Amber Payne

These turbulent times remind me of how I first felt when I took on the challenge of helping transform a bold vision into a modern abolitionist newsroom. I knew from the start that I wanted to create a platform to inform, engage, and agitate; to braid history and social context with evocative storytelling. This was my chance to disrupt and renounce legacy mainstream newsrooms’ perpetuation of racist narratives, problematic framing, and formulaic approaches to covering communities of color.

We have some big news to share. This summer, our co-founder Dr. Ibram X. Kendi will be moving to Howard University to be a professor of history and build the Institute for Advanced Study, which will be dedicated to the interdisciplinary study of racism in the global African Diaspora. The institute will revolve around a competitive Residential Fellowship Program where an annual international class of fellows will pursue impactful projects across disciplines and fields.

This story was first published in Critical Thinking. Four years ago this month, many of us came to grips with a politically fractured nation and a shredded democracy as a violent riot engulfed the U.S. Capitol. We feared the threat to burn it all down was in fact, literal. Four years later and just one week into 2025, the fire is here. All week we’ve watched apocalyptic wildfires consume Southern California.