Small thread: I was recently invited to talk to students for a class on climate & communication, and the teacher asked that I send a couple of my stories to have students read beforehand. In looking at past work, I realized... I’d messed up.1/

I’ve ended up writing a lot about the work of Native communities in Washington, especially in past environmental justice stories. There’s been a lot of growth along the way, both in general understanding of communities outside my own 2/

and in details like learning the right language when relaying these stories. Looking back, I saw that in headlines from only a few months ago, I was still using phrases like “Washington’s coastal tribes” 3/

(a city, state, or country don’t own tribes and using phrases like this perpetuates an incorrect understanding of them; more info on NAJA’s website about wording if you’re curious/want more in-depth explanation: https://najanewsroom.com/reporting-guides/) 4/

So with Crosscut’s audience team, I combed through those old headlines and fixed them. Here’s one story whose headline we fixed 5/: https://crosscut.com/2019/10/coastal-tribes-wa-are-working-escape-rising-sea-levels-bill-dc-could-help

It’s honestly a little embarrassing, especially since the mistakes I was once oblivious to seem obvious now. I feel that I’ve learned a lot, even in the span of a couple months. But I know from experience that the way we tell stories matters and doing it incorrectly hurts.6/

I’ve had people straight up tell me (after asking about my ethnicity) that they’re “scared” of Guatemala, where my family is from. To my face! It shows that spreading incomplete narratives about a place or people really impacts public perception of them.7/

It’d be easier to glaze over things I’ve messed up, but I’m trying to be open about this to remind myself that we can always do better. We owe it to each other to tell stories the right way. Hopefully sharing this might be a good reminder for others trying to do the same /end