MEDIA CONTACT:
STEVEN ENGELHARDT (314) 504-4029
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: TUESDAY 3.22.11
 

NNPA Foundation Honors Congressman Clay with Political Leadership Award

-WASHINGTON, DC – An overflow crowd of the nation’s top African American newspaper publishers packed the ballroom of the Omni Shoreham Hotel to present the National Newspaper Publishers Association Foundation award for political leadership to Congressman Wm. Lacy Clay (D) Missouri, and Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D) California.  The two senior members of the House Financial Services Committee were honored for their courageous and uncompromising stance to demand critical funding for urban communities and emergency help for homeowners in danger of foreclosure. Mr. Clay told the gathering that the black press has never been more important, and he recalled the impact that pioneer Black publishers and journalists had on him as a young man. 
 

In his acceptance remarks, Congressman Clay said, “Growing up in St. Louis, I was truly blessed to regularly read the work of some the giants of the black press…NNPA pioneers like Nathaniel Sweets of the St. Louis American; Ben Thomas of the Evening Whirl; Eugene Mitchell of the St. Louis Argus; and Howard Woods of the St. Louis Sentinel.
 

These are challenging times in urban communities.  And the role of the independent black press has never been more important.
 

Just this week, we celebrated the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Congressional Black Caucus. As most of you know, my father, former Congressman Bill Clay, was one of thirteen founding members who came together in 1971 to give African Americans a unified national voice in the U.S. Congress. 
 

I am enormously proud of what my father and his colleagues created.  And there is no question that their success would not have been possible without the black press. Your news outlets were essential vehicles that allowed the founders of the CBC to elevate their message to a national audience.
 

They knew then, and we know today, that the best way to advance the vital interests of African Americans is to project a powerful, positive and progressive message that speaks truth to power, without apology or equivocation.  And that’s exactly what you do every day with your coverage.”

The NNPA, which was established in 1942, represents over 200 Black-owned newspapers across the country.

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