race & racism | Akilah Johnson

Posts Tagged ‘race & racism’

Akilah Johnson, documentary, enterprise, interactive, multimedia, Newspaper, online journalism, poverty, race & racism, storytelling, video, writing

68Blocks: Life, Death, Hope

In audio, multimedia, print, video on January 27, 2012 at 9:53 pm

I was part of a team of Boston Globe reporters, photographers, videographers, and data visualization specialists, who spent 2012 focused on the Bowdoin-Geneva section of Dorchester, a neighborhood often identified with the violence that erupts with disconcerting regularity and not with the people who live there. The Globe rented an apartment in the neighborhood, where reporter Meghan E. Irons and myself, lived from May to September. The result was 68 Blocks: Life, Death, Hope, a beautiful, interactive tableau chronicling life during one of the neighborhood’s most turbulent seasons, the summer.

Role: Reporter, writer, researcher, videographer

Awards: Journalistic innovation first-place win from the National Headliner Awards; Unity Award from the Radio Television Digital News Association; Honorable Mention multimedia, 2013 competition for Casey Medals for Meritorious Journalism; NABJ Salute to Excellence Finalist; 2013 Dart Award Finalist.

Postscript: I have returned to Bowdoin-Geneva several times since the series published, witnessing the rebirth of a blighted lot, a mother’s worst fear realized, and a young man who defeated the odds.

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documentary, enterprise, Newspaper, race & racism, storytelling, writing

Hip Hop Voices

In print on September 8, 2010 at 10:43 am

Hip-Hop Voices is an award-winning project that was the product of a fellowship from the Annenberg Institute for Justice and Journalism at the University of Southern California. It documents how several South Florida rap artists explore racism and poverty in their work.

Role: writer and researcher/reporter

Awards: 2007 Florida Society of Newspaper Editors Special Section winner.

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Akilah Johnson, enterprise, Newspaper, police shooting, poverty, race & racism, writing

Badge is no shield for black officers

In print on August 23, 2010 at 2:19 pm

Byline: Akilah Johnson Staff Writer
Date: April 18, 2005
For Sgt. Michael Coleman and Officer Terance Scott, being black men in police blue is tougher since the death of Jerrod Miller.

They’re trying to reconcile their feelings of loss over the death of a black teenager shot by a white co-worker with their loyalty to the department while warding off increasing criticism from some black residents who characterize them as nothing more than sellouts.
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Akilah Johnson, enterprise, Newspaper, project manager, race & racism, storytelling, writing

Hip-Hop Voices

In print on August 23, 2010 at 10:10 am

This award-winning project was an offshoot of a fellowship from the Annenberg Institute for Justice and Journalism at the University of Southern California. Photographer John L. White, a Racial Justice Fellow, and I documented how several South Florida rap artists explore racism and poverty in their work.

Over several months, we followed the artists as they struggled to address important issues through an increasingly commercial genre. The project won the 2007 Florida Society of Newspaper Editors Special Sections category.

To see full-size PDFs of this special section, click on the links (headlines) below.

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