Raised in Winston Salem, North Carolina, Venneikia now resides in Atlanta and is an active community member. She supports the Free Press team in the development, design and successful implementation of the Media 2070 campaign for media reparations. This includes liaising with coalition partners, fostering external relationships, supporting newsroom training and developing a curriculum and necessary collateral materials. Before joining Free Press, she was engaged in faith and community-organizing work in St. Louis. As a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, she uses her talents to amplify Black stories and liberate Black lives.
Expert Analysis
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Each February, Media 2070 takes time to acknowledge and amplify our collective power. Simply put, Black narrative power is resistance, care, love, beauty and abundance.
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For the past three years, the Media 2070 project has worked to create the media system that’s needed to realize Black liberation. Here’s a look back.
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It’s been a full year since our essay first called for media reparations for the Black community. Here are the milestones achieved since we launched.
News
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The media industry has a long, fraught history of racism that it has yet to answer for.
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Media 2070 Campaign Manager Venneikia Williams spoke with YES! Magazine about how the media can begin to repair the harms of racism.
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Free Press’ Venneikia Williams discusses the goals of the organization’s Media 2070 project, which “calls for media reparations and ownership of Black stories by Black people.”
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The process of undoing white supremacy in newsrooms begins with developing a culture of antiracist care.
Stories
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Our class at Colorado College explored how the media system has harmed communities of color — and examined how reparations are needed to build something better.
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Black Future Newsstand, which debuted in Harlem, is a custom-built art installation that invites the public to imagine a future media that centers Blackness.
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The event brought together people who care about media and racial justice — and examined a pathway to a future that’s free of anti-Blackness.
