[ad_1] (BPRW) WORDS ARE NOT ENOUGH The National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters shares the anguish, frustration, and anger in our Black communities across the country. The disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic creating sickness and death in our community has been a heavy burden. The massive unemployment caused by the pandemic shutdown added another burden. The senseless murder of George Floyd proved to be the last straw, and Black people took to the streets across this country to say, “Enough is enough – Black Lives Matter!”   Fortunately, the murder of George Floyd grabbed the attention and touched the hearts of many white Americans. Seeing the video of this brutal murder at the hands of a police officer made many white Americans recognize that the discrimination and mistreatment of Black Americans continues today in many ways as it did a hundred years ago. As a result, we have seen expressions of support for the Black Lives Matter movement from government leaders and corporate CEOs. And we have seen and heard statements that these government leaders and corporate CEOs will work to promote diversity and inclusion within the government and corporate America. What is lacking from many of these statements is concrete actions that these government leaders and corporate CEOs plan to implement. As broadcasters serving the Black community, the members of NABOB are directly impacted by the social and economic disadvantages experienced by our communities. Our communities look to us as the trusted voices that they depend upon to give them news and information unfiltered by those with agendas that are not in the best interest of our communities. And they look to us to share our stories with each other and the broader community. In 1968, after the civil unrest in many Black communities, the Kerner Commission Report said that one of the underlying causes of the unrest was a sense of a lack of control of the media and that their voices could not be heard. That sentiment has been heard again in the streets today.   That sense of lack of control is heightened by the small number of broadcast stations that remain Black owned today. The number of Black owned stations is vastly below an acceptable level. Blacks make up 13% of the American population, yet we own fewer than 180 of the more than 11,000 commercial radio stations in the U.S., 1.6%, and we own only 25 of the 1,374 full power television stations, 1.8%. This low ownership level of broadcast stations by Blacks means that we cannot have the voice we need to make our concerns adequately heard or addressed by our leaders. Given the small number of Black owned broadcast stations today, 52 years after 1968, it is understandable that many Black people continue to feel that they are not being heard.   To address the small number of broadcast stations owned by Black people and other minorities and women, Congressman G.K. Butterfield has introduced H.R. 3957, “Expanding Broadcast Ownership Opportunities Act of 2019,” which would reinstate the tax certificate as a mea