When you examine the history of newspapers started by Black people, Indigenous peoples and Latinos in this country—or the publications of abolitionist and trade union whites, you see episodes of repression far removed from any pretense of press freedom under the First Amendment

To name a few: The Black-owned Daily Journal was destroyed in the Wilmington, NC racist coup and the Cherokee Phoenix that suffered the same when attempting to move its office. A mob murdered Elijah Parish Lovejoy, an abolitionist, and flung his printing press into a river.

The Daily Journal called out hypocrisy surrounding white race mongering around rape. The Cherokee Phoenix reasserted its people’s right to remain in their land. Lovejoy spoke out against slavery.