Letter to Patrick Soon-Shiong from the L.A. Times Guild's Black Caucus

As a union, it is our responsibility to be a force for progress, and we cannot build the future we want for the Los Angeles Times until we clearly see its past. Over the last two weeks, Black former Times journalists have come forward with stories of racist treatment, marginalization and neglect in our newsroom over the last three decades. Many of our current Black colleagues have internally shared those same concerns as they’ve critiqued our coverage of the movement for Black lives and other communities of color. They have formed a caucus under the L.A. Times Guild to share the following demands for change, which we embrace as our own.

To: Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong
Cc: Norman Pearlstine, Kimi Yoshino, Scott Kraft

Two years ago this month, you completed your purchase of The Los Angeles Times with a commitment to rebuild our storied institution by investing in independent, local journalism. Today, we, the Black Caucus of the L.A. Times Guild, ask you to make another commitment to invest — this time to build a truly diverse and inclusive newsroom.

The nation’s reckoning over race has put a much-needed spotlight on inequities at The Times. We are in a crisis and it is not new. Those of us who have been here since the tumult of 1992 say history is repeating itself. We don’t have enough Black journalists — or, more broadly, journalists of color — to cover our overwhelmingly diverse city, state and nation with appropriate insight and sensitivity. And most of us who do work here are often ignored, marginalized, under-valued and left to drift along career paths that leave little opportunity for advancement. Meanwhile, we’re hearing the same empty promises and seeing the same foot-dragging from management.

We cannot allow this to continue. This is as much a moral imperative, as a financial one. The Times will not survive without winning over subscribers who are not white, and the only way to do that is to have a diverse and inclusive workforce.

Therefore, the Black Caucus demands:

—Commit to hiring enough Black journalists to, at a minimum, reflect the percentage of Black residents in Los Angeles County. We currently have 26 Black journalists on staff. That means The Times would need to hire 18 Black journalists over three years, including five over the next year, for a total of 44.

—Create a pipeline for Black journalists to advance their careers within The Times. Many on staff want to become editors, investigative reporters and columnists, but have found there is no path forward.

—A public apology. This is not just for the Black journalists on staff, but for the communities that The Times has maligned over the years with tone-deaf coverage that has often inflamed racial tensions. If we are to move forward, it is important to confront and make peace with our past.

—Correct pay disparities especially for Black journalists. While the Guild contract helped narrow the salary gap, many Black journalists are still woefully underpaid compared to our white counterparts.

—Hire someone to oversee the Metpro program, lead recruitment, and support the paper's equity and inclusion efforts. This should be a masthead-level position with a budget large enough to bring in coaches (for writing, copy editing, graphics, etc.) and other resources to invest in young journalists.

—Reshape our coverage to better reach people of color that the company, itself, has identified as a neglected and untapped base of potential subscribers. Often, our framing and selection of stories is designed mostly with a white audience in mind at the expense of communities of color. Our coverage must capture the nuance and complexity, in particular, of the Black community. That starts with listening to reporters.

—Commit to ending the work-share program by its intended date, August 1, without any cuts to staff.

—Require Norm and Kimi to meet one-on-one with all Black journalists on staff to hear their stories. Reading the Diversity channel in Slack isn’t enough to truly understand the full experience of what it’s like to work at The Times while Black.

As you wrote in the very pages of this paper, recalling your time in South Africa during apartheid, “we cannot be bystanders and enablers in a crisis.” Instead, we must “confront the racism” that affects “Black lives disproportionately.” That “we” must include the Los Angeles Times and those “Black lives” are ours. Because we matter.

Signed,

The Black Caucus of the L.A. Times Guild

Erin B. Logan
Adriana Lacy
Makeda Easter
Julissa James
Kurtis Lee
Angela Jamison
Greg Braxton
Carla Hall
Angel Jennings
Justin Ray
Carla Rivera
Sonaiya Kelley
Jason Armond
Emmanuel Morgan
Erika D. Smith 
Gabriella Angotti-Jones

