American Diary: To be Black and a journalist at this moment
For many Americans, “space” means leaving the Earth’s atmosphere and exploring the galaxy. They think of this weekend’s SpaceX launch. Or going where no one has gone before on “Star Trek.”
But the concept of space has a different meaning for African Americans. It’s about finding places in American society — white society — where we are free to just be. Those spaces have been shrinking in recent months. With the flames lit in Minneapolis spreading to other cities after yet another Black man’s death, it felt like only an airhole was left.
I am tired. Tired of how routine violence against African Americans at the hands of white people has been and continues to be. Angry as a journalist that this has happened so often that we all know the angles that must be covered, the questions to be asked, the stories to be written. Angrier still that as an African American journalist, I must explain, again and again, how dehumanizing this all is.