Case

Here I am again. Midnight, in another ballroom in another large city testing the video. The six guys setting up hundreds of chairs say they don't mind working in the darkened room. We're all just doing our jobs, getting ready for the next day.

The huge screen comes to life with short, quick snippets of Actual Americans talking.

The blonde schoolteacher says so many students live only on meals at school. Black college students say they show up only as criminals in the news. The executive says media focus on her clothes, on her male opponent’s actions. The Asian teenager notes how even his parents have bought into the “model student” myth. The retired M.D. says his group is painted as hapless oldsters. An Hispanic teen shrugs about being assumed gangbanger.

These are the UnderCovered – people media ignore, underestimate, misrepresent.  Women. Young Adults. Kids and Teens. The Over-50s. Racial-Ethnic-Immigrant Populations.

These are the majority of the people in U.S. Their voices are rarely heard … with endless consequences.

Tomorrow, media leaders and owners will be in this ballroom, listening to them, taking in the new power of social change. Media’s inattention to the new players in this country’s democracy puts them, and the country, on a collision course with the future. 

Suddenly, I notice the quiet. The flickering light eflects off the workers' faces. One looks over and says, “Where did you get this?  What are you going to do with it?” I explain these are my interviews for the keynote.

“You can’t," he says. "That’s too real. They won’t like it. You could get hurt.”

I'm speaking to leaders in the only industry protected by an amendment to the Constitution.  They are supposed to forward the truth. The First Amendment squarely stands on the side of US.

And, I have about 30 minutes tomorrow to engage media leaders from Atlanta to Zanesburg to re-frame their perceptions of who matters in today’s country.

Is this a matter of life or death? Yes. Without the full spectrum of Americans showing up as who they really are, we miss the yeastiness of our culture and the opportunities the USA has in a world of multi-culture opportunities as we globalize.

That's the nice way to put it.

Another way: media machines hostile to women, people of color, immigrants, gays, lesbians, the disabled promote rape culture, bully culture, "I" culture.

With my on-site experts concerned about my welfare,  I must be doing the right thing.

Tomorrow, we'll discuss how we assign those in the UnderCovered groups into a hazy category of "the other."

We - members of the democracy - need to get the story up to speed.

Background

I grew up in rural Missouri, knew one Jewish family, played only in intramurals since there were no girls’ sports, rarely heard anything but English spoken, went on a senior trip to segregated New Orleans even though my black classmates could not. My friend, Mike, tells me I'm taking up space in grad school a man should have.

Then, two days before the vote on the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Rep. Howard Smith of Virginia, inserted the word “sex” into the landmark legislation.

It was messy. Smith opposed civil rights for blacks and supported employment rights for women. Liberals argued that it was the Negro’s hour, and women should “wait their turn.”

Who knew a Conservative working with a national women's group would make it possible for women to be a protected class under the law?  Title VII prohibited discrimination on the basis of “race, color, religion, sex or national origin.” See that? Sex made the list!

When you and I were VOTED IN by white men, every single American had a new place to stand. We now stood in the land of each one of us are worth as much as any other one of us. The Land of US.

One day I realized the enormity of my own complicity in racism (I did vote to go to segregated New Orleans leaving my black classmates behind). Why didn’t I get that? Why did it take me years to understand? What separateness, isolation and punishment had I helped foster by not just using simple math? Why had I not seen what was right in front of me?

Worst of all – how could I have stood by and said nothing?

Professional Challenges

Jeani Gaddy of rural Marshall, MO, a member of a science and math family, wandered off into journalism because she did not want to be a nurse (as her mother urged), nor a social worker (which advisors urged as an appropriate place for women), nor a home economist (as her father pleaded).

Women needed not to apply for most jobs. Sex discrimination lawsuits against the New York Times, the Associated Press, yada, yada, opened up possibilities for women to lead decisions about content in leadoff stories -- sorta. Diane Sawyer became the first female correspondent on 60 Minutes 20 years after the 1964 legislation.

I needed to put my husband through law school. The only job I could get was one-off journalism - a #2 public relations "girl" in a small women's college in Columbia, Mo. In the three years, I was part of a turnaround team wresting Columbia College from decline. No one seemed to like what we were doing. The college stands as a well-known education success story. Some of the team were fired. My husband and I had already moved for his first job as an attorney. Just 15 days after leaving Columbia College and 7 days after giving birth to our first daughter, a consultant came to recruit me.

I had learned to listen to audiences, then speak in their language. What a changeup. We used so much neon paper in mass mailings on behalf of the sedate school, the paper manufacturer queried, "Who is this woman ordering more chartreuse paper than anyone else in the country?"

Two years later, Lois Cook headed the campaign to raise an impossible $100,000 in an impossible 6 weeks to secure federal funds for a soon-to-be demolished sheltered workshop. The clientele? Persons with disabilities. My friend Donna and I (both under 35) agreed to help. Donna called all bridge clubs, service clubs, PTAs. The newspaper, television station and radio stations agreed to use just about all I could produce. Daily, I turned out new stories, handing my toddler off to reporters to furiously type. Hair salons, restaurants, baseball teams, businesses collected change. We topped the mark under deadline. No gift was larger than $5,000.

Journalism held up the reality. Individuals took action. Unbelievable

The two AHAs! -- a turnaround at Columbia College and Jefferson City's residents donating cash fast -- taught me the science of journalism. People respond when you respect them. They take action when journalism gets the truth to them.

On top of that, 50 years ago Congress gave us all equal standing. Me included.

The promise of journalism, the promise of US, has led me to raise millions, help establish three women and media organizations, create a news media think tank, publish, lead minority lectures, focus big organizations, deliver keynotes from Greece to Chile, Australia to Japan, work in C suites filled only with men.

I stand.