Vol. 50 No. 4
May 16, 2019 - May 22, 2019
Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what people will submit to and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them and these will continue till they have resisted either with words or blows or words or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they suppress. —Fredrick Douglass (1849)
Chevrolet Partners with America’s Black Publishers to Help HBCU Students Discover the Unexpected
Publisher’s Corner Email: sbamericannews@gmail.com Clifton Harris Editor in Chief Publisher of The San Bernardino AMERICAN News
Metro Atlanta's Diversity Complicates Census Count Situation is just one example amidst a national struggle for a fair count of people of color By Khalil Abdullah
By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Correspondent @StacyBrownMedia
Georgia State Rep. Carolyn Hugley Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from Ethnic Media Services
Since 2016, General Motors Chevrolet brand and the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) have partnered to provide deserving HBCU students with the exciting opportunity to “Discover the Unexpected”about themselves and their communities via a journalism fellowship program. The Discover the Unexpected Journalism Fellowship (DTU), now entering its fourth consecutive year, provides six HBCU students with scholarships ($10,000 each), stipends ($5,000 each), an eight-week fellowship with two of the nation’s leading Black news publications, and the “road trip of a lifetime” in the all-new 2019 Chevrolet Blazer. Each year, a selection of four NNPA Publishers provide the fellows with the opportunity to gain real-world journalism experience during the eight-week Fellowship Program. MC Lyte, the 2016, 2017 and 2018 DTU Brand Ambassador greets the crowd during the 2017
Discover the Unexpected launch in Atlanta. MC Lyte, the 2016, 2017 and 2018 DTU Brand Ambassador greets the crowd during the 2017 Discover the Unexpected launch in Atlanta. Recently, host NNPA publishers, along with NNPA president and CEO, Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., reflected on the success of the program from 2016 to 2018. “The issues of diversity and inclusion are of paramount concern for corporate America. The NNPA has a productive relationship with General Motors specifically focused on providing scholarships and opportunities to the emerging generation of African American journalists and publishers,” said Chavis. “Discover the Unexpected has been an excellent model for highlighting the importance of freedom of the press and academic excellence.”. NNPA Chairman and Chicago and Gary CrusaderPublisher Dorothy R. Leavell, whose Crusader Newspaper Group will be one of
the 2019 host publishers, stressed the importance of the partnership and the resulting opportunities provided to the aspiring Black journalists attending the nation’s HBCU’s. “This experience, I believe, has given those students a leg up on pursuing a career in journalism and it’s my personal hope that they will lend their journalistic talents to the Black Press by returning to one of our member newspapers,” Leavell said. The Washington Informer, The New Journal and Guide in Norfolk, Va., The Carolinian in Raleigh, N.C., The New York Amsterdam News, the Chicago Defender, The Michigan Chronicle and The Atlanta Voice, are among the NNPA member newspapers that have worked with DTU Fellows. They will be joined this year by The Chicago Crusader and Houston Forward Times. “The staff of The Washington Informer and I are pleased to work with students from participating
HBCU’s who come readily prepared to share 21st century knowledge and tech skills that enhance the reporting and storytelling experiences we offer with the Black Press, including vehicles that make it even more possible to Discover the Unexpected,” said Washington Informer Publisher Denise Rolark Barnes. Rushawn Walters (left) and Victoria Jones, the NNPA/DTU journalism fellows assigned to The Washington Informer perform research for story assignments at The Washington Informer office in Southeast, Washington, D.C. (Freddie Allen/AMG/ NNPA) Rushawn Walters (left) and Victoria Jones, the NNPA/DTU journalism fellows assigned to The Washington Informer perform research for story assignments at The Washington Informer office in Southeast, Washington, D.C. (Freddie Allen/AMG/ (continued on page 3)
Sen. Kamala Harris Gives Props to Black Press at 75th Anniversary of San Francisco Sun-Reporter By Tanu Henry | California Black Media
Photo By: Alain McLaughlin Amelia Ashley Ward, Publisher of the Sun Reporter stands with Sen. Kamala Harris and San Francisco Mayor London Breed at the 75th Anniversary of the Sun Reporter May 9, 2019. “Throughout the course of our history, there have been many moments in time where truth must be spoken. Truth that oftentimes make people uncomfortable, but truth that must be acknowledged so people can be seen and be
heard,” said Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), who announced her bid to run for President of the United States in late January. “Truth must be spoken from a voice that is trusted,” she continued. “And we know therefore
the value, significance and need for the Black press in America. Harris, who was born in Oakland and served as California Attorney General from 2011 to 2017, was speaking at the 75th anniversary of the San Francisco SunReporter, the city’s oldest African-American newspaper. More than 800 people, including San Francisco first African American woman mayor London Breed, attended the event. Several leaders and journalists from the state’s Black and ethnic media – including the SunReporter’s current publisher, Amelia Ashley Ward – were also on hand to celebrate the legacy and contribution of the paper at the Hyatt Regency Hotel downtown San Francisco. The Sun-Reporter was founded in 1944 at a time when Blacks migrated in large numbers to major
