance to really reach their maximum potential. So I think it’s a wonderful thing.”

If this becomes a movement, the landscape of college basketball and those universities could be forever changed. College hoops could see new powerhouses emerge, which would create NCAA tournaments that are more captivating. If the teams do become powerhouses or even make deep runs into the postseason, the schools’ fundings would take unimaginable jumps, he said.

“If you look at teams that have gone from deep runs in the NCAA tournament, George Mason, VCU, Butler,” Blakeney said, “when they went to the Final Four, admissions had gone up. You get more sales in the bookstore, your alumni become more engaged in either giving or being a part of the campus community.

“Then you have situations where you have sponsorships, TV deals and more interest pointed towards your university. So, it not only helps your basketball program. I think it helps the overall look of a university.”

There are steps that must be taken for this trend to get rolling. The biggest one depends on the National Basketball Association draft.

The best college players in the nation usually leave campus after their freshman or sophomore year with confidence that they will be a first round draft pick in the NBA, which is the promised land for hoopers. HBCUs will have to dispel the notion that only Duke and North

Hillcrest Prep’s Makur Maker (20) controls the ball against Sunrise Christian Academy during a high school basketball game at the Hoophall Classic in Springfield, Mass. Highly touted prospect Maker picked Howard University over UCLA, Kentucky and Memphis. The five-star recruit is the highestranked player to commit to a Historically Black College or University since ESPN began tracking such things in 2007. Maker is a 6-foot-11 center who declared for the NBA draft in April before opting to consider college basketball.

AP PHOTO/GREGORY PAYAN

Carolina-level programs can get players in.

“There’s a belief that you have to go to a certain school to achieve that dream, and in reality the NBA has probably 200 scouts that are under their umbrella from every team,” Blakeney said. “It’s their full time job to go out and know where all the really good basketball talent is.”

Only time will tell if Maker’s decision is the start of a movement, but when committing to Howard, he brought added attention to HBCUs. “I’m so happy that, you know, young black men and women are starting to also look at HBCUs as a viable opportunity for their education,” Blakeney said.

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Sports Leagues Punt to Cope with Pandemic

BY CHRISTIAN CRITTENDEN NABJ Monitor

Twenty minutes before tip-off on March 11 between the Utah Jazz and Oklahoma City Thunder, league officials stormed the court to stop the game. Jazz center Rudy Gobert had tested positive for COVID-19, and fans were told to leave the arena. There would be no game.

In the blink of an eye, all live sporting events were canceled. Fans had no choice but to stay inside, reminisce on old highlights and watch “The Last Dance,” Michael Jordan’s monthlong reminder that he is the greatest of all time.

Two months after the nationwide shutdown, the Ultimate Fighting Championship was back in the octagon fighting, but this time in an empty arena with no fans. Soon after, the National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball began negotiating a restart, while the National Football Association was celebrating a successful virtual draft.

The pandemic has brought many different twists and turns, and professional sports leagues have had to navigate to a “new normal.”

New York Yankees’ Clint Frazier rounds the bases after hitting a two-run home run against the New York Mets during the fourth inning of a baseball spring training game July 18, in New York.

While Frazier is wearing a face covering, many players have been seen not wearing masks or social distancing during games, and Major League Baseball has reported the most positive cases of coronavirus of the sports that have returned to play or practice.

BUBBLE LIFE

The NBA and NBA Players Association agreed on finishing their season, which was about a month away from the much anticipated postseason. The league decided on a 22team bubble that would have teams living and playing in a single location, Disneyworld in Orlando, Florida.

Teams within six games of the final playoff spots in each conference were invited. That left eight teams at home to begin preparation for next season.

Some players opted out of the resumed season because they or other members of their families were at high risk. To address player safety, the league established strict protocols to test players daily, and masks are required across the campus for everyone, from players to ball boys to journalists.

In the latest rounds of testing, the NBA reported zero cases of COVID-19, which may be why players can be seen during games slapping high-fives and hugging.

