The City Sun was a weekly newspaper that was published in Brooklyn from 1984 through 1996. Its primary focus was on issues of interest to African Americans in New York City. [2]
The City Sun was founded by African-American journalists Andrew W. Cooper and Utrice C. Leid. Cooper served as publisher and Leid as managing editor. [2] Film critic Armond White was the arts editor. [3]
The City Sun, whose motto was "Speaking Truth to Power", [2] was rare among black-owned newspapers in its critical attitude toward African-American politicians. [1] It could be unsparing in its criticism of prominent African Americans. In a front-page editorial in 1993, the newspaper advised David Dinkins, New York's first African American mayor, that he was "beginning to look like a wimp". [4]
In 1989 The City Sun, together with the Amsterdam News , another black-owned newspaper in New York, published the name of the "Central Park jogger", Trisha Meili, who had been raped and beaten almost to death. Leid explained her decision to name the jogger by referring to an incident involving Tawana Brawley, a minor who said she had been raped, and the double standard practiced by the mainstream media:
The same media [that] had no difficulty identifying the underage Wappinger-Falls teenager [Brawley] by name [and] invading the sanctity of her home to show her face ... have been careful to avoid identifying the Central Park woman. [5]
Cooper was recognized as Journalist of the Year by the National Association of Black Journalists in 1987 for his work at The City Sun. [6]
In 1996, financial difficulties led Cooper to shut down The City Sun. According to The New York Times , The City Sun had a circulation of 18,500 in 1987. [1] In 1996, when The City Sun ceased operations, The Times wrote that the newspaper's circulation could not be determined. [7]
Alfred Charles Sharpton Jr. is an American civil rights activist, Baptist minister, talk show host and politician. Sharpton is the founder of the National Action Network. In 2004, he was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. presidential election. He hosts his own radio talk show, Keepin' It Real, and he makes regular guest appearances on cable news television. In 2011, he was named the host of MSNBC's PoliticsNation, a nightly talk show. In 2015, the program was shifted to Sunday mornings.
The Central Park jogger case was a criminal case in the United States over the aggravated assault and rape of a woman in Manhattan's Central Park on April 19, 1989, occurring at the same time as an unrelated string of other attacks in the park the same night. Five black and Latino youths were convicted of assaulting the woman, and served sentences ranging from six to twelve years. All later had their charges vacated after a prison inmate confessed to the crime.
The Baltimore Sun is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in Maryland and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries.
C. Vernon Mason is a former lawyer and civil rights advocate from Tucker, Arkansas. Best known for his involvement in several high-profile New York City cases in the 1980s, including the Bernhard Goetz, Howard Beach, and Tawana Brawley incidents, Mason has not practiced law since his 1995 disbarment. He then served as the CEO of a non-profit organization. He is also an ordained minister.
Tawana Vicenia Brawley is an African-American woman who accused four white men of kidnapping and raping her in November 1987 at age 15.
The Brooklyn Eagle was an afternoon daily newspaper published in the city and later borough of Brooklyn, in New York City, for 114 years from 1841 to 1955. At one point, it was the afternoon paper with the largest daily circulation in the United States. Walt Whitman, the 19th-century poet, was its editor for two years. Other notable editors of the Eagle included Democratic Party political figure Thomas Kinsella, seminal folklorist Charles Montgomery Skinner, St. Clair McKelway, Arthur M. Howe and Cleveland Rodgers.
Bedford–Stuyvesant, colloquially known as Bed–Stuy, is a neighborhood in the northern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Bedford–Stuyvesant is bordered by Flushing Avenue to the north, Classon Avenue to the west, Broadway to the east, and Atlantic Avenue to the south. The main shopping street, Fulton Street runs east–west the length of the neighborhood and intersects high-traffic north–south streets including Bedford Avenue, Nostrand Avenue, and Stuyvesant Avenue. Bedford–Stuyvesant contains four smaller neighborhoods: Bedford, Stuyvesant Heights, Ocean Hill, and Weeksville. Part of Clinton Hill was once considered part of Bedford–Stuyvesant.
Armond White is an American film and music critic who writes for National Review and Out. He was previously the editor of CityArts (2011–2014), the lead film critic for the alternative weekly New York Press (1997–2011), and the arts editor and critic for The City Sun (1984–1996). Other publications that have carried his work include Film Comment, Variety, The Nation, The New York Times, Slate, Columbia Journalism Review, and First Things.
The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) is an organization of African-American journalists, students, and media professionals. Founded in 1975 in Washington, D.C., by 44 journalists, the NABJ's stated purpose is to provide quality programs and services to and advocate on behalf of black journalists. The organization has worked for diversity and to increase the number of minorities in newsrooms across the country.
Alton Henry Maddox Jr. is an American lawyer who was involved in several high-profile civil rights cases in the 1980s.
Linda Fairstein is an American author, attorney, and former New York City prosecutor focusing on crimes of violence against women and children. She was the head of the sex crimes unit of the Manhattan District Attorney's office from 1976 until 2002.
Charles Barron is an American activist and politician who currently represents the 60th district of the New York Assembly. Formerly, he represented Brooklyn's 42nd district on the New York City Council from 2001 to 2013.
Helene Cooper is a Liberian-born American journalist who is a Pentagon correspondent for The New York Times. Before that, she was the paper's White House correspondent in Washington, D.C. She joined the Times in 2004 as assistant editorial page editor.
Joseph Sexton is an American journalist who has been a senior editor at ProPublica since 2013. Formerly, he was a metropolitan news editor at The New York Times for seven years. Before that, he had been deputy metropolitan news editor since 2003.
Nancy Alene Hicks Maynard was an American publisher, journalist, former owner of The Oakland Tribune, and co-founder of the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education. She was the first African-American female reporter for The New York Times, and at the time of her death, The Oakland Tribune was the only metropolitan daily newspaper to have been owned by African Americans.
Andrew W. Cooper was an African-American activist during the Civil Rights Movement, businessman, and journalist. He was the publisher and editor-in-chief of The City Sun.
Utrice C. Leid is a Trinidadian American, former activist in the Civil Rights Movement, and journalist. She was the managing editor of The City Sun and general manager of New York radio station WBAI. In 2004, The Miami Herald wrote that she "prides herself on never working in the mainstream media during her 34 years of journalism".
Etheleen Renee "E. R." Shipp is an American journalist and columnist. As a columnist for the New York Daily News, she was awarded the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary for "her penetrating columns on race, welfare and other social issues."
The Sacrifice is a 2015 novel by the American writer Joyce Carol Oates. Based on the real-life Tawana Brawley case, it follows a young Black woman who alleges that she was kidnapped, assaulted, and left for dead by a group of white police officers.
