During Periods 11 and 12 on Wednesday, February 27, Journalism and Media students along with Eagle’s Eye staff members and Black Student Union officers flocked to the auditorium to hear journalist and Rutgers Professor David Love speak about Black history and the importance of journalism. An alumnus of Harvard University, UPenn, and Oxford, Love’s presentation was full of details that reflected his extensive education.

“We first met him at GSSPA, and it was clear he had a passion and a significant amount of information with regards to journalism,” said Nishchal Talugula ‘27, an Eagle’s Eye business editor who helped set up the event alongside co-editor Siya Bhuteja ‘26.

“My first impression was that he was passionate and knowledgeable about human rights and democracy. His enthusiasm and content made him engaging and inspiring to listen to,” said Bhuteja.

Love started with the word “SANKOFA,” a Twi word from the Akan people of Ghana. It translates to “Go back and get it,” and is the name for many organizations that promote social justice and change.

“I argue that if we don’t know where we are, if we want to understand where we’re going, we need to understand where we came from,” Love said.

In a series of clips and quotes from Black activists, Love enlightened the audience about often overlooked aspects of African American history. He told the stories of Fannie Lou Hamer and her efforts to expand voting rights for Black Americans, Fred Hampton and his “Rainbow Coalition,” Malcolm X and his fight for Black power, and many other activists— both famous and lesser-known.

“The presentation was super informative and shed light on Black history we didn’t know about,” said Brooklyn Bruny ‘25, secretary of the Black Student Union.

Love even recalled a personal story of his own. His great-great grandfather, Henry Whaler, was a baby during the Civil War and fled with his parents, seeking freedom. Little Henry was tied to his mother’s back and was crying loudly. Love told how Henry’s parents could hear the slave patrols and had to make sure that the slave patrols wouldn’t catch them. Seeing no other way out of the situation, Henry’s mother was going to kill him and then herself. But, luckily, they were able to escape.

“I feel like I’m from a family of refugees,” Love said. “I feel like I can relate to ICE raids,” alluding to recent news about the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency.

At one point in his presentation, Love abruptly asked if “America was turning into 1930’s Nazi Germany.” The audience was confused at the question until Love elaborated that Nazi Germany had actually taken inspiration from the legal regime of American Jim Crow apartheid.

“History does not repeat itself, but it definitely rhymes,” he said.

Love especially emphasized the importance of journalism. “The Black press has been in the forefront of the struggles for freedom and humanity,” he said. He narrated the stories of Willmington, North Carolina’s Black-owned newspaper, The Daily Record. He paired stories of the newspaper being burnt down by the KKK with accounts of Ida B. Wells, a Black female reporter from the 1800s.

“As a journalism teacher and as a female, I’ve always admired Wells for her courage and bravery, her commitment to social justice in the face of so much danger,” said journalism teacher and Eagle’s Eye advisor Ms. Diane Frey. “She is representative of the role journalism and reporting can play in spreading information in the interest of positive social change.”

Love expressed that high school students should use the media to express matters that they feel matter. Love’s words are a call to action for writers, artists, and musicians alike to speak about the world around us.

“It’s not just about the day-to-day politics and advocacy and organizing and protesting. Sometimes you have to have music, you have to have arts, culture. Those are important,” Love said.

“The world seems to be changing so quickly,” Frey said, “but they are not without the necessary role models to urge them to action, to not sit idly by. This message is especially important in a district as diverse as Edison.”