[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 33 (Thursday, March 1, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E303]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                RECOGNITION OF BELVA DAVIS, NEWS PIONEER

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. FORTNEY PETE STARK

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 1, 2012

  Mr. STARK. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Belva Davis, 
an icon of San Francisco Bay Area journalism for nearly half a century. 
Ms. Davis has announced that she will step down as host of public 
television's, ``This Week in Northern California''. Her final broadcast 
will be November 9, 2012. She is the winner of dozens of journalism 
awards, including eight local Emmys.
  Her retirement will mark the end of her 19-year career as anchor of 
the program. After her departure, for the first time since 1964, Bay 
Area television viewers will be without coverage from the journalist 
who used grace and brains to face down the era's virulent racism and 
sexism and become the first black woman TV journalist in the Western 
U.S.
  Ms. Davis has covered many high profile historical news events 
locally, nationally, and internationally. She has interviewed world 
leaders and U.S. presidents, as well as anchoring news programs on KPIX 
TV and KRON TV. She has been involved in numerous civic projects and 
helped shepherd San Francisco's Museum of African Diaspora into 
existence.
  In her 2010 autobiography, Never In My Wildest Dreams: A Black 
Woman's Life in Journalism, Ms. Davis tells of being born into poverty 
in Depression-era Louisiana and growing up in Oakland and Berkeley.
  The book opens in 1964, when Ms. Davis is a young radio reporter 
covering the Republican National Convention. She describes a menacing 
crowd screaming racial slurs and chasing her and her news director, 
Louis Freeman, from San Francisco's Cow Palace.
  Many members of the African American community respected Ms. Davis's 
journalism. Comedian Bill Cosby recalls watching Davis on TV from his 
houseboat, ``We looked forward to seeing her prove the stereotypical 
ugliness of those days to be wrong,'' Cosby wrote in the foreword to 
Davis' memoir.
  Today, her program ``This Week in Northern California'' is a must-
watch for local new junkies. John Boland, president of KQED, called 
Davis a trailblazer ``who has opened up so many doors for women and 
African Americans in television and beyond''
  During her years as a journalist, I was fortunate to be interviewed 
by Ms. Davis and I respect, and treasure, my relationship with her. I 
am pleased to join Belva Davis's friends, admirers and colleagues in 
commemorating her distinguished journalism legacy.

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