REPORTER ERIC WILLIAMS HONORED

Libby Tonkin

YFP is proud to announce that frequent contributor and WBAI reporter Eric Williams, has been honored by the NYC City Council with a distinguished proclamation. Eric authored an award winning report on I-B-C. This is a virulent form of breast cancer that has a propensity for Black and Latino females.

COUNCIL MEMBERS CITY OF NEW YORK
PROCLAMATION
Whereas: In observance of October as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we, the undersigned Council Members, are proud to honor journalist Eric K. Williams for his distinguished contributions to raising public awareness and advancing our knowledge of breast cancer; and

Whereas: Mr. Williams, a native New Yorker, is a widely respected thirty year veteran of both print and broadcast journalism who has plied his trade over the years in the American South, Midwest, and in Europe as well as New York City; and

Whereas: In October of 2006, Reporter and Producer Eric K. Williams aired the Evening News program “Inflammatory Breast Cancer: The Unknown Killer,” an eight part series that touched tens of thousands of women in the New York City metropolitan area. WBAI radio listeners soon flooded the station with requests for more information about I-B-C, as the disease is also known. It is a disease that strikes all women but, for reasons unknown to scientists, women in North America, particularly women in the Black, Latino and Asian communities are among those most vulnerable to this unique form of breast cancer disease; and

Whereas: Eric Williams first became aware of I-B-C in 2006, during a visit to Sydney, Australia, from an old friend, Libby Tonkin, who is afflicted with this disease and who was also eager to raise awareness about I-B-C. To date, only two American broadcast outlets have aired stories about I-B-C: WBAI-FM in New York and KOMO-TV in Seattle, Washington; and

Whereas: in May of 2007, the New York-based Society of the Silurians, America’s oldest and most prestigious press and writers group, bestowed its Excellence in Journalism Award in the category of community service upon Mr. Williams. It was the first such major award issued to a reporter from WBAI radio in more than 17 years. The Silurian award also fostered greater regional and national attention to I-B-C. Mr. Williams has also been invited to speak at the First International Inflammatory Breast Cancer conference in Houston, Texas in December 2008; and

Whereas: Mr. Williams has fortified and enriched us with his commitment to journalistic excellence and he is worthy of the esteem of all New Yorkers; now, therefore
Be it Known: We, the undersigned Council Members, most gratefully honor
Eric K. Williams
for his outstanding contribution in journalism and in the fight against breast cancer.
Signed this 31st day of October in the year Two Thousand and Eight. The proclamation was signed by Council Members, John Liu, Tony Avella and, Diana Reyna of Queens. Council Member Annabel Palma of The Bronx and, Council Members Bill de Blasio and, Letitia James of Brooklyn.