NABJ President Should Resign Immediatately
NABJ President Ken Lemon needs to step away today.
The first rule in dealing with the devil is DON’T. Most of us were taught this valuable lesson by our parents when we were children. So, imagine the shock myself and thousands of other journalists, who are set to descend on Chicago today for events surrounding the National Association of Black Journalists annual convention, when we learned after 9 p.m. last night that former President Donald Trump would be attending our conference this year in the city that he has dumped on for the past nine years.
Yes, the same Donald Trump who has called Chicago every name in the book. Yes, the same Donald Trump, who last time he tried to speak in Chicago, wasn’t even allowed to take the stage after Chicagoans physically fought his supporters and forced police to cancel the event. Yes, the same Donald Trump, who took advantage of our mentally ill, yet talented, Kanye to West to do his stumping for him, before kicking him to the curb as he has done everyone else. Yep, this is the guy the NABJ leadership thought would be a good idea to bring to Chicago.
This decision shows arrogance. It shows how out of touch NABJ leadership is with its membership. It shows how the organization has lost its moral compass. It shows disrespect to the Chicago Chapter of the organization, whose President, Brandon Pope has publicly had to come out and say:
“The Chicago chapter was not involved in the decision. This is a national matter. I had nothing to do with this decision.”
But most importantly, it shows malice towards the Black community at large, which already has an issue with how the media covers our community and what it chooses to promote from our culture. This decision hurt the community most of us love and serve with honor and because of this, President Ken Lemon needs to step down, along with any other board member who was involved in this secret process that was dropped on the membership just as people were getting in their cars or headed to the airport to attend the convention. This was an act of vile stupidity and if you are this dumb, you have no business to be in a position of leadership.
In addition, Chicago chapter members deserve an apology from NABJ leadership. We have been working hard the last few weeks to welcome our NABJ family to the city, with many volunteering their personal time, to make the event a success. The fact that none of us were notified about this or asked if this would be feasible or intelligent, shows what the leadership thought about us. So now we will show them with our actions.
The flippant responses from those who were involved in making this decision, to bring a 34-time convicted felon, into our city and convention is enough to make Santa Claus cuss. It started with Lemon’s lame excuse but continued with others, like Tia Mitchell, who acknowledged being consulted about the decision as a member of the organization’s political task force. She has been getting rightfully dragged ever since. However most of the ire has been reserved for Lemon and rightfully so.
“While NABJ does not endorse political candidates as a journalism organization, we understand the serious work of our members, and welcome the opportunity for them to ask the tough questions that will provide the truthful answers Black Americans want and need to know,” Lemon sent out on X.
Thankfully NABJ members and everyday Chicagoans have been lighting into him and others since the announcement. Their responses have ranged from humorous, to disbelief, to outright rage. Tiffany Walden and Morgan Johnson, co-founders of “The Tribe” were immediately moved to action.
“Now a space that’s served as a reunion, educational opportunity and job fair… is gonna be packed with police, secret service and security? this is the ramifications of NABJ’s decision,” Walden wrote.
“I would like to unwelcome NABJ for surprising Chicago with this Trump news, a man who has threatened Chicago with state violence in his stump speeches--and attracts a white supremacist following to a Black affinity space,” Johnson wrote.
“One thing that is really sad is the journalistic desire to get the story over anything: over other’s comfort, over community, over keeping a safe space safe. And that’s the worst part about this. This is a conference that people call a family reunion! It ain’t a newsroom,” wrote Arionne Nettles.
Ida B. Wells and the rest of the ancestors are ashamed of what the NABJ did after hours in announcing its decision to bring Donald Trump into our safe space. I am so inspired by the thousands of responses to our organization’s decision that are holding people responsible for their actions. They have zapped all of the energy that had been building up for what was expected to be an incredible and much-needed morale-building event and zapped it in the blink of an eye.
For me it is simple: journalists have a lot of power and with that comes responsibility. We can use our discretion when weighing who we give or don’t give a platform to. Donald Trump basically became President of the United States in 2016 because the mainstream media kept giving him a platform to spew his hateful and un-American thoughts. You can never expect a narcissist to change and if the NABJ leadership hasn’t learned this lesson yet, then all of them need to go.