Efforts like Media 2070’s Black Future Newsstand breathe new life into media and storytelling. On Friday, the Black Future Newsstand gave Los Angeles residents a look at the “Riot to Repair Soundscape Exhibition,” offering a five-year retrospective on the uprising sparked by the police killing of George Floyd. Visitors were offered a glimpse of a world where audiences can reflect on shared experiences while reimagining a world where Black narratives are respected and uplifted.
The installation builds on the idea of media care, where media centers Black experience and storytelling as an antidote to the generational harm caused by an anti-Black media ecosystem. Friday’s all-day event included an augmented reality exhibit where viewers could experience several examples of reparative policies in American history, panels, and programming where attendees could hear directly from organizers and artists on media as a community good and public service.
Students from the USC Charlotta Bass Journalism and Justice Lab supported the project by conducting community interviews reflecting on the 2020 uprising. Eight curated interviews reflect a diversity of experiences and learnings as people interrogate how to build community and connection to repair past harms.
Among the voices heard in the exhibit was Tiana Day, who, at 17, was one of four Black teens who led a Black Lives Matter march across the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Despite her fear, she realized that being able to stand up and speak was a privilege and wanted to be an example for other young Black people.
“My message was to lead with love and to see at the end of the day, like, we all have this ability to have empathy and feel for people’s lived experiences,” Day explained. “We have to look within ourselves and understand that through the painful experiences we have, we can turn that into purpose and we can use that as motivation to serve others.”
The Los Angeles installation is a collaboration between USC Charlotta Bass Journalism & Justice Lab students, Media 2070, MediaJustice, Axle Impact Studio, ZEAL, Borealis Racial Equity in Journalism Fund (REJ) and Black River Life, marked the fourth stop of the nationally travelling exhibit, which debuted in Harlem, New York on Juneteenth in 2023.
“This space is a portal,” said Diamond Hardiman, Reparative Narrative & Creative Strategy Director at Media 2070. “We are transporting you into these spaces to explore how art shifts culture so that policy can follow from there…The interviews and audio archives are grounded in the work of students.” We partnered with USC Charlotta Bass Journalism and Justice Lab, and student journalists went into the community asking people to share their perspectives and experiences from 2020.”
SEE ALSO:
Media 2070 One Year Later: Media Reparations Are Needed For A More Equitable Future
Commentary: Black Communities Deserve Purpose-Driven Media
New Multimedia Exhibit ‘Riot To Repair’ Centers Voices Of Those Impacted By 2020 Uprising
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