Washington Post Launches Black Slate

New York Times:

In attempt to broaden its online audience, The Washington Post Company on Monday is to introduce an online magazine primarily for a black audience, with news and commentary on politics and culture, and tools for readers to research their family histories.

Henry Louis Gates Jr., a writer and a professor of African and African-American studies at Harvard, is the editor in chief of the magazine, called The Root, which he conceived with Donald E. Graham, chief executive of the company. The magazine is based in Washington, free to readers and will be found at www.theroot.com.

Several well-known authors and scholars have agreed to contribute to The Root, including Malcolm Gladwell and William Julius Wilson. The managing editor is Lynette Clemetson, who was until recently a reporter in Washington for the The New York Times and previously was a national and foreign correspondent for Newsweek.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[Tator]

To point out how racist this is and has been over the years with Miss Black America and such I like to do the mirror image and see how it is responded too.
How about White Slate, or White Miss America and you see how Liberals only apply blatant racism rules to non-blacks.
It is going to get real interesting in America when the growing Hispanic population wants to have Hispanic Miss America.
The reaction of Liberals will depend solely on which side of the political spectrum Hispanics end up on. If Hispanics end up the majority Republican then Miss Hispanic America will be demagogued as racist. If they end up mostly Democrats it will be celebrated as America showing its diversity.
The major cause of racism in America is the double standard Liberals apply to their own that foster even more racism.
Spend some time in black neighborhoods and you will hear a constant hum of anti-white racist statements yet not only is this never mentioned by Liberals it is also never discouraged.
If Liberals had applied the same standard to blacks as applied to whites after 50 years their would not be much of a problem.
White have been re-educated (correctly) to abandon racist dialogs and ideas. Blacks on the other hand never have been influenced in the same way, in fact Liberals have run interference and encouraged "hate the white folks (unless their Liberals).
Liberalism is the major cause of racism in America today because they never corrected the racism in the black community.

[realitytrumpsbull]

Looks like pandering to me.

[batnib]

Umm, so is this divisive, race baiting? Or, is it like Black Enterprise, Ebony, Jet and countless other black publications, good business and an attempt to reach a larger number of black consumers/­readers...­.

Can Washington Post editorials seriously criticize one candidate or another for focusing intensely on race, racializing America when it is launching a magazine in 2008 specifically targeting blacks....­or is this just proof that our country still has separate communities and that we have to appeal to each of them differentl­y....inter­esting

[prscnt1]

WASHPOST should be ashamed to start race focused magazine when we need to be all one thing - Americans. When would post start Chinese American magazine, Indian American, Muslim American, Red American American, and on and on.

POST practices "triangulation" to strangulate us all.

I cancelled my subscription to the POST.

[Zhonni]

I don't think it is a good idea.

This is not the way of the future. I don't know what they are trying to say that blacks don't read the Post as is?

If they want to do something special, they should probably have a minority section. I think that would do instead of going back to the slavery days.

BAD IDEA!!!

[jesuswazasocialist]

To the censor that will read this.
As an Australian commentator on Huffpo I have noticed that any comment to do with Afro American issues is first read by a censor.
Are Race issues still that sensitive in America? I thought by 08' America would be more mature. It appears that it is not.
Go to the Sydney Morning Herald Website and observe all the comments to do with the Australian Prime Minister saying Sorry to our Aboriginals.
We seem more mature and open about this issue then the US which is a bit of a surprise considering Obama and all.

[jesuswazasocialist]

The Root that word has got something to do with sexual intercourse in Australia, and I am not kidding either.

[revko]

So "Slate" is now the caucasian version of "Slate"?