Black Girls are Bold

Welcome Back, Everyone!

These past few days have been extremely challenging, and I have had so many emotions about so many things that have happened since my last post that I had to take some time to, as my mom would say, separate my feelings from the facts so that I could present my information as objectively and clearly as possible.

Yesterday, I attended an event at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, where Martha Mendoza, two-time Pulitzer prize winner and journalist, was speaking. Mendoza has earned recognition for bringing light to the No Gun Ri Massacre committed by United States troops in South Korea in 1950. During her talk, Mendoza described the process that led to the writing of her book, in collaboration with Charles J. Hanley and Sang-hun Choe, “The Bridge at No Gun Ri.” The book recounts the events of the massacre that resulted in the death of between 250 and 300 South Korean civilians.

Source: Slovak Spectator

For years, the United States government would not acknowledge the Korean War, let alone the atrocities committed by American troops during the No Gun Ri massacre, and, in trying to protect their alliance with the US, neither would the South Korean government. But, after 50 years of no recognition of the crimes committed by American soldiers and the suppression of stories told by survivors, Mendoza and her team finally found that it was time to hold America accountable and bring light to the truth, no matter how painful that truth may be and no matter the consequences.

During her presentation, Mendoza continually used the words “accountable” and “accountability,” which are two words that I believe work at the basis of communications. All communicators, at the beginning of their education, learn the importance of being honest, truthful and generous to all sides of a story when communicating with the public. Mendoza felt as though the stories of the survivors of the massacre, the military personnel involved in the massacre and South Koreans as a whole needed to be told and America needed to be held responsible for its actions. She faced pushback from the South Korean government, the American government and American veterans who had served during in No Gun Ri during the Korean War, but she never turned back.

The most important message that I took from Mendoza’s talk is to never give up on a story or an assignment just because it’s hard or there may be backlash because every story is worth telling and every voice deserves to be heard.

During the time when she was writing the book, Mendoza’s position and future at the Associated Press were called into question because she was continuing to write the story that the American government did not want to come out and the story that her editors had already told her to stop writing. But she had a lot of support and was able to sit down and talk with her union representatives and her editors to diffuse the situation before it escalated. She was able to make a few compromises in her writing so that her work and the stories of those involved in the No Gun Ri massacre could still be released and she could still keep her job.

The same cannot be said for African-American sports journalist Jemele Hill.

Source: ESPN: The Undefeated

Hill was a column writer and host for ESPN for nearly 12 years. After making a series of tweets expressing criticism of Donald Trump, Hill was suspended by ESPN for two weeks, with its intent being to fire her for using her platform and personal social media to express her views and the views of people who look like her. After receiving backlash from the public on their decision to suspend her, ESPN decided to bring Hill back as a writer for The Undefeated, the organization’s website that covers the intersections of race and sports. Six months later, Hill left ESPN and joined The Atlantic magazine as a staff writer.

In her first interview after leaving ESPN, Hill discussed why she decided to leave the station and pursue other avenues. She said, “It was about the fact that I can’t commit to something that I know isn’t right for me, that I know isn’t going to bring out the best in me and that I know is going to be kind of a waste of time.” Hill knew that she needed the freedom to voice her personal opinion without fear of being fired, ridiculed, or punished.

It seems as though both Mendoza and Hill believe in the idea of being true to yourself and standing up for what you believe, no matter the consequences.

The best advice one of my professors gave me when I began applying for internships is this: if they can’t accept you, and I mean ALL of you, is that somewhere that you really want to work?

Being able to speak your mind and disagree with others is an essential part of being human and should be an essential part of the culture of every workplace.

So, my advice to you all is to find the job, company, or organization that makes you the most comfortable, even if there are moments of discomfort, a place that accepts you as your entire self, provides spaces for you to voice your opinion freely and make that place your home. Everyone needs a space to feel as though they are safe and it’s nice when you can call your work that place.

#NoGunRi #MarthaMendoza #NewhouseSchool #BlackGirlsRock #Truth #SafeSpace