“City by city:” reclaiming people of color voices through the Narrative Justice Project

Abstract

The Narrative Justice Project (NJP) challenges master narratives and creates more complex understandings by delving into the human-interest aspects of mass communications. For people of color (POC), the mass media is a racialized tool used in the historical context to justify the lack of rights or equality. This study illustrates how counter-stories function as a redefinition of humanity. The NJP training presents those communication values for POC to understand how to explain their complex narratives while also giving communities the ability to advocate for themselves. Utilizing observation and focus groups, this study examined how public interest communication campaigns generate conversations that challenge hegemonic thinking of who is accepted into the public.