Unity Opens With Drumbeat for Diversity

Sara Fajardo/@UNITY.org photo Dancers move to the beat of African drums during the Unity 2004 opening ceremony at the Washington Convention Center Wednesday.

One by one, the five Unity organization presidents took to the stage and touted diversity and change in newsrooms as the ultimate goal of this year’s Unity Convention.

“We are united in an effort to make journalism fair, credible, and honest,” said Ernest Sotomayor, Unity president and Long Island editor at newsday.com, during Wednesday’s opening ceremony. Sotomayor announced a registration record of more than 7,500 people.

“Diversity is not just a buzzword, it is a fact and a reality,” said Herbert Lowe, president of the National Association of Black Journalists and criminal courts reporter for Newsday.

“We want the same opportunities. We want, we deserve, and we demand a chance to do what we do best,” Lowe added. NABJ is the largest of the Unity organizations, with nearly 4,700 members.

Presidential politics and increased security come to the convention when Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry addresses the journalists on Thursday. President Bush follows on Friday. Security precautions are more evident in Washington because of an elevated terror alert from the Department of Homeland Security.

Those concerns did not dampen the enthusiasm of the crowd that jammed the opening ceremony. They saw an array of vibrant musical performances representing each Unity partner’s ethnic background. Amid the sparkling lights and blaring music, onlookers danced, clapped, cheered and used drumsticks that were passed out as noisemakers.

Juan Gonzalez, president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and columnist for the New York Daily News, emphasized a need to use the convention as an opportunity to start in a new direction.

“We have a chance to set a new tone and a greater urgency for American journalism,” Gonzalez said. “Our goal is excellence in journalism, period.”

Gonzalez and other speakers drew parallels with early publications from journalists of color, including Freedom’s Journal, the first African American newspaper, published in 1827; El Mississippi, published briefly in New Orleans in 1808; and the Golden Hills News, the first Asian American newspaper, published in 1854.

“Appreciation of free press unites us all,” said Patty Talahongva, president of the Native American Journalists Association and independent producer at White Spider Communications. She reminded the crowd of the importance of collaboration in the struggle for equal representation in communication fields.

Mae Chang, president of the Asian American Journalists Association and an assistant city editor at Newsday, said that diversity was key to survival and that there was a need for “a greater appreciation of how diversity helps in the field.”

D’Angelo Gore is a student at Norfolk State University.

Posted Aug. 5, 2004