Who: Tracy Morgan
When: 2002
Show: Saturday Night Live
Role: Once again on SNL, the lack of Black actresses leads comedian Tracy Morgan to a tasteless portrayal of great American author-poet Maya Angelou.
Who: Shawn and Marlon Wayans
When: 2004
Movie: White Chicks
Roles: The Wayans brothers movie White Chicks is the most egregious example on this list. In the movie, the two Black men dress up as white women to become undercover agents, equally offending men and women, Black and white people.
This election season, the stakes are higher than usual — and so is the pressure on newsrooms to soften their coverage, stay quiet, or just disappear. Independent reporting, the kind that answers to readers instead of advertisers or political pressure, matters more in a moment like this, not less.
For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed independent and reader-funded. We have no corporate owner and no shareholders telling us what to cover or how to cover it. That independence is also our biggest vulnerability: nothing protects it except readers choosing to fund it directly.
Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under in a moment like this, it's rarely the independent, reader-funded ones that get to stick around.
We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.
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