In summer of 2020 I became a news hermit. I started my mornings with bad instant coffee and a podcast. I filled my afternoons and evenings with articles: I read and read and read. As a journalism student, most of this was not new for me, but in the setting of quarantine summer when casual activities tended to become all-consuming, the news began to consume me. 

 

I started observing trends in the media, specifically regarding conversations about race and intersectionality. I grew frustrated with how little race was incorporated in the news, at a time when rampant racial violence and injustices were in public focus. I envisioned a magazine of people from diverse communities — a kind of citizen journalism — who could share dialogue surrounding race and intersectionality. I wanted to unlearn and rethink the traditional journalistic practices I learned in my own studies and spaces, and what novel strategies could benefit the goals of the magazine. 

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Eraced Magazine's goals: 

• transparency: where is our news coming from? 

• inclusion: celebrating difference 

• race and intersectionality: how can we incorporate context and provide in-depth reporting  

• range of subjects and mediums 

• strong visuals

• steady social media presence

• amplify BIPoC voices 

• thriving community of content creators 

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With these goals I locked myself in my bedroom (after purchasing a french press) and started to work.