S1: It's time for Midday Edition on KPBS. All month we've been talking with people who are shaping our community and making black history. Today , we are going to hear from the publisher of the San Diego Voice and Viewpoint , Doctor John E Warren. I'm Jade Heinemann with conversations that keep you informed , inspired , and engaged. We're continuing to profile black trailblazers in San Diego about their important work and legacy in the community. Among those trailblazers is Doctor John E Warren. He is the current publisher of the San Diego Voice and Viewpoint. Founded in 1960 , it is San Diego's oldest and only African-American newspaper and continues to advocate for communities all across the region. In addition to his work as a respected journalist , Doctor Warren has a long and storied career spanning politics , education , and philanthropy. He's also received many awards for his commitment to public service and civic life. Last week , I spoke with Doctor Warren about the voice and viewpoints legacy and his perspective on journalism and black history today. I asked about when he first took over publishing the paper and the mainstream narratives about San Diego's African-American community back then. Take a listen.
S2: Well , our whole purpose with the paper was taking the paper was to make it a position of advocacy for the community. Uh , before then , the paper really hadn't done that. But my wife and I came back here from Washington , D.C. , where , um , I work for Congress for 12 years. I was very involved nationally in a number of things. And , uh , she was not only , uh , a member of the D.C. statehood convention , but executive vice president of the D.C. Chamber of Commerce , which led to her creating the black chamber here. So we saw this as an opportunity of Advocacy in terms of serving the entire community. Going beyond southeast and opposition was that , uh , news is , uh , neither black nor white , but it's the perspective that we bring to it. And so that's what we attempted to do to open it up to views and , uh , positions and , and advocacy in terms of issues of public policy while serving people.
S1: Um , and talk a bit about how important that is , you know , because often I , you know , often the black community can be erased from the conversation. In many cases , your paper sought to put those issues , the issues of the black community , um , front and center and talk about how policies impacted the community directly. So talk about the importance of of that alone.
S2: Well , you know , a paper is as is important as the people who own and run it. And so in communities , uh , like in the past here , when there were certain people of a different party that controlled the Union Tribune , then the position of the paper reflected that. This paper was just dealing with a number of small things. But having been a lawyer , having been an elected official , college professor , and , and all those things involved with the civil rights issues all my life , uh , we , we saw right of way things that weren't being done here. People came to us for help. And , uh , though I wanted to practice law when I came here , I ended up channeling that energy into helping people with a variety of social and personal political issues. And so in many ways , we became the answer , uh , to problems that people weren't getting answered. We knew which questions to ask and where to go. And our range of contacts extended from here not only to Sacramento , but always as well to the white House. Um , and I believe up until this administration , we've always been on the white House press list. Mhm.
S3: Mhm.
S1: You know , you've been in news for many , many years. You spent a decade here at KPBS. How have you seen it change ? Um , over the years how you know , the , I guess how , how journalism and how news is disseminated to people.
S2: Oh , well , you know , that's a very loaded question. Some of it I won't answer for fear of hurting some people's feelings.
S1: Go ahead and step on some toes , Doctor Warren.
S2: No , I will at the appropriate times. But , um , let me just say this. That during the years that we've had this paper , uh , 13 newspapers in San Diego County have gone out of business as a result of changes from the Vista Press to The Times Advocate in Escondido , Oceanside breeze , uh , the Star News in Chula Vista , the daily California , um , and the Union Tribune Beyond consolidating from one from two papers to one papers. And so there's been a lot of change because the communities have changed. And then there's been a need for even more change in a number of ways. For instance , the charter for the city of San Diego had handwritten into it many years ago that the city would do all of its legal notices with the Daily Transcript or the Union Tribune. And so to make sure that happen , they wrote into the charter newspapers of daily circulation , which , uh , left out all of the community papers that represent the duplicity or the diversity of ethnicity that we now have in San Diego. And so we have been adjudicated as a legal publication since 1966 , which means that we do all of the notices , court death and things that anyone else does. And so a lot has , has changed in terms of , uh , who people turn to. Our clientele is a very mixed one. It's not African American. People from all walks of life use us as an entity and an outlet for our public notices. And so that's that's part of the change that the place has expanded. And , uh , the people are no longer locked in to , uh , limited choices.
S1: In that same vein , it's , uh , you know , it's the many different ways that people have access to information and how that's changed so much. You recently wrote about how it's more important than ever to pay attention to black history , and I'd love to know more about your thoughts on black history amid these continued coordinated efforts to erase it , uh , in libraries and and in classrooms.
