August 8, 2025
The National Association of Black Journalists marked its 50th convention with a spotlight on challenges to DEI efforts.
The National Association of Black Journalists’ (NABJ) 50th convention brought Black media professionals from across the nation together with a focus on protecting marginalized communities amid ongoing attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts under the Trump administration.
NABJ members gathered in Cleveland, Ohio, for the association’s first-ever convention in Northeast Ohio, and the first since Donald Trump returned to office. One of Trump’s earliest actions was signing a wave of executive orders aimed at dismantling DEI efforts, including penalizing federal agencies that work with companies supporting diversity initiatives.
With the increasingly hostile climate plaguing industries nationwide, the mission and advocacy of NABJ members have become more vital than ever.
“DEI means it’s a chance for all people,” NABJ President Ken Lemon, a reporter at WSOC-TV in Charlotte, North Carolina, told Cleveland. “Diversity, equity, and inclusion simply means that we’re going to work to make sure that nobody of value is overlooked.”
Last year’s convention commenced in Chicago and coincided with headlines around Trump’s controversial remark that then-Vice President Kamala Harris “happened to turn Black.” This year’s gathering comes as corporate America faces a divide, with some yielding to mounting pressure from conservative groups to scale back, or completely abandon, DEI efforts altogether, while others stand firm in their commitment to fostering inclusion.
“I think that in times like this, you see what companies really did value and still do value DEI,” said Jalea Brooks, a broadcast journalist from Indianapolis.
Contributing to the corporate divide is an unsteady economy marked by inflation, rising tariffs, and a high cost of living, factors that have affected attendance at this year’s convention.
“Anti-DEI and fear of what could happen… backlash from that… It’s caused revenue to be down for almost every group,” Lemon said.
Amir Vera, who has spent seven years at CNN, has observed a noticeable shift in how companies are approaching diversity efforts, changes he says are creating a “trickle-down effect” beyond the workplace.
“I think my company takes DEI very seriously,” Vera said. “But they are also rebranding it because of the atmosphere, so companies like mine will just call it inclusion.”
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