STATEMENT FROM JOURNALIST AND ACTIVIST RAQUEL WILLIS ON NABJ AND TRUMP
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 31, 2024
Monday night, I learned with the rest of the world that the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) was hosting former president Donald Trump in a “special conversation” at their annual conference. The kicker was that Trump’s scheduled event would overlap with my time on the Author Stage. I learned about this less than 12 hours before my flight to Chicago.
I was confused. I was disgusted. And I was enraged.
Moments before, I’d been excited to join the organization’s Author Stage in conversation with a dear friend and former colleague, Tre’vell Anderson. I’d previously spoken on panels at the conference, primarily led by the NABJ LGBTQ+ Task Force. But this was slated to be a more substantial moment to discuss my memoir, The Risk It Takes to Bloom: On Life and Liberation. And, of course, it’s rare to have a moment of candid queer and trans brilliance at an organization that tends to lean more socially conservative, respectable, and cisheterocentric.
I tried to bargain with the news of Trump’s appearance. I thought, “Maybe it’ll be fine,” and “Maybe folks will attend anyway.” But ever since that moment, the decision of NABJ executive leadership to platform one of the most dangerous and despicable political figures in modern history hasn’t sat well with me.
Until Tuesday evening, my team and I thought the scheduled time slot was still on the books. However, NABJ event organizers urgently requested that we reschedule my discussion. First, they suggested moving it an hour earlier, then decided to move it later in the day. These changes have impacted numerous Black journalists and their sessions; some even canceled.
After much deliberation and discussion with my team and close contacts, I’ve decided I can’t, in good conscience, move forward with this event or attend the 2024 NABJ Conference. I will be boycotting the organization until there is true accountability from NABJ executive leadership on this decision.
Donald Trump is a known quantity, as a former President who has wreaked particular havoc on communities on the margins and our democracy for years. There is no vetting him. He is a fraudster. He is a white supremacist. He is a misogynist. He is an insurrectionist. He is a sexual abuser. He is a bigot. And he has been especially anti-truth and anti-journalism since his political ascendance.
The old guard of the journalism industry can not continue to act like we live in “business as usual” times. Trump has banked on “bothsideism” and “neutrality” for far too long, and it’s disappointing that a Black-led and Black-serving organization is legitimizing him and rehabilitating his image under these guises. We have to wonder if NABJ’s leadership has learned nothing from the last eight years of Trump media coverage.
Without moral clarity, all journalists fail. “This is just my job” is an insufficient response to the growing threat of fascism and existing systems of oppression. When we don’t forcefully expose and rebuke white supremacy, cisheteropatriarchy, capitalism, and careerism, we feed them. The power and access NABJ leadership seeks by platforming Trump has already come back to bite, but it’ll undoubtedly do so even more in the future.
I extend grace to all of the NABJ members deciding how they will engage with the organization moving forward. And, of course, I stand in solidarity with all of the Chicago activists and organizers on-the-ground protesting Trump’s presence on their turf and in politics.
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For further comment or other inquiries contact mgmt@raquelwillis.com.