Ta Lese Morrow, Publisher, Inland Valley News

Upland, CA — If you turn on the television, scroll through your phone, or sit long enough at any kitchen table conversation, you can feel it.

The weight. The uncertainty. The sense that the ground keeps shifting beneath everyday families just trying to live, work, and breathe in peace.

Across our nation, we are witnessing rising costs of living, housing instability, healthcare battles, attacks on diversity initiatives, underfunded schools, shrinking social services, and policies that too often leave working families and marginalized communities carrying the heaviest burdens.

And if we’re honest, many people are tired. But tired does not mean defeated. And pressure does not mean we fold. Not here. Not now. Not ever. Because if history has taught us anything, it’s this: our communities were built for resilience.

Right now, families across the Inland Valley and beyond are making impossible choices.

Rent or groceries, medication or gas, childcare or keeping a job.

Black and Brown communities, seniors, single mothers, immigrants, and working-class families continue to experience the sharpest impacts of rising housing costs and displacement, healthcare access challenges, cuts to public programs, educational inequities, small businesses struggling to survive, and political rhetoric that divides instead of protects.

These aren’t abstract headlines. These are our neighbors. Our church members. Our readers. Our children’s classmates.

They are us.

And when systems tighten, it’s always the margins that feel it first.

But here’s what I know after decades in community journalism and advocacy: marginalized does not mean powerless.

As a publisher, I carry the legacy of a newspaper born to give voice to people others overlooked.

The Inland Valley News exists because someone decided our stories mattered.

Because my father refused to let our communities be invisible. Because someone stood firm.

Our history is filled with moments where we could have folded — during economic downturns, civil unrest, political shifts, and social upheaval.

But every generation before us chose something different:

They organized.
They built.
They voted.
They supported one another.
They created institutions that served their own.

They didn’t wait to be saved.

They saved each other.

And now it’s our turn.

Standing firm isn’t just a slogan. It’s an action.

It looks like:

Supporting local and Black-owned businesses

Keeping dollars circulating in our communities strengthens jobs and ownership.

Staying civically engaged

Voting. Attending city council meetings. Asking questions. Holding leaders accountable.

Investing in education and youth

Mentorship, internships, scholarships, and exposure matter more now than ever.

Protecting our health and wellness

Mental, spiritual, and physical care is not a luxury — it’s survival.

Telling our own stories

Media matters. Representation matters. Narratives shape policy. If we don’t tell our stories, someone else will — and they won’t always tell them truthfully.

Building coalitions, not silos

Churches, nonprofits, small businesses, schools, and families must work together. Collective strength always outlasts individual struggle.

I often remind myself — and the young leaders I mentor — that pressure doesn’t only crush. Pressure also creates. It refines, and it strengthens. It reveals what we’re truly made of. Our ancestors survived far worse with far less. So when I look at today’s challenges, I don’t see the end of us. I see the making of something stronger. A new generation of advocates. New businesses. New leaders. New solutions. I see communities learning how to own their power again. We Don’t Fold. We Rise.

If you take nothing else from this moment, take this:

We are not helpless. We are not voiceless. And we are certainly not alone.

Every time we show up for one another, we push back against systems designed to shrink us.

Every time we choose hope over fear, we win.

Every time we stand firm — together — we remind the world exactly who we are.

Resilient. Resourceful. Rooted in faith. Committed to justice. Unshakeable.