As the unforgettable, enlightening, revealing, often ugly and history-shaping 2017 winds to a close, the Black power structure in journalism and activism has been realigned dramatically.
The elder spokespeople for the African-American community have faded to black as new leaders emerge; new journalists and voices that reflect the changing landscape in society. They represent the suppressed ideas and overlooked victims of Americas lies in a land that promises opportunity and equality, but wont even tolerate NFL players kneeling.
The Shadow League on Twitter
As Trump now attacks ESPN/Jemele Hill, this once again proves that free speech for Black folk ain’t free at all: https://t.co/CUx0XbDL0T
Out of the bigoted and divisive ashes left by a burning brewer of bad intentions, also known as President Donald Trump and his itchy Twitter finger, rose journalist Jemele Hill, who not only called the President a white supremacist and stood by her personal thoughts, but weathered a political storm, social media tornado and media spotlight that took her out of her comfort zone as celebrity journalist and thrust her into the middle of a messy and misinterpreted optic sparked by Colin Kaepernicks kneeling for the national anthem.
Shes come a long way from her days as an underserved Detroit, inner-city youth with the love of her family as a driving force for all of her wild ambitions. Now, her name graces the cover of Essence Magazines Year In Review, Everyone Who Gave Us Life In 2017.
ESSENCE on Twitter
@RepMaxineWaters is reclaiming OUR time with her continued fight for our people. May her reign as “the nation’s congresswoman” never end. Get your copy Nov. 17th. #IssaEssenceSlay: https://t.co/6cP63L7FCj
People of color understand how iconic the publication is, how it has been the voice of Black America and captured the soul of women of color for decades. Hill wrote this on her Facebook page above a picture of the magazine cover:
“Never thought I would ever make the cover of Essence, who, for years, has shown the fearlessness, courage, vulnerability and beauty of all black women. Its quite an honor to even be mentioned among this special group of amazing women.”
Despite all of the turmoil and the vicious attacks from some classless troublemakers, Hills actions will be remembered favorably in history and the support of the African-American publications, ESPN and the acknowledgement of her strength in the face of major adversity and pressure from a powerful oppressive force is proof that she did the right thing.
It’s proof that she will always have a place in history and despite her past accomplishments in the field of sports, we see it was only a stepping stone to the more important ways that she would use her voice to help re-spark and re-energize the conversation about social injustice, black empowerment and how to use a platform to make positive change.
