Presidents Call for Unity Between NABJ and NNPA

By The Texas

In times of distress, like in the cases of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin who was beaten and murdered by George Zimmerman, 46-year-old George Floyd who died as Officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on his neck, and most recently Tyre Nichols brutally beaten by several officers and later dying from those injuries; they all called out for their mothers.

Fathers are equally important and necessary in our lives. Unfortunately two many children die without ever knowing their fathers or knowing a father’s love.

And sadly too many men die never knowing that they had planted a seed, that they’d

San Juan, PR - It was a moment in history that ironically happened on the second day of Black History Month.

Two leaders of organizations gathered to discuss how their missions were similar and they needed to work together to better serve Black communities, journalists and the industry.

The discussion laid the groundwork for future moments as Black Journalists and Black Publishers under the leadership of Presidents Dorothy Tucker of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) and Dr. Ben Chavis of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) made a commitment to work together.

During a fireside chat at the NNPA’s mid-winter conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the two leaders, joined by NNPA Chair Karen Carter Richards, discussed a decades old issue where publishers felt that

Black journalists working for the so-called mainstream media, or white press, acted as though they were better than those in the “Negro Press.”

Tucker read from a letter from NNPA addressed to founding NABJ president Chuck Stone in 1977, outlining perceived slights by the newly-established NABJ.

Members of NNPA said they felt snubbed by Black journalists who received their jobs in the "mainstream" through the efforts of Black publishers and activists who advocated on their behalf only for them to get jobs and look down on them.

Now 46 years later, the two organizations' leadership says the time is now to heal, to focus on their missions and discuss the importance of and value that each brings to the industry and their communities.

“Our voices have to be unified” said Chavis, who was a political prisoner when the letter was written. “We’re bringing justice, equality and equity.”

Noting that it has been years since the two officially attended one another’s convention, Chavis committed to being in Birmingham for NABJ’s Convention in August and NABJ will be represented at NNPA’s convention in June.

The two presidents also discussed collaborating on programming at respective conventions and regional conferences.