AEJMC Trailblazers of Diversity Interview with Jeryl Levin

  • Introduction
  • Her journalism experiences started in high school. She went to an experimental school in Evanston, Illinois.
  • She talks about an urban studies class she had. She traveled a lot for this class.
  • A lot of her peers went on to work in the arts and social justice.
  • She went to Northwestern University for a bit, and then went to Columbia University full-time.
  • Her first job was producing a conference for inter religious leaders in Chicago. It was a dialogue through the American Jewish Committee.
  • David Roth asked if she wanted to take over the Illinois Ethnic Coalition.
  • Diversity was being pushed before she got the position. Multiculturalism was encouraged in schools as well.
  • She mentions Ray Hanania and other journalists involved.
  • She talks about "demystifying what it meant to be a white ethnic."
  • The members of the coalition wrote dozens of op-eds in support of each other's issues. She talks more about the coalition's efforts.
  • Her job in a sense was to teach business people how to write op-eds and understand an ethnic person's point of view.
  • They had Polish dialogue groups.
  • She partnered with the Attorney General's office. They did the first statewide conference on hate crimes.
  • She talks about the Los Angeles Riots and the Korean community. They had stores that were looted.
  • In the 1990's they brought the Black and Korean communities together. They had a press conference to bring peace to the city. She says they averted a second riot.
  • They also did work with religious leaders in the west side. They spent time to trying to lessen tension and release understanding. Journalists were brought to that effort as well.
  • She was born in Chicago in 1959. She grew up in a Jewish white community.
  • Her mother was a housewife. She talks about the Chatham neighborhood.
  • She went to a Jewish service that no longer had members in the congregation.
  • They stopped at her mom's old house. "The fact that you can go in a neighborhood and people look at you because you're a different race says a lot about where we are."
  • She gives background information on her father. He owned a furniture store.
  • Her parents were classic liberals.
  • Her family had a housekeeper who was African American. Levin always wanted to know about her history.
  • In high school she had friends of all ethnic backgrounds.
  • She majored in English at Columbia University. She says the university was very diverse.
  • She met people from all "walks of life" in her writing classes. It was a real eye opener.
  • She was always talking to journalists to provide names, sources, and story ideas.
  • A lady suggested that she sell the coalition's efforts. They came up with a directory of ethnic organizations in Chicago. People started sending in money.
  • The coalition got money from the Polk Brothers Foundation.
  • Then, they asked community leaders and scholars of the most populous ethnic groups in Chicago to write chapters on their groups. They profiled 33 groups and made a book.
  • The book got front page stories in newspapers. The book sold 25,000 copies in 2-3 years.
  • They updated the demographics in the next book, like adding Muslim Americans.
  • She says things have changed in how you market information.
  • In the 2000 Census, the coalition was partners with the county in creating a county wide coalition to advocate for fair and accurate account.
  • In 1998, they put together a program in creating a coalition to make sure funds were available for communities. This was to create awareness that the census was important.
  • They pushed journalists to write about the importance of accountability for the census.
  • Levin says so much has changed. Communities of color are being heard at such a broader and deeper level. "We wanted people to learn how to tell their stories in a compelling way."
  • She says there's so much noise out there now and things get lost. Now everybody is competing for space.
  • Social media and radio are committed to a variety of voices. She says newspapers aren't anymore.
  • She compares conversations from back then to today. She doesn't feel so at home in her space anymore.
  • White ethnics are intermarried now. "The whiteness has pretty much blended now."
  • Some ethnic groups still have their own schools, like the Greeks and Koreans.
  • She talks about the race of intermarriage.
  • If she were to put out a handbook again it would have to be "younger." She would also have poetry, essays, and art.
  • The first handbook was possible because of a corporate sponsorship from AT&T.
  • She says corporate America has changed. Back then there was a lot of authenticity.
  • She talks about the 2016 presidential election. The media needed to spend more time on issues of poor, white people.
  • "I hope there's a new generation of people that will understand that and do something about it." She says she's no longer a foot soldier.
  • Melita Garza concludes interview.