ESPN’s The Undefeated reporter Marc Spears, who is inside of the bubble, had to quar-

ADAM HUNGER/ASSOCIATED PRESS

antine for seven days when he first arrived, along with the rest of the members of the media.

“I think the NBA has done a fabulous, painstaking job of making sure the players are in a safe environment, the media is in a safe environment and everyone inside the bubble is in a safe environment,” Spears said.

Some players feared that a return to playing games would take the focus from the work being done towards social justice. But Spears notes that they have kept those issues at the forefront.

“They have not stopped beating the drum,” Spears said. “They haven’t been quiet, and now that the games are starting, they even have a higher platform because people are more in tune during the game.”

In this last portion of the season, each team inside the bubble will play eight games for seeding purposes. In the event that any team is within four games of the eighth and final playoff seed, it will trigger a play-in tournament for the final spot.

If everything goes according to plan, the playoffs will begin on Aug. 17 and end in midOctober with the draft coming a few days later. Family and guests are slated to be able to arrive on Aug. 30.

BASEBALL ON THE BRINK

CARLYNN GREENE/NABJ MONITOR

After months of back and forth, Major League Baseball and its players association could not agree on how to proceed with a regular season. That left commissioner Rob Man-

fred to implement a 60-game season with an expanded 16 team playoff.

“There’s a lot of different protocols they have to go through and a lot of loops they have to go through to be able to get this season in,” said Julian McWilliams, who covers the Red Sox for the Boston Globe.

The Red Sox have converted their luxury suites into the acting clubhouse to allow for social distancing. Players also aren’t allowed to spit or eat sunflowers seeds on the field.

While the MLB had good intentions with these protocols, players can be seen during games not wearing masks or socially distancing. The results of these actions have shown up quickly. The league didn’t make it two weeks before an outbreak occurred.

The first came a week ago when the Miami Marlins knew four players had tested positive for COVID-19 but still let those players take the field against the Philadelphia Phillies. The domino effect of the first outbreak coupled with a second outbreak within the St. Louis Cardinals has caused six series to be postponed.

With only a 66-day window for 60 games, the league may be stuck with playing seven-inning doubleheaders or canceling games, which could impact the 16-game playoff-seeding.

A 60-man taxi squad was made to replace sick or injured players. Teams have yet to use that option because it raises the issue of the competitive imbalance.

The league conducts COVID testing every other day instead of every day, and the results

are done in a lab in Utah, which takes about 48 hours to turn around.

Manfred issued a warning to the teams that the season would be canceled if they could not control the virus.

WILL FOOTBALL PLAY?

NFL training camp started last week, and before players could enter the team facility, they had to have three negative COVID tests in a row. Once they entered camp, everyday testing was required for the players for the first two weeks.

The season is scheduled to begin on Sept. 10 with a matchup between the Houstons Texans and Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs. No preseason games are being played, and a contingency plan is in place to push the season back if need be.

In college football, the NCAA has allowed teams to start camp through August. The Power-5 conferences have all gone to a conference-only schedule that will start in late September. Other conferences appear ready to follow that lead.

The pared-down schedule will hurt teams that depend on non-conference games for revenue to support their programs. They will see the effect on their bottom line.

With about a month remaining until the scheduled start dates, it remains to be seen if either college or professional teams will play this upcoming season.

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Professional Athletes Give Visibility to Social Justice

BY CHRISTIAN CRITTENDEN NABJ Monitor

During the 2016 NFL season, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick took a knee during the national anthem to protest police brutality against African-Americans and racial injustice in America.

Four years later things may not have changed much: Unarmed African-American men are still being killed by police officers and Kaepernick is not playing professional football. What has changed, however, is how sports leagues including the NFL now view protesting and the Black Lives Matter movement.

What sparked this change was the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed African-American, by police. Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who has been charged with second-degree murder in the death, pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for over eight minutes, according to video of the event. The three officers with Chauvin that day have been charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder.

Leagues like Major League Baseball, the National Football League and even NASCAR seem to have a new perspective regarding the Black Lives Matter movement than they did when Kaepernick took a knee in 2016 and was essentially blackballed from playing in the NFL. “This is what Kaepernick was talking about four years ago,” Fox Sports Rob Parker said.

