Need To Know With Dr. Nsenga Burton-Considering Fairness and Protection: The Black Journalists' Dilemma.

BEP Narrator: 00:00:02

A Black Executive Perspective now presents Need to Know

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with the award winning hyphenated Dr.

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Nsenga Burton.

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Dr.

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Burton.

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What do we need to know?

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Dr. Nsenga Burton: Good afternoon

and welcome to Need to Know with Dr.

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Nsenga.

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I am Dr.

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Nsenga Burton, happy to see you again.

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I know it's been a little while

and happy to be back to talk

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about some important topics.

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One of which I think you need to

know is to consider your audience.

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Unless you've been living under a rock,

um, yesterday, the world, if you did not

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know before what the National Association

of Black Journalists is, you now know

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it is the largest organization of black

journalists In the world, and they

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have an annual convention each year,

and it moves across cities this year.

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In this particular year, they were

in Chicago during election years.

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They typically invite those who are

running for the highest office in

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the land to participate in a question

answer period with members questions

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usually come from the membership,

the moderators, or what have you.

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Of course, this year, it poses a conundrum

for the executive board, the national

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executive board, because of who is running

on the Republican ticket, which is Donald

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Trump, our nation's former president,

who is, uh, to put it mildly, a de facto,

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Uh, racist, uh, definitely anti black has

engaged in anti black racist activities

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over the course of his entire, um, over

the course of his entire career and, um,

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in his last, uh, presidency was unkind,

uh, not only, um, in his policies,

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but also in his words towards women.

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In general and black women specifically.

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So it was ironic that he would be

invited to speak to the NABJ, especially

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since some of those women were

journalists who are members of NABJ.

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So the membership was split

on what should happen.

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I think the majority of membership

was like, he should not be invited,

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but I think because of, because of

tradition, right, Bush has been there.

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Clinton has been there.

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I mean, Hillary Clinton has been there.

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Uh, and other folks, um, Joe Biden

has been there before, uh, that

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it seemed like they should invite

him in terms of what is correct.

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Also, if you think about it, black

journalists do deserve to have the

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opportunity to interview all U.

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S.

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presidential candidates, because

these black journalists are the people

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who speak to the American people.

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Broad audiences, not just black

folks, but they definitely

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have an ear with black folks.

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Right?

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So it makes sense that he would be

invited that they should have the same

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opportunities that other journalists have.

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Um, and that would be journalists of

color and, uh, white journalists, um,

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as well, uh, to interview the president.

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So I think they aired on the side of,

um, Fairness when they may have wanted

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to consider culture and protection a

little bit more because if it did not

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go well, even being fair right when

we're being fair to others who may not

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necessarily been fair to us, it can

backfire and it has definitely backfired.

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One of the things I wanted to

talk to you about today is one

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of the weights that people of

color have to carry, particularly

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when they represent organizations

that are tied to their identity.

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is when you have to engage with

someone who is not a supporter.

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That's probably what I should

say about Donald Trump.

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His policies do not

support people of color.

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His interests are not similar to most

people of color who, um, who, uh,

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participate in polls, who participate

in the voting process and things of

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that nature, um, and who are members

of each of the parties, in fact.

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So it was a gamble.

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To be fair or to extend kindness,

empathy, and fairness to someone who

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did not extend that to your community,

because as you know, it just went to

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hell in a handbasket, um, with, you

know, the president insulting the

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current vice president, who's now

running for president, Kamala Harris,

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her identity, um, telling her she just,

Turned black last year or something.

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I can't remember what he said, but

basically, you know, a woman who

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grew up in Oakland with a Jamaican

father and went to Howard University,

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uh, somehow it's not black.

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I mean, I don't know, you

know, just turned black.

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Um, and then, you know, she's been

Indian, just really rewriting her history.

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Uh, one of the reasons that they

invited him was for fairness,

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but you can't really think about.

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Fairness to him when you know that

he's not going to be fair to others.

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Right.

