“Throughout its 185 years, The Baltimore Sun has served an important role in Maryland: uncovering corruption, influencing policy, informing businesses and enlightening communities,” began a recent editorial in The Sun.
The lengthy editorial, published Feb. 18, apologized for the newspaper’s legacy of racism against Black Marylanders and Black Americans. Part of the editorial reads:
Instead of using its platforms, which at times included both a morning and evening newspaper, to question and strike down racism, The Baltimore Sun frequently employed prejudice as a tool of the times. It fed the fear and anxiety of white readers with stereotypes and caricatures that reinforced their erroneous beliefs about Black Americans.
Through its news coverage and editorial opinions, The Sun sharpened, preserved and furthered the structural racism that still subjugates Black Marylanders in our communities today. African Americans systematically have been denied equal opportunity and access in every sector of life — including health care, employment, education, housing, personal wealth, the justice system and civic participation. They have been refused the freedom to simply be, without the weight of oppression on their backs.
For this, we are deeply ashamed and profoundly sorry.
The editorial outlines the offenses over the years, including “a failure to hire any African American journalists before the 1950s,” identification of Black people by race in articles into the early 1960s and other instances such as over-reliance on the word of law enforcement.
Also described are the steps being taken to address and correct the issues identified in the editorial.
“This accounting is most certainly incomplete,” the paper wrote. “Nevertheless, we hope that by revealing some of our institution’s past injustices, we will step closer to truly providing, as our masthead says, ‘Light for All.'”
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