Howard Witt discusses unfinished business of civil rights on campus

Janel Shoun | 

Click here to see Fox 17 coverage of the event.

Local community and media leaders turned out to the Lipscomb campus Wednesday, Feb. 18, to hear noted journalist Howard Witt speak on America’s unfinished business of civil rights at a Black History Month luncheon. Witt also spoke to a theater full of students and faculty in an afternoon lecture.
 
Witt, a 2007 finalist for a Pulitzer Prize for his civil rights reporting, said his stories have shown Americans that civil rights infringements are not a thing of the past, they have just been pushed behind the courthouse doors or the school gates.
 
“The problem is not solved, it’s just a lot more subtle now,” said Witt, who was the first to break the Jena Six story about several African American teens who were charged with attempted murder for assaulting a white teen in Jena, Louisiana.
 
His coverage of racial issues have played a role in releasing an African American girl from prison after an overly harsh sentence and obtaining a civil judgment against a group of men who beat a mentally challenged black man in Texas.
 
Today’s civil rights abuses have more to do with unfair sentencing, public school policies or city regulations, than Klan rallies or violent mobs, Witt said.
 
“Now you have systemic problems,” he said.
 
(l to r) Lipscomb President L. Randolph Lowry speaks with guest of honor Howard Witt and local entrepreneur Genma Holmes.
Lowry greets state Sen. Thelma Harper at the luncheon.
Nashville Councilwoman Vivian Wilhoite talks with Howard Witt.
President Lowry talks with Erika Lathon, news reporter from TV station Fox 17.
“The only way to solve the problem is to do what you do at this university – to sit down and talk about it. You can’t beat one-on-one outreach,” he said.
 
Lipscomb President L. Randolph Lowry greeted the guests, saying he was proud the university could play a part in bringing together people who have never talked to each other before. Lipscomb is now the home base for the Davidson Group, a local organization devoted to helping Nashvillians move beyond racial barriers.
 
At the luncheon, an invited audience of elected officials, media representatives and friends of Lipscomb heard Witt describe how national Department of Education statistics show that African American students are expelled or suspended three times as often as white students for the same offenses.
 
At the student lecture, Witt noted that studies show it would take 500 years for the African American population to bridge the economic gap between blacks and whites in America.
 
His own experience in the past few years, however, shows some hope for the future. A few years ago, before the Internet, the original Jena Six story, written by Witt in May 2007, would have been a one-time story, he said.
 
But due to the Internet, it was passed along through the blogosphere and sparked an activism among African Americans who raised $1 million for the defense fund of the arrested teens and swarmed to Jena in September 2007 to demonstrate against the harsh sentence of the teens.
 

The Internet has allowed journalists stories to reach a larger audience than ever before, but it comes at a time when the newspaper business model is suffering an economic collapse, he said. While the future of traditional newspapers looks bleak, Witt told the journalism majors gathered in Shamblin Theatre that they had a bright future, if they can develop the skills to tell stories in multiple ways: written, on video, on radio, or on the Web.