Photograph by Kollin Washington
This essay is part of a series—we asked 17 Atlantans to tell us how the Civil Rights Act of 1964 has impacted their lives in honor of its 60th anniversary. Read all of the essays here.
For the majority of my upbringing, I never considered myself to be any form of activist, or thought I had those qualities of leadership. But once I began my career as a journalist, I started to see how the work of social justice activists is so much more than leading protests and speaking to crowds, the actions we commonly think of as activism.
I grew up in Atlanta, surrounded by the mystique and prestige of civil rights leaders—especially those who emerged from the Atlanta University Center. When I came to Morehouse College, the campus culture of being well balanced taught me about activism and social justice work. As journalists, I learned, we have the power to provide a level of advocacy for underrepresented voices, which can serve as a catalyst for more transformation in the communities that need it. In my role as editor-in-chief of Morehouse’s student-run Maroon Tiger newspaper, I have led coverage on police brutality, inequity in housing for marginalized communities, the Israel-Hamas war, challenges to gender norms, and more. Through these experiences, I’ve come to see how storytelling creates necessary conversations on a global scale.
Writing these important stories also puts us journalists in a unique position: We have a chance to work behind the scenes, and to create genuine relationships with citizens and community leaders that are fueling the engines of the stories we are actually telling to readers. When we do our due diligence as reporters and communicators, those same leaders continue to trust us to broadcast their truths, making our work even more important in the scope of social justice worldwide. I always preach to my editorial staff that our influence as student journalists and students in the media can never be underestimated. We have some of the most unique angles and points of view on today’s stories, to which the general public would otherwise never have access. The correlation between journalism, truth, and social liberation will always keep the value and need for honest and skilled reporters at the forefront of our society.
My vision is to lead coverage on every level to continue telling new stories in new places. I will serve as an editor-in-chief or high-ranking newsroom executive so that I can influence the lives of storytellers the way my editors have done for me. Great journalists are born with great leaders in front of them.
Austin “Auzzy” Jerard Byrdsell is a senior at Morehouse College. He serves as editor-in-chief of The Maroon Tiger, the founding president of the Morehouse College Association of Black Journalists, and a news intern at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
This article appears in our June 2024 issue.
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