To the Editor,
As a recent subscriber but long-time reader, I’ve been intrigued by the current hullabaloo at The Swarthmorean.
My mother was a 1942 graduate of Swarthmore College. Her class worked hard to convince the college’s board to admit the first Black student, but she graduated without seeing success. Later she taught at Lincoln University, as did my father. It was at Lincoln that I met my spouse, who was Black. When we married, my parents were only worried about how it would be for our children if things did not improve. I was less worried. Then came the 1980s. The little progress on race that had been made in our country began to wane. Sadly, through the 1990s, we saw things get worse. (The ads in my old women’s magazines echo the state of the country. More integration is evident in their pages in the 1970s than in the 80s or 90s.)
I sit here in my home in Chester holding my breath. A lot has happened this year. Your paper has always had a local feel — very much within your town. But recent issues, which have included articles of interest to folks in my city, have been startling and gave me hope. Might the change hinted at in this country be coming here? Or would it evaporate?
Does the letter writer — the confident, earnest journalist — have the last word? Yes, it’s sadly true that ads often dictate what gets covered. But I too am connected to journalism, and I know that efforts are being made to fight this. The Philadelphia Inquirer, along with some other media outlets, are finding ways around being chained to revenue from business. We readers need to be part of helping that change. If I learn whose opinions have had such influence, it could dictate my future business dealings.
I will not drop my subscription to The Swarthmorean. I hope to renew it in a year. But that decision will depend a lot on what the paper holds between now and then. Oh, yes, and you can add my name to the LONG list of signatories to a letter in the May 28 issue (“We should listen”).
Joan Gunn Broadfield
Chester