Buenos días! Powerful dialogue w/ #DecoloniseTheNews: Confronting Journalism’s Role in Systemic Racism. Gracias @hannah_ajala w/ @weblackjournos, @TVMarv,
@reynoldspost w/ @MaynardInst for speaking truth to real change for equity, inclusion. Grateful for an ally in @katieoc! https://twitter.com/katieoc/status/1301517771864305665

Processing lessons in #DecoloniseTheNews dialogue. Started tearing up in first minutes. Thankful speakers started w/harm systemic racism inflicts on communities of color & on BIPOC journalists' careers, mental health. Be part of healing/equity/inclusion: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/decolonising-news

Thoughts to carry as I start my day w/a story I care deeply about. @reynoldspost: "We say we hold truth to power." But what of our own journalism institutions? Do we actually say systems as it exists for journalists/communities of color "need to be dismantled?" #DecoloniseTheNews

This one hit hard for many of us: @hannah_ajalaa: "A lot of the times you're the only one, so there’s a lot of pressure on you have to fight a lot harder than your white counterpart to be heard." #DecoloniseTheNews

@TVMarv: "There's a big difference between being non-racist and being anti-racist." Being anti-racist ... comes with action and with being vocal. #DecoloniseTheNews

@reynoldspost on what real equity, inclusion looks and feels like: "You can tell in your pay." In your support. "When you belong you can feel it in your bones -- when you look around and you have the ability to influence change and make a difference." #DecoloniseTheNews

@reynoldspost: "Time has come to think about the harm that has been caused." Our communities have felt harmed by the journalism of many institutions. We need to acknowledge harm to heal. "We're not really meeting the moment ... the opportunity." Consider restorative justice.

@hannah_ajalaa on accepting that some journalism institutions will not give up privilege of inequities: "Diversity -- they will pay lip service to it. They will never, ever change. They will never be anti-racist." #DecoloniseTheNews

@reynoldspost on false objectivity & "being able to bring your whole self to journalism.": A number of Black journalists were pulled off the George Floyd protests bc of a notion they may be biased. If that's the case, then white people can't cover issues of white communities.

Moderator @ShirishMM asked about mid-career BIPOC journalists leaving newsrooms in pain, seeing no real efforts at retention and no pipeline to promotion and opportunities. "I do feel damaged by newsroom experiences." #DecoloniseTheNews

@TVMarv: In newsrooms, many BIPOC journalists, especially mid-career BIPOC journalists face management 'not nurturing, not listening, not caring..." There isn't a culture of "we want you here," instead, it's "why are you here?'
#DecolonisetheNews

@TVMarv: Mid-career BIPOC journalists look around and see their white counterparts with same experience are getting promoted, getting paid 5-10K more. And you're ideas are ignored. You start asking: "Why stick around for that?" #DecoloniseTheNews

@TVMarv on shared experiences of many BIPOC journalists: "There is an unwillingness to allow us to thrive in a newsroom. It's like performative diversity." While "white counterparts are nurtured ... they’re groomed." And "you're like where's my opportunity?" #DecoloniseTheNews

@TVMarv as a journalism educator: I'm teaching, sending them "out to journalism in the state it's in now. I feel like a hypocrite."
@ShirishMM: We must "make it a safe space for those young people. If you don’t, you're not just letting us down ... you're letting society down."

@reynoldspost poses question on racial parity & equity/inclusion in service of diversity: It's about giving up power, facing privilege: "Do all the top editors at a publication need to reduce their salaries to create space for a position to hire an editor of equal influence?"

@hannah_ajalaa reads the definition of ally to the nearly 500 journalists across the world who joined @TBIJ's # #DecolonisingTheNew dialogue, adding: "It starts with allyship. It starts with uncomfortable conversations" And "a very keyword: Accountability."