Being Black and Reporting Racial Injustice

Mia White

Mw964917@ohio.edu

The year 2020 has been a big one to remember when it comes to racial injustices in society, but unfortunately, this has been happening for decades. But, have you ever wondered what the Black journalists feel when reporting said issues?

Glamour Magazine posted an article in June this year titled "8 Journalists on Reporting While Black, With the Weight of History on Their Shoulders". The first woman featured is Abby Phillip from CNN. 

"I have felt over the past weeks a little bit of deja vu, with the same narrative unfolding time and time again. And that is frustrating to me as a person. It's also frustrating to me as a reporter, because I remember covering Ferguson in 2014 and Charlottesville in 2017, and I was telling the same stories back then as I am now." Phillip says. 

Phillip goes on to say "I am often asked to come on air and talk about these issues, and I accept that. Since we're being honest, it is exhausting, and of course, there are times when you want to be able to just sit and not be on television, attempting to articulate the pain and anger that has built up over decades and decades."

Stacy-Marie Ishmael from the Texas Tribune was also interviewed. "But when you're working on things that also affect your life or the lives of your friends and family, there is no real separation between you as a person and you as a journalist. It's a continuum. I am also an immigrant. I'm an immigrant with access to good lawyers, sure, but I'm still a person who is affected whenever, for example, a new executive order comes down."

Photo source: The Dallas Morning News

 

It is common for many people in society to view journalists, reporters especially, as celebrities in some ways, whose lives are squeaky clean like we see on TV. That is just not the case. 

In May of this year, the New York Times also released an article on a similar subject matter titled "Black Journalists Are Exhausted" by freelance journalist, Patrice Peck.

Similar to what Abby Phillip says, Peck writes "I feel caught between two separate realities that are simultaneously separating and folding in on themselves. The old normal and the new normal; our society has changed drastically, while also not changing at all. I am pulled taut, straddling a time when the black community could safely gather to celebrate, praise, commiserate, mourn, protest and uplift, or simply just be, and I am pressed thin, experiencing deja vu as time repeats itself like a broken record."

There's that term again, "deja vu". Isn't it unfortunate? Outrageous? Sickening? It is a term that should not go unnoticed as two prominent Black journalists have used it to describe their work. What does that say about what the journalists have been going through for so long? What about the Black community as a whole? Why aren't the stories changing as time goes on?

Despite all of the hardships, Peck offers some advice.

"Despite wanting to publish my newsletter on a regular basis out of fear of losing subscribers or being considered uncommitted, I recently took a week-long hiatus: Caring for myself would only strengthen my work and passion for the longterm."

"Investments in black journalists is critical, not only through equitable compensation for our contributions but also in addressing burnout, layoffs and mental wellness, particularly in those of us who keep on keeping on."

It is no secret hearing from these journalists that it can be exhausting to cover these types of stories. Only time will tell if this will continue for more decades to come, but hopefully, it will not.