Dear Jim Kirk, Publisher, The Chicago Sun-Times,
After 4 days of asking The Chicago Sun-Times to cover the Mass Black Male Graduation before our event took place, I was anxious to see what The Sun-Times covered for news on the same day that they refused to cover the Mass Black Male Graduation on Saturday, June 24, 2017.
Here are the headlines from Sunday’s, June 25 2017, The Chicago Sun-Times: “Since 2014, Fentanyl Has Killed 571 Chicagoans, Teen’s Tragic Death Shows It’s Business As Usual.” The Sun-Times Metro Section was worse – Woman, 56, shot in the head; Man dies after jumping in river; 17-year-old girl shot in car; Woman killed by man fleeing police; Man dies after fall on Red Line tracks; 3 shot in separate Humboldt Park incidents; Robberies on South Side; Man, 49, shot while riding bicycle; and 52-year-old man shot!
It is no wonder that The Sun-Times does not have space or time for a story like, “Black Males Honored by Community in Mass Graduation Ceremony”. The Sun-Times is too busy scaring Chicagoans, potential tourist and the world with “coded-language”, and stories and images of vicious and violent Black men.
Who makes the decisions on what stories you cover? Are most of those who make the decisions not Black or Latino people? Do those who make your editorial decisions live in the suburbs of Chicago and not the neighborhoods they write about? Are they reporting the news that is important to Chicago or only the news that is important to them?
It is a waste of time for any Black or Hispanic person, or any person who truly cares about Chicago to read The Chicago Sun-Times. For whatever reasons, you have decided to put forth an image of Chicago that primarily shows Black and Latino youth and men in vicious, violent, destructive and despicable roles.
I don’t expect you to print this letter. I don’t expect The Sun-Times to change. So I will just go back to my efforts to make Chicago a better, safer, more educated city-for all Chicagoans–while you continue to print the news that you want to be important.
By Phillip Jackson
Chairman, Board of Directors
The Black Star Project
(Please write a comment to Mr. Jim Kirk, Publisher of The Chicago Sun-Times at [email protected].)