cities in the north and west to escape Jim Crow laws in the south and seek better employment opportunities. Many African-Americans came to San Francisco and other parts of the Bay Area during that time to work at World War II military shipyard. Like many historically Black dailies and weeklies across California and the rest of the country, the Sun-Reporter became a social and political advocate for African Americans on issues like civil rights, discrimination, housing and education as well as a vital source of information at a time when there was little media coverage of Blacks in the mass media. “The Sun-Reporter is an example of the significance of the Black press in America,” Harris (continued on page 8)
Clarkston, GEORGIA (TriceEdneyWire.com) - Inside the Clarkston Community Center, a 20-minute drive from downtown Atlanta, Mayor Ted Terry talked about canvassing for votes in that neighborhood five years ago. A woman from Bhutan, South Asia, he told his audience, had invited him into her apartment for a cup of sweet tea and cookies, apparently to practice the little English she knew. It was small talk. Her mother, draped in a sari, joined them. She spoke no English, but nodded politely. Some pundits deemed Terry's European ancestry a handicap in his eventual mayoral victory. His claim that Clarkston, a small city of about 13,000, is "the most ethnically diverse square mile in America," is no idle boast. According to census data, more than 50 languages are spoken there, likely because of the city's willingness to serve as a refugee resettlement community since the 1990s. Terry recalled his good fortune the day he canvassed, not so much for the cookies and tea that sated his sweet tooth, but for his host's 15-year-old son, who returned during the visit. "He was dressed like Justin Bieber - tight jeans, baseball cap," Terry said. More important, his English was excellent, he was able to convey the issues at stake to his mother and grandmother - in their language - and he linked his high school friends to Terry's Facebook page. The import of encountering a multi-generational immigrant or refugee family with a member fluent in English - and at ease with technology - wasn't lost on Terry's audience, who had been co-convened by the Leadership Conference Education Fund and Ethnic Media Services. This meeting's objective, said EMS Executive Director Sandy Close, was "to forge a sense of excitement and common purpose among the influencers, media, elected officials and, above all, the frontline organizers crucial to getting as complete a count as possible for the 2020 census." Fair Count, an organization taking dead aim at increasing cen-
sus participation in Georgia, was recently launched by Stacey Abrams, who narrowly lost her bid in the state's gubernatorial race. Her sister, Fair Count Program Director Dr. Jeanine Abrams McLean, said that 86 of Georgia's 159 counties have been designated as hard-to-count census tracts. Also, McLean reported, roughly 30 percent of the state's population didn't participate in the last census, and in some Georgia areas "20% of the population has no or limited access to the Internet." The latter is of serious concern: Census 2020 will be the first to introduce Internet response as a critical method of enumeration in a state that has seen a significant population increase. Erik Woodworth, a senior planner with the Atlanta Regional Commission, told attendees that Atlanta, trailing only Dallas, Houston and New York, is fourth among the top 10 U.S. metro areas experiencing the largest population gain since the 2010 census. "We've added almost 600,000 people to the Atlanta metro region," he said. Clarkston's DeKalb County sits east of and adjacent to Atlanta's Fulton County. Combining DeKalb's demographics with neighboring Gwinnett shows a pronounced presence of foreignborn residents and a decrease in those whose primary language is English. As reported by the Census Bureau, "by 2016, more than two-thirds of the foreign-born resided in the South or West." That geographic shift, reflected in the DeKalb County region, portends a possible repeat of Georgia's census undercount in 2010. Even with the Census Bureau's multiple language-assistance initiatives, the concept of the census is unfamiliar to some communities and its benefits seem far removed. For others, concerns about privacy issues might impede census responses, particularly in households where immigration status may be in flux among occupants. "Why should I participate in the census, as a foreigner, as an immigrant, or as a refugee?" That's the feedback Doris Mukangu from the Amani Women Center in Clarkson said she expects to encounter among the primarily African refugee population her organization serves. Restricted (continued on page 2)
Our Values, Mission, & Vision Statement Our Values: Treat all people with care, respect, honor, and dignity. Tell it as it is with love, truth and integrity. Promote the interests of advertisers and sponsors along their strategic interest for the betterment of the community and beyond. Speak truth to power. Our Mission: To continuously improve communication between all people of the world. Our Vision: To be the best community newspaper in our region and the nation. Provider of: A voice for the poor, the underserved, those that are marginalized, Positive and edifying news about people, places and businesses. Keep San Bernardino, Riverside, and Los Angeles Counties informed about global trends while retaining the consciousness of local events and processes. Memberships and Associations: The San Bernardino American Newspaper is a member of the California Newspaper Publishers Association, National Newspaper Association and addociated with California Black Media.