Ibram X, Kendi, Professor of History, Andrew W. Mellon Professorship in the Humanities, and Director of the BU Center for Antiracist Research, announced a partnership with The Boston Globe‘s editorial team to publish The Emancipator, an independent antiracist multimedia platform. His partner in this new endeavor is the editorial page editor at the Globe, Bina Venkataraman, and they both hope, as they build out this publication from scratch, it will help reframe today’s national conversation on race.
As Dr. Kendi told The New York Times, “If there was ever a body of people who should be arguing out the definition of a term, particularly a seemingly politically charged term like ‘racism,’ why would it not be journalists? They should define the term based on evidence.”
It will also provide a mainstream, journalistic outlet for the Center’s academic ideas and practices. This new publication gets its name from a 1820 anti-slavery newspaper. You can read more about the impetus for this publication and partnership, how BU students and faculty are involved, and what it will look like on BU Today.