Last Updated on August 6, 2024 by BVN
Overview: The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) faced criticism for inviting former President Donald J. Trump to speak at its 2024 Convention and Career Fair in Chicago. Critics questioned the timing of the announcement, which came shortly after Vice President Kamala Harris was announced as the first Black woman and first Indian to lead the Democratic ticket for U.S. President. Some members of NABJ expressed concern about the organization’s decision to feature a controversial figure like Trump, who has been known for his erratic and senseless propaganda. The panel discussion started late and ended early, with Trump going on to spew vile and despicable rhetoric against V.P. Harris.
S. E. Williams
When the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) announced late last Monday evening that former president Donald J. Trump would take part in a discussion with ABC News reporter Rachel Scott, Fox News’s reporter Harris Faulkner and Semafor’s Kadia Goba, on the opening day of its 2024 Convention and Career Fair in Chicago, I was perplexed.
The timing of giving former President Donald J.Trump an opportunity to spew his erratic and senseless propaganda to the Black community via one of its sacred information sources raised alarms for me. After all, the Black press, heralded and supported for their work within the Black community for almost two hundred years, has “pleaded the cause” of Black people since the origins of Freedom’s Journal, the very first periodical published by African Americans for African Americans that had its beginnings in 1827. I know NABJ isn’t the Black press, it’s Black journalists who work in the news industry, including in some cases the Black press.
With many in the African American community still soaring from the announcement just a week earlier that Vice President Kamala Harris was slated to be the first Black woman and first Indian to lead the Democratic ticket for U.S. President.
For me it begged the question: Why would an organization like NABJ pander to the likes of Trump and also feature someone from Fox News–a station notorious for slandering Black people at every opportunity. Like they say, “a leopard can’t change its spots,” despite the former president’s feigned criticism of the station in June.
It wasn’t long before near 50 year NABJ member and former Ohio University journalism professor Justice B. Hill, summed up my sentiments in an interview about the situation with the Hollywood Reporter, “You don’t surprise members this way,” she said regarding NAJB’s announcement about Trump’s participation.
He had never spoken at the convention before even though he was invited in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020. Each time he refused to come. “So, why is he coming now?” Hill questioned. “He’s coming now because he sees some advantage.”
According to numerous reports the disorganized panel discussion started more than an hour late and then ended early at the request of Trump’s campaign staff.
In my opinion, Hill was right on. During his appearance that day Trump went on to speak the most vile and despicable rhetoric against V.P. Harris in a manner that was not a surprise to anyone. But the fact that NABJ would be his foil is beyond the pale for many of us.
This, however, isn’t the first time I have personally questioned the organization’s judgment. When California Governor Gavin Newsom played too cute by appointing Laphonza Butler as Senator to fill in for former Senator Dianne Feinstein, who died in office, he knew full well that by doing so he might as well have given full throated endorsement to Democratic House Member Adam Shiff for the Senate seat because he certainly left longtime House Member and Black woman Barbara Lee hanging on the vine so to speak, for a better chance at the coveted Senate position. He robbed her of the advantage of incumbency and all of the political perks for election that it can bring had he appointed her instead of Butler to the position on an interim basis.
You can say it wouldn’t be fair. That it would be picking sides among Democrats. Well, all I can say is that the process seemed to be just fine for Alex Padilla.
But this is not the path chosen by Newsom in Lee’s case. Instead, he pulled the old bait and switch giving us one Black woman, Butler, for another U.S. House Representative Barbara Lee. I’m sure you know by now that neither of them are on the November ballot. Butler by personal choice, Lee due to lack of support by Democratic Party Leaders in the state–Maybe she was just too liberal…well, we were stuck for years with a Senator that many thought was too far to the right.
In any case, when Butler was appointed, NABJ invited the Black press to a call to meet her. Again, a direct channel to the Black community. Not a single one of us on the call, including myself, had courage to ask her what she thought her appointment meant to the candidacy of Representative Barbara Lee? By then, Lee had already announced her candidacy.
Just because Newsom appointed a Black woman should not have given him a free pass on this issue. Nor does it excuse NAJB for not calling Newsom out on this issue.
I know this is dirty laundry but sometimes things need to be aired. Of course, this is just my opinion. I’m keeping it real.
