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The #BlackatLAT action has drawn a lot of attention to the struggles faced by Black journalists in our newsroom. But I also want to highlight their work, which is inspiring to me as a journalist:
At random, I’ll start with this memorable 2017 story by former entertainment writer @TrevellAnderson, who dismembered the Hollywood trope that Black films don’t do well internationally. https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-black-movies-global-audience-myth-20170324-story.html
What about this stirring 2019 piece by @AngelJennings about how a journey to his family’s homeland of Eritrea shaped the late Nipsey Hussle’s activism, a trip that “split his life into before and after.” https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-nipsey-hussle-south-eritrea-south-los-angeles-20190407-story.html
Here’s another good story from 2019: @Storiz fascinating interview with Sherrie Silver about the choreography for Childish Gambino’s “This is America.” https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-ms-grammys-this-is-america-choreographer-20190211-story.html
This @kurtisalee on the Oklahoma Eagle, a long-running Black newspaper that has helped keep the memory of the Tulsa Massacre alive was poignant and beautiful: https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-05-22/one-newspaper-never-forgot-the-tulsa-race-massacre
I mentioned earlier the essential voice that @makedaeaster has brought to LAT dance coverage. This tribute to Tyrone Proctor who popularized waacking taught me so much. (Also the detail about Proctor sneaking into the Soul Train lot is priceless.) https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2020-06-12/tyrone-proctor-dies-dancer-waacking-soul-train
“The Lizzo of today is the same Lizzo that’s been grinding for years. The truth is, she can’t help but wonder what took the world so long to come around.” Music writer @GerrickKennedy’s last profile fills you with some serious Lizzo positivity. https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2019-12-11/lizzo-2019-artist-year
I also really enjoyed @sonaiyak’s oral history of Gina Prince Bythewood’s “Love and Basketball, a film that “offered a glimpse at a rarely depicted slice of Black life.” And tells some stories about how casting works. https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2020-04-21/love-and-basketball-oral-history-20-year-anniversary
Or what about the time @GeBraxton watched a marathon of Hallmark Christmas movies? “Resistance,” as he writes, “was futile.” https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/la-et-st-grinch-watches-hallmark-movies-20171219-story.html
And there’s photographer @socalbreeze who has photographed so many things in his long tenure at the Times I don’t know where to start. But he took some of the iconic images of the ‘92 uprising, so I’ll start there. https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-fw-times-riot-photos-unfurled-20170427-htmlstory.html
And @JasonArmond was in Minneapolis for days, getting some incredible images — capturing the details of George Floyd’s funeral. https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-06-04/george-floyd-memorial-marks-moment-of-healing-and-reckoning-for-minneapolis-and-country
There are countless more. All of these stories are an essential part of what we do and so are the journalists who do them. #BlackatLAT
Someone just DM’d to remind me of this beautiful story by @lynellgeorge on the Islands of L.A. from 2008, “They are the pause in the city’s long, rambling monologue to itself.” https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-may-11-ca-islands11-story.html
