Reading abt Ma’Khia Bryant & those who think she deserved state execution bc she had a knife, I am reminded of when I pitched a sad story I wanted to write at a @villagevoice staff mtg, abt a mentally ill Black woman who was killed by the NYPD.

It was a low point of my career.
When I said the woman was mentally ill and homeless & deserved a health intervention other than police, the Voice EIC, @TonyOrtega94 SCREAMED at me. SCREAMED at the top of his lungs that if you had a knife and the cops show up you, you were going to be killed.
Ortega was easily the most abusive editor I have ever had. And all these years later, I still remember the humiliation of him screaming at me in front of the staff on that day. How could I be so stupid, he screamed, not to get that the woman deserved to be killed by the cops?
The rage he had at how I was wasting their time with that pitch.

So, the mentally ill woman was killed and got little press coverage but a short write up in the tabs.

My humiliation was nothing compared to her murder—but my experience is informative.
When journos don& #39;t have compassion abt ppl killed by the state (or even rigor to further explore what the state said it did), it robs the dead & their readers of their humanity.

& when editors accept state execution for alleged crimes, they rob writers of their humanity, too.
And so, there was never a Voice story abt that woman, her mental illness or how she became homeless. Not abt what the city may have done in that moment or to prevent such a moment from ever happening.

The state execution of a Black woman was not newsworthy bc she had a knife.
These kinds of experiences affect what people pitch, how journalism gets made. Having seen how viciously I was rebuked for even pitching such an idea, I imagine everyone in that room would likely think twice abt pitching a story abt mental illness & police killings for some time.
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