We are deeply and profoundly sorry: For decades, The Baltimore Sun promoted policies that oppressed
We are deeply and profoundly sorry: For decades, The Baltimore Sun promoted policies that oppressed Black Marylanders; we are working to make amends
Throughout its 185 years, The Baltimore Sun has served an important role in Maryland: uncovering corruption, influencing policy, informing businesses and enlightening communities. But legacies like ours are often complicated. We bore witness to many injustices across generations, and while we worked to reverse many of them, some we made worse.
The newspapers founder, Arunah S. Abell, is credited with bringing affordable and independent journalism to everyday citizens in Baltimore, beginning in 1837, at a time when newspapers were focused on moneyed, merchant classes and special interests. But like others in this country during that time, Abell was a Southern sympathizer who supported slavery and segregation. And this newspaper, which grew prosperous and powerful in the years leading up to the Civil War and beyond, reinforced policies and practices that treated African Americans as lesser than their white counterparts restricting their prospects, silencing their voices, ignoring their stories and erasing their humanity.
Instead of using its platforms, which at times included both a morning and evening newspaper, to question and strike down racism, The Baltimore Sun frequently employed prejudice as a tool of the times. It fed the fear and anxiety of white readers with stereotypes and caricatures that reinforced their erroneous beliefs about Black Americans.
Through its news coverage and editorial opinions, The Sun sharpened, preserved and furthered the structural racism that still subjugates Black Marylanders in our communities today. African Americans systematically have been denied equal opportunity and access in every sector of life including health care, employment, education, housing, personal wealth, the justice system and civic participation. They have been refused the freedom to simply be, without the weight of oppression on their backs.
https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/editorial/bs-ed-0220-sun-racial-reckoning-apology-online-20220218-qp32uybk5bgqrcnd732aicrouu-story.html
Karadeniz
(22,526 posts)ificandream
(9,373 posts)niyad
(113,323 posts)CaptainTruth
(6,592 posts)I'm amazingly glad to see it, I'm just at a loss for words right now.
Good for them, we need more of this.
Joinfortmill
(14,427 posts)Jarqui
(10,126 posts)It's a sick, disgraceful history. I could add a long list of adjectives ...
I cannot muster any forgiveness for their historical behavior tonight.
It's been a long fight and we're still a long way from the mountaintop.
LoisB
(7,206 posts)nt
TeamProg
(6,135 posts)There-in lies the problem for conservative media.
Common sense, fairness, decency and respect for all DON'T FIT the Right Wing M.O.
onecaliberal
(32,861 posts)What a surprise in such a great way.
IronLionZion
(45,447 posts)I'd like to point out that Southern sympathizer Arunah S. Abell was a Rhode Island born yankee with no Southern heritage at all, just racism.
Modern Baltimore is one of the blackest cities in America.
Skittles
(153,164 posts)it is a step in the right, er, left direction
Martin68
(22,803 posts)Uncle Joe
(58,364 posts)Thanks for the thread AZProgressive.
summer_in_TX
(2,738 posts)Sometimes it takes soul-searching, wrestling with the sins discovered in the process, and abjectly repenting that begins a turnaround.
It certainly sets a great example. Hope others begin to follow suit.
Kick!
mia
(8,361 posts)It is an excellent piece of writing. I hope that this article remains available to all.