Dear friends,
We at The Common are ashamed by this country’s injustices and support the nationwide protests against anti-Black racism, white supremacy, and police brutality.
Our mission has always been to serve as a public gathering space for the exchange of observations and ideas. Now more than ever we apply ourselves to the work of soliciting and amplifying voices that illuminate.
While we as an organization take a pause to read widely, talk about how literature is perceived and elevated, and lend our voices and footsteps to positive change where we can, we reaffirm that The Common is a platform for diverse writers.
As part of our ongoing commitment to provide a space for and promote Black and other marginalized writers, at this moment we particularly invite your timely submissions of poetry or prose to our place-centric Dispatches column (no submission fee, paid honorarium), and we will do our best to respond quickly. What does your neighborhood look, sound, feel, taste and smell like? How is it changing, and how do you want it to change? Are you in a small town, a large city, overseas? What acts of community-making are you engaged in, and how are those around you making their voices heard?
While words are not enough, they have their place, and we recommit to The Common as a home for urgent, truth-telling voices during this moment and into the future.
Working together,
Jennifer Acker & The Common team
