Journalism for All Can Create Justice for All
Everyone has a voice. Not every voice gets heard. This is an old problem.
My grandma and grandpa were both first-generation Mexican-Americans. They grew up in Los Angeles in the early 20th century and spoke Spanish. To avoid discrimination, they did not always speak Spanish in public since some people treated Spanish speakers as second-class citizens and perpetuated stereotypes that those who spoke Spanish were lazy, uneducated, and undeserving.
As my grandparents grew older, they no longer had to hide their Latino heritage. My grandpa became a successful barber, and my grandma was a high school Spanish teacher for 15 years.
Today, my kids go to a bilingual, multicultural K-8 school in Minneapolis and are immersed in English and Spanish daily.
That is progress.
We still have a long way to go to end discrimination in the United States. But there are signs of hope.
On April 18 in New York City, students, educators, and advocates from the NYC Youth Journalism Coalition held a day of action at city hall, urging city council members and other city officials to support more journalism programs across the city’s schools. As Chalkbeat reported, the action was a collaboration of the city council’s Black, Latino, and Asian Caucus and part of the NYC…
