Joy-Ann Reid Delivers Moving Speech At D9 Presidents Town Hall: Watch

Joy-Ann Reid delivered an unforgettable keynote speech at a recent D9 Situation Room: Council of Presidents Town Hall, a private virtual event that united the leaders of all nine historically Black Greek-letter organizations.

According to AllHipHop, the political commentator and former host of MSNBC’s The ReidOut—who is also a member of Delta Sigma Theta Inc.—spoke on how fake news can affect the Black community and how community leaders can combat that.

“We are living in an age of disinformation,” Reid cautioned attendees. “It is so important that we look for trusted sources of information.” Mentioning her recently canceled show, she added, “One of the reasons we did The ReidOut was to distill all of the noise and understand what is actually factual and true.” Reid also encouraged other D9 members to prioritize credible journalism over unverified social media content and called out established outlets like The New York Times, Reuters, BBC, and The Associated Press as trustworthy sources.

Reid also mentioned a recent viral story involving federal employees “receiving a misleading mass email” requesting justification of their job performance. “After investigation, we learned this email lacked proper authorization and was not legitimate,” she explained, emphasizing the importance of verifying information before reacting.

Organizers in attendance described the town hall as “just the beginning” of mobilizing Black communities, distinguishing reliable information from disinformation, and sustaining grassroots.

“No one sorority or fraternity can do all this work alone,” one organization president affirmed during the panel discussion. “Partner with another D9 organization in your community so that your voices and your work are amplified.”