By STU WOO
The UNITY News

Shiela Reaves spent extra cash to bring Tom, her 18-year-old son, to the UNITY ’08 convention. The Wisconsin communications professor expected the two major presidential contenders to speak at a forum originally planned for tonight, to be televised on CNN.

But now, the Madison, Wis., residents will see neither. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is unlikely to appear at the conference, while Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., will speak Sunday, after the Reaves depart Chicago.

The Reaves are one of many UNITY attendees let down by McCain’s no-show and the rescheduling of Obama’s speech.

On Wednesday, UNITY Executive Director Onica Makwakwa and UNITY Convention Chair Bryan Monroe reiterated that the presidential hopefuls never committed to the forum, even though the convention Web site, www.unityjournalists.org, heavily promoted their supposed appearance.

Obama, the expected Democratic nominee, is confirmed to speak on Sunday, when he will make his first public appearance in the United States after returning from trips to the Middle East and Europe, Monroe said. He added that McCain, the Republican candidate, is unlikely to attend UNITY, though an invitation is still standing.

Makwakwa said UNITY began heavily courting McCain and Obama when they became clear presidential frontrunners earlier this year. She added that while the Obama campaign was receptive to attending the conference, “it was clear on the McCain side that the campaign needed a lot more work in terms of interest.” McCain spoke at the 1999 UNITY convention.

But in the past few weeks, Makwakwa said it became apparent that Obama would be overseas during that time slot. And last week, a McCain spokeswoman confirmed that the Arizona senator could also not make the Thursday appearance because of a scheduling conflict. He is scheduled to be in Ohio Thursday.

Reaves, a University of Wisconsin professor, is upset about McCain’s likely absence.

“I think it’s outrageous that Republicans are basically snubbing journalists of color,” she said. “Why would someone be so shortsighted?”

Esperanza Urbaez, a freelance writer in New York City, said she was disappointed for a simpler reason: “I was telling everybody back home that I was seeing Obama, that I was seeing McCain.”

By MAYA CARPENTER
The UNITY News

The Michigan chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association is bidding to host the 2011 AAJA convention in Detroit.

Yes, Detroit.

In spite of local concerns about investigations into the mayor and City Council, and national misperceptions about the revived city, a stalwart group of Detroit journalists has watched new hotels go up and seen the riverfront expand.

They want others to see it, too.

The chapter will vie against New York in persuading national AAJA executives to choose their respective cities for the convention, three years off.

The Detroit group will submit a bid at a meeting Saturday with the AAJA governing board, detailing reasons why convention should come to Detroit.

Firstly, Michigan’s AAJA chapter is one of the largest AAJA chapters in the country, with more than 50 members. The chapter had disbanded in 1995, but re-established itself five years ago. The chapter also draws support from the nation’s largest Arab-American community of about 300,000, said Ron Recinto, a news editor for freep.com, the Detroit Free Press’s Web site.

Detroit’s members “have accomplished a lot since resurrecting the chapter five years ago,” Recinto said.

Another reason the chapter is pushing for the convention is because it has embraced multimedia journalism, a major focus for AAJA, and has created a video showing how convergence savvy it is, said Frank Witsil, a Free Press reporter.

More importantly, the chapter is ready for Detroit to escape its history and perception of being a place where Asian Americans are not welcome.

That moment in history came when Vincent Chin was murdered in 1982. Two men beat Chin with a baseball bat outside a dance club where the 27-year-old was celebrating his upcoming wedding. Chin, a Chinese American, died four days after the attack. Authorities said the men, who both worked at Chrysler, resented how Japanese automakers were affecting the U.S. auto industry.

The two men were arrested and initially convicted, but a plea bargain kept them from serving prison time.
Chin’s death sparked outrage and started a civil rights movement for the Asian American community, said Erin Chan Ding, president of the Michigan chapter and a feature writer at the Free Press.

Joe Grimm, recruiting and development editor for the Free Press, said he was embarrassed that such a murder occurred in his city.

If having the convention in Detroit happens to remind people of Vincent Chin then Grimm is all for it, he said.

But the Michigan chapter has competition. The New York chapter of AAJA has put in a bid as well.

Chapter members have talked about possible venues to host the convention, said Cheryl Tan, a fashion writer for The Wall Street Journal and a national board member. Tan said that because the major magazines and some major newspapers are based in New York, it should be a natural choice to host AAJA’s 30th anniversary. The last time New York hosted the convention was in 2000.

“The New York chapter is a fantastic chapter, but they’ve already had two and 2011 is our year,” Witsil said.

“We have letters of support from the governor, the Asian American community, letters from Michigan State University and Oakland University.”

Once the board receives each proposal, it will perform on-site visits to check out hotels and convention space.

That’s no problem for Detroit.

“Like any group, we would love to have their event in Detroit,” said Carolyn Artman, media relations manager at the Detroit Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau in the city, which opened a new hotel earlier this year and opens a second major one this fall.

The board won’t decide until each proposal is reviewed thoroughly, said Janice Lee, deputy executive director of AAJA. If the board decides the Detroit is the best fit, it will be the city’s, and the chapter’s, first time hosting the convention.