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And so when you're thinking about

your organizations that are tied to

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identity, particularly in this, in this

climate, when they are under attack, the

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thing you need to know is to put your

organization 1st and with journalists,

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you know, we're sworn to be neutral.

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Um, we commit to, um,

not telling how we vote.

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We commit to, um, you know, being

nonpartisan, not bipartisan, nonpartisan.

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All these things, these

ideals that we aspire to.

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Uh, but we are living in a very specific,

uh, and type of precarious age where

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now journalists have to do, and they've

done it before, I shouldn't say now, but

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they've done it before where it is, is

now paramount that you are protective of

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your organizations and your publications.

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And what happened with Donald Trump.

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Yesterday, uh, the presumptive Republican

nominee, the Republican nominee, what

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happened with Donald Trump yesterday

is indicative of why you have to choose

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protection over fairness in some ways.

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I know, uh, the president,

you know, Ken Lemon.

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He's an amazing person.

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Fantastic guy.

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Wonderful journalist.

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Um, I wasn't in the rooms.

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I don't know what the decision making was.

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I don't know what the external

and internal pressures were.

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I don't know.

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I don't know why they only had, um, um,

you know, that group of journalists.

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Interviewing him.

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I don't know why they didn't have other

political journalists interviewing him.

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I don't know how they

decided who would do it.

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I don't know how they

decided why they did it.

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All I know is the outcome, right?

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So the intention, although

it was probably good, right?

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Black journalists deserve the

opportunity to hear from the

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Republican nominee for the U.

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S.

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Presidency.

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The result was terrible because Donald

Trump did what he typically does, which

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was malign, be mean to the journalists,

talk poorly to the journalists,

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talk poorly about the organization.

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I mean, even he talked about them

keeping him waiting for 25 minutes

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while they were, you know, doing some

security things, which, you know, for

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someone who Survived his assassination

attempt to not want to wait 25

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minutes is telling of his personality.

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Um, but also the fact that he doesn't

know that he may have to wait 25 minutes.

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I mean, I could be going off

the rails here, but if you're

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dealing with black folks.

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And not to be stereotypical, but if you're

dealing with black folks, you're dealing

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with brown folks, I'm talking about

globally, not just in the United States.

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It's going to be a wait time.

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It's going to probably be a

little bit of a wait time.

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I, I throw the Asians in

there too, especially China.

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You had to wait a little bit.

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You got to wait a little bit, right?

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Um, there might be a little

15 minute window or so.

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I'll just say that.

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Um, but all jokes aside, um, Donald

Trump should, um, have been given

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the opportunity, uh, to speak to the

black press and the black press should

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have been given the opportunity to

hear from him in a perfect world.

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But the way that it played out, it

shows you the challenges that face you.

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If you make those decisions, when

you really invite firebrands into

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your space, you know, it's not that

he has ever, at least in recent

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years, done or said anything that

added value to the conversation.

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He's already been labeled as a liar,

pathological liar, you know, there, uh,

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we have fact checking live fact checking

now because of his first presidency.

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We didn't have that prior

to his first presidency.

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We now have it because

of his first presidency.

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Um, you know, in terms of even

fact checking his, you know,

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really lies about Kamala Harris's

identity and her how she grew up.

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Um, And so when you are dealing with

someone like that, has all these problems

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with the law, um, has acts out in the

courtroom, doesn't really, it's not known

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for having decorum, let's just say that,

not known for having basic decorum, then

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it's, it's probably not a good idea to

invite him in, you know, you need him in

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a controlled environment, maybe via Zoom.

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Where he could have been, you know,

the microphone could be turned off.

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Um, if he was going off the rails,

uh, maybe they could have presented

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questions, you know, taken from.

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Uh, the audience and given to him

and give him a, an opportunity

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to make a written response.

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Something else should have happened

because what happened was not good.

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What also was not good

was that the, um, the.

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We hoping the presumptive nominee, uh,

Democratic nominee, Kamala Harris was

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unable to make it and she was unable to

make it because of prior commitments, of

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course, the passing of an iconic senators

funeral, who's also her friend, um, and

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her soul or, um, Sheila Jackson, Lee, um,

also the, um, her present previous, uh,

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previous Presentations to various groups,

including the Sigma Gamma Rho sorority.

