The Front Page

 

Once upon a time I was encouraging people to read the Columbia Flier. 

Hard Copy, Hard Issues, July 21, 2016

Today there is no Columbia Flier. 

This story from WMAR2 News presents an interesting juxtaposition with my post from ten years ago. 

Diversity wins: Howard County on track for first-ever minority-majority county council, Blair Sabol

That’s not how you spell “dais”.

Ten years ago I was concerned at how “white” our local news coverage was. 

But as I reviewed this week's paper, an untold story leapt out at me. Almost everything in this week's edition could be categorized as The Stories of White People. The article about school suspensions is clearly the exception. But really, I urge you to get a copy yourself and leaf through it. Is this who we are as a community?

Is our story just The Story of White People?

I still see way too much of that kind of Columbia/HoCo coverage. But it’s not quite so predominant. Not “all better”. Not perfect. And I haven’t forgotten that the Flier didn’t think Calvin Ball’s election as the first Black County Executive was front page news, either.

In fact I think I was wrong ten years ago about not holding local journalists accountable in this. Our community has always had nonwhite people whose stories were worthy of being told. Not making this a priority and taking the extra steps to find them is a choice. 

In accepting the distorted “utopian” narrative that paints us as a purposefully diverse community where everyone gets along - - just so long as white folks call the shots and run the show - - local media outlets so often have told us what we want to hear. That doesn’t truly inform us. It simply confirms our assumptions.

Now we have WMAR2News telling us that “diversity is on the dais.” Will they continue to cover this county council with a focus on how that impacts local legislation and constituent services? Or is this the only time we will ever hear about this?

County Executive Calvin Ball, who will step down this year after eight years of leadership, has done much to highlight and elevate a diverse group of professionals and entrepreneurs throughout his tenure.

It has become increasingly apparent to me that many white people are just fine with an all-white world into which one or two “minorities” are slotted to show how open-minded they are. The truth of the matter is that there are enough qualified, even far more than qualified people of color to fill many many positions in the County, yes, even all of them. And they have been there, long before Dr. Ball was County Executive. 

Calvin Ball didn’t invent qualified Black leadership. It has been here. It’s not a plot, it’s not a scam. He doesn’t get nefarious kickbacks from some kind of Black people cartel. The individuals you see working for his administration have been among us all along but the systems designed for hiring have systematically sifted them out. Not because they are unqualified but because those systems were designed by white people looking for white people.  - - Nine, March 14, 2019

I don’t think we should overlook how much this has changed local perception about who we are and whose stories are important. Dr. Ball and his team in County Government have spent two terms talking the talk and walking the walk. 

Still, racism continues to plague us here in Columbia/HoCo and now it seems to be even louder. But it was always there. It’s racism whether it’s loud and nasty or quiet and politely exclusionary. 

Ten years from now where will we be? How will we be perceived by local news outlets? What stories will we be telling ourselves?

Village Green/Town² Comments