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Unity Exceeds Expectations

By Terrell Bryant

The numbers are in and the Unity convention set an attendance record. Unity President Ernest Sotomayor said that 8,158 people had registered for the five-day conference, held in Washington Aug. 4-8, by Saturday morning.

The numbers surprised the organizers, and all four organizations -� representing blacks, Hispanics, Asian Americans and Native Americans -- showed gains in membership and participation. NABJ showed an increase of 43 percent from last year�s membership total, reaching 4,695, according to its Web site.

Herb Lowe

Once President Bush, Sen. John Kerry, Secretary of State Colin Powell and Time Warner chairman Richard Parsons signed on as speakers, NABJ President Herbert Lowe, a staff writer at Newsday, said he knew that �clearly it was going to be a great convention.�

Bryan Monroe, NABJ vice president/print, said that "being able to get the president, Senator Kerry,

Bryan Monroe

Lowe said he was overwhelmed by the turnout, the tone of the conference and the excitement it generated. He and other organization leaders are hoping the gathering was a financial success, but Lowe said Unity officials would not have final figures until a week after the conference.

Unity is scheduled again in 2008. The Unity board has not yet chosen a site.

Next year, Unity�s four member groups return to holding individual conventions. NABJ�s will be in Atlanta.

Terrell Bryant is a student at Benedict College.

Posted Aug. 10, 2004