FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESK:

What is USARiseUp?

In the summer of 2008, RiseUp, a weekly print publication, arrived on a crowded media stage, chock-a-block with dailies, weeklies and magazines. Its focus was race—a “beat” often overlooked by the mainstream press—and it promised to offer a fresh take on it. It appeared as an insert in 12 papers including the New York Daily News, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, Kansas City Star and St. Louis Post-Dispatch, among others.

Despite an overwhelming response and a circulation of 4 million, a few issues later, an economic downturn and reduced advertiser and investor spending forced it to disappear. A year (and many teardrops) later, in March 2009, it reappeared—as USARiseUp magazine.

USARiseUp, the digital offspring of RiseUp, is an online magazine about race and ethnicity that celebrates people of different cultures and color. Its physical home is located in the American heartland, in Kansas City, Missouri.

What is our mission?

Our mission is to provide a forum where everyone (and we mean, everyone) can engage in an ongoing conversation about race matters—topics they may not be comfortable chatting about in their office hallways, street corners, grocery-store isles and even their own living rooms.

We intend to do that through a wide range of in-depth and informative articles, spread over the three editorial departments:  

1. Lead Stories
2. Features Sections
3. The Blog Zone   

 Each month, in our fully-downloadable, PDF-formatted Webzine, we will cover issues in the areas of business, cultural uniqueness, education, ethnic foodways, health and politics.

Every week, our stable of writers—who are strewn across the length and breadth of the country and belong to various ethnicities—will post blogs about topics not covered in our Webzine.

 And you, as reader, will have the opportunity to tell us how well you liked (or not) our stories by rating them and typing in your comments. Additionally, you will also be able to send us your questions, have them published and answered by our staff and panel of experts.  

Why the name USARiseUp?

It is because we’d like to elevate our thinking about each other. Hence, we’ll always strive to be uplifting even when we’re addressing tough, sensitive and emotionally-charged subject matters. 

 Why USARiseUp now?

 It has been difficult to identify one seminal event that set us on the course to develop this online magazine. Many things have been a source of motivation. Primarily my own life’s journey, from growing up on a farm in Mississippi in the Sixties, completing college and graduate school in the very early days of integration, to being among many “firsts” or the few—whether in corporate America or in the backyard of my neighborhood.

My path has compelled me to ponder weighty and tough questions as I’ve experienced and witnessed both the ugly and beautiful, dismay and hope, despite the great racial divide.

Through it all, one thing has become abundantly and irrefutably clear: the quality of my interracial and intra-racial experiences and conversations, whether positive or negative, have been directly contingent upon and proportionate to the level of knowledge and understanding about race or ethnicity that framed each encounter. No doubt during your journey, you can recall many such experiences of your own.

It has become equally clear that we cannot continue to judge an entire race or ethnic group by the persistent negative actions of a few. We have, for too long, allowed such images to govern and order our world, in our thoughts, in our deeds.

We, at USARiseUp , believe that if we have an ongoing opportunity to learn more about each other, we can gain a better understanding of our differences, find great comfort in what we have in common and build a strong foundation upon which we can bridge our divisions.

USARiseUp will not be a platform to champion the causes of one race or ethnic group over another. We will strive for balance and inclusiveness in all its content.

This is a magazine about us—all of us—and our need to better understand each other, to build better communities, cities, nations and ultimately, a better world.

We are not approaching this subject wearing rose-colored glasses. We are taking it on with an unswerving commitment to make things better.

We recognize we may make mistakes. But with your input we will get better and better in each publication.

We look forward to taking this journey together because we truly believe …

Together, we will RiseUp!

Janice S. Ellis, Ph.D.

Publisher & Executive Editor