Rising up The power of narrative in pursuing racial justice

How to fight for justice through storytelling. Journalist and activist Kolhatkar, host and producer of the Pacifica Radio show "Rising Up," argues persuasively for the necessity of "narrative-shifting" in order "to change public consciousness to the degree necessary for society to achieve justice." While she applauds efforts to promote inclusivity and diversity in employment, communities, and schools, she sees justice at the heart of her distinction between equality and equity. "Equality for Black people means removing official barriers to home-ownership, education, health care, and more," she asserts. "But equity for Black people means reparations to compensate for centuries of enslavement, oppression, Jim Crow segregation, and ongoing systemic racism so that home ownership, quality education, and health care are actually within reach. Equality ignores the past. Equity addresses historical injustice." According to Kolhatkar, reforms that can lead to equity must be grounded in revised narratives from news media, film, TV, and social media, all of which--even those purporting to be liberal--are dominated by White voices. Newsrooms in major publications, she has found, are mostly White, as are individuals who critique journalism's problems; therefore, these critics fail to notice "that white domination is a serious problem." Likewise, the White-dominated film and TV industries perpetuate "ugly and reductive narratives" about people of color and present images of police that "are in line with white reality and at odds with what people of color experience." Both independent media and young filmmakers of color--such as Ava DuVernay--offer crucial new perspectives. Kolhatkar praises the rise of Black Twitter, "an organic collection of the unfiltered opinions of Black Americans on any number of topics, big and small, that has the unique ability to create trends." Powerful forces for narrative-shifting, she asserts, include courses such as ethnic studies and critical race theory as well as one-on-one discourse: conversations that encourage "actively taking the perspective of others." A thoughtful prescription for social change. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

PREFACE  As a journalist, my values--cliché as this may sound--are "to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted." By definition, journalists are truthtellers called upon to report the truth in the service of the public interest and justice. What ethic could serve the public more than the pursuit of justice for all human beings regardless of race, gender, or class?  I've been engaged in narrative work via journalism for more than twenty years. Abandoning a job in 2002 working on a satellite telescope at the prestigious California Institute of Technology (Caltech), I set my sights on a path of independent journalism grounded in the pursuit of justice--a path that felt much more meaningful to me than a career in astrophysics.  Much as I enjoyed the beauty and challenges of answering grand cosmological questions, journalism is in my blood. My grandfather, the late Shripad Yashwant Kolhatkar--an Indian rebel, freedom fighter, trade unionist, and co-founder of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)--also served as president of the All-India Newspaper Employees Federation. I feel the strength of his legacy even though he passed away before I found my true calling.  Here's how it happened. As an immigrant pre-teen growing up in Dubai, I wrote for a local children's magazine called Young Times . I interviewed fellow students, wrote stories, and created drawings, but had not yet considered journalism as a potential career. I went on to study physics and astronomy, emigrating to the United States on a foreign student visa at the age of sixteen convinced that I would end up with a long career in science. After graduating, I started working at Caltech, fixated on the grand questions of physical existence on astronomical scales. But around the same time, I grew increasingly cognizant of the injustices in the world around me and of how little progress we had made to solve the grand problems of humanity right here on Earth. I became deeply involved in solidarity work with Afghan feminists and gave public lectures about the U.S. war in Afghanistan.  When an opportunity arose to be a regular news broadcaster at the independent community station, KPFK, Pacifica Radio in Los Angeles, I jumped at the chance. Since then, I have spent more than two decades reporting the indignities faced by marginalized communities, covering the contours of their resistances through my television and radio program, Rising Up With Sonali .  Today, as the racial justice editor at Yes! Magazine, I also have the privilege of uplifting Black and Brown voices via print and online media. The mission of my labor is to help tell their stories, amplifying the words of work of people of color who are working to create a world based on justice, freedom, equity, love, and community.  The late congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis once said, "The movement without storytelling, is like birds without wings." As a cultural worker grounded in social justice advocacy, I have always seen my journalism as a vehicle for transformative storytelling about people and power. The mere fact that I, an immigrant woman of color, am in the position of being a public story teller, is radical in a world where women of color are constantly excluded from positions of editorial leadership. My liberation is bound up with the liberation of the people whose stories I share. By becoming fluent in each other's stories, we rise up against racism. Through solidarity, we rise up together. Excerpted from Rising Up: The Power of Narrative in Pursuing Racial Justice by Sonali Kolhatkar All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.