Let’s do a show of hands: How many newsletters hit your inbox on a regular basis? If you’re anything like me, my emails are flooded to the brim with insightful, innovative content specifically from Black journalists and writers.

As Black journalists get pushed out, leave or get laid off from traditional newsrooms across the globe, many are finding ways to create their own spaces through newsletters, a platform that allows writers to have a niche, creative freedom and an audience.

There’s so much shifting and shaking in our media that it’s easy to lose sight of where your favorite journalists have moved on to, especially if they’re Black. But I’ve seen a new trend sprouting up. More journalists are channeling their creative talents and freedom into curating news through newsletters. As a Black journalist who has written a couple of newsletters herself, I am extremely excited to share the curation wealth with my peers.

Consider this edition of The Breakdown to be a newsletter about newsletters.

Meet journalist Patrice Peck. Peck started newsletter writing back in 2020 when she left BuzzFeed and launched her freelance career. Her The Wakeful newsletter is an offshoot of a previous newsletter she wrote about how COVID-19 was disproportionately impacting Black communities nationally and globally.

“Whatever motivated me to become a journalist and talk about my own experience as a Black person, and to just amplify the other experiences and voices of other Black people…that same drive is what compelled me to round up all of the news I was finding about COVID in an obsessive manner…” Peck said.

She currently has two newsletters — The Wakeful, a monthly newsletter that amplifies the latest news about Black girls and women in a ICYMI style and Cross My Mind, which is all about her personal journey as a creator and entrepreneur. I recently spoke with Peck to learn about how she got started with her newsletter, The Wakeful. 

Interview is edited for brevity and clarity.

Aaricka Washington: How did you start The Wakeful?

Patrice Peck: I wanted to have the focus be on something that I was genuinely passionate about and interested in and something that I felt was scalable, because I just always considered myself like a media entrepreneur, alongside being a journalist.

I thought what if I just continue with that curated news format, as I did with coronavirus, but instead of focusing on news about coronavirus as it relates to Black people, I can focus on news about Black girls and women, because that is what I'm passionate about – telling stories for that audience and also just amplifying Black women's voices, Black girls voices, and also amplifying others who are doing that work.

AW: How did you come up with the name The Wakeful?

PP: I didn't want to isolate others who were interested also in reading about or were just interested in whatever I was offering.

It evokes a feeling, and it references how Essence magazine is the essence of Black women, like Black womanhood and Black culture. So kind of just something a bit more, not on the nose.

I was just looking up different words, and I came across a New Yorker interview with Toni Morrison. I read that that “wakeful” was Toni Morrison's favorite word…just being wakeful and vigilant and awake. To me, I think it's always best if black people, especially black women, like, we stay WOKE.

AW: Why do you think it’s important for Black writers to write newsletters in this current sociopolitical climate?

PP: The Black press came from this need for Black people to have their own autonomous platforms and spaces where we can tell our own news, stories and histories from our own perspective and from our own gaze.

That has just always been like, tantamount to our community and to our ongoing legacy as Black people living in America in particular. And so I don't think there's ever been a time where it wasn't critical for Black people living in this country to be to invest in independent Black press. Because at the end of the day, if you control like the outlet and you control the press, you have much more power and control over the news and work that you're putting out.

Here are 25 more newsletters by Black journalists and writers that you should know (and subscribe to!)

Please let us know what you think. Email me at [email protected].

FEATURED STORY

Incarcerated firefighters face trauma without equal support and pay 

By Audy McAfee 

Incarcerated firefighters in California, who make up 30% of fire crews, face unequal treatment compared to civilian firefighters even though they do the same work. They receive significantly lower pay, limited training and very little mental health support despite facing similar trauma.

Todd Javernick, a spokesperson for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (or CDCR), told AfroLA in an email that they remain “committed to prioritizing the mental health and safety of its incarcerated firefighters while providing them with meaningful opportunities for rehabilitation."

But, John Cannon, a formerly incarcerated firefighter (now an outreach coordinator for Legal Services for Prisoners with Children,) said CDCR's response isn't true.

“ Maybe they’re trained if it’s some type of danger toward them,” said Cannon, “but not to recognize mental health or to actually assist in helping a person dealing with it.”

Cannon said he was often sent from his prison facility in Nevada to fight fires in California for multiple weeks. Not once, he said, did someone check in on his mental health and wellbeing. Read Audy McAfee's story to learn more about the severe mental health challenges incarcerated firefighters face and the support (or lack thereof) they have in times of crisis.

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THE ROUNDUP

Cory Booker breaks a 68-year-old Senate record with a 25-hour speech

By Rachel Treisman and Alana Wise

For 68 years, Strom Thurmond, an ardent segregationist who strongly opposed Black Americans having the right to vote, held the record for the longest filibuster speech in Senate history.

