Black journalists nationwide are still reeling from the news that former president Donald Trump will be flying to Chicago on Wednesday to participate in a panel discussion at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention.
Trump’s contentious relationship with Black media is widely known. He will be in the hot seat at the NABJ convention with three Black political journalists. Rachel Scott, a senior congressional correspondent for ABC News, will moderate the discussion. Joining her will be Harris Faulkner, co-host of Outnumbered on Fox News, and Kadia Goba, a politics reporter at Semafor.
As NABJ gives a platform to Trump, I would hope they ask him about the many times he attacked Black journalists like Yamiche Alcindor, April Ryan, and Don Lemon. But Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner is on the panel, and she has shown herself to be in the tank for Trump. pic.twitter.com/J5D7meLfWU
— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) July 30, 2024
As the social media backlash continues to spread like wildfire, it has been revealed that Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive 2024 Democratic nominee, had been invited but had yet to confirm her attendance.
Just hours later, journalist and revered political commentator Roland Martin broke the news that Harris had worked hard to accommodate NABJ organizers. While she was not able to attend the event in person, she offered to hold a virtual fireside chat but was rejected.
“BREAKING NEWS: Vice President @KamalaHarris will not be speaking at @NABJ in-person or virtually,” Martin tweeted. “They offered for her to take questions virtually, but was turned down by NABJ. That makes NO sense. We do interviews DAILY by satellite, Skype and Zoom, so this should have happened.”
BREAKING NEWS: Vice President @KamalaHarris will not be speaking at @NABJ in-person or virtually. They offered for her to take questions virtually, but was turned down by NABJ. That makes NO sense. We do interviews DAILY by satellite, Skype and Zoom, so this should have happened.
— rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) July 30, 2024
Scoop: A source familiar with this potential @vp appearance at the NABJ convention says the @VP WILL NOT be attending the NABJ Convention in Chicago this week.
— AprilDRyan (@AprilDRyan) July 30, 2024
A source familiar also says Harris is hitting the ground running as the new presumptive Democratic Nominee days into…
The convention comes at a crucial time for Harris, who is gaining on Trump in the weekly polls. Harris leads Trump by one point, 47% to 46%, with 4% of voters choosing “someone else” and 4% undecided, in Morning Consult’s weekly poll taken July 26-28. However, Harris lags slightly behind Trump by 47%-49% in a Wall Street Journal poll.
The vice president is in Atlanta tonight (Jul. 30) as part of her presidential campaign tour. She will hold a National Organizing Call immediately after exiting the stage of her rally at the Georgia State University Convocation Center.
“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,” NABJ President Ken Lemon said in a press release.
Still, much of the damage had already been done, with many NABJ members already threatening to terminate their annual memberships with the organization while others are calling for them to rescind Trump’s controversial invite.
When membership numbers and those due$ fall off a cliff.
— Carron J. Phillips (@carronJphillips) July 30, 2024
Remember the day y’all made this dumb ass decision. https://t.co/IlJIxwbjnx
spent the last eight years calling him a threat to democracy while he attacked and demonized the press, now we’re platforming him? yeah, i can’t stand by that. i cancelled my membership this morning. https://t.co/Dt84aLOVv6
— richard cunningham (@rccunni) July 30, 2024
NABJ membership costs from $40 a year for students to $3,000 for a lifetime membership, and there are currently more than 4000 members.
“This is the single dumbest and worst decision in NABJ history,” Pulitzer Prize nominee Carron J. Phillips tweeted. “Whoever made this call is an idiot. And I’ll say it to their face this week.”
Trump, spotting an opportunity to use his attendance to further pander to Black voters, issued a statement claiming that he “accomplished more for Black Americans than any other president in recent history by implementing America First policies on the economy, immigration, energy, law and order, and foreign policy.”
NABJ is not a media outlet, it’s a professional assoc. w/ a mandate to protect members interests. DT’s agenda is contrary to interests of free press, Black folks, LGBTQ, & women all of whom make up NABJ. Journalists can interview candidates on their jobs, not in our safe spaces.
— Giselle Phelps (@GisellePhelps) July 30, 2024
Trump won just 8% of Black voters in 2016 and although he frequently boasts that his administration lowered Black unemployment, economists say that Barack Obama’s administration was responsible for the uptick, with Trump being elected into office at the tail end and taking credit for the previous administration’s efforts.
The former president has already resorted to hawking ghoulish, off-brand sneakers, dragging every rapper who will give him the time of day onto the stages at his rallies and flaunting his mugshot and criminal record to entice Black voters, but what the Republican candidate does not have is tangible policies (or a proven track record) to earn the votes.
Prior to President Joe Biden’s announcement that he would not run for reelection, Trump was crushing him in numerous polls, but since accepting Biden’s endorsement, Harris has shown up, shown out and proved that in November she may very well make history as the first female president in U.S. history (and it’s only been a week into her campaign.)
