If you’ve been paying attention to our publication lately, we’ve been increasing our efforts to not only reinforce our status in the community as a conversation leader, but remind that we’re a community listener as well.
As the Chronicle’s editor-at-large, I’ve been tasked with creating a supplementary platform here for dialogue around some pressing topics that need more discussion, or in some cases, add much-needed nuance to ongoing discussions that lack it. Too often we in media go into these discussions assuming truths based on outdated or obsolete ideology, or don’t spend enough time peeling back layers to reveal something we would not have considered. And more often than not, such discussions don’t lead to solutions or new ways of thinking and simply add to the noise.
It’s why we’re hoping to do something different with “Chronicle Conversations,” a new multimedia project here in collaboration with Wayne County Community College District that launches next week. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be filming conversations on separate topics with folks like you – the ones on the ground and behind the scenes of change in the region – with the goal of impacting long-term discussion and solution long after the cameras are off.
Our inaugural four topics include re-entry and recidivism in the prison system; youth and mental health; building the middle class; and youth engagement with arts and culture. The thought behind these topics, as well as future ones we’d like to tackle, revolves around fostering and encouraging more honest dialogue among Black residents across the area, and taking a closer look at how differences across the region – as close as east side or west side to as wide as the city or the rest of the state – impact said issues.
We’ll be rolling these discussions out in both video and written form, with emphasis on the latter presented in ongoing weekly editions of the Chronicle, adding to our increasingly robust content offerings. And we’re tentatively planning a larger-scale, town hall-style discussion that interlinks the aforementioned topics, all as we continue to seek more opportunities for discussion.
Now this is not a flex, but I’ve done my fair share of panel discussions and roundtables, and have been around the Detroit block to know that, as mentioned earlier, a lot of these conversations go nowhere. That’s why I – and this publication as a whole – need your help in making sure that we do have some resonance in this community. What do we need to talk about? What’s missing? What can we add? What can we learn? Who do we need to amplify? What stereotypes do we need to avoid? Where do we need to be?
I do have an answer to the last question: The east side, the west side, Southwest, the ‘burbs just as much as the neighborhoods, which is where we’re hoping these conversations will not only be rooted in, but reverberate. You’ll find me and my colleagues more on the ground as we move forward, all as part of our larger effort to continue being your trusted Black weekly source. So please feel free to drop me a line for what’s on your mind: afoley@michronicle.com.
