SYMPOSIUM: Covering Hate Crimes in Black, Asian, Jewish, and LGBTQ Media
The Center for Community Media is hosting a half-day conference on how community media can and do respond to hate crimes targeting Black, Asian, Jewish, and LGBTQ communities. How do community journalists help keep the most vulnerable members of their communities safe and informed, and bring diverse community members together to support each other? How can we cover hate crimes without re-traumatizing survivors? What is the legal and media history of how we define and document hate crimes – and how have hate crimes data functioned in our popular and in-community narratives around racism, solidarity, and safety?
Featuring two distinguished speakers with expertise in civil rights, racism, and community safety; a panel discussion with Black, Asian, Jewish, and LGBTQ community media journalists covering hate crimes in their communities; and two workshops on research and editorial best practices, this conference will bring community media journalists, journalism students, and members of the Newmark J-School community into a conversation about how we can collectively understand and respond to ongoing crises of racist, xenophobic, antisemitic, homophobic and transphobic violence in our society today.
Location: This hybrid event will take place in-person on a CUNY campus in midtown Manhattan, New York City, with a Zoom registration option available for those who wish to attend virtually. Breakfast, coffee, and lunch will be provided to in-person attendees. The exact location of the symposium and in-person workshop will be confirmed prior to the symposium and shared in advance.
Distinguished Speakers
Tamara K. Nopper, a prominent sociologist and editor, is acclaimed for contributing to Colin Kaepernick’s Abolition for the People series, and guest editing the Race and Money forum. She is also known for editing Mariame Kaba's book, We Do This ‘Til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice. Her work spans Black-Asian solidarity, Asian American communities, and data literacy, with a strong focus on policing, surveillance, and the racial wealth gap.
Maya Wiley, renowned civil rights attorney and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, has led significant initiatives across philanthropy, government, and education. She co-founded the Center for Social Inclusion, served as Counsel to NYC Mayor de Blasio, and chaired NYC's Civilian Complaint Review Board. Maya's influential career spans from creating a justice program in South Africa to advocating for school diversity in NYC
Panelists:
Christina Carrega National Criminal Justice Reporter for Capital B, has an impressive journalism career with stints at CNN, ABC News, and New York dailies. Honored with several awards from the New York Association of Black Journalists (NYABJ), she has covered high-profile trials, wrongful convictions, and industry scams. Beyond reporting, Christina is an adjunct professor at NYU, serves on the board of Princess Chambers Inc., and was previously NYABJ's VP of Broadcast. Raised in Brooklyn, she's a St. John's University graduate.
Philissa Cramer is the Jewish Telegraphic Agency’s editor-in-chief. Prior to joining JTA in 2020, she was a founder and editor at Chalkbeat, the nonprofit news organization covering education. A graduate of Brown University, she lives in suburban New York City with her husband, a rabbi, and their two children.
Jason Villemez is the editor of the Philadelphia Gay News and writes frequently on LGBTQ history. His work has appeared in the PBS NewsHour, LGBTQ Nation, and local LGBTQ publications across the country. He lives in Philadelphia with his husband.
Yiyan Zheng, a bilingual journalist based in New York, reports for World Journal, the largest Chinese-language daily in the U.S., covering politics, education, and health in Asian and immigrant communities. Her work has been featured in various outlets including Beijing TV and City Limits. A fellow of CCM, Columbia University, and the Gerontological Society of America, she was also a 2022 finalist for the Chinese-Language Journalism Award. Yiyan holds degrees from Waseda University and Boston University.
Workshop Leaders
Michael Kilian is New York state editor for Gannett, overseeing news sites upstate and downstate, including his hometown newspaper the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, where he is the executive editor. He has been a newspaper editor since 1990, working primarily with Gannett Co. Inc. in locations including Saratoga Springs, Utica and Rochester, New York; Burlington, Vermont; Salisbury, Maryland; and Cincinnati, Ohio. While news director at The Cincinnati Enquirer, the newspaper won the Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting in 2018 for coverage of the heroin epidemic. Michael is a graduate of Cornell University.
Heather E. Murray, Managing Attorney of the Local Journalism Project at the Cornell Law School First Amendment Clinic, offers pro bono legal support to journalists, advocating for public record access and First Amendment rights. Previously, she was a litigation associate at international law firms and a local journalist in NYC. Currently, she chairs the board of the child welfare agency Forestdale, Inc.
