Immigrant community exposes media racism

The largest, most diverse protest to date said "No!" to anti-immigrant racism outside the office of the Dearborn Press and Guide newspaper Aug. 4.

Aug. 4 protest outside the Dearborn Press and Guide offices.

From young school children to elder U.S. citizens born in Mexico who had suffered from forced deportations during the 1920s and 1940s, the Latin@ community was there. They were joined by Arab, African-American, Asian and white residents.

The struggle began when a racist cartoon attacking Mexican immigrants was published in the Press and Guide on June 19. The insult was then compounded when newspaper representatives walked out of meetings with the community. On July 28 another racist editorial cartoon was published by another local newspaper, the Oakland Press, slandering the Islamic religion.

Although purporting to be community-based news media, both newspapers are owned by the Journal Register Company. JRC stock is traded on Wall Street. It owns newspapers throughout the northeastern U.S.

Even though the editors published a small apology and pledged not to use that cartoonist again, the demonstrations just won´t go away. What is the community demanding? Respect and discussion about ways these “community’ papers can really represent the diverse residents and undo the damage done by the racist images.

In a July 26 letter to Jim Williams, president and publisher of the Heritage Papers group of the JRC, the community demanded “a feature story on the contributions of immigrants in the United States; a series of articles highlighting the experiences of immigrants to this area, with emphasis on life since the Patriot Act, 9/11 and the role of the press in creating public opinion; cartoons by Latino and Arab artists depicting ourselves, rather than others, who ridicule us and diminish our humanity; coverage of the harsh conditions immigrants are living under in particular industries, such as agriculture and landscaping; or bring interns from the community to work at the paper and be consultants to the paper regarding life in our community.’ The letter was reportedly signed by more than 30 African-American, Latino, Arab-American, Jewish and Muslim groups from across metro Detroit.

As part of the continuing struggle, the community is asking advertisers to withdraw ads until progress is made with Heritage Newspapers. However, the JRC papers cover many other areas where there are immigrant workers. According to journalregister.com, the “Journal Register Company owns 27 daily newspapers. … The Company's operations are strategically clustered in seven geographic areas: Greater Philadelphia, Michigan, Connecticut, Greater Cleveland, Central New England, and the Capital-Saratoga and Mid-Hudson regions of New York.’