This was the response I wrote to this lecture series that Jepson hosted early in the semester.  It discussed the truth and representation in the internet age through the particular medium of journalism as a catalyst for social change.

Michael Paul Williams serves as a local columnist for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, dedicating his talents to share an uncommon perspective through a written medium and to relate with Richmond communities.  Accomplished journalists utilize resources and their platform to present the “truth”, regardless of biases.  In a city founded upon deep and systemic divisions, nondiscriminatory information is pertinent in sharing diverse experiences.  During the panel discussion, Williams expressed challenges of representation within reports and the lack of shared experiences amongst the greater Richmond area, perpetuated by rigid policy and infrastructure.  

After the journalism company that employed Williams was bought out, his experiences and passions persuaded him to continue his writing career to make certain the large person-of-color readership was properly represented in the media.  The racial divides in Richmond originate from the depths of the city’s founding.  Williams’s work shines light on the underrepresented perspectives of overlooked communities, yet policy that was enacted years ago continues to restrict these communities in submission of the privileged communities.  Many minority communities were structurally marginalized from “urban development” plans, resulting in the social and infrastructure divides we observe.  At-risk minority communities do not come in contact with wealthy, predominantly white communities, preventing the opportunity to create shared experiences.  From this, individuals fail to alter their perspective despite evidence.  In addition, Williams stated the evolution of technology numbs individuals to ethically considering their anonymous contributions on divided issues.  These uninformed prejudices are fueled by decades of propaganda and implicit biases.  To Williams, journalism opposes these under-qualified news sources to reveal truths, a large challenge for local writers.  Community members remain resistant to opposing perspectives when the view fails to support their own.  Williams attributes this injustice to policy and non-complacency of privileged communities; I assess the injustice originates from the cumulative advantage Anglo-American ensured themselves in Richmond by marginalizing minority communities with infrastructure.  These communities were obliterated by big promises that failed to deliver, leaving communities vulnerable and submissive to the growingly influential majority.  Williams acknowledged this progression through the example of a close-knit community destroyed by urban renewal construction.  Due to the lack of perspective sharing, policy-makers contributed more destruction than progression to the city.  Knowledgeable policy cannot be proposed if people fail to recognize differences and to confront these perspectives in difficult discussions.  Knowledgeable representation in published works and equalized influence in policy-making creates mutual understanding across perspectives, despite mutual agreeances, and establishes a basis of more-fair policy.  

As a journalist, Williams faces difficulties of pleasing different “truths” people possess while also seeking the facts of a story.  In the past, systemic disadvantages of marginalized populations eliminated culture-rich communities due to a lack of shared perspective across the local area.  For journalists today, the objective is to expose these routinely underrepresented perspectives to create a basis of mutual understanding.  To give a voice to the previously reduced populations balances influence on policy-making for the future and advocates to reverse restrictive policy from the past.