Black Lens editor gives youth a voice

By Mary Stamp

In January, April Eberhardt dropped "interim" from the title she had since July 2024. She is now officially editor of The Black Lens newspaper, while continuing the job she has held since August 2017 as college and career counselor at Shadle Park High School.

With the new title, she builds on her roots while attending George Westinghouse High School in Pittsburgh, Pa., when she wrote news, features, op eds and more for The New Pittsburgh Courier, a historic black newspaper.

April started subscribing to The Courier again when she began writing for The Black Lens.

In 1995, April graduated from high school, where she met her husband, Eddie. She earned a bachelor's degree at Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 1999 with a major in English and a minor in journalism.

After Eddie enlisted in the military, they were first stationed in Grand Forks, N.D., then 11 years at Beale and Edwards Air Force Bases in California—where their three children were born—followed by three years in Spangdahlem Air Force Base in Germany before he was assigned to Fairchild. He retired two years ago to stay in Spokane.

April also earned a master's degree in general administration from Central Michigan University in 2006 and a master's in education in cross-cultural teaching from National University in 2013.

While Eddie was in the military, she taught English at base schools. The couple have two young adult daughters and a 15-year-old son.

April arrived in Spokane in 2017, the year the late Sandy Williams started The Black Lens. Sandy invited April to contribute articles "any time."

Sandy was "a welcoming light" bringing April into the Spokane community. April began working at Shadle Park, where, on the heels of the pandemic, she helped recruit high school students for the Black Voices Symposium.

The signature event started four years ago under the Northwest Passages umbrella, an off-shoot of The Spokesman-Review in partnership with The Black Lens, under the vision, direction and inspiration of then Spokesman-Review and Black Lens race and equity reporter Amber Dodd.

April began leading workshops to rouse interest and participation in the symposium through The Links, Inc., Spokane Chapter, a Black women's organization founded in 1946.

It offers Black history workshops and services to youth, such as art classes, history study, poetry and essays.

The Black Lens paused in 2022 so Sandy could open the Carl Maxey Center, a Black resource center in East Central Spokane. She planned to relaunch it in 2023 but died in a plane crash in September 2022. When it relaunched as a nonprofit, nonpartisan community newspaper for the Black community in 2024, April began writing articles for it again.

"I believe in Sandy's dream. I miss her," April said. "I want to do right by Sandy, to advocate for and celebrate the local and wider Black community."

Natasha Hill was interim editor of The Black Lens until she ran for the state legislature. Then April became interim editor.

"I began as interim to see how I would do working at the school and editing the newspaper," she explained. "I love it. It went well. The Black community needs it."

April put more energy into it over the summer and wanted to create opportunities for Black youth to build their writing skills, like opportunities she had with The New Pittsburgh Courier.

"I'm able to cross pollinate my work with The Black Lens and as an educator increasing opportunities for kids," she said. "I know what journalism did for me.

"The Black Lens lets the community know who we are. It helps people know who is in the community—who is new and who has been here a long time. The Black Lens is unique to Spokane. It's a powerful force for media with the Black population that is just two percent of the city's population," she said.

April has learned that there are deep roots of Black history right here in Eastern Washington, history that is more than a century old. She has also recognized that Black people here are not a monolith.

"In interviewing and interacting with different people in the community, I have learned that there are servant leaders, innovators, entrepreneurs and activists right within our reach," she said.

"We are who we need. There is power in building community that reaches beyond us," she commented, aware of the need to "be patient, observant and bold when necessary."

April believes the divine has played a role in what she is doing.

While in the Air Force, she attended base chapels, helping with children's ministries, hospitality and gospel choirs.

After COVID, her family wanted to be part of a church in the community.

"Faith is how I got to where I am, helping me while I was away from family, raising children without extended family support and navigating uncertain territory," she said. "I am tenacious, but I know doors have opened because of the Higher Power. I do not have to figure everything out. I trust in God."

Her faith reminds her there is something bigger than herself, helping her recalibrate her life.

April grew up in the African Methodist Episcopal Church but attended Baptist and non-denominational churches over the years.

"My mother made sure through our struggles that church was part of our lives," she said. "As an adult, I learned the peace of having a personal relationship with God, learning to trust in God."

April has also been involved in communities where she has lived in the last 24 years, aware that involvement in community is a way to serve God.

In Spokane, in addition to her involvement with NAACP Spokane, The Links, Inc., and The Black Lens, April participated in the 2020 class of Leadership Spokane and recently received their Alumni Lifetime Achievement Award as "a catalyst for educating and uniting diverse, collaborative leaders to ensure a vibrant Spokane." She will be recognized at their Leadership Lights the Way Gala from 5 to 10 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 1, at Northern Quest Resort and Casino.

April has given workshops at the Carl Maxey Center and helped with summer programs at the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center.

"Ministry is not always within church walls. Christians need to be in the community where folks can see their goodness as an invitation to be involved, too. When we build relationships, we can uplift each other. That's how we show God's love," said April.

With the NAACP, she brings to her volunteer involvement with the Education Committee her perspectives from working in a school, involving youth in newspaper work and planning a documentary screening on literacy and equity in schools.

"The NAACP is a century-old civil rights organization serving the underserved," April said. "That's in line with my faith. We do difficult work, standing up for issues and fighting for people. We prioritize the least among us. Jesus served the people who were shunned and stood up for people who were treated as underdogs because of race, economics or gender.

"We are not to allow personal gain to overshadow what we do for others," she said. "I am now learning how to define ministry with people who are wronged. That is where my faith intersects with my actions."

April sees The Black Lens as a way to help people advocate for themselves.

Spokane surprised her. Here she has had an opportunity to grow as a person, gaining a sense that her purpose in life is serving people, building relationships and understanding community.

"When we live for a purpose, it does not matter where we are," April commented.

In the last two years, April has seen how "God uses us wherever we are. God was preparing me to come to Spokane," she said, adding that God guides her steps so she knows what she is to do and why she is here.

April said The Black Lens is a labor of love because it places her in the community where she has relationships that lead her to story ideas.

As editor, she selects articles, writes, edits and makes editorial decisions.

Recent issues include articles contributed by 10 to 20 writers on issues such as financial illiteracy, menthol cigarette impact, City Council news, Spokane Office of Civil Rights Equity and Inclusion, State Representative Natasha Hill, Kwanzaa and Black mental health, Black genealogy, Black Americans with kidney disease, the ownership vs. worker mentality, the NAACP Gala and various community programs.

Production support comes from Comma Community Journalism Labs with some volunteer assistance from current and former members of The Spokesman-Review newsroom.

April clarified that, despite the help, it is independent from The Spokesman.

For information, contact 360-320-6449 or email april@blacklensnews.com.