3 Black-Owned Publishers on Justice & Equality

“A people without a voice cannot be heard” — that’s the motto and driving force behind Janis Ware’s publication, the Atlanta Voice. The newspaper, which was founded by her father J. Lowell Ware in 1966 alongside Mr. Ed Clayton, was born from the need to document challenges and successes of Black folks in the South during the civil rights movement. Now Ware, alongside other news leaders, who for years have been demonstrating a commitment to social justice and equality, spoke in a conversation at Facebook's "Our Voices, Our Power" series for news publishers and journalists serving Black and Latinx audiences.

Ware was joined on the panel, moderated by Facebook’s Dorrine Mendoza, by Wendi C. Thomas from MLK50 and Justin Barton of Black Enterprise. Together, they discussed using their platforms to support justice and dismantle the status quo, the power of sharing Black success stories, and the public duty to include issues like homelessness by speaking directly to the people in those communities, who are so often left voiceless in the media. Watch an edited video of our conversation or scroll to read highlights below.

On the public duty of journalism and why now is the time to make different choices, from Wendi C. Thomas, editor and publisher of MLK50, a publication examining poverty, power and policy in Memphis: “Newsrooms have always advocated for certain things, they just weren’t always explicit about it,” she says of her 27 year experience as a journalist. “I think some of the pushback that people in legacy newsrooms may get is ‘we’re not choosing sides, we want be objective,’ which really just means hetero cis white male perspective. But when you have five people at a Grizzlies game covering that, and you have one person in all of the community covering K-12 education, you are saying what matters. Your budgets are reflecting that.”

On diversity, inclusion and the power of sharing stories of one another in a positive light, from Justin Barton, vice president of digital strategy at Black Enterprise: “We found in our journalism that stories that are uplifting within the Black community perform very well. We try to search for those stories far and wide, local stories all around to find those nuggets and then bubble them up to the broader community. Pushing it out there and letting people know that this is what’s going on within the Black community. It’s not always what is portrayed in the mainstream media.”

On the importance of speaking directly to individuals affected and have people hear the conversation from their vantage point, from Janis Ware, publisher of Atlanta Voice: “While I think the symptoms and the causes of homelessness may change and vary by state, the fact is their voices need to be heard as well. We need to understand their issues and what they are being faced with.” Adding, “Until we figure out a way that we can either house and train or educate these individuals in a manner that is going to show some humanity with it, their stories are not being told.”

When asked what motivates them to do the work despite difficult circumstances, Thomas credited “people [who] put their bodies on the line, who are out in the streets day after day. Their action, their demonstration makes a difference, it shifts the civic conversation and forces policy makers and elected officials to act,” she said, “and hopefully it encourages everyone to go to the polls. Vote early. No excuses, vote.”