Other members of the L.A. Times Guild signing in solidarity

Matt Pearce
Robert Gourley
Adrienne Shih
Craig Marks
Samantha Masunaga
Thuc Nhi Nguyen
Marisa Gerber
Eduardo M. Gonzalez
Eduard Cauich
Adam Tschorn
Jessica Chen
August Brown
Ryan Faughnder
Brian Park
Kelcie Pegher
Sonali Kohli
Sonja Sharp
Jaweed Kaleem
Alex Wigglesworth
Laura Blasey
James Queally
Del Wilber
Melissa Gomez
Jie Jenny Zou
Laura Newberry
Sarah Parvini
Jessica Roy
Ross May
Chris Megerian
Betty Chavarria
Maya Lau
Rubaina Azhar
Faith E. Pinho
Carolina A. Miranda
Jennifer Haberkorn
Seema Mehta
Paul Ybarrondo
Brittany Hite
Andrea Castillo
Kevin Ueda
Rahul Mukherjee
Lorraine Ali
Alexa Díaz
Cindy Carcamo
Joseph Serna
Johana Bhuiyan
Julia Barajas
Vanessa Martínez
Sue Worrell
R. Marina Levario
Deborah Vankin
Paloma Esquivel
Anh Do
Michael Finnegan
Mariel Garza
Priya Krishnakumar
Justin L. Abrotsky
Priscella Vega
Lee Tham
Dwayne Rogers
Gabriela Fernandez
Tracy Brown
Lauren Flynn
Alison Dingeldein
Matt Brennan
Nina Agrawal
Noah Bierman
Vera Castaneda
Andrew Khouri
Rachel Schnalzer
Blake Hennon
Jack Flemming
Jessica Martinez
Mark Olsen
Frank Shyong
Alan Zarembo
Vesta Partovi
Jad El Reda
Edmund Sanders
Diya Chacko
Ryan Murphy
Deborah Netburn
Ben Brazil
Stuart Leavenworth
Gale Holland
Sam Dean
Jennifer Arcand
Nardine Saad
Emily Alpert Reyes
Daniel Woike
Kiera Feldman
Dave Lewis
Paul Duginski
Suhauna Hussain
Javier Panzar
Matthew Cooper
Aida Ylanan
Jen Yamato
Phi Do
Jackeline Luna
Denise Florez
Lisa Boone
Noam N. Levey
Melanie Mason
Rebecca Bryant
Jay L. Clendenin
Mary Kate Metivier
Christopher Knight
Gustavo Arellano
Evan Halper
Carlos Santana
Allison Wisk
Joe Mozingo
Colleen Shalby
Lorena Elebee
Jared Servantez
Kent Nishimura
Anna Phillips
Luke Money
Molly O’Toole
Tara Paniogue
Jaclyn Cosgrove
Jade Cuevas
Liam Dillon
Leila Miller
Elsie Ramos
Houston Mitchell
Paul Feldman
Sandhya Kambhampati
Adam Elmahrek
Dakota Smith
Iris Lee
Mary McNamara
Lisa Horowitz
Maria La Ganga
Nicole Vas
Josh Rottenberg
Matt Hamilton
Esmeralda Bermudez 
Lauren Raab
Sammy Roth
Laura Nelson
Jan Molen
Randall Roberts
Kerry Cavanaugh
Alene Tchekmedyian 
Lilly Nguyen
Dania Maxwell
Patricia Escarcega
Ruben Vives
Dorany Pineda
Allison Hong
Susanne Rust
Anne Elisabeth Dillon
Hailey Branson-Potts
Rosanna Xia
Carlos Lozano
Hugo Martin 
Steve Eames
Maria Torres
Mark Potts
Paul Thornton
Sam-Omar Hall
Victor Barajas
Lucas Kwan Peterson
Howard Blume
Wendy Lee
Mikael Wood
Rong-Gong Lin II
Casey Miller
Andy Roberson
Thomas Suh Lauder
Calvin B. Alagot
Courtney Lewis
Maloy Moore
Janet Hook
Gerard Lim
James Reed
Cindy Chang
Neal Leitereg
Amy Kaufman
Nicole Santa Cruz
Cami Buckman
Don Ragland
Melissa Etehad
Daniel Miller
Matthew Fleischer
Richard Read
Richard Winton
Kevin Rector
Jessica Perez
Martina Ibanez-Baldor
Reed Johnson
Hannah Fry
Nita Lelyveld
Todd Martens
Ben Poston
Laura King
Robert Greene
Nancy Rivera Brooks
Richard Marosi
Claire Hannah Collins
Brittny Mejia
Stacy Perman
Harriet Ryan
Stephanie Chavez
Sean Greene
Jorge Castillo
Alejandra Reyes-Velarde
Betty Chavarria 
Kim Christensen
Andrew Greif
Taryn Luna 
Mariah Tauger
Bill Plaschke
Molly Hennessy-Fiske
Lila Seidman
Eli Stokols
Robert Lloyd
John Scheibe
Paul Pringle
Justin Chang
Kevin Crust
Jennifer Lu
Sam Schulz
Craig Nakano
Gina Ferazzi
Bill Addison
Jack Harris
Brady McCollough
Jessica Gelt
Christian Orozco
Mike DiGiovanna
Robin Abcarian
Yvonne Villarreal
Jenn Harris
Kevin Leung
Joseph Binoya
Teresa Watanabe
Jeanette Marantos
Jeff Miller
Mel Melcon
Susanne Rust
Meredith Blake
Randall Roberts
Lynn Meersman
Nani Sahra Walker
Soumya Karlamangla