UNITY 2004: History in the making

August 1, 2004

UNITY President's Message Ernest Sotomayor

This week, journalists of color in the Uni ted States will be making history – again.

Already, 7,000 people have registered for UNITY 2004: A Powerful Alliance; A Force for Change convention that begins Wednesday at 5 p.m. with our opening ceremonies. That means our third UNITY convention is again the largest gathering of journalism ever, as were the first two, in Atlanta in 1994 and in Seattle in 1999.

Journalists from print, online and broadcast media have begun flocking to Washington, by the time we depart a week from now, we will have changed journalism.

What the members of our organizations, industry leaders, friends and newcomers should expect to hear and see is a world-class lineup of speakers, training sessions debates, and a Career Expo that will provide unpreceden ted opportunities for our people to network with employers, get career advice and critiques.

On Wednesday we will unveil a first-ever survey of the national newspaper press corps in Washington, with results already creating a buzz and commitments from companies that results will be different a year from now.

And UNITY has become an organization that is hard to say no to: Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. John Kerry will address our convention and take our questions Thursday morning, followed by President George on Friday morning. They’ll cap a program that will also include Secretary of State Colin Powell speaking on press freedoms, a dialogue with EEOC chairperson, Cari M. Dominguez and dozens more of the most knowledgeable journalists who will be sharing ideas, debate and discussion about our craft.

In short, we look forward to UNITY 2004 serving as just what our theme says: A Powerful Alliance; Force For Change.

For those who will not be part of the convention in Washington, participate by going online. Come to UNITY’s web site for the latest breaking news and developments as they are presen ted by our four student projects. Hear speeches, read ground-breaking reports, view lots of photos, video and other multimedia by the next generation of journalists.

We have reached this point through enormously hard work by the executive directors and the entire staffs of UNITY and our alliance partners – AAJA, NABJ, NAHJ and NAJA – along with hundreds of volunteers who have put in uncountable hours to create a great program, many sponsors who understand and believe in our mission, and continue supporting our cause. And we’re here because of leadership by the association presidents – AAJA’s Mae Cheng, NABJ’s Herbert Lowe, NAHJ’s Juan Gonzalez and NAJA’s Patty Talahongva – who have joined forces to ensure a success.

Our industry – not just journalists of color – owe them many thanks.

Ernest R. Sotomayor
President, Board of Directors, and chair, Executive Committee
UNITY: Journalists of Color, Inc.

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