The News Tribune is not in the business of rewriting history, especially not our own.

We are heir to a 125-year tradition of chronicling the South Sound. Much in that history makes us proud. Some moments shame us to this day.

The Tacoma Daily Ledger’s campaign against the city’s Chinese residents in the 1880s is the biggest disgrace.

When the Ledger – a predecessor of this newspaper – began daily publication in 1883, it proclaimed itself an independent journal with the “intention of speaking its mind fearlessly.”

Any illusion that the paper would consistently speak fearlessly for justice faded two short years later. Instead of objecting when Tacoma’s city fathers agitated for the expulsion of Chinese residents, the Ledger helped lead the charge.

Many newspapers have failed to stand against bigotry and discrimination. What the Ledger did was far more egregious.

The paper didn’t merely abdicate its moral authority to call out racism, it abused the power of the press to validate a community’s worst prejudices.

The paper’s vicious anti-Chinese tirades gave Tacoma citizens license to do the unthinkable. Other communities across the West saw their share of violence against the Chinese, but nowhere else was the ethnic cleansing so systematically planned and executed.

The Ledger’s role in the forced expulsion of Chinese residents – “the Tacoma method” as it came to be known – is a stain that cannot be erased. Nor should it be. That history is a painful reminder of what happens when any newspaper fails its fundamental obligation to foster understanding.

For The News Tribune, like many other organizations and society itself, respect for diversity has evolved over time.

Take the civil rights struggles of the 1960s and 1970s. In contrast to the sensational reporting and malicious editorials of the 1880s, The News Tribune helped allay fears with clear-headed reporting.

On May 12, 1969, the day after the Mother’s Day riot on Tacoma’s Hilltop, reporter Rod Cardwell began his story by quoting Lynn Hodges, the director of the city’s Human Relations Commission: “What we should do is keep cool heads. This is a time for wise heads and not hot heads.”

This time, the community’s better nature won. City Manager David Rowlands’ approach of hearing out Tacoma’s black leaders and attempting to address their concerns prevailed and eventually led to efforts to root out discrimination.

In recent years, the newspaper, through its editorial board, has done more than provide a backdrop conducive to change; it has been one of the driving forces behind extending fairness and equality to all citizens.

Six years ago, the editorial board urged the Tacoma City Council and voters to ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in housing, employment, the extension of credit and other important areas of everyday life. Last year, it championed giving Pierce County employees who have same-sex partners the same medical, dental and other benefits as enjoyed by married employees.

A belief in the advantages of diversity has come to imbue and inform much of this newspaper’s operations. Women, once relegated to the society page, now help lead the paper: Our last two publishers were female, as is our current executive editor. Minorities as well have made inroads throughout the newspaper’s ranks. The News Tribune makes a concerted effort to diversify its staff through mentoring and recruiting programs.

Having a staff that reflects our community is vital to our core mission. Diverse newspapers cover communities better because they know their communities better. Their employees draw on broader social networks and a greater range of backgrounds.

An example from recent years is the series of stories the paper has published about the South Sound’s Chamorro population, small in number relative to other minorities but growing. In fact, Washington now boasts the second-densest concentration of Chamorros in the country.

News Tribune readers know that now because reporter Brent Champaco, a Chamorro himself, told them. It’s something this paper might have reported anyway, but could not have explained in such rich detail had not Champaco – who traveled to Guam to trace the cultural ties – been here to tell the story.

The South Sound is a stronger community because of its cultural differences. This newspaper is dedicated to promoting cross-cultural understanding so that the South Sound can make the most of its diversity. We cannot change history, but we can learn from it.

The expulsion of the Chinese taught a bitter lesson: A newspaper must help build communities with respect and knowledge, not divide them with fear and ignorance.

Dec. 7: Fostering change