An Open Letter to The Sun Magazine

An Open Letter to The Sun Magazine
June 9, 2020

Dear friends,

Last Friday as I scrolled through social media, I was heartened to see a note by David Mahaffey, The Sun’s digital-media director, about the magazine’s recent contributions to groups working to end systemic racism and your pledge to work toward being better allies. I know The Sun has supported the cause of social justice both on and off the page since its founding in 1974. It’s one of the reasons why I was drawn to work with you for 15 years, first as a staff member and later as a consultant.

After reading David’s note, I went to your website and read your announcement. I appreciated your acknowledgment of the magazine’s predominantly white staff in a homogenous publishing industry as well as your commitment to “understanding [your] privilege and overcoming [your] implicit biases.” I also appreciated your awareness that you have much work to do.

You said you welcome feedback that would make you “better allies to marginalized voices, particularly Black and brown ones,” which is why I am writing now.

What I had hoped to see in your announcement—but did not—was any mention of The Sun’s board of directors or their role in addressing these issues.

A day later, I saw that Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian had resigned from the company’s all-white board of directors, and he urged them to replace him with a black candidate. His actions constitute strong, effective leadership. Sacrificing power and privilege is necessary to make space for new voices and a diversity of leaders.

Since I came to work at The Sun in 2001, I have said loudly and often: to have a healthy, diverse nonprofit organization, you need a healthy, diverse board of directors. But unless something has changed recently, The Sun’s board is an all-white body. This is a problem. The board helps set the tone for the organization; changes in the board represent opportunities to make corresponding changes throughout the organization. Unlike staff, who tend to stay at the magazine for many years, the board’s composition is more flexible and is set at the discretion of the magazine’s current board.

When I completed my working relationship with The Sun in 2016, editor and founder Sy Safransky informally floated the idea of my joining the board. I said I would be glad to serve in that capacity only after at least two people of color had joined. I strongly felt—and continue to feel—that this change would be a good start toward making a meaningful difference in the organization. Clearly it would be just a start. To my knowledge, the board remains an all-white body. Because I would only want to serve on a healthy, well-functioning board with a diversity of voices and leaders, I chose not to join.

I say this not as an armchair critic, but as someone who loves the magazine and tried to effect much-needed change from within for many years. I pushed hard for The Sun to diversify its staff and board, and I was not the only staff member to do so. We made some strides but only got close to the beginnings of change a few times. Still, I did not personally do enough. I was not publicly vocal enough. Because of my lack of more open, disruptive leadership, I was part of the problem. I regret that, and I own that.

I know that organizational change is usually slow and often difficult—but it is possible. The Sun invites its readers to imagine and engage with greater and broader ideas of who we could be as people in fellowship. Your magazine has changed my consciousness, expanded my awareness, and opened my heart. It has challenged me time and again to deepen my understanding of what it means to be humans living together on this planet. And it has challenged me to act accordingly.

So I challenge The Sun. The magazine is a microcosm of the greater whole, both on its pages and in its people and systems. In what ways does The Sun reflect what is going on in the wider world? How does it need to change—as an organization and publication—to achieve racial equity? What will you sacrifice to make this happen? When will you do it?

I challenge The Sun’s editor and founder to allow your own pages to change your consciousness and especially your actions around issues of leadership, power, privilege, race, and social justice. I challenge you to share power more fully and fairly throughout the organization you founded so beautifully and have tended so steadfastly over the years. I challenge you to publish this letter in the magazine so readers can consider and discuss these issues alongside you all.

I challenge each board member to search your conscience as you consider your role as a steward of this tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. I challenge you to make personal sacrifices of comfort, privilege, and power to create much-needed, long-overdue space for other voices.

Though I rarely see my former colleagues and conferred with none of them as I wrote this letter, my intuition is that current Sun staff are pushing hard for meaningful change. I support you. Clearly this is a birth moment. Keep pushing.

With love,

Angela Winter
Former associate publisher; reader since 1997