This month marks the fifteenth year of publishing The Journal. We started from a four page pamphlet on the year of my father’s passing and moved from that to what we have today. It has been a labor of love based on the most basic motivator, filling a need.

When there was no newspaper focusing on the dreams, struggles and desires of the Black community, a need was created. My wife and I were blessed to be the ones to answer the call to publish a paper from the Black perspective.

My law practice, many times, was the primary financier of The Journal, but with the encouragement of our initial advertisers like Woods- Valentine Mortuary, Metropolitan Baptist Church, Walt Butler Sports Shoes, and others who have been there since the beginning, we have survived. Our membership in the National Newspaper Publishers Association and the West Coast Black Publishers Association has also been a significant help. Those memberships have come through the mentoring of our friends, Hardy and Cheryl Brown of the Riverside Black Voice newspaper, and to them we say "Thank you."

A certain group of contributors and writers including Dr. Gerda Govine, Ituarte, Del, Sam and Monique Yarborough, Fred Hubbard, Denni Young Moore, Betty J. Ford, and others, made it possible for the Journal to stay relevant. To them we say a special "thank you."

Over the years we have celebrated our anniversary in different ways. The first three years we celebrated with The Pasadena Black Expo. Later, we held an anniversary dinner to honor those who have given much to the community. In 2001, we celebrated with a concert,calling it "Jesus Is The Reason For The Season." This year our celebration will be an open house during the holidays on Friday, December 17th for our friends and supporters to stop by Hopkins Village, mingle, and have refreshments so we can express our thanks for your support over the years. This month we will publish our third Passport directory magazine to be passed out at the open house.

Most of our dreams have been fulfilled with The Journal. We have been honored by awards from numerous community organizations. The dream of starting a second paper has been ventured yet to be realized. The dream of our children taking an interest may be taking shape in one or two of our sons who, knowing our hope that the paper will not die and transfer to family members, may be realized. Our real dream is to keep on publishing the Journal every week as long as God allows and keep on being "a voice" for and serving the needs of the community we love.

To those who have advertised over the years, we thank you.

We hope that you have received as much as you have given. It is advertisement that serves as the life’s blood of a community newspaper. Without it, we die. The Pasadena/San Gabriel Valley area is a small market with fewer potential advertisers to draw from. For that reason each advertiser is treasured more than it would be if we were in a larger market, such as Los Angeles. We certainly have tried to give as much as we have received and pray that our relationship can continue as long as we can keep putting out this voice of the community. One of my long time friends recently said to me we should never let anything or anyone divide us, even if they get angry at what we say, sometimes.

To our readers, advertisers, and supporters, we need you and we hope that we fill a need for each of our roles in the community.

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