Antiracist journalism is urgently needed. That’s where we come in.

I first learned to type during the summers I spent going to the office with my grandmother. She worked for a magistrate in Pittsburgh, and she sat me within sight of her desk, trusting me to behave. I was probably eight at the time, and my only toy was a typewriter.

I was already a bookworm, so I understood the fundamental power of words. It was hardly Shakespeare, mind you, but typing next to Grandma was the first time I recall ever grasping my own power to do something with those words. Using language to stimulate critical thinking and effect change is one of the reasons why I am writing to you now. I joined The Emancipator as editor-in-chief late last year as the magazine was in the midst of a major transition, having moved from a collaboration with The Boston Globe to its new home as an independently led nonprofit newsroom, which culminates today with the relaunch of our website.

Conservative politicians (primarily) and their acolytes are working feverishly to reverse and erase civil rights gains and project the false idea that everyone is on a level playing field, particularly within the United States. Additionally, the flood of firings and layoffs within the media industry — including at my most recent professional home, The Los Angeles Times — has disproportionately affected Black and Latina journalists and media makers. With the political right poised to nominate Donald Trump once again for the presidency, I haven’t experienced a moment when the need for antiracist journalism is more explicit.

While these may be unprecedented times for me and others who aren’t yet 50, they certainly aren’t for many of you reading this. That’s why I felt it important for us to have a new section of the site, “Generations,” which will focus upon both untold histories from our elders and the ways young people are joining (and leading) the fight against all forms of racial hatred and discrimination.

Some may consider this fight unwinnable. However, just because racism remains a stubborn and indelible part of our lives doesn’t mean that there is no value in the work to destroy it. Antiracism is neither quixotic nor a Sisyphean task, despite often seeming as such. So often, we’re forced to recognize what the late Derrick Bell wrote in his seminal work, Faces at the Bottom of the Well: that particularly in a nation with blood at its root, “civil rights gains will be temporary and setbacks inevitable.”

This is apparent to anyone who has experienced it or read one of the books folks are trying to ban. However, Bell made it clear that awareness and acceptance are not the same thing.“I now understand that accepting the permanence of racism in this country does not mean accepting racism,” scholar Michelle Alexander wrote in 2018, introducing a new edition of Bell’s book. “It does not mean being a passive spectator as politicians engage in racial scapegoating.”

“I want to ensure that our stories aren’t told solely within the narrow scope of racial strife and pain. This will be an Emancipator that works towards antiracist solutions while reflecting the totality of our experiences.”

That’s why I’m here. However, it doesn’t mean we’re shifting what The Emancipator has been doing and is still here to do. As the new kid in school, I want to build upon the tremendous success The Emancipator has had to date.

The Emancipator made quite an entrance when it first launched in the spring of 2022 as a collaboration between Boston University and The Boston Globe. It quickly became an award-winning outlet, racking up an impressive list of honors and trophies. After a successful incubation period on the Globe’s platform, The Emancipator is now fully housed within the Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University. This small but passionate team has put the world on notice: We intend to lead crucial and desperately needed conversations on the state of race and racism in America.

We’re journalists, not activists, and I take that distinction seriously. We want to spur change through our audience and through those controlling our imperfect institutions. The Emancipator’s reporting and commentary, as well as our events and creative writing, will continue to inform, entertain, and agitate both those who agree with the goals of antiracism and those who do not.

Throughout my decades in journalism and media, I’ve focused primarily upon the experiences of individuals and groups who remain marginalized because of their born identity. I want to ensure that our stories aren’t told solely within the narrow scope of racial strife and pain. This will be an Emancipator that works towards antiracist solutions while reflecting the totality of our experiences. We need coverage not merely of racism, but also of the lives it affects. We’ll never make effective and lasting progress against any form of bigotry, institutional or not, if we are only visible within media spaces when terrible things happen to us. Even then, it’s evident that the mere spectacle of our suffering doesn’t spark the kind of change necessary to prevent further atrocities.

That’s why we at The Emancipator don’t consider other nonprofit outlets such as Capital B, The Marshall Project, and The 19th to be competition. I hope they’ll continue to be collaborators in a struggle that is bigger than all of us put together. You’ll see that we occasionally republish their journalism here, and we hope they do the same with ours.

In today’s media environment, we need to build new stalwarts of journalism, places where people can come and see their struggles and joys reflected accurately — and with purpose.

We’ll continue to honor the tradition and spirit of the 19th-century Emancipator, the first abolitionist newspaper in print. As our publication’s co-founder, Ibram X. Kendi, has said, “The only way to undo racism is to consistently identify and describe it — and then dismantle it.” With our new site, we’ll be working towards that goal. I hope you’ll join us.