Rodger Streitmatter may have completely changed the way I view media as an impactful tool in society. His book, Voices of Revolution: The Dissident Press in America, not only served as glimpse into the past, but also in highlighting what has previously been done only shows how much more we should be doing today. It's amazing to see how voices have managed to be heard through the toughest of times, and consequently changes made because people decided to do something about the injustices they were subjected to. Living in todays society, which is so frequently riddled with the social movements and injustices it's crazy to think of how much change could be done it we only put our minds to it.
Part 1: Speaking up for the Disenfranchised features three chapters that each speak to the concept of "sticking it to the man".
The first chapter, Fighting for the Rights of American Labor, makes a huge point in just the first few pages. That "many of the groups recognized the important role that communication plays in the stability and growth of a social moment, so they committed the energy and resources necessary to establish their own papers." The chapter as a whole summarizes the union, and fight of American Labor Workers to speak up for their injustices and transform the system. As shown in the quote, they knew what had to be done and dedicated everything to making sure they at least were heard. The factory workers were being exploited and the mainstream basically didn't care. Then the factory workers decided they weren't just going to let his happen, and advocated for the wrong doings. And what do you know? Something went right.
The second chapter, Awakening The Nation to the Sins of Slavery, highlighted the birth of abolitionist news paper The Liberator and how its impact alone was a driving force in the establishment of the thirteenth amendment. William Lloyd Garrison, one dedicated man, with a quality following debated a huge topic mainstream media ignored and eventually his voice was heard.
Finally chapter three, Setting a Revolutionary Agenda for Womens Rights, highlighted how women were seen in society, and which women decided to raise their voices. Like the chapters that preceded it, a battle was fought, there was change, and a legacy was made.
It's said that the role of journalism is to report on brutality in society. Something only a few people are willing to do today. Independent media has to refight old battles. Even when it comes to things like Black Lives Matter, we're essentially fighting the same battles they did in that past. Whether it have to do with race, brutality, or even the rights of citizens compared to law enforcement, in essence, all of this was already solved. Yet we continue to get sucked back into these injustices and main stream media continues to ignore the bigger picture. Justice. We say If you don't see the injustice you will never do journalism about the injustice. This will continue to pose an immense amount of truth, unfortunatly even for today. We can't shy away from fighting the big battles because there can't be a winner, if there was never a fight to begin with.
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