One hundred twenty years is a long time for any business to remain in existence. For a community newspaper that has been owned solely by African-Americans since 1895, that is a tremendous accomplishment that can only be credited to the perseverance of its staff over the decades and of course, divine intervention that has provided a cover of protection on the newspaper for all these years.
This year marks the 120th anniversary of the Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper. I believe the Lord has protected the Recorder to reach its 120th birthday because the newspaper was founded upon godly principles.
We started as a two-page church bulletin, then expanded to a newspaper because of the responsibility the founders felt to educate and inform Blacks in the community.
To truly appreciate the story of the Recorder and its remarkable 120th anniversary, you have to first consider the social climate of Blacks in Indiana and the rest of the nation during the late 1800s and early 1900s.
The Recorder was founded in Indiana during a time of oppression. While slavery was banned by law, it was enforced by custom. Segregation was ever-present, Jim Crow was the law of the land, and Black Hoosiers were typically viewed as inferior to whites.
Indiana grew older, but not wiser. The Ku Klux Klan in Indiana of the 1920s was considered one of the most powerful in the nation and the group exerted its agenda against Blacks through members who held prominent business and political positions and, of course, through outright intimidation.
During such tumultuous times for African-Americans, the Indianapolis Recorder faithfully and fearlessly kept to its mission: to educate and empower Blacks. And that is exactly what this newspaper did: it educated the community by being a purveyor of truth – even if that truth was what some whites at the time didn’t want publicized. There were bomb threats, arsons, and stalking and intimidation efforts toward Recorder staffers. The Klan and many other whites would do anything in their power to prevent the newspaper from printing. They wanted Blacks to remain suppressed and they knew getting rid of the Black newspaper was the best way to do it. But God has always been on the side of this publication and by his grace and the tenacity of countless committed Recorder employees and supporters, the newspaper continued to report the good, bad and ugly of the community.
In our 120-year history, we pride ourselves on never missing a week of publishing.
As I consider the early years of the Recorder and even the 1950s and 60s, my heart flourishes with pride because I know how hard it must have been for the paper to maintain its commitment to the community while enduring vicious overt attacks and stealthy efforts from its enemies. I also reflect on the unabashed pride Blacks in the community at the time felt towards the Recorder. Blacks appreciated the newspaper, its stance on issues, and the courage its staffers displayed.
But when I consider the Recorder in 2015, I feel anguish at the lack of support and respect some in our Black community give the Recorder.
Countless times, individuals request coverage of an event, yet those very same people don’t subscribe to the Recorder, nor have they shelled out the 75 cents to pick up a copy elsewhere.
There are also the paper’s fair weather friends. These are people, businesses and organizations that the Recorder has faithfully supported for years, yet they only come around when they need something. They take, take, take from the Recorder but give nothing or very little in return.
There are also those who pay lip service to Black power and unity, yet they give juicy exclusives to mainstream media while ignoring us.
And when their two-timing ways are exposed, they get angry and refuse to look at the man in the mirror.
Should I publish a list of some of these individuals and entities? Some might surprise you!
Radical? Maybe a radical approach is needed so our community can really know what we have, or more importantly, what we are missing.
The Recorder provides news coverage you won’t find in any other paper in this city, nor on any television broadcast. Sometimes, those articles expose unwanted realities our community would rather ignore. Sometimes they are positive, uplifting features celebrating the beauty, strength and dignity of our Black community. Regardless of the topic, our intent remains the same week after week: to empower and prepare a conscious community today and beyond.
Maybe some of you don’t get the point. You may be saying, “I called the Recorder and they didn’t cover my initiative,” or “They didn’t send a photographer to my event.”
To those of you who say those things, I encourage you to take a look at our staff directory at the bottom of this page. We are a small editorial staff. The Recorder cannot be everywhere all the time and we don’t know the goings-on of everything in the community.
The Recorder is not omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. We need your help. Yes, you need to help out by actually pitching stories to us and sending press releases, not sitting back and complaining after the fact when your organization’s event doesn’t receive the coverage you desired. We also need you to understand that some things simply won’t get covered depending on space availability and content interests among other things. Those who truly support us rarely complain because they understand the inner workings of this business and they know although we are small in size, our intent and love for the community is larger than anything.
February is Black History Month and it is also the kick-off to the Recorder’s 120th anniversary. I challenge each one of you reading these words to pay homage to the legacy of this newspaper by supporting us in some manner – it could be through purchasing a subscription for yourself or someone else or by buying advertising. Our rates are incredibly reasonable, but the impact of your actions are even greater because you will be supporting one of the most storied Black businesses in the state, while also helping our community. Help us reach our next 120 years.
I am a passionate journalist who understands the power of the Black press and also the detriment it would cause our community if we no longer existed. I wish more people shared my perspective.
