WURD Radio Endorses Kamala Harris: She is the right choice at this moment for President of the United States

WURD Radio, Pennsylvania’s only Black-owned talk radio station, has never endorsed a political candidate – local, state or national. We have stood by this decision since our inception in 2003. Our role is to engage and inform our community, to explore the diversity and complexity of the Black experience in Philadelphia and beyond. WURD Radio is a marketplace for ideas, conversation and public dialogue. That said, we are also keenly aware of the extraordinary stakes of the current presidential election – and the clear and present threat that Donald Trump represents to our community. For this reason, we have decided to take the unprecedented step of endorsing Kamala Harris. 

This decision is also made in the aftermath of recent actions taken by two mainstream media outlets, the Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post. The billionaire owners of two legacy media platforms overruled their editorial boards’ plans to endorse Vice President Harris. These decisions proffer powerful examples of the importance of ownership – to empower or silence; to control or expand dialogue; to be fearless and independent, or to capitulate to corporate interests. We are witnessing how democracy dies – in the dark pockets of greedy owners.

This is why independent media ownership matters – especially Black media ownership. Pennsylvania is one of the most coveted swing states in this election, and Philadelphia, with an almost 45% Black population, will be the engine that delivers victory to one side or the other. 

Our founder, Walter P. Lomax Jr., M.D., understood that the media has the power to shape perceptions, images, narratives and, most importantly in this election, to tell the truth. He understood that the media can demonize or humanize, destroy or exalt, diminish or elevate. Dr. Lomax knew that mainstream media often marginalizes, caricatures and maligns Black people. 

WURD is in a unique position to speak honestly and emphatically about what matters most to our community because we are independently owned. We recognize that the attacks on reproductive freedoms are disproportionately hurting Black women, whose rates of maternal mortality are almost three times higher than white women. We know that generational poverty, which is deeply entrenched in Philadelphia, can be addressed through student loan forgiveness, access to down payment subsidies for first-time homebuyers and forgivable business loans for emergent small businesses. These policies that impact our community are issues that the Harris-Walz campaign has committed to implementing. We have seen how the Black community has been maligned and underestimated during this election. WURD Radio has been able to offer a counternarrative. We are a platform that provides a more holistic, nuanced and contextualized perspective of our community. This is our work, day in and day out.

We recognize the historic power of this moment. Similar to the groundbreaking election of Barack Obama, our first Black president, this is a historic opportunity to elect the first woman president – and the first Black woman and woman of color as president of the United States. This will signal a new era of possibility for young women everywhere, especially Black and Brown women and girls. It signals that perhaps America is moving forward and away from its intractable addiction to racism and sexism. Maybe, just maybe, we will see a movement to address the persistent gender pay gap, the racial wealth gap, and a real plan to implement reparations for the economic, social, political, and physical devastation enacted upon enslaved Africans who were the original wealth creators of this nation.  

Kamala Harris is the heir to a powerful lineage of Black women politicians and activists. She walks in the footsteps of Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Ida B. Wells, Fannie Lou Hamer, Shirley Chisolm and many more. They have fought, bled and died for this moment. They knew then, as we know now, that freedom isn’t free. They were strong, courageous, independent voices that stood up for our people in their day. We are that voice now. And we believe that Kamala Harris is for the people. This is why WURD Radio proudly endorses Kamala Harris for President of the United States of America.