Reading Roundup for November 2018

“Diversity as a Second Job” by Vann R. Newkirk II for Columbia Journalism Review: “But first I had to do a few things for my “second job,” the collection of unspoken responsibilities involving diversity, inclusion, and development that I’ve inherited as a journalist of color. In the parking lot, I fired off a series of texts to other black journalists at The Atlantic, with whom I’d attended a convention of the National Association of Black Journalists the day before, in New Orleans. With my car’s air conditioning battling against August heat, I conducted an informal debrief on which promising black journalists from the convention might come to work at the magazine. I then reached out to a larger group of writers of color, colleagues, friends, and people I mentor. This was another kind of debrief. Dozens of times, I sent the same question: “You okay?” By the time I got on the road, it was dark.”

“The Negro Motorist Green Book and Black America’s Perpetual Search For A Home” by Carvell Wallace for The Toast: “This is why, with my dying mother in the passenger seat of the car, I drove through a storm that turned the entire sky an impenetrable white. Slowly and carefully, my hands gripping to the wheel, breathing to keep myself calm, giving just enough gas to keep from spinning out and to make sure we kept moving. We had to keep moving. No matter what. Even past the cars and trucks that littered the side of the road, having surrendered to the obvious authority of the sky.”

“Targeted Advertising Is Ruining the Internet and Breaking the World” by Dr. Nathalie Maréchal for Motherboard: “Social media companies are advertising companies. This has never been a secret, of course. Google pioneered the targeted advertising business model in the late 90s, and Sheryl Sandberg brought the practice to Facebook in 2008 when she joined the company as chief operating officer. The cash was flowing in, and companies around Silicon Valley and beyond adopted the same basic strategy: first, grow the user base as quickly as possible without worrying about revenue; second, collect as much data as possible about the users; third, monetize that information by performing big data analytics in order to show users advertising that is narrowly tailored to their demographics and revealed interests; fourth, profit.”

“How colonial violence came home: the ugly truth of the first world war” by Pankaj Mishra for Guardian: “Faced with manpower shortages, British imperialists had recruited up to 1.4 million Indian soldiers. France enlisted nearly 500,000 troops from its colonies in Africa and Indochina. Nearly 400,000 African Americans were also inducted into US forces. The first world war’s truly unknown soldiers are these non-white combatants.”