Before we can move forward on the path to justice, we must first acknowledge the harm that’s been done. Join us in calling on the Federal Communications Commission to investigate its role in perpetuating racism in our media system.

Friend,

Since a police officer murdered George Floyd last May, a racial reckoning has emerged across the United States. Public and private institutions have been forced to acknowledge their racist histories. And the media in particular have rightly been placed under the microscope.

Journalists of color have challenged several major media organizations to address how they have inflicted harm both within their newsrooms and in communities of color at large. The Los Angeles Times and The Kansas City Star published apologies acknowledging their histories of racism. And now more newsrooms are being called on to do the same.

But newsrooms alone are not responsible for the systemic racism that exists in our media system. We’re calling on the Federal Communications Commission to examine how its policy choices helped create a media system that harms Black people and other communities of color.

Federal policies have helped perpetuate the anti-Blackness that runs rampant in today’s media, and undermines Black lives and dignity every day.

The FCC has passed policies that have prevented Black people and other communities of color from owning media outlets, and it has done next to nothing when faced with the racist actions of the broadcasters, cable companies and phone companies it has the responsibility to regulate. And there is still so much that needs to come to light about how the FCC has condoned racism in the media system.

This is why we’re calling on the FCC to investigate its own history of racism and examine how its policy choices have harmed Black people and other communities of color.

Throughout the past few months, we’ve been working alongside U.S. Reps. Jamaal Bowman (D–New York), Yvette Clarke (D–New York), and Brenda Lawrence (D–Michigan) and nearly 100 organizations, journalists and media-makers to urge the FCC to investigate its history of racism.

We’ve joined together to create a just media system — but for that to happen, the FCC must reckon with its harmful history and correct course. Join us in calling on the FCC to investigate its history of racism.

In solidarity,

Collette, Alicia, Joseph and the rest of the Media 2070 team
media2070.org

P.S. Today we’re launching an exciting week of action to get the FCC on board with the call for an investigation of its racist policymaking. We’ll be reaching out with one thing you can do each day to help us WIN at the FCC and begin to build a just media system.