In 1894, the NYT called Ida B. Wells a "slanderous and nasty-minded mulattress" for daring to tell the truth about lynching. 100 years later she earned the Pulitzer Prize. These efforts to discredit my work simply put me in a long tradition of BW who failed to know their places.

If my work makes comfortable powerful people who believe they are the gatekeepers of the American narrative and who should tell it, I am failing. In other words, I am unbothered. I take these actions as a badge of honor.

As a result, I have officially retired the "Beyonce of Journalism" for a more appropriate description. Be best.