BY GREGORY HEDGEPETH
So by now, you've heard that our newest President-elect is Donald Trump, a man who ran a campaign based largely on bigotry, xenophobia and fear. For the past four days, the United States has come unhinged at the prospect of his presidency as protests and riots have arisen from every corner of the country.
After the initial punch to the gut at the realization that 59 million chose hate over (at least marginal) progress, it became apparent that our mission here at Vital Narrative Press is now more important than ever. When I first started VN, it was to provide a platform to and for people of color - an ideal that has permeated through our company culture here. After seeing anti-POC protests circulate around social media, supporters of white supremacy have seemingly become emboldened by the President-elect's overt racism. While many are feeling hopeless and helpless, we plan to empower our community and stand up against the tyranny by continuing to promote our experiences to a world that feels as if we have no worth.
We refuse to allow ANYONE to keep us from achieving our purpose and we will not cower in silence. From the beginning, we've been preaching for you all to #ReadMoreBooks and #WriteMoreBooks - not because it's a catchy hashtag, but because we see tangible purpose in creating the stories that we want to see. It's because we know that, if left to the mainstream, our accomplishments and thoughts and dreams and narratives will be subject to erasure by people who see no intrinsic value in people of color. We are still very much invested in sharing our words with you and that will not change.
Our stories have always mattered - and now, they matter more than ever. In the face of adversity, we promise to remain a literary voice for you. As artists, we realize the importance of producing work that is authentic and unapologetic and plan to persist in that ideal. As always, thank you for supporting Vital Narrative.
Gregory Hedgepeth is the editor-in-chief of Vital Narrative Press. You can follow him on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. Feel free to follow on all three. Or maybe just two. Yeah, two’s probably good — he’s not that interesting. Gregory Hedgepeth is also the author of MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT SUNRISES, THE YEAR THAT ANSWERED and A COLLECTION OF ECHOES. BUY THAT SHIT.