Letter by Kyle Tibbs Jones

Photo by Christy Bush

 
 

Published in Issue No. 12

Dear Readers,

As I type this letter to you, news has just broken that comedian and late night host Jimmy Kimmel has been taken off the air for a comment he made on his show and my phone is blowing up with people texting about this insanity. At this moment, it certainly feels like America’s most basic ideals and values — the ones that have historically reached across geography, age, gender, color, and political lines — are being trampled. As more of our country and more of the world swings to the extreme right, a long dark shadow is being cast. America’s light is dimming. 

Across all of culture, freedom of speech is being suppressed. There’s also the attempted erasure of history and the suppression of truth in medicine, climate science, education, and other institutions. There’s the rolling back of our rights to live and love as we please. And while all of this is happening, television networks, politicians, courts, corporations, colleges, and tech companies are caving. What are we to do? Become our own checks and balances? Maybe so. Fight on? 100 percent yes. A few months ago we decided the theme for this issue would be “The Way Forward.” Each story here was chosen through that lens. 

This year we’ve all watched the illegal ICE kidnappings in horror. In this issue, we’re sharing a letter we originally published online in September. We do expect that the story will have evolved by the time this lands on your doorstep, but we want it here so that Mario Guevara’s important letter is on record in our print magazine. At press time, Guevara is the only known journalist being held in ICE detainment on U.S. soil. (He was arrested covering a protest in June of this year.) The Bitter Southerner worked with the Guevara family to obtain Mario’s handwritten letter and the two drawings of his cell. In his letter, Guevara describes his treatment in detainment. You will be heartsick and outraged when you read his words. We’re extremely grateful to the ACLU, the ACLU of Georgia, and the University of Georgia School of Law’s First Amendment Clinic for their help. Also, thank you to Sarah Ehlers for translating.

 
 
 
 

Staying on the topic of rogue kidnappings, renowned journalist Charles M. Blow shares powerful words. His reminder? We’ve been here before. His story is a look back and a look forward. L.A. artist Patrick Martinez’s neon on our cover reminds us that authoritarianism is relentless. I spent time with Patrick. His art is in museums across our nation. He is a good human. We’re proud to share his art with you. We’re also lucky to have Houston’s exceptional Poet Laureate, Reyes Ramirez, write our “Letter From Home.” Posthumously, we’re sharing new work by the great poet Nikki Giovanni. There’s a gorgeous story by Nylah Iqbal Muhammad about her way forward – living off the land, and in Jennifer Justus’ “All Praise to the Lunch Ladies,” we meet the cherished women who watch over America’s hungry children in school cafeterias. Big beautiful hearts. Please, please give us a second helping of that.

I’ll close with this. With our First Amendment rights in this most precarious position, we need your help to continue lifting important voices. Please subscribe to our magazine. If you haven’t signed up for our newsletter, please do. If you have the means, please support our online store and know that when you share our stories, wear our shirts, and fly our flags, YOU are a light in the darkness. You are letting someone know they are not alone. It’s so important. Thank you.

Remember we love you, and we’ll get through all of this together.

— Kyle

Kyle Tibbs Jones
Co-Founder & Editor

 
 
 
 

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