Quote of the Day: Who Cares If We Smeared the Wrong Person?

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From Kevin Powell, activist and dance producer, after unleashing an enormous smear campaign which turned out to be targeted at the wrong person:

Regardless if we had proof or not, what we do have proof of is the historical reality of being a person of color in America and having people talk to you in any kind of foul way and thinking it’s okay, even in the state of Minnesota that’s supposed to be liberal and progressive.

City Pages has the whole dismal story, which is worth a read. The obvious lesson here is that you should take at least minimal care before you wreak havoc on someone’s career. The other lesson is that it’s really not that hard to apologize when you make a mistake. Really.

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We were built for times like these

Russian bots are impersonating us. Trump and his allies want to silence us. AI wants to (and does!) steal our content. The list goes on. But with 50 years of experience, we know we were built for this moment: We’re ready to keep diving deep and uncovering the truth, then getting that to you right here, completely accessible and never behind a paywall.

While our work is free to read, watch, and listen to online, it’s incredibly costly to make. Court documents, travel, research: It all adds up. Because we’re a nonprofit newsroom, we rely on reader support to fund our investigations. Will you stand with us in these extraordinary times, as headlines clamour for our attention and disinformation is rampant? We can’t get the truth out without you.

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