“Unarmed black men being killed, police brutality and what-not was going on. I think it really resonated. It’s a shame that Floyd had to lose his life. But I think that was the turning point for a lot of people.”

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell released a video supporting players as they fight oppression and racism. The NFL later agreed to donate $250 million over 10 years to “combat systemic racism and support the battle against the ongoing and historic injustices faced by African-Americans.”

Other sports leagues have made similar moves to express their support.

NASCAR

The most surprising and compelling change of heart may have come from a sport that has the image of being conservative and predomi-

POOL PHOTO BY ASHLEY LANDIS

nantly white: NASCAR. The sport banned confederate flags from all NASCAR events on the heels of a race at Talladega Superspeedway, which angered many fans.

While the fans were upset, many of the drivers and officials fully supported the decision and stood behind Bubba Wallace, the only black driver on the NASCAR Cup Series. In the weeks following the death of Floyd, Wallace wore a shirt saying “I Can’t Breathe/ Black Lives Matter” and raced in the No. 43 car with “Black Lives Matter” painted on the car.

During a weekend race at Talladega, members of Wallace’s crew found what was believed to be a noose tied in his garage stall. He did not see the object himself, but he was informed about it, and the report was leaked. Before the race, many of the drivers and pit crew members marched in solidarity with Wallace on the rack.

It was later determined by an FBI report that it was not a noose, but instead a garage pull that had been in the stall months prior to the race.

“Bubba Wallace has realized that he is that guy to be in this fight,” Forbes.com sports columnist Terence Moore said. “That’s why I give him credit for it because he has said that now I’m in this fight I’m not going to back down.

He’s been very impressive with the things that he’s said and hasn’t said, for that matter.”

Members of the New Orleans Pelicans and Utah Jazz kneel together around the Black Lives Matter logo on the court during the national anthem before the start of an NBA basketball game July 30, in Lake Buena Vista, Florida

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

In 2017, former Oakland Athletics catcher Bruce Maxwell took a knee during the national anthem. The action was criticized within the sport, and while Maxwell struggled on the field, his time in the league didn’t last long after that.

Three years later, three players and two coaches and a manager from the San Francisco Giants, the city where Kaepernick played, took a knee during the anthem, and “Black Lives Matter” has been seen in various spots around the league.

The most surprising sign of solidarity came from the Boston Red Sox, when a “Black Lives Matter” banner was hung out of Fenway Park.

The city of Boston has a history of racism, including in sports. Several players in recent years have said publicly they have heard racial slurs from fans while playing at Fenway Park.

“I think they did take a step forward this year in being able to accept the fact, and bring to light that blacks do face racism at Fenway Park,” Boston Globe sports reporter Julian McWilliams said.

It is hard for African-Americans to voice their opinions in this sport because AfricanAmerican players are so few and far between, McWilliams said. Most of them do not have the

A Photographer Profiles Tallahassee’s Activists

clout to go out and take a stand without having their job security seriously affected.

But now, he said, the current climate has made it easier for these players to make statements, given the support that the league has shown.

UNSUNG HERO

While it did take some time for some leagues to come around, players have continued to fight for what they believe in.

Lebron James has been at the forefront supporting the Black Lives Matters movement from the beginning, even before Colin Kaepernick. In 2014, James led other NBA players in a move to wear “I Can’t Breathe” t-shirts after Eric Garner died while in a chokehold by police. Garner said “I Can’t Breathe” 11 times before he died.

Moore said without James, the current social justice movement might not have found its way into sports.

“I am going to attribute a lot of what’s going on, if not most of what has happened with the explosion of social consciousness on one guy, James,” Moore said. “And when people look back, 20,30,40 years from now he will be looked at as the Jackie Robinson, Muhammed Ali, Arthur Ashe of this particular era.”

Who is risking their lives for a cause bigger than themselves?

PHOTO ESSAY BY NALLAH BROWN NABJ Monitor

Just two days after the murder of George Floyd on May 25, the residents of Tallahassee experienced their own trauma of state violence in Florida with the murder of Tony McDade. In the midst of a pandemic, activists and community members dropped everything to demand justice in the streets.

