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Urban One is hosting We Are One: More Than A Hashtag, a virtual town hall to discuss the current political and racial climate plaguing the African American community.

Sybil Wilkes will moderate the conversation. You’ll also be able to hear from a panel that includes Russ Parr, Angie Ange, Erica Campbell, Rickey Smiley and others.

You can watch the one-hour program right here on Thursday, June 4th at 8 p.m.

Urban One Statement

For more than 40 years, Urban One (formerly Radio One) has aimed to be the voice of the Black community.  It has provided a microphone to those whose voices are seldom heard and a listening ear to those who are often muted.  It hasn’t necessarily been easy, but we have stayed true to this commitment.

The events of the past week and several months, however, have escalated and elevated our collective sense of grief, anger and frustration.  The tragic death of George Floyd and the recent murders of Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery are reprehensible and indicative of the long-standing, pervasive inequities that consistently lead to the denial of justice for African Americans.

At Urban One, we believe it is our duty and our right to call out injustice and support all efforts to take a stand for equality.  We believe to be silent is to be complicit, and Urban One has never been silent, and we don’t intend to be silent now. We will continue to convey the sentiments and emotions of our community and serve as a trusted source for information that empowers and informs action.

Now, we are acutely aware of the concerted effort by provocateurs to hijack our movement and willfully create civil unrest for political gain.  We will not tolerate this tactic and will work to expose every attempt to undermine our First Amendment right to protest peacefully.  Our movement is about more than standing up to police brutality.  It is about changing systematic racist agendas and policies that inform and empower that brutality.  It is about the right to raise our children in a country where they not only can feel safe but also are treated with dignity and are provided a genuine opportunity to prosper.  As a company, we remain steadfast in this fight.

It is critical that we continue to instill hope, especially today when our hearts are drained and our spirits are tired.  In this present darkness, it may not seem like things have improved, but they certainly have over the past 40 years and they will in the next 40.  Our work isn’t done.  We must push forward and do our best to uplift, inspire and highlight the strength, resilience and humanity of our Black community.  This is our purpose.

We will never stop believing that Black Lives Matter.

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We Are One: More Than A Hashtag – A Virtual Town Hall  was originally published on wolbbaltimore.com