This time last year, I started working with Mississippi Youth Media Project students. I had just graduated from Jackson State University with no clue what I wanted to do. I debated film school, communications, journalism—spoiler alert, I’m starting my MBA in Marketing studies this fall. But my love for journalism and writing in general had somewhat fallen short until I met these students.
For context, I began journalism my junior year of high school after I experienced an intense and very public racial incident my freshman year.
A staffer from the school newspaper came to me asking to cover my story and then later told me that the story was cut from publication. I was devastated. I thought that I would finally get the chance to tell the truth instead of the version that protected the reputation of my school. I figured if they won’t tell my story, I would do it myself.
This desire was heightened even more when I noticed Black students were only covered to talk about the achievement gap in a report that explored all the reasons Black students were not achieving academically well compared to white students. This often leaves out the lack of Black teachers, bigotry, racism and Black students being left out of AP and honors classes, unless they heavily advocated for it. And truthfully, how can you get an education when your own teacher doesn’t think you deserve it?…