I was interested in identifying just a few of the people risking their health for a cause.

So I reached out to the local organizations to learn about the individuals personal bonds to being a part of a national fight against state violence and oppression.

Here are their portraits

Marie Rattigan, 24, Dream Defenders.

“On the streets I’m no longer just thinking about me. I’m thinking about my nieces, nephews and unborn children.”

Saskiya Fagan, 24, Dream Defenders.

“Part of my advocacy work means I have to take up space and be comfortable enough within my voice and my body to show up fully in the fight.”

Jasmine Hudson, 23, 850 movement.

“I think about the student activists that come before me...they knew that they were Black in an America that wanted to see them lose. ”

Trisha Brown, 51, Tallahassee Action Committee.

“I want to give prosperity, justice and equality to all of us citizens in the city of Tallahassee.”

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ECONOMIC CUTS

LOCAL BARBERSHOP FACES COVID STRUGGLES

PHOTO ESSAY BY NALLAH BROWN NABJ Monitor

Barber shops serve as a home of fresh cuts and community on the southside of Tallahassee, Florida.

So it came as a shock to Marlon Williams when the state shuttered his Fade Barbershop in March due to COVID-19 emergency restrictions.

“You don’t know how you’re going to support your family or make sure you’re able to get income for your

employees as well,” said Williams.

Since reopening in May, the cutting average of 20 heads a day dropped down to seven to 10 heads a day.

Williams maintains an attitude of resilience through this uncertainty.

“We’re going to make it,” he said. “We just have to figure out a new way to make it.”

Clockwise from top left, face masks are required to receive service inside the barbershop; barber, BJ Green, spends time on his phone as he waits for clientele; owner of Fade Barbershop, Marlon Williams shares a smile with his client of over 10 years; extra cleaning supplies are present at every individual barber’s seat in precaution and prevention of COVID-19; a father sits in solitude as he watches his son get his haircut from afar.

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The NABJ High School Journalism Workshop (JSHOP) is a free, four-day workshop for local high school students in the host city of NABJ’s Annual Convention & Career Fair July 8-12, 2020.

Cheryl Smith

Publisher’s Drive Keeps her on the Main Road

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Barrett Station: A Family’s Heritage

By NABJ JSHOP Karmen Brown Often, families have a token or heirloom that is passed down through generations.

One particular family is bonded by a community in Harris County, Texas that was founded by their ancestor Harrison Barrett. In 1865, Barrett, who had been enslaved, learned of his freedom — two years after the Emancipation Proclamation — and had a vision of one day finding his relatives and bringing them all together again.

Harrison’s search for his family was a journey some may describe as “bittersweet.” Even though he was a free man, he couldn’t celebrate without knowing his family members were all together.

According to historical research, Harrison envisioned a post-slavery world where he would have a community owned and built by his family.

He married longtime friend Annie Jones and together they searched for Barrett’s loved ones.

Eventually, through prayer, trials and tribulations, Harrison was once again reunited with his people.

“God freed us, God brought us back together,” Barrett said, according to the book “Legacies of a Man to Remember, Admire and Honor,” written by his granddaughter Addie Mae Barrett Dixon.

The book was published in 2003.

Since then, the property known as Barrett Station has been rebuilt twice by many descendants. Harrison and Annie had 12 children.

As they became older and transitioned into adulthood, Barrett hosted a traditional gathering where the family would meet and included food as well as fellowship. The tradition known

as “homecoming or family reunion” continues today.

“I admire Harrison,” said Kimberly Brown, fourth generation granddaughter of Harrison Barrett. “Because of him, the Barrett family will always be tied together not just biologically but sentimentally. Every year, we are allowed the opportunity to meet together and fellowship at Bar-

rett Station as him and his children and their families once did.

“It’s such an intimate experience and every year I look forward to going.”

Several members of Barrett’s family are buried at Journey’s End Cemetery on the homesite.

To hear more about the Barrett Station Settlement, go to: barrettstationcivicleague.org.

