Race

black queer woman lydia polgreen named huffington post editor-in-chief

December 8, 2016

What kind of resume is required to run one of the biggest, most powerful news websites in the world? And what would you think that person looks like? If you’re like many of us, because of habit and social conditioning, you’d imagine an ivy league graduate, with experience at a top news outlet like the New York Times, and years of hard work and dedication, which is all true of the new Editor-In-Chief of Huffington Post, Lydia Polgreen. What that conditioning might also suggest is that this woman would be a cisgendered white person, but that doesn’t describe Lydia one bit. The Black Columbia grad and NYTimes alum happens to be a Black queer woman and is gearing up to stand at the helm at the news and lifestyle giant. What folks don’t understand about representation is that your identity informs the way that you approach your work, just like it informs the food you eat, where you live, and what you care about. So the hope is that with this appointment, Huffington Post knows that Lydia Polgreen will treat each piece of news that crosses her desk with the nuance and care that only a queer woman of color could. And for that, we say congrats and well done!

By T. McLendon, AFROPUNK Contributor

Photo courtesy of YahooNews

Related