On Tuesday, just after 8 p.m. EDT, Democratic New Jersey Senator Cory Booker surpassed his record by over an hour. In total, he stood up and spoke for 25 hours, 4 minutes. In his speech, topics ranged from health care to immigration. He also read some letters from constituents impacted by the Trump Administration’s recent policies.

His senate floor speech was unique. It was not only broadcast on traditional media including C-SPAN, and also live on TikTok where it received more than 350 million likes. More than 115,000 people watched on his official YouTube livestream.

Why is this so important?

Well, many activists have articulated their frustration with the Democratic Party’s lack of actions against the Trump Administration. This was seen as an act of “doing something.” Booker was not working to stop specific legislation. Rather, his goal was to emphasize the threat of the Trump Administration and Elon Musk’s DOGE on the American people and others around the world. Vox calls it “political theater” and a “protest.”

Read more.

* * *

Head of African American Museum on leave as Smithsonian faces Trump pressure 

By Kriston Capps and Sophia Nguyen (Washington Post)

According to an internal email obtained by the Washington Post, Kevin Young, director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, has been on personal leave since March 14.

While there is no proof that his leave is explicitly tied to the Trump Administration’s recent executive order, the order did mention NMAAHC and several other Smithsonian and national museums for what the administration calls implementing “historical revision”.

Read more.

* * *

Radical Change Isn’t Free (A MUST-READ!)

By Ed Pilkington (The Guardian)

For the past two years, the Guardian spoke with nine children of the Black Panthers (also known as Panther Cubs) all across the nation to learn about their extraordinary upbringings with parents who pushed white supremacy’s status quo.

I love this story here because it gives such depth and breadth inside the lives and legacies of the Black Panther Party that we hardly ever get to read about or watch (there’s a 25-minute documentary too). Make sure you spend your time reading (and watching) this piece of history.

Here’s an excerpt:

From those early roots, more than 40 chapters of the Black Panther Party sprung up across the US, with international outposts in the UK, north Africa, Australia and India. The scattered branches were united by the Black Panther newspaper, which at its peak sold 140,000 copies a week, and by a common commitment to community “survival programs”. They provided free school breakfasts, medical treatment for uninsured patients, legal services for those in trouble, and prison transport for families visiting incarcerated loved ones.

The party was eventually to fall apart in 1982, ground down by the relentless hounding of the FBI and J. Edgar Hoover’s COINTELPRO [a syllabic abbreviation derived from Counter Intelligence Program] program – the covert surveillance used to infiltrate, disrupt and destroy a range of Black power groups and other radical movements deemed subversive. But by then, its young leaders had inspired a new conversation around politics and community.

And they had conceived something else: children.

Other stories I’m reading:

Black Americans describe how being a federal worker was their path to the middle class – and the heartbreak of losing it (Jireh Deng - Business Insider)

A Black Studies Curriculum Is (Defiantly) Rolling Out in New York City Bernard Mokam - The New York Times

CDC Employees say layoffs under Trump hit Black and marginalized staff hardest (Chauncey Alcorn - Capital B)

After a wildfire takes your home, how do you get your ‘soul’ back? (Adam Mahoney - Capital B)

Reproductive health clinics are losing federal funding — and conservative states will be hit hardest (Shefali Luthra - The 19th)

Inside ICE Air: Flight attendants on deportation planes say disaster is “only a matter of time” (McKenzie Funk - ProPublica)

The Trump Tariffs are how everything works now (Brian Barrett - Wired)

* * *

MORE STORIES

How should Los Angeles rebuild? The answer may exist in our building codes.

by Elizabeth Moss

January’s wildfires, including the Palisades and Eaton Fires, leveled at least 10,000 homes. Now, many people are wondering, HOW do we rebuild?

One place to look for answers is California’s strong building codes, which address threats of wildfire to structures.

California's state codes, including Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) standards, ensure that homes built in wildfire high risk areas are armored with fire-resistant materials that can withstand encroaching blazes.

But here’s the rub: The most updated standards only apply to homes built after 2008, meaning much of L.A.’s aging housing stock is not up to code. Many of the homes that were engulfed in flames in the Palisades and Eaton fires were built more than 25 years ago. And even if homes are within the WUI standards, the law is not always enforced.

When the codes are enforced, studies show they work.

In a study of homes lost during 2018’s Camp Fire, which devastated the city of Paradise, researchers found that 86% of single-family homes were built before 1990. Of those, roughly 12% survived. The odds of housing survival jumped to 43% for homes built after 2008.

“The California Building Code wildfire provisions are state of the art. They are the best way to design a home to be resistant to fire,” said Ann Jeffers, an associate professor at the University of Michigan whose research focuses on fire safety engineering. While California has building codes to address risks to destructive fires like the distance between homes, defensible space and radiant heat, there’s still so much work to be done to research, update and enforce better codes for today’s standard. Read Elizabeth Moss’s latest story to read what experts consider the way to rebuild for California’s current reality.

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