June 7, 2008

As members of the
Asian American Journalists Association, Erin and I will be attending the quadrennial
UNITY conference in Chicago in July. I attended the last UNITY conference, which was held in 2004, and it was inspirational. It's a combined convention of four national organizations that represent journalists of color: AAJA, the
National Association of Black Journalists,
National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the
Native American Journalists Association.
Because it's held every four years, and it happens to be an election year, UNITY attendees will be treated to a forum with Barack Obama and John McCain. It's a powerful, electrifying sight: The candidates for the most powerful position on Earth coming to speak to a roomful of 10,000+ journalists who look like me, as well as other minorities -- who are definitely the
majority during UNITY.
The conference planners just announced that the Presidential Forum will be held during primetime and
broadcast live on CNN.