Welcome to Black Diplomats Newsletter!
Foreign policy is one of the most elusive subjects in media to understand. It’s the one subject that journalists indirectly tell us we can’t participate in because we aren’t “experts.”
We’re squeezed out of the conversation because most of us aren’t think tank scholars, professors, ex-diplomats or foreign correspondents. That’s all you see as guests on any segment talking about foreign affairs. And they’re almost always exclusively white men. I wanna flip that model on its head with the Black Diplomats newsletter.
This is the go-to destination for foreign affairs news for the people who foreign policy directly impacts. Be the Russian invasion of Ukraine, South Africa’s lawsuits against the U.S. and Israel, Black voters who feel in competition with immigrants being bused into their communities or the role foreign policy impacts our lives in general, I want to build a community of readers who feel empowered to voice their opinions of how we all should be responding to it.
Because I have experience working in Europe and the Middle East, I believe I can fill gaps between well-meaning audiences who don't understand why the other side thinks the way they do. I seek liberation for Palestine, Ukraine, Sudan and all oppressed peoples and have no problem calling out world powers that aid in their oppression.
If you want to be part of a morally-consistent foreign policy community, come sign up and help me grow it. Mainstream media isn’t doing it, so we have to create our own inclusive media space. Help me do it!
Why Support My Work?
Because there aren’t that many reporters who are telling stories that speak to the heart of what’s happening with all oppressed peoples and amplifying every voice—be it the Palestinian in Gaza, the Ukrainian in Bucha or the internally-displaced person in Sudan.
My newsletter will report on under-reported peoples of the world and give them a voice you can hear and respond to right here in this newsletter.
You also will be part of a community. You’ll be able to participate in threads throughout the week that touch on news that comes up that’ll seek your opinion about how we should think about it and the best ways we as citizens should respond.
News reporting is expensive and I do not have a full-time job. This newsletter is my job.
For each person who is able to become a paid subscriber to my Substack, I will give you access to me. That is the perk of supporting my work. That will include monthly Zoom meetings in which I discuss my reporting work and some of the behind-the-scenes stuff I do to produce the journalism you pay for. I will also bring on guests, when possible. You will be able to post comments and engage other folks who, like you, value my work.
The community building part of my Substack is the real prize. I want you to have special, insider access to how I think. You’ll be able to see inside of the hood of how my reporting process works and why I choose to cover stories the way I do and you get to ask me why I made certain choices about who I report on and what angles I take.
I’m pretty sure you don’t get to ask news reporters at the New York Times or CNN why they make the news decisions they make and meet with them monthly.
You will with me!
And if you really want to support me, become a founding member and you will get a free Black Diplomats t-shirt and a special postcard from Ukraine or wherever I happen to be in the world outside of the United States! But mainly you will be going a HUGE way to keeping this alive. And in turn, keeping the stories of the people I cover alive too. In other words: YOU MAKE THE DIFFERENCE.
