AG Ellison receives leadership award at Black newspaper convention

At the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) convention in Nashville (June 28 – July 1), Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison received the organization’s 2023 Leadership and Courage Award.

“I was deeply honored to receive the recognition of NNPA — the collective heartbeat and archive of Black America,” said Ellison. “NNPA affiliates have documented our stories, challenges and triumphs that are so often ignored—or worse, distorted—in the mainstream press,” he continued. “I’m deeply grateful for the award, but mostly for NNPA’s continued existence.”

The NNPA, of which Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder Publisher and CEO Tracey Williams-Dillard is a member, represents more than 200 African American-owned community newspapers in the U.S. In honoring the Black press, President Biden appeared via video to salute the NNPA and its member publishers.

“Congratulations to the Black Press of America for celebrating 196 years of serving communities across our nation,” Biden said in his address, which aired on the last day of the convention. “Ida B. Wells once said, the way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon the wrong. That’s the sacred charge of a free press. That’s the charge African American publishers have pursued for nearly two centuries. With every story you publish, you make our democracy stronger.”

The organization’s president and CEO, Dr. Ben Chavis Jr., offered his thanks to the President. “The NNPA is especially honored to hear directly from President Joe Biden for his continued support and advocacy of the importance of the Black Press of America,” Chavis said. “As we celebrate 196 years of the Black Press, it’s always gratifying and encouraging to have the support of the President of the United States. In the wake of the recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions on civil rights, the Black Press rededicates our journalism to be a clarion voice for freedom, justice, equality and equity.”

The three-day convention ended the term of NNPA Chair Karen Carter Richards, the publisher of the Forward Times in Houston. Newly elected Bobby Henry, Sr., publisher of the Westside Gazette in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., will become the new NNPA chair.