Reparations Daily (ish) Vol. 67
Grading the Baltimore Sun's Apology
Happy Friday! I had the privilege and honor to offer opening remarks alongside Joseph Torres of Media 2070 and Alicia Bell of Borealis Philanthropy for a virtual colloquium on Race, Racism, and American Media hosted by the University of Houston and Georgetown University this morning.
The event runs through today and tomorrow. You can register here and find the schedule for the programming here.
Both Joseph and I referenced the Baltimore Sun apology in our remarks. I re-read the editorial last night in preparation for today and was struck by how deep of an apology it seemed. So, I figured why not give it a grade.
Today’s Hot Takes grades the Baltimore Sun apology against the framework from Roy Lewicki, a professor at The Ohio State University, and leading scholar in the study of trust development, trust repair, negotiation, and conflict management processes.
According to Lewicki, there are six key components of an apology:
Expression of regret
Explanation of what went wrong
Acknowledgment of responsibility
Declaration of repentance
Offer of repair
Request for forgiveness
Head to the Hot Takes section to see what grade I gave for each component of the Baltimore Sun’s apology.
Some news you might want to check out today:
This Washington Post piece on the status of HR 40.
This ABC 7 piece gives an update on the California Reparations taskforce and where it stands on the eligibility question.
This in-depth story from KQED that answers any questions you might have about the California reparations task force.
This wild story from Reuters of three white men who pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide material support to extremists for planning to attack a power grid and launch a race war.
This Bloomberg piece on the economic cost of slavery by Dr. Trevon Logan, who was featured in Vol. 43
With radical love,
Trevor
National News
Washington Post: After decades of lobbying, supporters say they have the votes in the House to pass a reparations bill
Bloomberg: Slavery Was Never an American Economic Engine
Reuters: Three men plead guilty to planning U.S. power grid attack, driven by white supremacy
Salon: HBO's "Frederick Douglass: In Five Speeches" makes the 19th century agitator the star he always was
Sojourners: WHAT REPARATIONS IS COSTING MY CHURCH
National Geographic: This magician escaped slavery by mailing himself to freedom
Al Jazeera: Malcolm X on racism, capitalism and Islam
US News: Understanding 'Black Fatigue' – And How to Overcome It
Racism is Profitable Toxic Individualism Ain’t It
Local News
KQED: 'It Means to Repair': What You Should Know About Reparations for Black Californians
ABC 7: California Reparations task force delays key eligibility vote to March
San Diego Union-Tribune: Racist policies created a homeownership gap in the U.S. It’s time to close the gap.
AL.com: How a Confederate daughter rewrote Alabama history for white supremacy
The Herald Sun: S. Carolina considers replacing Confederate Memorial Day
San Fransisco Chronicle: California’s reparations task force split over who should be eligible for restitution, postpones vote
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: St. Louis reparations bill runs into trouble at aldermanic panel
Nj.com: New Jersey’s vast racial wealth gap is no accident
Forbes: Why The Community Reinvestment Act Needs A Racial Equity Lens
WRAL: Local NAACP leader urges removal of Confederate statue outside courthouse in Robeson County
Washington Post: The bold new campaign to ‘End Poverty in California’
International News
Rabble.ca: What happens if you fly a Confederate flag in Canada
Hot Takes
When I read the Baltimore Sun apology a few days ago, my first thought was, “this is a really good apology.”
Something about the apology felt a little different than other apologies I’ve seen in the past — so I wanted to take a framework and measure how good it was.
Roy Lewicki and his team of researchers looked into what makes some apologies more effective than others. They found that there are six critical elements of an effective apology. They discovered that apologies with more components were more effective at restoring trust than those with fewer components.
The six components include:
Expression of regret
Explanation of what went wrong
Acknowledgment of responsibility
Declaration of repentance
Offer of repair
Request for forgiveness
So let’s dive in. If you read the apology and felt as if I was too easy or too harsh in any of my grading, please let me know in the comments or privately at tsmith@reparationslab.org.
Expression of Regret (B)
The editorial headline, the first thing that the reader sees, is the words “we are deeply and profoundly sorry.” So, right off the back, the outlet is signaling they are sorry for their actions. The headline goes on to say that “for decades, The Baltimore Sun promoted policies that oppressed Black Marylanders; we are working to make amends.”
But, the lede of the editorial starts by patting itself on the back by saying, “The Baltimore Sun has served an important role in Maryland: uncovering corruption, influencing policy, informing businesses, and enlightening communities.” While the following sentence does describe the ways in which it caused and perpetuated racial harm, it seems to me that the opening sentence should have focused on that, and there should have been no mention of the positive things they have done.
Let’s say you got caught cheating on a test. Wouldn’t it sound a little odd if you started off your apology to your teacher by saying, “I’ve always completed my homework, rarely disrupted class discussions, and always stay engaged?”
The outlet acknowledges the harm that it has caused but couches it with all of the other things they’ve done (which one could argue is simply the job of news outlets).
Later in the editorial, the outlet says plainly, “we are deeply ashamed and profoundly sorry.”
In November of last year, New York Times Magazine reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones tweeted, “feeling ashamed of shameful things is not bad. It’s called being an empathetic and moral human being. Shame helps us do better. When I visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum about the USA’s atomic bomb, I felt shame.”
