I'm thrilled to check in from Bamberg to announce our newest editorial hire: Josie Duffy.
Josie comes to us from the Center for Popular Democracy, where she provided legal and advocacy assistance on voting rights and racial justice issues. In the YouTube video above, you can see her give the commencement address at her Harvard Law School graduation in 2013. As you can see, she is a pretty remarkable person.
While working as a lawyer, she came to a similar realization that I did after law school—that she could have a bigger impact on the issues she cares about by writing about them.
So I am thrilled that we will be lending our megaphone to Josie, to reinforce the great work that Shaun King has been doing for us the last year. Given her legal background, Josie will focus a great deal on the systemic side of racial injustice—from shedding light on district attorneys to process in the courts to the prisons and everything in between.
I don't want to make light of what Shaun is currently having to endure, but I can't help but shake my head at the current right-wing hysteria over him. They think they are damaging him and the Black Lives Matter movement, but they've done nothing but elevate his stature, send a message that he is someone to fear, and confirm our conviction that investing in social justice writers is the right and smart thing to do.
So rather than question our commitment to this cause, we've just doubled down. I can't wait to see how uncomfortable Josie makes the crazies, because if we've learned one thing this week, it's that they are fully invested in this crooked system and will cling to their racism to the bitter end.
And we're invested in changing that.