By Christopher Young, Contributing Writer| The Mississippi Link
Seeing America’s real racial truth – laid bare under the current president – is both jarring and informative. America has never truly or fully stopped viewing and treating some Americans differently than others based on the color of their skin. Today we watch a large segment of America’s white majority, estimated by The Census Bureau at 56.3%, cling to the Red, White, and Blue like it’s theirs alone. They use words like heritage, patriot, post-racial, and merit to support their beliefs and behaviors – always endeavoring throughout our history to elevate themselves while diminishing the relevance, voice, and culture of those who truly built America, but do not look like them.
Enter The Black Press – Soldiers without Swords. A collective of media professionals dedicated to the voices of those often diminished in mainstream media. They provide an independent voice to lift Black perspectives, issues, and people. They are platforms where Black culture, in all its dimensions, are always heard loud and clear – always on the Cover Page.
Most all African American publishers are organized under the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), which currently has over 200 members. Daily readership is estimated to be over twenty-two million. These community newspapers deliver critical news, information, and commentary relevant to the readers, whether in print or online.
Nationwide, over 40% of all newspapers have closed since 2005, predominantly due to ever-increasing costs of production and printing, per the Associated Press. The Black Press, in particular, has been harmed substantially by the Anti-Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policies of the Trump administration. In fear of backlash, major corporations have scaled back or eliminated their diversity marketing. Amazon, Meta, Google, Disney, Paramount, Pepsi, Warner Bros., Target, and Discovery are just a few of those corporations, per Forbes.
Yet the persistence of The Black Press remains despite the print newspaper industry decline. Online readership has consistently grown, and many platforms have been successful in transitioning their products to newsletters, Podcasts, and digital versions.
As we look forward to The Black Press celebrating its 200th anniversary next year, it’s important to look back on where and what The Black Press has come from. In 2009, when The Black Press had been in existence for 182 years, Howard University Journalism Professor Dr. Clint C. Wilson, II, shared its history like this. “In 1827, a group of prominent free African American citizens from states along the Eastern seaboard met in the New York City home of Bostin Crummell to discuss means to communicate their views on the various social, political, and economic issues that commonly confronted them and their respective communities. Although Black citizens utilized the church and social and fraternal organizations as a means of collective expression and dialogue, the usual channels of public media — particularly newspapers — were denied to them. Exacerbating the problem was the fact that elements of the established press routinely denigrated African Americans in print, even to the extent of questioning both the integrity and morality of the entire race.”
Dr. Wilson continued, “Over the years the list of contributors to the Black Press who have lent their talents as publishers, editors, journalists, columnists, and cartoonists has included the greatest names in American history. Among them are Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. DuBois, Ida B. Wells Barnett, Langston Hughes, Romare Bearden, James Weldon Johnson, Mary McLeod Bethune, and Daisy Bates… In 1941, under the urging of John Sengstacke of the Chicago Defender, a meeting of leading Black publishers from across the nation was held in Chicago. Sengstacke said the meeting was designed for ‘harmonizing our energies in a common purpose for the benefit of Negro journalism.’ At least one representative from 22 publications attended the meeting and the group decided to form the National Negro Publishers Association. In 1956, the trade association of the nation’s Black Press was renamed the National Newspaper Publishers Association.”
To the extent that African Americans have increasingly participated in democracy, the Black Press has lit the path. Recall for a moment – its origins came 34 years prior to The Civil War, so beginning during chattel slavery, The Black Press has been there telling the story, showcasing Black truths, achievements, successes, heroism – ensuring African Americans are all prominently displayed – always on the Cover Page. Yes, there are the arts, literature, music, medicine, athletics, and humanitarianism of African Americans depicted in America’s mainstream media – but nothing that compares to the depth of coverage of Black America contained in the pages of publications of The Black Press. To this day, grandparents and parents, aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters, reach for the scissors – that photo, article about the class reunion, story of local girl or boy making good, and on and on- is preserved in the family scrapbook or displayed in a frame on the living room wall.
An altar of freedom and justice for those oppressed in ‘the land of the free and the home of the brave,’ surely has The Black Press at its foundation. As we draw closer to this phenomenal achievement – the 200th anniversary of The Black Press of America – consider how you can support your local community newspapers. Subscribe, advertise, donate, tell a friend, train the next generation through a gift subscription. And don’t forget to reach out to share your own story and the issues that have impacted your community. The Black Press is, and always has been, about you.
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