In 2015, I created RaceBaitr after realizing that even out of the few publications that claim to center Black voices, it was nearly impossible to find one that didn’t operate out of fearing a backlash to Black radical politics. If a Black writer was allowed a platform at these publications at all, it was only if they fit into an ultimately nonthreatening mould. Even as a young writer I knew that refusing to threaten the status quo would never free us.
Throughout too many editing processes, I found myself frustrated by how constantly I came up against this fear, and how intent its wielders were to neuter any messages that sought to honestly engage with Black radicalism. It became increasingly clear to me that there were powerful forces in place to prevent certain claims, politics, and positions from being recognized as part of the public conversation, no matter how measurable their impact on and implication for these conversations truly was. If I were to continue writing, I knew I had to create something different—for myself and others dealing with this reality.
I named this site RaceBaitr because I knew racebaiting would be the charge lobbed at those who embraced the claims, politics, and positions that would seriously threaten the anti-Black status quo. I knew it would mean we would be accused of being “reverse racists,” of “playing the race card,” and I knew how effective those charges were at being a deterrent—of frightening us into submission to the way things are. So instead of running from them, I chose to embrace these accusations. Call us whatever you like. Here at RaceBaitr, we are doing the work to deconstruct anti-Blackness regardless.
This is necessarily work that is classed, gendered, and impacted by a myriad of oppressive systems, and at RaceBaitr we have never shied away from addressing the full scope of our predicament, even as we consciously rooted our platform in Blackness. And over the years, RaceBaitr has grown into something I could have never imagined. Now ran by a small but spectacular staff—Senior Editor Arielle Newton, Deputy Editor Timothy DuWhite, and Social Media Coordinator Rachael Edwards—we have published hundreds of pieces by dozens of Black writers, with a sustained emphasis on the voices of women, queer and trans folk, and disabled writers. And we have paid every single one of them with your support.
From day one, I was committed to valuing the voices for whom RaceBaitr was lucky enough to provide a home in a different way than other publications. In the beginning, I paid a small stipend to each contributor out of pocket, but as RaceBaitr grew and our influence spread, we were able to build a consistent network of donors that gave us the ability to pay our staff and writers competitive rates. Your support reinforced the importance of the work we do, and ultimately allowed us to do this work on a new scale.
RaceBaitr has become a home for serious conversations around critical race theory, prison abolition, gender politics and more, and our writers deserve a serious platform for their work. That’s why we couldn’t be more excited to share with you our brand new professional look, and all that we plan to do from here!
With your support, we have been able to pay our staff and writers closer to what they deserve. We have been able to grow our staff, and impact conversations in classrooms, organizations, and households around the globe. But we aren’t done with our work yet. We need further help to support other mediums outside of creative non-fiction, to increase our output from more than approximately 2 published pieces a week, and to do more writing workshops for Black writers in your hood.
We are asking for your continued support so that we can make these plans a reality. If you haven’t already, please join our network of donors by pledging a small (or large!) monthly contribution on Patreon, or by making a one-time Paypal donation today. You can also purchase RaceBaitr’s Black Bloggers Fundamentals Toolkit, all proceeds of which go to our contributors, which makes a perfect gift for your writer friends this Holiday season. And make sure you are following us @racebaitr on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, and subscribe to our newsletter at the bottom of the page!
We hope you love the new RaceBaitr, and can’t wait for you to see what else we have in store!
