UNITY offers minority journalists a chance to connect for the future
By Elizabeth Green
Diversity Institute Fellow
08.05.04
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James Tabafunda uses one word to describe the UNITY 2004 conference: networking.
That’s how Tabafunda, a Seattle freelance writer, sums up why he chose to make the trek to Washington this week for the joint convention of four minority journalist associations.
“This is an excellent chance for journalists of color to get together and talk about the state of the industry,” Tabafunda said.
He’s among many attending this week’s conference who think of the event as a major opportunity for networking. From the young to the more experienced, many minority journalists say they relish the opportunities that UNITY offers to interact with colleagues from different cultures.
Tabafunda, a member of the Asian American Journalists Association, says this marks the second time he has attended a UNITY conference. AAJA, the National Association of Black Journalists, National Association of Hispanic Journalists and Native American Journalists Association have their conventions together once every five years.
The last UNITY was in 1999 in Seattle. Since then, Tabafunda says the newspaper industry has not changed much. “There is a still a disparity between minorities and non-minorities in our newsrooms.”
The UNITY conference features a career fair designed to help address that disparity, and it is a major draw for many participants, especially those who are new to the profession.
Dante Higgins, a student at the University of California-Berkeley, says he and fellow students Violet Feng and Arris Shabadian came to UNITY to get jobs.
Letita Aaron says she already has a job as a night reporter at the Lima (Ohio) News. But she is using the conference to explore what other prospects might be available.
“A lot of people come here to build professional relationships with other journalists,” Aaron, a 2003 graduate of Xavier University in New Orleans, says. “I also came to reconnect with people whom I’ve met along the way.”
Shani Smothers is among those Aaron met along the way. The two attended Xavier together. Smothers recently earned a master’s degree in communications culture and technology from Georgetown University.
Smothers says UNITY is a big deal because it brings the different minority journalism associations together with the goal of diversifying newsrooms.
“What’s surprising is that people of different ethnicities are interested in people of other cultures,” Smothers says.
Ricardo B. Brazziell, a recent graduate of Grambling State University and a photojournalist at the Longview (Texas) News-Journal, says UNITY provides young journalists a chance to learn from people with many years of experience.
“UNITY is an example of how a newsroom should be,” he says. “If you’re looking for a diverse newsroom, look at UNITY.”