The editor of the Miami Herald replies to racist emails: NPR

The Miami Herald’s editor-in-chief Monica Richardson recently publicly responded to a racist email sent to her by a reader. Wilfredo Lee / AP hide caption

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Wilfredo Lee / AP

The Miami Herald’s editor-in-chief Monica Richardson recently publicly responded to a racist email sent to her by a reader.

Wilfredo Lee / AP

The Miami Herald’s editor-in-chief Monica Richardson could have dropped a racist email she received from a reader without a second thought. It was filled with abusive comments, ended up being called a misogynist libel, and could have been dismissed as one of many unpleasant emails journalists receive on a daily basis.

But not only did the newspaper’s first black editor-in-chief read the email without pressing “delete” – she published her answer in the newspaper.

The sender had voiced their anger the day after a Miami Herald editorial questioned why Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ anti-riot law apparently does not apply to a Cuban-American demonstration the Palmetto Expressway for blocked for several hours. The sender used several derogatory terms and phrases aimed at Richardson.

In both her response and the Morning Edition of NPR, Richardson described the email as “brutal.”

In her public response, she wrote: “Like other moments when racism is confronted, it will be with me for a lifetime.”

Richardson told Morning Edition host A Martínez that she originally wrote two versions of the column, one that was careful to be “very polite” and one that was written “from the heart.” The final version did not include the sender’s name. Instead, it opened a conversation with Miami as a whole.

“This was not about attacking this person personally, it was about the message of the reader,” she told Morning Edition. “It was the subject that I wanted to reveal, not the person.”

In response, Richardson urged Miami to get civilized if frustrated by current events.

“Miami, who are we in times of challenge? Who are we right now? She wrote.

Finally, Richardson said she refused to meet the sender’s words with silence.

“I no longer feel like we should sweep things under the rug and say, ‘It’s okay’. I’ve only been here in Florida in this role since January and it happened a couple of times that I got something and I was like, ‘OK, it’s a totally racist email, but it calls me a racist,’ you said, “People will say, ‘Oh, this is Florida, get used to it.’ And after reading that, I had a moment and thought, ‘This doesn’t have to be Florida. It doesn’t have to be something we get used to. ‘”

Josie Fischels is an intern at the NPR News Desk.

The post The editor of the Miami Herald replies to racist emails: NPR first appeared on Daily Florida Press.

from Daily Florida Press https://dailyfloridapress.com/the-editor-of-the-miami-herald-replies-to-racist-emails-npr/