Now streaming: Voting with Purpose, a live event from Word in Black. Click or tap ‘join now’ below to start watching.
Click here to take part in our interactive voting process (opens a new window)
The event is hosted by Chris Bennett, publisher of Seattle Medium, and Dr. Frances Toni Draper, CEO and publisher of the AFRO American, and is moderated by Elinor Tatum, publisher editor-in-chief of the New York Amsterdam News, and Larry Lee, publisher of the Sacramento Observer. Panelists include seven esteemed Black leaders for an evening of conversation on voting with purpose.
Bakari Sellers, Attorney for Strom Law Firm and CNN Political Commentator
Susan Smith Richardson, CEO Center for Public Integrity
Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr, President & CEO, NNPA
Kristen Clarke, President & Executive Director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
Wes Moore, CEO Robin Hood Foundation
Leigh M. Chapman, director of the voting rights program
Nolan Williams, Jr., American composer, producer, music director, innovator, curator, and musicologist.
Black newspapers urgently need funding to provide the kind of leadership and good information readers seek at this moment
When Freedom’s Journal, our nation’s first Black newspaper, was founded in 1827, it proclaimed, “We choose to plead our own cause. For too long have others spoken for us.”
The voice of the Black press has consistently been the drumbeat for Black America for almost 200 years — from the initial cries to end slavery, to the coverage of Black soldiers in the Civil War. The Black Press chronicled the lives of those who would have otherwise been invisible. From major constitutional battles to Supreme Court decisions, the Black press became a key player in changes occurring across the country.
The lynching of Emmett Till, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the inauguration of former President Barack Obama — the Black Press has been there, told the story, cried the tears, bled the blood, and raised our flag in pride. Now in the wake of the killing of George Floyd, Black citizens in communities across the country are looking for answers. Many do not trust mainstream media, and have largely been ignored by major news outlets as a constituency throughout the years.
With your support, Black media organizations can take their rightful place as leading reporters on this crisis.
The Fund for Black Journalism is a program administered by Local Media Foundation, tax ID #36‐4427750, a Section 501(c)(3) charitable trust affiliated with Local Media Association. LMF is raising funds for Black media organizations for coverage of issues and protests surrounding the death of George Floyd and others, which will educate and inform the public in communities across North America.