Toronto Star ePaper

I’m here to offer another perspective

SHELLENE DRAKES-TULL SHELLENE DRAKES-TULL IS A TORONTO-BASED STORYTELLER, EDUCATOR AND THE FOUNDER OF SWEET LIME COMMUNICATIONS. REACH HER VIA EMAIL: SDRAKESTULL@GMAIL.COM

The Canadian Association of Journalists found that eight out of 10 newsrooms have no Black or Indigenous journalists on staff. The stories you read about Black communities often lack context because there are no Black people to add necessary context

Almost 23 years ago, I walked out of the Toronto Star’s newsroom, an angry and frustrated 25-year-old. I had just completed a yearlong internship, the next step on my journey to be a newspaper journalist — a feature writer, actually. During my time at the Star, I had the opportunity to share stories that mirrored my community: Black, Caribbean, young, new to Toronto and ready to change the world.

I loved it. I hated hard news reporting, but I loved being able to share stories about my world.

Growing up in Montreal in the ’80s and ’90s, I didn’t see or hear many mainstream news stories about Blackness in Canada unless they were talking about dysfunction, violence, crime, or it was Black History Month.

While the world prepared for Y2K, I walked into the Star’s newsroom, excited for the opportunity. I was one of many young aspiring Black journalists in the city, vying for too few spots in the industry. We would attend Canadian Association of Black Journalists events to strategize how we were going to change the Canadian news media, celebrate new jobs or internships and support each other in a very competitive job market.

So, why was I angry when I left the newsroom all those years ago? The better question is, what happened to all the young Black journalists that I knew?

During the summer of 2020, a former Star colleague messaged me to ask what I’d been up to since leaving the paper. She also wanted to know what happened to the young Black journalists who had gone through newsrooms across the country. From what I know, a few had continued their successful journalism careers, but many just struggled to be hired on or rise in the ranks at media organizations. So, they, like me, left media to work in other fields.

If this were just my experience, I could say maybe I just wasn’t good enough. Unfortunately, when a group of people share similar stories of not getting a fair chance or being held to a different standard we can’t assume that all of us weren’t good enough.

But why does this matter? Why should you care?

The Canadian Association of Journalists found that eight out of 10 newsrooms have no Black or Indigenous journalists on staff. The stories you read about Black communities often lack context because there are no Black people to add necessary context. Journalism schools didn’t stop churning out Black journalists — many just struggled be valued in Canadian newsrooms.

Toronto — and Canada — have changed. Journalists need not only tell diverse stories, but authentic ones. Who better to tell the stories of Black Canadians than Black Canadians? Now, don’t get it twisted, we can tell all stories, but it is necessary to disrupt the current onedimensional narrative of Blackness. To do that, we need to intentionally add more Black voices in newsrooms and management.

What I’ve learned is: when you’re young and fresh out school, you feel like you can change the world. As you get older, the world changes you.

I’m no longer naïve enough to believe in meritocracy as an anathema to bias. I know that anger needs to be focused to make change. And I still believe we can leave our communities better than how we found them, story by story.

I’m back to share opinions that are meaningful to me — and, I believe, to you. Some readers will claim I’m virtue-signalling or playing the victim. Others won’t care, or will get angry and disregard every word I write. That’s OK. My job isn’t to convince you, just to offer another perspective. Today, we have access to more opinions than ever before, but many of us choose to stay in our echo chambers.

I’m going to offer my opinion and be authentically me. I’m going to back up my words with facts. And, sometimes, that might offend you, but I hope it will make you think.

OPINION

en-ca

2023-05-31T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-05-31T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://torontostar.pressreader.com/article/281745568768925

Toronto Star Newspapers Limited