Wallace Barrett (2nd generation), Keisha Brown (3rd generation), and Kimberly Brown (4th generation.) Pictured at Barrett Station Settlement in 2006.

By NABJ JSHOP Reporter Ayomi Wolff and Ankhusmet Lynch-Wade NABJ secretary and Dallas journalist Cheryl Smith visited the NABJ JSHOP this week, to share with students her journey as a journalist.

Smith was born and raised in New Jersey and attended Florida A&M University in Tallahassee. Smith told the students that almost immediately upon stepping onto campus, she made her way to the college newspaper.

In her four college years, Smith completed two internships.

However, despite her initiative, the world of journalism was not always kind to those who looked like her. ‘I faced sexism,” Smith said.

Smith said she also faced problems because of imposter syndrome, the feeling of unworthiness in one’s status or position. This insecurity led to her declining an interview opportunity at a broadcasting station early in her career.

“I wonder where I’d be now (if I had taken that interview),” Smith said, adding that she now knows that “never again will I not be prepared (for an opportunity).”

Smith told the JSHOP class that her setbacks only helped to make her stronger. “(If) you live your life for everybody but yourself,” you will set yourself up for misery,” she said.

Smith said she is thankful for the opportunity to share with budding journalists the knowledge she has gained from a lifetime devoted to journalism.

“I love giving to ( JSHOPers) what I was missing in my life,” Smith said.

Smith currently owns three newspapers in Dallas and has partnered with the Dallas Morning News to help improve their relations with the Dallas Black community.

JSHOP REPORTER Q&A

Google News Lab’s Michael Grant on design strategy with NABJ

By Madison Williams NABJ JSHOP Reporter Because this year’s NABJ-NAHJ convention is virtual, Michael Grant has been bouncing around from screen to screen instead of running room to room.

He has been doing several live training sessions for convention attendees in his role as a Google News Lab teaching fellow. He’s in live meetings as a member of NABJ’s Print Task Force’s Synergy Team, and he’s busy helping with the long-awaited redesign of NABJ’s website and a new app.

Somehow, Grant found enough time to tell the JSHOP Reporter how the NABJ web redesign, expected to debut this fall, is going.

Q: What made you want to start designing websites?

A: When I started as a print designer back in 2004, I could see by 2006 that things were already moving to the web. And so, you know, I was curious about it. And part of what I wanted to understand was how are we going to tell our stories that we like — the stories that we tell, visually in print, how do we do that online? That was my biggest question. And it’s that question that led me to become a web designer, particularly in journalism. I’ve always been interested in how to tell stories visually.

download it to their smartphones. And that way, we can do things like push notifications and alert people. And an app would be very pleasing to the user who really enjoys having apps. But yeah, it’ll also be a website, too. So, we’ll be optimizing the sites.

Michael Grant

Q: How did you get the job to help create the new NABJ website?

A: They’ve had that current website for like a super long time, with minor updates. So, it’s a super old platform, not mobile optimized.

Like if you go on your web browser, you have to scroll down and double-tap to zoom into different parts of it. So, it’s super old and not user friendly. And so, I’ve always wanted to have a strike at redesign in Photoshop, every design on the website. So, when I saw the RFP (Request for Proposal) open up, I put together a proposal and shopped out an agency in particular that I wanted to work with, and it all came together.

Q: What are you working on with the app?

A: We wanted the app to allow people to

Q: NABJ has more than 3,000 members.

How will you make this accessible for all of them?

A: So, we took into account a number of things like text size. We also took into account being able to scan and see the information packaged in a clearer way. And so, with 3,000 members or better, I mean, that’s the members alone, but you don’t have to be a member to visit the NABJ website to also kind of stay up to date.

We wanted to build a site that was more easily scannable and readable and really starts to shift toward producing content in a more uniform and consistent way. I think there’s only like a handful of different photo sizes that work in the current website.

So, we’re really breaking from that and going with a more updated method of presenting content and information. So that all went into account with the agency who was actually doing the design side and the production side of building the website. We made a ton of considerations.