Readout of White House Roundtable with African Immigrant Media Outlets

Today, on the last day of National African Immigrant Heritage Month, celebrated in the community throughout the month of September for the past 16 years, the White House hosted a virtual roundtable discussion to hear directly from members of targeted media organizations servicing diasporans from all 54 countries of the African continent across 30 American states. 

Connected to the White House through the Cameroon American Council’s African Immigrant Media Network, participants interfaced with representatives of both the White House’s Press and Communications teams to learn best practices on how to keep their audiences informed about the Biden-Harris Administration. 

With one in five Black Americans who are either immigrants or children of Black immigrants, participants discussed the ways in which their experiences and challenges both mirror and uniquely diverge from the broader story of Black in America, and detailed their ongoing advocacy work to expand African language access and immigration relief programs such as Special Humanitarian Parole for Cameroon and Temporary Protected Status for various African countries. 

African Immigrant media leaders engaged in this roundtable also heard about how the pipeline gets built for the diverse workforce that makes up the Biden-Harris Administration, how the Press and Communications teams work daily to package President Biden and Vice President Harris’ agenda, and the importance of representation in stakeholder outreach and policy messaging. Additionally, representatives from the Biden Harris Administration discussed the logistics that went into executing the Kenyan State Visit and media coverage needs for President Biden’s upcoming trip to Angola.

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