In the late sixties and early seventies, before she was known as an author, Morrison was a Random House trade editor who almost singlehandedly introduced black radical activists to mainstream American readers. No single editor or major publishing house has surpassed Morrison’s contribution in the intervening four decades. Cofounder of the Black Panther Party Huey P. Newton (To Die for the People, 1972); prison activist and Black Panther field marshal George Jackson (Blood in My Eye, 1971); and Angela Davis (Angela Davis: An Autobiography, 1974) were all published by Morrison at Random House. Morrison did not necessarily embrace these ideologies, but believed it was invaluable that they circulate in the marketplace of ideas—despite their demonization by the U.S. government.
Cameron Kunzelman on "centering" race in Real Life Magazine...
Booker, as a Black politician, is obliged to perform hope for America’s future even as its legacy of racialization and oppression is being brought to bear on him. He has to recognize that he’s being fundamentally devalued by the institution he has invested in (which, indeed, has a long legacy of such devaluing as part of its role in maintaining racial hierarchy). His rhetorical negotiation of the tension between his power as a Senator and his power as a Black man marks his saturation point. He has to stand up and defend a racial justice bill with the entire force of his history as a Black man against the bureaucratic “neutrality” of a procedural argument. It clearly pains him to do so, and the institution eats that pain without any regard for him as a person or his well-being. And the next time it comes up for a vote, he’ll have to do it again.
A tribute to the late Riley Gale from Sam Reiss…
Riley was also most generous, as generous, with people who didn’t have anything traditionally productive going on, who wanted to be in the mix and hang out or make time; no one needed to justify their existence to be close to him, they were accepted as people… he pulled them close, not what they did, and he would be very cool to them…. it’s nice to see that kind of acceptance. He would also bring massively successful people into the mix as just another friend, or transpose them from one milieu to another… “this is my friend who happens to just churn out comics for a living… that’s how she pays her rent… this fool here makes movies… you guys would totally get along and you have to meet them…” and so we did… and they would be along for the ride or off to the sideline or taking part in some back room somewhere or hearing some story about pissing on a statue in Europe, everyone in the circle as if they had been in the mix with him since he was young in Denton… and that would be a trip for them too.