Independent news from the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance

The importance of diversity

Sunshine Archambault, a Standing Rock Sioux Tribe citizen, said she sees the younger generation are interested in learning Lakota/Dakota and want to provide opportunities for them to learn. Photo credit/ Adrianna Adame

Throughout its coverage of President Obama’s selection of his new Cabinet, The Post has done a disservice to the merits of diversity. For instance, your Jan. 10 news article “Labor Secretary Solis quits her post” noted that Hilda Solis was the first Hispanic woman to hold her position, but you didn’t explain why this is important. Left implicit is the idea that diversity is good for sake of gender and racial equality. This is only part of the issue.

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Jodi Rave Spotted Bear

Jodi Rave Spotted Bear is the founder and director of the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance, a 501-C-3 nonprofit organization with offices in Bismarck, N.D. and the Fort Berthold Reservation. Jodi spent 15 years reporting for the mainstream press. She's been awarded prestigious Nieman and John S. Knight journalism fellowships at Harvard and Stanford, respectively. She also an MIT Knight Science Journalism Project fellow. Her writing is featured in "The Authentic Voice: The Best Reporting on Race and Ethnicity," published by Columbia University Press. Jodi currently serves as a Society of Professional Journalists at-large board member, an SPJ Foundation board member, and she chairs the SPJ Freedom of Information Committee. Jodi has won top journalism awards from mainstream and Native press organizations. She earned her journalism degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder.