July 27 Roundtable to Be Streamed on Facebook
Our next Journal-isms Roundtable, Sunday, July 27, at 1 p.m. Eastern, is on the topic, “What do Black people around the world have in common, and what are their differences?” It will be streamed on Facebook, at < https://www.facebook.com/RPjournalisms/ >
In addition, John Yearwood of Politico, longtime world-news watcher, and “Journal-isms” moderator Richard Prince interviewed Matthew Vari, digital director at South Pacific Post Ltd. in Papua New Guinea, this week.
Vari was editor of the Post Courier in that country. For a little over an hour, he discussed how the issue of Black identity is seen from his South Pacific perch, how he was stranded in a California airport on his first visit to the United States, how journalism differs there, and the influence of African American culture, among other topics. (Photo: Matthew Vari, second from left, and his digital crew; courtesy Matthew Vari)
The video has been posted on our YouTube channel at < https://youtu.be/Va4kjKdrOgs >. We plan to show excerpts at our Sunday Roundtable, from which we hope people of all ethnicities can learn.
Moreover, all three candidates for the presidency of the National Association of Black Journalists — incumbent Ken Lemon and challengers Errin Haines and Dion Rabouin — have agreed to attend.
Coincidentally, Haines made a comment Tuesday night about what she viewed as lack of sufficient advocacy by the current NABJ leadership, which is reported in the latest Journal-isms column, about the departure of Krissah Thompson of The Washington Post. Lemon and Rabouin respond. It’s here.
News pegs for the Roundtable:
- The Second International Decade for People of African Descent renews the call for recognition, justice, and development (United Nations)
- The Guardian in the U.K. began a weekly newsletter on the African diaspora, “The Long Wave,” as part of recompense after discovering through its own investigation that the Guardian founder was a slave trader. See: ‘A Unique Gathering Space for the Black Diaspora’ (scroll down)
Yearwood is helping to lead this one.
The confirmed panelists are:
- Matthew Vari, digital director at South Pacific Post Ltd., Papua New Guinea; former editor, Post Courier, Papua New Guinea (recorded)
- Leon Diop, founder of the Ireland-based organization “Black & Irish” who co- wrote a book of the same name.
- Edna Liliana Valencia Murillo, Afro-Latina journalist, author and activist in Colombia
- Terrell Jermaine Starr, who has been with us before about his reporting from Ukraine. He has been working on stories aboutBlack Ukrainians. He is still in that country.
- Olive Vassell, who teaches at the University of the District of Columbia and is co-editor of “Mapping Black Europe: Monuments, Markers, Memories, with chapters about Black people in Berlin, Brussels, London, Luxembourg, Oslo, Paris, Rome and Warsaw
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- Olive will be joined by Epee Dingong, who wrote the book’s Paris chapter.
Also in the room:
- Kenneth Cooper, who in 1999 wrote “Within South Asia, a Little Touch of Africa” for the Washington Post.
- Madison J. Gray, new executive editor of the New York Amsterdam News.
- Retired U.S. ambassadors Charles A. Ray and Aurelia Brazeal.
- Cecelie Counts, an organizer, strategist, & lobbyist for TransAfrica.
- Ken Lemon, president, National Association of Black Journalists, candidate for re-election; reporter, WSOC-TV, Charlotte, N.C. (candidates for all NABJ offices have been invited.)
- Errin Haines, editor-at-large, the 19th; candidate for president of the National Association of Black Journalists
- Dion Rabouin, financial journalist, candidate for president, National Association of Black Journalists
- Lori Montenegro, Washiington bureau chief for Telemundo, who is Afro-Latino
- Jean-Francis Varre, D.C. musician/artist and lead for the band Sahel, who performs songs of the African diaspora in six languages; creator of the cultural organization Black Atlantic.
The Guardian and the U.N. group , alas, are passing up this chance to publicize their work. However, The U.N. has produced this video on the effort:
More links:
- Ace: Black Asian Indigenous Tribe In Thailand : Unveiling the Maniq People (YouTube video)
- Ace: The Black Tribe of The Philippines : Aeta Trib (YouTube video)
- Karen Juanita Carrillo and Jesús Chucho Garcia, New York Amsterdam News: Activists look for changes with U.N.’s second International Decade for People of African Descent (Jan. 16)
- Columbia University: Columbia Launches PhD Program in African American and African Diaspora Studies (video)
- Kenneth Cooper, Washington Post: Within South Asia, a Little Touch of Africa (April 12, 1999)
- Dorothy Davis, LinkedIn: “Product of the U.S. Government: Reflections of a Pioneer African American USAID Foreign Service Female Child”
- EducArte, local Brazilian arts nonprofit: Upcoming Sept. 5 evening in D.C. with Ilê Aiyê, legendary Afro-bloco that redefined Brazil’s cultural landscape and was instrumental in promoting Black consciousness in Brazil.
- Human Rights Watch: Africans and People of African Descent Call on Europe to Reckon with Their Colonial Legacies (Nov. 18, 2024)
- Megan Janetsy, Associated Press: Afro-Mexican communities devastated by Hurricane Erick call for emergency aid (June 26)
- Journal-isms: ‘We Are, as Latinos, Quite African’ (June 25)
- Journal-isms: Press Freedom Is for Black-Run Countries, Too (Sept. 6, 2024)
- Journal-isms: Worldwide, Do Media Have a Racism Problem? (Aug. 10, 2021)
- Rawiya Kameir, The Outline: How African med students created a new genre of Cuban music (May 30, 2017)
- Melissa Noel, Essence: Are Black People Any Closer To The Goals Of The International Decade For People Of African Descent In Its Final Year? (Feb. 24, 2024)
- Publishers Weekly: “The Second Emancipation: Nkrumah, Pan-Africanism, and Global Blackness at High Tide” by Howard W. French. (August 2025 publication)
- Damaso Reyes, The Root: Black Lives in Germany: A Multigenerational Struggle for Acceptance (April 4, 2016)
- Zadi Zokou, YouTube: Relationships African Americans/African immigrants: Documentary project presentation (2013)
More “Notices” to come. Please check back.
