Confronting paper’s past, face to face

The first time I took the staff elevator at the now-closed Express-News building, I pushed the button, turned around and came face to face with a distraught child. He looked stunned as he held a hand to his head, sitting atop the hood of a vehicle with a shattered windshield.

This was the lead photo on the San Antonio Express and News on Aug. 14, 1965, framed on the wall behind the staff elevator.

The best pictures evoke strong emotions, but the problem with this photo is the story is about the riots in Watts, a Black section of Los Angeles, yet it focuses on a white boy.

The photo was part of a lead Associated Press story about the riots in Los Angeles that used racist language: “National Guardsmen with fixed bayonets marched Friday night into a wild Negro district no-man’s land where arsonists and looters were out of control and flying bullets killed both police and civilians. Four persons, one a deputy sheriff, were reported slain by gunshot just before the first wave of 400 steel-helmeted troops rolled into, and quickly took over without incident, the community of Watts.”

While this story and photo were not produced by San Antonio Express and News staff, its journalists made the poor decision to run them. It was a different time, but it never should have happened, and we must ensure it never happens again.

In my nearly six years as an Express-News researcher, archivist and now op-ed and letters editor, this isn’t the first time I’ve come face to face with something in our paper that just didn’t sit right with me.

Like other employees in newsrooms confronting their racist pasts, including the Orlando Sentinel, Kansas City Star and

Los Angeles Times, I’ve been thinking about how our paper has covered race. Throughout our paper’s 157-year history, I’ve seen misleading headlines, derogatory language and missing coverage — all of it coming down to the choices made in the newsroom.

I’m not the only one thinking about it. Shocked and saddened by this past coverage, my coworkers share thoughts such as: “I hope we are doing better than that,” and “How can we improve to be even better?”

Thankfully, we are doing better. Opening the dialogue and listening to the voices in our community and within our newsroom will help us to continue to strengthen our racial coverage.

Those old framed front pages are discarded, and our new office at the remodeled San Antonio Light building will feature new artwork and Express-News work worthy of being showcased.

About a year ago, I joined our paper’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee, formed in 2020 to help improve diversity among our newsroom’s staff and publications. A group of 18 employees across the Express-News organization, with the support of Hearst, our publisher, Mark Medici, managing editor, Marc Duvoisin, and human resources director, Nancy Sandoval, we’ve developed important initiatives.

We brought back the Teen Team, a journalism education program for high school students, to foster future diversity. We’re also working on a community engagement initiative so employees of the paper, including reporters, editors, advertising executives and marketing managers, are more accessible to all members of our community. You can read more about some of our efforts on our website,

WeAreSAEN.com.

On behalf of the Express-News Diversity and Inclusion committee, I’m excited to invite you to a special event on Wednesday, “History & Headlines: A reckoning of the Express-News’ coverage of race from the 1960s to present day.”

The panel, held online, will feature MySA culture editor Madalyn Mendoza, Express-News

Editorial Board member and columnist Cary Clack, and myself, with Express-News columnist Gilbert Garcia moderating. I hope you join us for this important conversation.

We can’t discard our past as easily as we can a framed front page, but we can confront and learn from it.

This photo in the Aug. 14, 1965, Express and News doesn’t tell an accurate story.