By Sterling Davies | OBSERVER Staff Writer
Being a photographer in communities across Los Angeles, Charles Jackson knew he needed to capture the light he saw within the people he encountered.
“I have been doing photography all my life,” Jackson notes, and as he covered events in schools, churches, and the streets, he saw a side of communities many don’t capture. “I saw a lot of good things in the community that showed a lot of pride,” Jackson recalls. “They were proud of where they came from.”
This sparked him to create City Pride, a Los Angeles-based magazine focusing on the positives in Black and Latino communities.
City Pride was one of many ethnic media outlets at California’s 26th Ethnic Media Conference, Expo, and Awards. The conference, presented by California Black Media and Ethnic Media Services, brought together news sites and magazines throughout the state that serve minority communities, including Black, AAPI, Latino, Native American, Middle Eastern, Afghan, Afro-Caribbean, Eastern European, and LGBTQ+. Through various experts, panels, and workshops, the two-day event highlighted the power behind the trust and sense of connection ethnic media creates within its communities.
Tony Thurmond, California’s Superintendent of Public Instruction and the conference’s keynote speaker, shared the impact he’s witnessed across California.
Thurmond, California’s first Afro-Latino superintendent, spoke about the work the Department of Education has done to better the education system across the state, including promoting early-age literacy, guaranteed two meal plans within schools, and various scholarships for educators and teachers. Thurmond also spoke about other plans for the state as well.
“I announced our plan to build 2.3 million units of housing just by building on the surplus property that our school district already owned,” Thurmond told The OBSERVER.
Thurmond noted these announcements and opportunities must reach all of California’s communities by way of ethnic media. “We have stories that are worth telling that are not just about (just) getting people to click, and I have confidence that ethnic media can help us to get to those stories of quality.”
Thurmond’s thoughts on the power behind the trust ethnic media builds were echoed throughout the conference, specifically those discussing issues of hate crimes. The Stop the Hate (STH) Program, an initiative that supports victims of hate crimes and also gives funding to nonprofit organizations that serve communities at greater risk of hate crimes, held multiple panels on how hate crimes should be addressed on both a state and community level and ethnic media’s role in calling out this issue.
The STH program originated from a rise in AAPI hate crimes throughout the nation. In 2021, the California Department of Social Services allocated $110 million over three years to tackle hate crimes in communities prone to these forms of violence. While the organization first addressed AAPI hate, STH has expanded to incorporate hate crimes targeting all minority groups.
Karthick Ramakrishnan, a public policy researcher at UC Berkeley and founder and director of AAPI data, said African Americans are frequent targets of hate crimes. “What our survey results show is that yes, there was an increase in hate facing Asian communities [in 2021], but some of the highest levels of hate then and now are with Black populations and also with multiracial populations.”
California’s Attorney General Rob Bonta spoke at a panel moderated by The OBSERVER’s publisher Larry Lee and addressed how ethnic media can curb the growing hate against minority communities across California.
“Folks will report a hate crime to someone they trust, or if there’s not someone they trust, they’re not reporting,” Lee said. “Many ethnic media outlets with their audiences and those who follow them have built that necessary trust.”
Rob Bonta works towards making permanent changes to reduce hate crimes. “We want to address through education hate incidents before they become hate crimes and provide intervention at that level,” Bonta said. “That’s another place where the resources can be shared through the ethnic media.”
Ethnic media holds the ability to connect and foster trust, and the conference highlighted this through its awards ceremony as well. On Wednesday evening, dozens of journalists and media outlets were honored for their work and achievements. The OBSERVER won a first place award in the California’s Culture For Diversity category for Jared Childress’s piece The 8 Limbs of the Black Yogi.
Amongst the awards, discussions, and panels, the conference highlighted the ongoing impact of ethnic media.
“You are the inspiration for me as a journalist of many, many decades,” Sandy Close, director of Ethnic Media Services, said at the event. “You inspire all of us to realize that we can tell stories. We can, above all, work together across racial and ethnic lines.”
This resource was supported in whole or in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library via California Black Media as part of the Stop the Hate Program. The program is supported by partnership with California Department of Social Services and the California Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs as part of the Stop the Hate program. To report a hate incident or hate crime and get support, go to CA vs Hate.