According to data compiled and analyzed by the Population Association of America and reported by Pew Research, more than 1 million Americans who at one point identified as “Hispanic or Latino” later chose to identify themselves as “white” between 2000 and 2010 – even many Afro-Latinos made the identity switch. But why? Many believe it is because of European influence. When European conquerors made their way to South America to colonize the land, they declared the heritage of the land to be “Spanish, Catholic and white,” Gates explained. Despite the fact that less than 1 percent of the current population in countries like the Dominican Republic are European, many people still hold on to that identity.
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.
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