S2: Well , let me say that it's not going to be erased no matter what they how hard some people try. Uh , the black press today is 198 years old. So we've been around a while , even though , we probably have some less than 200 papers left out of a time when we had over 600. But we're here. We publish Black History every week. Every black history is being made every day. And I think people need to understand black history as much as as they think they know. For instance , when you look at Washington DC , a Benjamin Banneker , a black architect , laid out the city. There were black workers that put the dome on the Capitol , if you will. If you are , think about the stoplight that was invented by a black person. The air brakes that's on trains and trolleys was invented by a black person. Uh , when you give credit to , uh , Admiral Perry and trying to , you know , stake his claim in the Arctic and the poles , it was a black man named Matthew Henson who really carried him the last , literally few steps of the way to get there. Uh , we've had two black senators during reconstruction. We have black members of Congress and my family. Uh , my great uncle is the first black congressman out of North Carolina. And so , uh , we have achieved and succeeded , we've had over up to 100 black members of the military received the Congressional Medal of Honor. One black man received it twice. And so we have been about building and contributing in spite of the things that were put in our path as obstacles to stop us. You know , when Hitler was at his height and Jesse Owens , uh , won the Olympics. Yeah. He tore down the view , uh , that black people were inferior at a time that Hitler was using race to to make his case. And so we find that if people know where they come from , it'll give them an idea of where they can go. Um , and we we have done so much that has been , uh , they've tried to eliminate or erase it or not making it there , but it's really up to us. As Russell Birmingham said in 1827. Nobody can tell our story like us , so we continue to tell our story. That's why this paper is the guardian of the black history of San Diego , as well as history of other places. If you've seen things like Hidden figures of those three black women who played a major role in Nassau and getting the space shuttles up , well , most of the research for that story came out of the Norfolk Journal and Guide , which is an African-American owned publication that's still existing today. And so we've been a go to source for information. And when we look , we understand that the inscription on the archives , which tells us that the past is prologue , is still very active and very meaningful.
S1: It's often said that journalists write the first draft of history. So I wonder with with your publication and of course , against the backdrop of these efforts to omit black history from textbooks in schools. Do you feel the weight of of trying to sort of make sure that not only black history , but also this the current moment in time that we're in right now is , is sort of is recorded and documented in your paper.
S2: Well , it's not a wait because that's what we do anyhow. We record we document it. Okay. And so we expect what we see happening to take place. Uh , I don't worry about them trying to ban books as much as I publicize the need for people to return to knowing it was a black church that first gave us our black institutions of higher education. The black church today , as it was in one time in San Diego , has to return to its responsibility of being a place of learning. But we have enough black educators who have retired who can come in and teach , if you will. We need to have libraries , as Secretary of State pointed out recently , and I agree , we cannot be held back by what some people do. We spend in this country. Black people spend $2 trillion a year. That would be number 11 behind the ten GDPs of the on the world scale. And so I believe very much that instead of crying over it , we understand that the three things that corporate America understands lost profits , bad publicity , and a vote does cast against their interests. And so when we harness our spending so that we do business with those who do business with us , or those who advocate and agree with us , then we influence the marketplace. We're not going back to singing we Shall overcome the civil rights battle we won in in the law. Now we have to fight the silver and silver rights battle , because now America no longer has the moral consciousness of the past. Now it seems to understand only money. And so if that's what it understands. And I'm not talking about bitcoins. Then we need to influence where the money comes from. And so we see our job as laid out is very clear. Each week we analyze , we report , we comment. We are not obligated to anyone for any point of view. No one controls us. No one tells me what to print. And that's why people respect us as trusted messengers. Because our integrity is greater than social media , that you can put anything on. Hmhmm.
S3: Hmhmm.
S1: You're also involved in the community in other ways. You're a pastor , you have a black belt.
S2: I mean , I've been a pastor for 21 years because my late wife and I have founded a church that I continue with is non-denominational. You know , I spent 30 some years in the martial arts , but , you know , I was also a fencing fanatic. I used to fence in the British Embassy. Uh , rotunda with the Washington Fencing Club. Uh , I was an artist. I used to , in my youth , hang out in Greenwich Village with the street painters. And I learned how to paint and so many art techniques and things before I went on to the College of Fine Arts and transfer it into liberal arts. So I've had 12 , 13 different careers. And what I do is , depending upon how I draw , upon what I've done in the past , I mean , I'm a former military officer. I did my time , I've been out the military some 50 years , and I , I know how to help people when they come to me if there's a problem , uh , that they're having , military or otherwise. And so we it's it's nothing. I would retire , it's all integrated. I help where I can , and I stay in touch with people who make decisions and people who make decisions come to me for advice. I mean , I've done it , forgotten most of what they're trying to do. This is a year in which I'll be 80 years old , so I got quite a track record of things that I've done. I've got my writings working on a couple of books. I got 25 years of editorials and commentaries. I'm waiting to publish , 8 to 10 years of sermon excerpts I'm waiting to publish , and decisions in terms of where my papers are going to go. All those kind of things keep me busy with , uh , a great staff here , uh , great managing editor , who also happens to be one of my daughters. So I'm in great shape.
S1: That was my conversation with Doctor John E Warren , publisher of the San Diego Voice and Viewpoint. That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.