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Um, she had other commitments that

she had already agreed to prior

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to being asked to appear here.

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And as you know, this kind of

came out of left field, right?

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This was, um, not

something that was planned.

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So, um, she was unable to be

there in person, but volunteered

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to be there via zoom to appear

however, however way they wanted.

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And that did not work.

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Now in ABJ's defense.

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Okay.

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They typically, if you cannot

come in person, then you cannot

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appear at the national convention.

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That is the rule.

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The only time they had the exception

to the rule was during COVID.

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But again, in this bid to appear to be

fair, right, um, and to have the same

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rules apply across the board, they

discounted and basically dismissed

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the person That the black journalist

also need to hear from, um, and then

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apparently if, if according to Roland

Martin, um, you know, tried to go back and

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get her after they declined to have her

because she would not appear in person.

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So, it was to say it was a

cluster is an understatement.

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I will say I'm surprised I go to

this conference almost every year.

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I'll say that very often.

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I was just there last year.

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That is accurate.

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I did not go this year because

I had a prior commitment.

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I would have gone had I not had the

prior commitment, but I am shocked

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at how poorly handled this situation

was because they're just too many

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brilliant people in the room.

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Too many kind and decent people

in the room for this to happen.

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So, What you need to know is when you're

thinking of your brand, particularly

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when it's tied to an identity,

particularly an identity that is under

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attack and is under extreme scrutiny.

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People are always watching people of color

in general, black people specifically.

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Um, you have to make decisions

that are going to be in the best

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interest of your membership.

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And when your membership told you they

did not want you and gave you very

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good reasons for it, then sometimes

you have to break with tradition.

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When your membership tells you they

want to hear from Kamala Harris, who

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can't appear in person because of a

conflict, then you should listen to

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your membership because ultimately,

that's how you pay your bills.

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Ultimately.

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That's what who you're here to serve.

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And sometimes you cannot, um,

unfortunately, extend the same courtesies

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to the same people to the same people in

positions, particularly in this precarious

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time, you have to preserve the decency.

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Um, the legend, because NABJ is a

legendary organization filled with

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amazing people who've done extraordinary

things under extraordinary circumstances.

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Um, you have to preserve that legacy,

um, instead of eroding it, um, by.

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Extending, you know, uh, extending

gratitude, extending kindness to someone

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who's not extended it to this community.

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So that's all I got, you know,

need to know protect your neck.

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I had to go back to hip hop, you

know, sorry, protect your neck.

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Um, we don't always have

to take the high road.

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I know I just want black people.

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Just hear me out black and brown people.

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Look me in the eye right here.

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We do not always have to

go high when they go low.

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That is not our burden to bear.

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We do not have to be the moral,

we don't have to be the moral

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compass of this country anymore.

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There are plenty of other

groups that were here.

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Uh, uh, that, that can do it.

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We don't have to always

take the high road.

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We don't always have to

extend gratitude and grace.

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We don't always have to

turn the other cheek.

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And I'm not talking about physically,

obviously I'm talking about

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intellectually, I'm talking about

spiritually, um, in certain ways.

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We don't always have to do that.

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Um, so keep that in mind.

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That's the need to know as well.

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The time has come.

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For us to protect our own and we have

to do it when we're dealing with, you

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know, what could be, you know, and some

I've described as a, a fascist leader

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who's on, who's this close to the U.

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S.

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presidency, if that is true, you know,

um, if that is not true, you know,

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that's a worst case scenario, best case

scenario, someone who has no respect,

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none, like zero for women or people of

color, and you have him being interviewed

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by women Who are people of color.

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So think about what you're doing.

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All right.

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So this is my need to know with Dr.

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Nsenga Burton.

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Tune in next week to the Black

Executive Podcast where you will learn

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more about what you need to know.

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Have a wonderful day.

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Stay focused.

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Stay thoughtful and definitely stay black.

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BEP Narrator: A Black

Executive Perspective.