The Nubian Message has worked to become the representative of the African-American community at NC State since 1992. Founded by Tony K. Williamson, the Nubian Message addresses interests, issues and the heritage of African-American diaspora.

The desire for a newspaper that shared perspectives from the African-American community rose from a controversial column about the Black Awareness Council of UNC-Chapel Hill that the Technician ran in 1992.

“Students didn’t feel like the black community was portrayed very accurately in the Technician,” said Stephanie Tate, the editor-in-chief of the Nubian Message and a junior studying political science. “They felt like the Technician only covered the black community and events in the black community when they were negative, never when they were positive.”

The Afrikan American Student Advisory Council, which is an umbrella organization for all African-American student organizations on campus according to Tate, helped form the Nubian Message.

“Students on that council came up with a list of demands for the university and one of the demands was that a student newspaper be formed to be the voice of the African-American students and give accurate, fair portrayal of the African-American community,” Tate said.

Since then, the relationship between the Technician and Nubian Message has changed.

“Since I’ve been here, I’ve definitely seen us work together with the Technician on certain things,” Tate said. “I know our former editors last year — both of them were really good friends with the editor-in-chief of the Technician. I’m friends with the editor-in-chief of the Technician this year. We have some big plans coming up for the Nubian Message and the Technician to collaborate. It’s an opportunity for us to work together so I’m excited about that.”

The Nubian Message offers perspectives and voices to the campus community from members that may be unacknowledged, which can help foster understanding for those reading these points of view.

“Our main goal is obviously to report what’s going on on campus, but in addition to that, with us being the African-American paper, we do strive to be, as our mission statement, I think, says ‘a sentinel of the African-American Community,’ but it’s about more than just the African-American community,” said Anahzsa Jones, the managing editor of the Nubian Message and a junior studying English. “We want to be a voice for all marginalized groups on campus and make sure that everyone is heard.”

Another goal for the Nubian Message this year is to build an online presence.

“As a biweekly publication, we’re very limited in the content we can publish in print,” said Keilah Davis, a staff writer at the Nubian Message and a sophomore studying physics. “We hope to publish more articles online between print cycles. I think we’ve done well with that so far this semester.”

The newspaper addresses what’s happening on campus while also focusing on what’s going on in those marginalized or underrepresented groups, according to Jones.

“Whenever there’s something happening about diversity education, or race relations, or a particular heritage celebration, we want to highlight that,” Jones said. “We also have been working this semester on bringing some of the faculty of color to the forefront in our ‘Blackademics’ series of features. We want people, students of color especially, to know that they are seen and loved and important.”

Stories also range from news articles on Native American History Month and racial climate town halls to staff editorials about the 2016 election; there are also opinion pieces about trending Twitter hashtags and critiques of celebrity activism, according to Davis.

The Nubian Message’s staff is diverse and brings together different perspectives to add to the paper.

“My experience has honestly been amazing,” Jones said. “The staff is small, but intimate. We’re like a family in there, and we have a lot of fun while putting out good content. I like that everyone on the paper is so diverse, in race, gender and even majors. We get a lot of different perspectives on things and that makes for better reporting.”

The Nubian Message’s environment is also welcoming for its writers and helps them express themselves freely.

“I joined the staff as a correspondent in January 2016 and it’s one of the best decisions I’ve made since coming here,” Davis said. “Our staff meetings are one of the few places on campus where I can exist without filtering or diluting myself. If you have a crazy idea for an article, then you can bring it to the table. If you want to discuss politics, a current event or even Twitter beef, then you can do that here. It’s a family that I’m proud to be part of.”

Readers sometimes may shy away from papers that offer more minority perspectives, but an overall understanding of what’s happening on campus comes from all of NC State Student Media.

“We’re still a news organization,” Tate said. “We’re still providing the campus with really great coverage of events and things of that nature. We’re just adding a different perspective to the conversation. If you want to know what’s truly happening at NC State then you pick up a Technician and you pick up a Nubian Message. You pick up the Agromeck, you listen to WKNC, you pick up a Windhover. You look at all the Student Media outlets, because NC State is much bigger than just what your experience is and other people’s perspectives are just as important as yours.”