Journalists and top Washington, D.C. personalities celebrate journalists of color

Some of the best-known names in journalism gathered at the Politics and Inclusion event Friday to celebrate the work of journalists of color as part of the White House Correspondents weekend. 

The event was hosted by CNN’s Abby Phillip and Lauren Wesley Wilson, founder and CEO of ColorComm, Inc, a women’s platform that aims to address inclusion and diversity in the media, communications, marketing, advertisement and digital industries. 

“There are a lot of journalists of color who are working, honestly, in relative obscurity. And I was one of them for many years,” Phillip said. “And I felt like there needed to just be an opportunity for people to genuinely connect with each other, to celebrate each other. And also just to like, build a sense of awareness of just how much power and influence there is among journalists of color in Washington.” 

The host committee included CNN’s Don Lemon, Van Jones, Ana Navarro, and Jim Acosta; NBC’s Yamiche Alcindor, PBS’ Geoff Bennett, CBS’s Weijia Jiang, View co-Host Sunny Hostin, MSNBC’s Alicia Menéndez, and Symone Sanders, who served as the former senior advisor and chief spokesperson to Vice President Kamala Harris. The event took place at a dinner at Washington, D.C., restaurant Masseria. 

Wesley Wilson said the dinner was meant to recognize journalists of color during White House Correspondents dinner weekend. 

“White House Correspondents weekend is oftentimes not very diverse,” Wilson said. “And we want to celebrate diversity and provide spaces for the journalists who do the work each and every day to celebrate it to be recognized, to bring community together.” 

Phillip said in addition to working on the momentum that already exists there must also be a focus on coverage that is more representative of the country. 

“Not only having people of color telling the stories, but thinking about what we cover, and making sure that that is representative of the country and the experiences of people in this country,” Phillip said. 
“We need to build on momentum because sometimes we can take a step forward and two steps backwards,” she added.