I’m on a plane as I write to you this week, returning from my annual pilgrimage to the moving mecca for African American reporters from all
over the country. 

This year, the National Association of Black Journalists held their yearly convention in Orlando, Florida, inside the Disney World Convention complex. 

There were more than three thousand men and women from just about every place there is a TV, radio or newspaper where we are either employed or serve communities of color.

I have always been inspired whenever I leave this gathering where we talk about our work and the challenges of bringing the stories of communities like ours to light.

While I see many young journalists who just want to be on TV or just make a name for themselves, I also see many with a fire in their eyes to make a difference. 

Their only pay-off is knowing that maybe someone who hears their voice or reads their words, may be moved to action.

These are the new soldiers for the fifth estate of democracy whose job it is to keep light on the places and spaces that government and corporate interests would like to have dark and dusty.

While I don’t consider myself very long in the tooth as a reporter, I have been doing it for a while. 

I find that sometimes after fighting with people who don’t get it or get us, I feel like I may just quit or just allow the job to be just that — a job. 

However, I can’t help but feel ashamed of myself for allowing that notion to weave through my brain and heart, I hear about the personal sacrifices made by some just to tell the stories of our people.

This year there is a concern about the shrinking Black media, and thus a shriveling of a voice for the issues that concern us. 

I sat in on one session, in which the editors of Black newspapers talked about dwindling subscribers and advertising. 

I felt weird because I wasn’t sure where I, and the PRESS fit in the hierarchy of that conversation since the PRESS, while committed to serving you, isn’t entirely Black-owned. 

But, the long overdue presence of a paper like it was accomplished through a partnership. 

Marcia Moxam-Comrie and Mike Schenkler both had a vision of a local paper that was like the Queens Tribune, but that focused on our stories. 

There are similar marriages like this across the country. 

And while some may scoff at the idea of that kind of arrangement, being of true benefit, I remind you of the birth of most of the black colleges in the country. 

They could not have existed then and in many cases now, without white dollars. 

Here at NABJ there were people not of color who are nevertheless committed to diversity and fairness. 

I am reminded of my commitment to you and the community in which I grew up, which is only made possible by this “integration” of resources.

I know that sometimes the people who may look over my column for spelling errors don’t understand many of the things I say, and may scratch their head and mutter, “I wonder what he means” or “What is that about?” 

That’s OK because you know what I’m talking about, and that is what counts to me.

That’s why we have stepped up our efforts to understand you and what is going on in Southeast Queens – to tell your stories your way and listen to your critiques.

To that end we now toil together in the struggle to just simply be better today than we were yesterday and better tomorrow than we are now.

— Gary Anthony Ramsay is a weekend anchor
and journalist on the all-news
cable station NY1 and along-time resident of Queens.