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Wayne State Student Shares Her Dream for Black History

Month
By Avery Zimmerman

Wayne State University

COM 2100, Feb. 13, 2019

Every year in February we celebrate Black History Month, but according to this student

we need to make some changes in the way we celebrate.

DezTanie Stover, 18-year-old journalism student at Wayne State University, reflects on

how the celebration of Black History Month affected her when she was younger. Stover said she

has been interested in journalism for as long as she can remember, but in her experience the

profession was never talked about during Black History Month. “Every year for Black History

Month I would report on all these people and their careers, but never any journalists.”

Stover said that at Martin Luther King Jr. Senior High School, which she attended, the

focus was only on athletes and entertainers. “I knew then I wanted to make a difference.”

Stover said it’s important to show a wide range of careers, so that children feel like they

have options. “If you don’t know about it, you can’t tell if you’re interested.”

Stover’s best friend and fellow journalism student Zachary Smith said he agrees. “Black

History Month definitely can expand. They need to cover more speakers and writers.”

Smith said that being a journalism major shows him the value of understanding how the

world works and how to think critically. Smith says these things are important for people to
learn. “Journalism shows people that you can have an impact on anything if you have an

awareness of a situation.”

Stover’s grandmother, Tracy Clayton, said although Black History Month should be

expanded to include more careers, the celebration of the month itself is important to people

everywhere. “We’ve always had white history. We’ve always read about white people in the

history books. Every time we learned about someone who did something, they were white.

There’s a lot of things done by black people that everyone needs to know about.”

Clayton said she believes journalism is a good career for her granddaughter. “I know she

can be a journalist because she’s a truth teller. We need to hold journalists accountable for the

truth because we are dependent on them to give us the truth. I know I can depend on my

granddaughter.”

As for Stover, changing the way Black History Month is celebrated isn’t her only dream

for the future. Stover said her goal is to be the best and most well-respected African-American

journalist in the world. Some day she said she hopes she makes it in Black History Month books

that teachers use along with other journalists, writers and news anchors.

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Source List

Tracy Clayton, 313-865-2350. Clayton is Stover’s grandmother and provided her thoughts on
Black History Month and DezTanie’s future plans during a phone call on Feb. 8, 2019.

Zachary Smith, 248-843-7503. Smith is Stover’s best friend and provided his thoughts on Black
History month and his future career in journalism during a phone call on Feb. 7, 2019.

DezTanie Stover, deztaniestover@wayne.edu. DezTanie is a student at Wayne State University

and shared her thoughts on Black History Month during an interview on Feb. 4, 2019.