In a culture built on the ideals of individualism and exceptionalism, shame is not a feeling that Americans are expected to carry, but confronting that shame and its source is the only way to move forward.
I was both surprised and pleased to see the outlet express feelings of shame.
So, for this category, I gave them a B.
Explanation of What Went Wrong (A-)
The Baltimore Sun gave a profound account of how it reinforced and practiced policies that treated Black people as less than, including a list of offenses, some of which were:
Admitting that it “fed the fear and anxiety of white readers with stereotypes and caricatures that reinforced their erroneous beliefs about Black Americans.”
Admitting to sharpening, preserving, and furthering structural racism
Publishing classified ads selling enslaved Black people or offering rewards for their return
Publishing editorials in the early 19000s seeking to disenfranchise Black voters and support racial segregation
I’m almost certain the list could’ve been longer. Like many news outlets, I’m also sure that the internal environment was likely toxic and anti-Black, but that did not show up in their list of offenses.
But, for the harms they did list, they go in-depth into each of them.
For this category, I also gave them an A-
Acknowledgment of Responsibility (B+)
Throughout the editorial, the newspaper acknowledges its role and the different communities it hurt.
“The paper’s prejudice hurt people. It hurt families, it hurt communities, and it hurt the nation as a whole by prolonging and propagating the notion that the color of someone’s skin has anything to do with their potential or their worth to the wider world,” the outlet said.
I appreciated how the Sun noted that it has both the responsibility to reckon with the harm it caused and their responsibility as journalists in a country rooted in white supremacy. “We at the paper have a public responsibility to confront and illuminate societal ills so that they can be addressed and eradicated,” the outlet said.
The outlet called out its hypocrisy by pointing to how they’ve called on others to recognize and rectify their bigotry and have “a responsibility to do the same within our own walls.”
Lastly, the paper acknowledged its lack of racial diversity and its lack of connection with the region’s Black communities. “We’re not out there enough, and we’re not trusted enough. We are working on that.”
They do admit that the accounting is “most certainly incomplete,” still, I was yearning for far more acknowledgment of the environment they created for Black journalists on staff to work in.
Lewicki found that this part of the apology was the most crucial component of a successful apology.
For this section, I gave them a B+.
Declaration of Repentance (C)
Lewicki says that a declaration of repentance is where you say you know what you did was wrong and promise not to do it again. The Sun seems to have a firm grasp on what they did, but don’t go into too much depth that they won’t commit the harm again.
One could say it is implied because of how strong their acknowledgment of the harm was. Still, my understanding (which is rooted in my Christian upbringing) is that true repentance involves an avowed discontinuance of the stated harm.
The paper does say that “we know it’s not enough to avoid doing further harm by rejecting stereotypes simply; we must actively work against them by reflecting and promoting the experiences of the full spectrum of our population, across racial, religious, economic, sexual and social boundaries.” But, it feels like that is more related to the next section, ‘offer of repair,’ than repentance.
I gave them a C on this section.
Offer of Repair (B+)
The paper outlines the ways it has taken steps to address past racial harm, including:
Launching a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion reporting team focused on telling the stories of underserved groups;
Developing a cultural competency style guide to help ensure that its coverage of communities of color, people with disabilities; and LGBTQ+ individuals are respectful, accurate, inclusive, and fair
Partnering with Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education to provide diversity and bias education for the staff and to audit content across Baltimore Sun Media properties
The list was a decent size, but I think it could’ve been longer and more comprehensive. Again, what is the outlet offering for its reporters of color? In the editorial, the outlet touched on some diversity data, stating that “the percentage of non-white people who make up the newsroom rose from 20.7 percent to 26 percent and of the 26 people we’ve hired over the past two years, 50 percent — have been people of color,” but I couldn’t find any diversity stats on their website. I’d also be curious to know what percentage of their staff is Black, considering that Black people make up over 60 percent of Baltimore’s population.
I also hoped that the outlet would ask how it could form better and deeper relationships with movement organizations, particularly Black-led local organizations? Perhaps it could’ve named organizations doing great work but have yet to be cited in any of their articles.
I’d personally love for there to be a truth and reconciliation beat reporter. There’s enough news across the entire state for this to happen. Plus, aren’t we tired of the DEI phrase? Let’s start using new language that more accurately describes what we hope to achieve.
Comparatively, they seem to be doing more than most, so I gave them a B+ for this section.
Request for Forgiveness (F)*
I hate giving F’s, but if I’m using Lewicki’s framework, I have to provide the outlet with an F for this portion since there is no explicit ask for forgiveness. But, this is ok in my eyes.
Lewicki says that the request for forgiveness is the least essential component of a strong apology. Actions speak louder than words, and while the apology is a good start, one would think that Black Marylanders would be more likely to forgive the Sun after seeing concerted efforts to repair the harm they caused.
The outlet did ask readers to provide feedback and input (talkback@baltimoresun.com if you’re interested). I find that much better than a simple request for forgiveness. It would be amazing to host a panel between folks from the community and leaders within the news organization to continue the conversation and create space for forgiveness.
I gave them an F with an asterisk for this section.
What do you think? Do you agree? Was I too harsh or too easy? Leave a comment or hop in my inbox at tsmith@reparationslab.org.