Black Lives Matter: How Well Are We Covering Race in Media?

The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement has been a large part of reporting over the last few years, and the Society of Professional Journalists Florida Pro chapter and the South Florida Black Journalists Association are teaming up to present a candid dialogue on race and the media.

What has the media done well in its coverage of the movement? What is the most misunderstood part of BLM and what they stand for? How has media coverage affected the movement? Is racial bias an issue in coverage?

We welcome all to join us in this free online conversation with the following experts:

Patrisse Cullors, Black Lives Matter co-founder
Dr. Tameka Bradley Hobbs, Florida Memorial University professor
Nadege Green, WLRN Miami reporter

The conversation will be moderated by Erika Glover, a reporter for NBC6 Miami.

The webinar will be Tuesday, Feb. 23, from 7-8:30 p.m. Link to register TBA, see Facebook for details.

Patrisse Cullors

Patrisse Cullors is an artist, organizer and freedom fighter. As founder of Dignity and Power Now and co-founder of #BlackLivesMatter, and the director of Truth and Reinvestment for The Ella Baker Center for Human Right, she has worked tirelessly promoting law enforcement accountability across the nation. She led a think tank on state and vigilante violence for the 2014 Without Borders Conference and produced and directed a theatrical piece titled POWER: From the Mouths of the Occupied.

Cullors is a Fulbright Scholarship recipient, was named 2007 Mario Savio Activist of the Year, and received the Sidney Goldfarb award. Cullors’ vision has earned her numerous accomplishments and honors in the past year.  LA Times named her a ‘new civil rights leader” for the 21st century; Diddy’s channel Revolt.tv named her one of the “New Leaders Of Social Justice”; she was featured in the rector’s forum at all saints church, delivered the 17th Annual Eqbal Ahmad Lecture at Hampshire College, has been featured in Essence and Ebony magazines, and recently received the Louis E. Burnham Award. Earlier this year, Patrisse traveled to the United Kingdom to share with Parliament the role the #BlackLivesMatter movement can play in the UK.

Tameka Bradley Hobbs

Tameka Bradley Hobbs is an Assistant Professor of History, Interim Chair of the Department of Social Sciences, and University Historian for Florida Memorial University, the only Historically Black University in South Florida. She earned her undergraduate degree from Florida A&M University, and her doctoral degree in United States History, and Historical Administration and Public History from Florida State University.

In addition to her teaching experience, Hobbs has served as a researcher, writer, consultant, and director for a number of public and oral history projects in Florida and Virginia, including the African American Trailblazers in Virginia History Program, a statewide educational program focused on celebrating African American History. Her professional experience includes serving as Director of Projects and Program for the John G. Riley Museum and Center of African American History and Culture, located in Tallahassee, Florida. After relocating to Virginia, between 2006 and 2007, Hobbs worked as the historian and coordinator of the Valentine Richmond History Center’s Richmond History Gallery Project.

From 2007 to 2011, Hobbs worked as Program and Education Manager for the Library of Virginia, where she coordinated the African American Trailblazers in Virginia History Program, a statewide educational program focused on celebrating African American History.

Her book, “Democracy Abroad, Lynching at Home: Racial Violence in Florida,” was published by the University Press of Florida in August 2015. Hobbs uses a combination of primary source documents and oral testimonies to bring the voices of African American witnesses and survivors into the retelling of these incidents. Beyond that, the work also attempts to place the four lynchings examined in this study within the context of the overall arc of the “lynching era” in the United States, normal dated between 1882 and 1930, as these instances of extralegal violence became more sporadic. I theorize that, in part, this reduction comes about due to U.S. involvement in World War II, and the dissonance between the image of democratic perfection that America’s leaders wanted to project to the world, and the sad reality of continuing violence and the deprivation of civil rights experienced by the nation’s black citizens.

Nadege Green

Nadege Green is an award-winning journalist and producer for WLRN, South Florida’s NPR station.

Green’s journalistic philosophy relies on the power of storytelling in order to give voices to communities that aren’t always heard.

Green’s reporting for WLRN ranges from coverage of Liberty City slumlords, policing in Miami’s urban core, to the challenges facing South Florida’s transgender community.

Green started her journalism career at the Miami Herald covering city governments and the local Haitian community.

She is a graduate of Barry University where she majored in English. Green, a Miami native with Haitian roots, lives with her two magical sons and husband in Miami-Dade, Fl.