Why I Resigned From the Swarthmorean
I am the first Black woman editor of The Swarthmorean. That is not lost on me. Following the announcement in the paper that I was the new associate editor, I went on a walk through the Historically Black Neighborhood of Swarthmore, where my family is from. Elders and neighbors came out onto their porches to congratulate me. When I sit down to write I recall their faces, and the faces of my children and my husband. I have done my best to make them proud.
I deeply respect and admire Rachel Pastan’s vision, and the course she has set for The Swarthmorean. When Rachel interviewed me and asked me why I wanted to write for the paper, I told her it was the mission that drew me in. Underneath the Swarthmorean banner it reads “Serving Swarthmore and Surrounding Communities Since 1893.” I joined this publication to be of service, and part of that service involves making this community aware of things it may not have noticed or would rather not see.
Rarely a week goes by that someone doesn’t stop me on the street to tell me how much they love reading the paper, and how they appreciate what Rachel and I are doing. Unfortunately it seems there are many in this community who are unhappy with the number of pieces spotlighting social justice issues. Last week Rachel informed me that our publishers have decided that this group exists in critical enough mass that they would like Rachel and I to stop writing so many heavy and racially charged pieces. They would like us to return to the fun stuff that used to be in the paper.
The publishers have expressed that this is purely a business decision. They have said that there are enough people who don’t like what we’ve been writing that it will affect paper sales. I understand that for the publishers this may be a business decision, but I do not have the privilege of seeing it that way.
This is a paper that is meant to represent its community, and there are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color in this community who deserve to have their stories shared and heard no matter how palatable those stories are to the white majority.
This directive from the publishers requires that I turn a blind eye on the issues affecting these communities for the comfort of privileged white people who would rather not be confronted with the ways in which they and their neighbors contribute to the oppression of Black and other marginalized people, and I won’t do it. I did not join the paper to make everyone comfortable.
Swarthmore does not occupy a bubble wherein racism doesn’t exist. It lives here too. The lawn signs and bumper stickers and email signatures declaring “Black Lives Matter” mean nothing if you do not live and practice those words — and that includes interrogating the ways in which you and the people you love have bought into white supremacy, and all of the privilege you hold. It may not feel comfortable, but there is no way that we as a community and a country will ever find our way to a just society without that happening.
