Bakewell spoke of the unique role the Black Press plays in America.

By GEORGE E. CURRY

Editor-in-Chief

NNPA News Service 

ATLANTA (NNPA) – Former United Nations Ambassador Andrew Young and Danny J. Bakewell, Sr., the National Newspaper Publishers Association chairman emeritus and executive publisher of the Los Angeles Sentinel and the LA Watts Times, were presented with NNPA’s Legacy of Excellence Awards last Friday night in recognition of their lifelong work, courage, commitment, sacrifice and achievements.

The awards were presented as part of NNPA’s annual convention. Both recipients were loudly applauded and given a standing ovation in recognition of their sterling achievements.

NNPA Chairman Cloves Campbell, Jr. said the organization’s Legacy Awards hold special meaning for African Americans.

Young, executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) under Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., later served as mayor of Atlanta, a U.S. Congressman representing the 5^th District of Georgia and United States Ambassador to the United Nations under President Jimmy Carter.

In his acceptance speech, Young said: “Every major issue in your lifetime and mine has been defined and developed and pushed not from the top down, but from the bottom up. It’s your work to kind of turn up a vision for the world that we are now facing.”

Young said he has not spent any time debating same-sex marriage, saying it is none of his business. “Rather than God being concerned about one’s sexual orientation,” Young said, “the Lord is going to pose other questions to determine one’s suitability to enter heaven: Did you feed the hungry? Did you clothe the naked? Did you heal the sick? Did you set at liberty those who are oppressed?”

Young ended his acceptance speech by presenting a challenge to Black publishers.

He said, “Looking at the economy of the future, the only answer is the Black Press helping to connect these dots so that the White Press can realize that their future is with Barack Obama.”

Bakewell, who served as chairman of NNPA from 2009-2011, was praised for lifting the organization from the brink of insolvency to amassing a treasury that exceeded $1 million.

Walter Smith, chief executive officer of the New York Beacon, recalled that Bakewell had to be persuaded to seek the association’s top job. ”

 “I asked you to do two things,” Bakewell reminded publishers in his acceptance speech. “I asked you to trust me – and you did – and I asked you to support me. And I asked you to make sure that you made a commitment for all of us to be on the same page about the power of the Black Press.”

Bakewell marshaled the power of the Black Press when Toyota slighted African Americans.

Last year, many Black newspapers published Bakewell’s open letter to Toyota criticizing the auto giant for placing ads in White-owned media thanking customers for standing by it during a safety recall, but bypassing Black-owned newspapers and advertising agencies.

 “Toyota since then has been a very good partner,” Bakewell stated. He listed other NNPA partners – AT&T, Nielsen, General Motors, Ford, and Wells Fargo – who came aboard without any acrimony.

“We represent 25 percent of the market share of many of these companies,” Bakewell explained. “They have billion dollar budgets and can’t advertise with us. How does that make any sense?”

Bakewell spoke of the unique role the Black Press plays in America.

“Our responsibility is not just printing our newspapers,” he said. “Our responsibility is making life better for our people.”

The St. Louis American won seven first-place Merit Awards Thursday night en route to winning the National Newspaper Publishers Association’s coveted John B. Russwurn Trophy presented to the newspaper that accumulates the most points in the organization’s annual journalism competition.

In 1827, Russwurm co-founded Freedom’s Journal, the nation’s first Black owned and operated newspaper.

The St. Louis American, published by Dr. Donald Suggs, won first place in categories ranging from general excellence to best layout and design for a broad sheet.

Yvonne Coleman-Bach of the Louisville Defender was named the National Newspaper Publishers Association’s 2012 Publisher of the Year at the NNPA’s national convention awards ceremony.

Coleman-Bach, who serves as treasurer of the NNPA, is editor and associate publisher of the Louisville Defender.