LETTER THEEDITOR FROM
DeWAYNE
WICKHAM
The black-and-white picture on the next page, which is full of piercing eyes and historic resonance, was taken 33 years ago on the eve of Bill Clinton’ s first inauguration as President of the United States.
In the frame, three journalists who had chronicled in different ways the liberation struggle of South Africa’ s Black majority, stood between two icons of that movement. On the far right of the picture is the Rev. Jesse Jackson, whose 1984 and 1988 presidential campaigns helped push anti-apartheid sanctions into the Democratic Party’ s platform.
On the far left of the picture is Nelson Mandela, whose release in 1990 from a 27- year imprisonment in South Africa ushered in the end to apartheid and the beginning of Black majority rule in that country. Eight years into my 30-year tenure as a USA TODAY columnist, I stood next to Mandela.
In the center of the picture, next to me, is Les Payne, an editor, columnist and Pulitzer Prize winner for Newsday. And standing just to the right of him is Pamela Newkirk, who at the time was a reporter for New York Newsday, the city-based offshoot of the Long Island flagship.
Pam’ s eyes were the widest – a penetrating look that, in hindsight, foretold the bright future she would forge.
Pamela Newkirk and Angela Blount Credit: Ian Clarke, Center for New Media
In her cover story, Angela Blount, a Center for New Media student fellow, probes the layers of Pamela Newkirk’ s complex life. Newkirk’ s published biographies tell us about her movement through the newsrooms of four daily newspapers, her mid-career pursuit of two advanced degrees, her transition to journalism education, and her five very successful books. Yet, they still left a lot for Blount to discover.
And discover she did.
“ For a woman who spent much of her life asking other people to tell her the truth about themselves,” Blount writes of her initial encounter with Newkirk,“ she seemed surprised that someone wanted to hear hers.”
In fact, there is much in this cover story that will pique the interest of readers. I hope you enjoy it. n
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