San Diego Voice & Viewpoint Newspaper
by Dr. John Warren
This month, the Black Press celebrates 199 years of existence. It has been a time of advocacy for a people otherwise erased from the growth and history of this country. We have been the ones to “Lift Every Voice” as the trusted messengers and storytellers of our struggle. We have shed tears for and with each other; we have been the ones to carry hope in the midst of a struggle that so often seemed hopeless. We have survived not “Not Because of,” but “In Spite of” every effort to dehumanize and deny us the equality of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness the founding fathers swore to as a right to all people.
James Weldon Johnson really stated our history in his song, Lift Every Voice & Sing, when he wrote: “We have come, over a way that with tears have been watered.” The stories we have reported, often at great personal cost, have made a difference in the quality of life so many take for granted today. But today, we, as a people, are in much greater danger than the physical slavery that held us for too many years. Many of the very brothers and sisters, we have sacrificed and struggled to save, have forgotten our past. Too many have allowed social media and the illusion of progress, through personal achievements, to take us away from the national sense of pride and unity we once held so dear
Today, we, the Black Press, are once again confronted with survival. The reality is that neither President Trump, nor his social policies seeking to eliminate us, is the real problem. “We” are the problem ourselves. We, the Black Press, in our efforts to survive, have lost much of the ability to engage our communities in a changing environment, so that they remember who we are and how important we remain as a part of our collective survival.
Likewise, our communities of churches, social organizations, and the very businesses we do business with, must be engaged again in support of the Black Press. Now is the time to re-tell our own story, lest we be forgotten. The future of the Black Press belongs to all of us.