It only takes one …

Commentary by Michelle Fitzhugh-Craig

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press …” — First Amendment to the United States Constitution

Nancy Hicks Maynard realized the power of the pen at a young age.
   Outraged over inaccurate and detrimental reporting on her community, she found her vehicle to create change. She began her trailblazing career as a journalist at age 20 as a reporter for the New York Post. Hicks Maynard went on to work at The New York Times before moving west to help create the nonprofit organization now known as the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education in 1977.
    With her husband, journalism legend Robert Maynard, Hicks Maynard bought the Oakland Tribune in 1983, making the couple the first African Americans to own a major metropolitan daily newspaper.
    On Sunday, Hicks Maynard died of multiple organ failure in Los Angeles. She was 61.
    Over the past 40-plus years, Hicks Maynard did her part to help the news media reflect this country’s diversity through staffing, content and business operations. As a result, the fair and accurate coverage that Hicks Maynard was always concerned with was instilled in many young, and some older, journalists.
    Unfortunately, there aren’t more Hicks Maynards in the world. Let me rephrase that: Unfortunately, there aren’t more people who realize they can join the ranks of the Hicks Maynards of the world.
    As I travel the streets of the East Bay communities, I see so much that needs improvement, so much which needs change. With disappointment, I’ve realized a lot of people have given up.
    Area residents complain about the crime in their neighborhood, but few do anything to get to the root of the problem. Gang violence is slowly rising in pockets of communities because we have given up the power to them by doing little but fear them. We see litter cluttering our curbsides and vacant lots, but do nothing to pick up that tossed cup or piece of paper blowing across our path. B
    ut I don’t think it’s about people not wanting to.
    We see social, political, environmental and economical injustices taking place all around us every day but figure the project to make a difference daily will take too much effort because, after all, “I am just one person.”
    Too many people think, “How can I create change? I can’t make a difference by myself.” But Hicks Maynard was just that — one person who not only believed in change, but who found a vehicle to steer it, and kept fighting for it until others joined and supported her efforts.
    What people fail to realize is change won’t happen overnight. In fact, it may take decades — until after you have died — to see the full harvested fruits of your contributions.
    And that’s fine because it’s not about you. It’s about others and making sure that all our residents, legal and non-legal, have equal rights, equal treatment and equal consideration.
    People like Hicks Maynard did not take no for an answer. Neither did fellow champions like Ella Baker, Mario Savio, Del Martin and Ray Solis who in wanting to create change found a way to utilize their gifts to do so.
    Can’t afford to start your own nonprofit or business to make a difference? Then find a place to volunteer your hopes and dreams for our future and that of our children. Find someone — anyone — who believes in the same thing you do, and together begin your journey to change.
    If you don’t do your part — no matter how small the contribution — to create a difference in where you live, things may never change.
    And when the media — one of the most powerful change vehicles, with its powerful pen — produces stories that are inaccurate and may be detrimental to an individual, group or community, make sure we are held accountable for it.
    Because we have the freedom of the press … but you have the freedom of speech.

Michelle Fitzhugh-Craig is an award-winning, professional journalist who resides in Oakland. If you have an individual, organization, issue or other topic that may be of interest to the Globe’s readers, contact her at  talk2mfc@yahoo.com.