By Ashleigh Fields
Special to the AFRO
White House correspondent Ebony McMorris is a powerhouse when it comes to turning out content for the Black community.
McMorris, who represents American Urban Radio Network (AURN), recently spoke with the AFRO on the integral role of the Black Press in telling America’s story and the motivation behind her willingness to uphold truth and record history in a time of outrage, fear and oppression.
The former editor and News One reporter said the job done by reporters is significant, especially when considering the many executive orders and initiatives coming from White House officials.
“There was fair warning for Project 2025. Now we’ve got to figure out how we not just report the [news], but help pick up the pieces,” McMorris said.
Her comments come as Donald Trump, the 47th president of the United States, carries out mass firings of federal workers throughout the nation and works toward the largest deportation of immigrants in the nation’s history. McMorris said this is a time where all journalists should be concerned– but not defeated.
“I’m nervous about what’s going to happen in housing. I’m nervous about what’s going to happen to relief organizations that have been helping the everyday person that cannot function anymore,” she said. “I’m nervous about what’s going to happen with Black businesses because he has come after everything– DEI, supplier contracts–all of that.”
“The question is, how do we rebuild? We’ve done it before, it has never been easy, but we have always prevailed,” she affirmed.
McMorris noted the recent executive actions are part of a playbook that has been seen before, in the Great Depression and during the Jim Crow era.
“We’ve got to go back, lean on the wisdom of the old and know that ‘this too shall pass,’” she said.
McMorris said the way forward is a path that includes the help of every eligible person able to cast a vote.
“We did not come out and vote for Trump– we just didn’t vote. We have to understand that when we get angry, we don’t sit down. We push harder,” she said. “That’s what MAGA did.”
“Don’t forget, Trump lost before. They rallied,” she said. “The night Obama got elected, they were huddling, planning their next move. They brushed it off and said, ‘We’re coming out. We’re coming back.’ Well, guess what? Trump is back.”
Though Trump’s second term begins with a GOP-led Congress, McMorris said she draws strength from historic figures in the Black press, including Alice Dunnigan, Sheila Stewart, Roland Martin and her mother, Sylvia McMorris.
“The encouragement that I have comes from my community and comes from myself. I think of Alice Allison Dunnigan, who was one of the first Black journalists to have her press credentials at the White House,” said McMorris. “She said she ‘covers the stories just like everybody else,’ but her second job ‘is to fight oppression in that room.’ So, this is the time–here. This is when we’re needed the most. We’ve got to be able to really show up, and I’m encouraged at the amount of Black Press that’s coming together. They really want to put the truth in places that are dark.”
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