OPINION: In an industry that is overwhelmingly white, “Bryon Allen Presents The Washington DC Gala” shows why Black representation is just as important as Black excellence.
Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
I was at one of the dozens of cocktail parties before Washington, D.C.’s annual nerd prom (a.k.a. the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner) when I accomplished a remarkable feat: I spotted a Black person. If you don’t know how rare that is, imagine seeing a bald eagle slap-boxing an albino rhinoceros … in a Burger King. To this day, I still don’t know who she was. I doubt she knew my name. But in a room as white as a cookout at Tucker Carlson’s house, we spotted each other from across the room and gave each other that look. You know the one I’m talking about. It’s halfway between a whussup and a side-eye.
“Where are the Black people?” I asked. My question was sincere, but after she burst into laughter, I pretended it was a joke.
“Black people?” she guffawed. “At the White House Correspondents’ Dinner? For this sundown a**-job?”
Just as there are cities, towns and villages sprinkled across the American landscape where Black people are not welcome, there are industries, professions and positions where talent and experience alone cannot overcome the barriers to entry. Coaching in the National Football League is a sundown job. Being a Republican anything is a sundown job. Aside from Jason Whitlock’s list of admirers, there is one place where Black faces are rarer than NFL front offices and GOP conventions:
Any newsroom in America.
According to Pew Research, U.S. journalists are 76% white and 6% Black. When it comes to the people who cover politics, it’s even whiter. In a country that’s often alternately as a “mixing pot” and a nation of immigrants, the news we consume is controlled, shaped and delivered by white people. Just look at the White House pressroom or the board of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
When the best and brightest names in political media gather in Washington, D.C., this weekend, the only Black-owned outlet with a seat in the White House pressroom will make sure that the weekend will not be another all-white party. Of course, anyone with thang backing-up experience knows that the party is not as important as the afterparty, which is why Byron Allen – founder and CEO of Allen Media Group, parent of theGrio — is hosting “Byron Allen Presents The Washington DC Gala,” a reception that will “bring together Black media, celebrities, and politicians to celebrate important milestones in the D.C. media landscapes, amplifying Black stories and culture.”
But it is less about the age-old notion of “Black excellence” than it is about Black existence.
The necessity of Black people being in the room is not just about the esoteric idea of “diversity.” Black people exist. We can tell our stories more accurately. For instance, if a Black person was reporting, editing, line editing or even walking to the water cooler when a Washington Post reporter wondered why so many Black women “screeched” when Kamala Harris walked into the room, they would have told her about Alpha Kappa Alpha’s “skee wee.” Reporters covering the Buffalo massacre got locals’ reactions by going to the white part of town where a mass murderer didn’t target people because of their race. Inclusion is not a charity; it is necessary.
And that’s why theGrio will be cutting a rug (do people even say that anymore) and dropping things as if they are hot on Saturday.
It’s necessary.
We are necessary.
“Byron Allen Presents The Washington, D.C. Gala,” sponsored by Allen Media Group, Procter & Gamble and My Black Is Beautiful, takes place Saturday at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Michael Harriot is a writer, cultural critic and championship-level Spades player. His book, Black AF History: The Unwhitewashed Story of America, will be released in September.
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