“Hosting a convention is a team effort,” Witsil said.

On the web: Proposal Video

By SIERRA JIMINEZ
The UNITY News

Six weeks before the UNITY convention, Hugo Balta discovered a problem.

Balta, regional director of National Association of Hispanic Journalists’ Region II, got a complaint that three of the six UNITY-chosen hotels did not provide Spanish-language channels for their guests.

Since about 1,000 of UNITY’s 6,000 participants are NAHJ members, it was no small concern.

Balta, also the vice president of news for Telemundo 47 in New York, chose a different hotel and sent an e-mail to fellow NAHJ members encouraging them to not use the hotels. Balta switched hotels twice himself before finally settling in at the Comfort Inn & Suites, three miles farther from the convention center than the UNITY hotels. But, it has at least one Spanish-language channel.

By the time the convention opened Wednesday, so did the Sheraton. The hotel added a channel, but it was too late for some guests who had already chosen other hotels.

The Chicago region is not the only one that has been ineffective in reaching the Hispanic market, said Marta Garcia, founder and co-chair of the National Hispanic Media Coalition’s New York City chapter. She attended a convention hosted by the National Council of La Raza in San Diego several years ago and discovered that her Sheraton did not have any Spanish-language channels. She was among the members who received Balta’s e-mail. She said hotels with no Spanish-language channels are “a national issue.”

The Swissotel Chicago, Doubletree Hotel and Hyatt Regency McCormick also do not provide Spanish-language channels. Officials for each said their hotels had not received a high demand for Spanish-language channels before Balta’s inquiry.

“As part of the Hispanic community, we need to push for the same type of services as offered in English,” Balta said. “There would be uproar if hotels only offered CBS and NBC, but not ABC.”

By SIERRA JIMINEZ
The UNITY News

The National Association of Black Journalists will screen two films at UNITY about black Americans who have overcome tragedy and discrimination.

The documentary, “Trouble the Water,” winner of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize, follows Ninth Ward resident Kimberly Rivers through her struggles in New Orleans during and after Hurricane Katrina. It examines how the government failed her and shows her efforts to become a rapper.

NABJ also brings to UNITY the story of Syracuse University football legend Ernie Davis. “The Express,” directed by Gary Fleder, follows the story of the first African-American to win the Heisman Trophy. On the field, Davis was a winner. Off the field, Davis taught his peers to fight for equal rights. He died of leukemia in 1963, two years after winning the Heisman.

“It’s important to tell this story,” said Angela Robinson, a Syracuse alumnus, and host and executive producer of the Atlanta TV show “In Contact.”

“This man, through hellacious times, made a difference.”

Trouble the Water
7 p.m. Friday
Lake Street Screening Room
70 E. Lake St., 16th Floor

The Express
7 p.m. Friday
AMC Loews
600 N. Michigan Ave.

By JORDAN DRESSER
The UNITY News

When you’re 89, you forget a few things.

But Timuel D. Black Jr. will never forget seeing the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. get hit by a brick thrown at him during a summer march through a Catholic neighborhood in Chicago.

The year was 1966; the place was Marquette Park. King was pushing for equal access to housing in Chicago, one of the most segregated cities in the country at that time.

Black remembers the crying nuns in the march who thought their presence would ease the tension.

“They were just embarrassed,” Black said. “It was a terrible day.”

Despite the tension, Black, a lifelong Chicago resident, said he was still hopeful that a change would come and that segregation would be history.

But watching more blacks and Latinos concentrate in fewer neighborhoods and whites migrate farther into the suburbs has dimmed that hope greatly.

Nearly 40 years after Black and King marched together and as Barack Obama, D-Ill., makes a historic bid for the White House, segregation has grown worse in Chicago.

According to a report published by the Chicago Area Fair Housing Alliance in May, the Chicago region was the fifth most segregated in the country.

Almost half of Chicago’s African-American residents live in 22 of 77 areas clustered on the city’s South Side and west side, according to the report.

“This is not an issue of the past,” said Rob Breymaier, executive director of the Oak Park Regional Housing Center, who co-wrote the report.

Housing concerns remain an issue.

In the Chicago region last year, the Illinois Department of Human Rights received 259 housing complaints. Of the 304 complaints received by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, 110 were related to race.

According to the report, the increasing segregation is a result of discrimination, hostility, white flight and a lack of fair-housing enforcement.

“Governments in charge have done almost nothing for 40 years,” Breymaier said.

Personal choices also played a role in the increase of segregation.

The report found that 45 percent of white residents in Illinois searched for housing in communities where they were the majority; 81 percent of blacks searched in areas where they were the minority.

Phil Nyden, professor of sociology and director of the Center for Urban Research and Learning at Loyola University of Chicago, said that diverse communities do exist in Chicago and that he believes more diversity is possible.

“We’re creeping forward,” Nyden said.

Part of this change is David Van-Zytveld, who moved to Rogers Park in 1995 because of its diversity.

Van-Zytveld, assistant director at the Center for Urban Research and Learning, said Rogers Park is a reflection of the United States as a melting pot.

“I love it,” he said. “It has everything we need.”