Black Newspaper To Halt Publication

Sat., Dec. 2, 2000

By Rob McDonald robm@spokesman.com

The newspaper that gave a voice to the African American community in Spokane will stop publishing after its latest issue hits the streets Tuesday.

Bob Lloyd, 56, publisher of the African-American Voice, said he doesn’t have the energy to put out the monthly paper anymore.

“I’m going to take a year’s sabbatical. I need a rest,” Lloyd said in an interview Friday. “I can’t do this alone.”

Maybe in a year, he will consider publishing again, he said.

“I’m hoping a community organization or someone interested in the African American community would step up and take it over,” Lloyd said.

Ad revenue covered the costs of printing between 5,000 and 7,000 copies each month, he said. The problem was finding and keeping volunteer workers.

“I think I’ve burned out most of the people I have working for free,” Lloyd said.

June would have been the paper’s five-year anniversary.

The “Voice” started as a newsletter printed on letter-size paper.

In his debut issue June 17, 1996, LLoyd wrote that he was inspired by meeting other African American men at the Million Man March.

“This is an effort to improve communication in the African American community - to find the invisible community of 3,000 African Americans …” “I thought the paper was meeting its mission and I think we’ve got a lot of dialogue out on the table,” Lloyd said.

The news surprised Eileen Thomas, president of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

“You’re kidding,” Thomas said. “Bob has taken on a lot of controversial issues and stood behind it. I’ve always stood behind him with it.”

The young adults need to step in and carry it on, Thomas said.

This sidebar appeared with the story: DETAILS Your own Voice

Bob Lloyd suggested that anyone interested in talking to him about taking over the paper should write the paper: African-American Voice, PMB 145 2920 S. Grand Blvd, Spokane WA 99203-2530.

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