Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel — giants of late-night television — have faced censorship, dismissal or forced silence because their words crossed the powerful. That should alarm us all. If media figures of their stature can be muzzled, what chance do ordinary journalists or community truth-tellers have?

I know this pain personally. Decades ago, I was among the first Black women to sit on the editorial board of a major newspaper. I was eventually pushed out — not because of poor work, but because my views did not align with the white male owners. They praised the virtues of free press while silencing those who tried to practice it.

The issue is not new. It is the age-old clash between voices that speak truth from the margins and systems that demand loyalty to privilege. When I wrote abo

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