Jonathan Capehart, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and co-host of the MS NOW program “The Weekend,” gave an uplifting, sold-out talk titled “Black Boys Like Me,” as the spring 2026 SUNY New Paltz Distinguished Speaker on March 24, 2026.
The address, which attracted more than 400 attendees in overflow seating and many more who watched the livestream, focused primarily on Capehart’s personal journey.
Click here for a link to a full gallery of Capehart's talk on campus.
Built on the foundation of his bestselling memoir “Yet Here I Am: Lessons from a Black Man’s Search for Home,” the talk described Capehart’s upbringing in a post-Civil Rights world, and his journey to success in a now-storied journalism career.
“The burden was mine to glide effortlessly between my Black family to the whiter world,” he said. “Hence, my mother's mantra, that is the mantra in every African American household, that you have to work twice as hard to be considered just as good and just as qualified as them.”
Capehart described his “childhood obsession” of someday becoming a news commentator, and how it drove him to seize every possible opportunity to achieve his goal – to the point of networking with a reporter while visiting his uncle, who was working an electrician job at the NBC News headquarters in New York.
“I can’t even imagine the look on her face when I gave her a torrent of questions about the news business, but as luck would have it, she then gave me a number to call,” he recounted. “I have no regrets trying to live my values and live out my ideals. It was my naivete that gave me the blinders and boldness needed to plow obliviously through the nonsense to live the life I wanted to live. Only in America could a kid like me with a destination but no roadmap end up where I am today.”
The Pulitzer Prize-winner imparted a key piece of advice for anyone looking to follow in his footsteps: become a journalist because you want to share stories.
“Do not go into journalism if all you want to do is be famous or be rich,” he said. “You get into this job because you have stories you want to tell.”
It’s a powerful message for young reporters hoping to follow in Capehart’s footsteps.
“I learned that it is okay to have a voice inside of your writing, and it is encouraged,” said Erika Raya ’26 (Communication – Organizational), who attended the address.
About the Distinguished Speaker Series
Now in its 17th year, the SUNY New Paltz Distinguished Speaker Series features high-profile individuals from a variety of fields, including literature, public affairs and popular culture, with each presentation attracting the campus community and the wider public, generating media coverage and providing memorable experiences for our students.
The SUNY New Paltz Distinguished Speakers is made possible by the SUNY New Paltz Foundation, The Fund for New Paltz and these important corporate and campus sponsors: Campus Auxiliary Services, M&T Bank, NBT Bank of New Paltz, Sodexo, SUNY Ulster, the Ulster Community College Foundation, Inc., Ulster Savings Bank, Woodland Pond, Central Hudson, Hudson Valley Federal Credit Union and Stewarts Shops.
