A Letter From The Editors
The last two weeks have been a time of long overdue reckoning for the world. We are not the authorities to notify anyone of that, but we are also not bystanders. As has been our personal duty in the past, we will now collectively follow the charges led by the leaders we believe in and do our best to share and amplify the work they do in the hopes that our readers will follow and learn with us. Let us be clear: Black Lives Matter. All Black lives matter, every day of the year. Going forward, we will continue to update our list of Anti-Racist Resources to the best of our abilities for anyone who may need it, and give it a permanent location on our home page, as well as continuing to share information as it becomes available on social media.
From its inception, The Attic on Eighth has existed as a place for the voices of those who want to be heard. We are a young publication with much to learn still, and we hope to only become better, and stronger at purporting our values. We have failed thus far in this monumental element, and we are deeply sorry. We began and continue as a project amongst friends, self-funded and without profit. With that limitation, we have never made formal calls for submissions. To any writers, especially Black and writers of color this may have alienated into feeling unwelcome, we apologize. We are here for anything you would like to send our way, whether for submission or even just feedback and assistance.
We must also acknowledge our failure in the content we have provided. While we have sporadically been inclusive in our three years of publishing, we have not enforced this need enough amongst ourselves and our writers. Knowing firsthand the quality in stories of all cultures, this is an especially sobering fact. We know that representation matters, and it’s time we stop centering the same white narrative over and over. We are sorry we have not done better in this regard. Going forward, we will:
— Include more titles by Black and POC across all listed articles, from reading to film and other cultural recommendations. This may be a slow start but we hope to reach 50% across all lists by the end of the year.
— Publish dedicated articles to sharing Black and other creators of color, from book reviews to completely dedicated film and reading lists.
— Seek out and include more Black-owned businesses in relevant travel, gift, and beauty guides.
— Diversify our international and travel content when possible to include regions all over the world, and not solely western and European cities.
— Include these goals in all content planning conversations to ensure they are met on a regular basis.
This is purely a start, and as we work to accomplish these tasks we will hold each other accountable, and welcome you to reach us at hello@theatticoneighth.com if you’d like to discuss. We want to thank the friends and readers who have reached out already, for their advice and belief in us to do better. We hope to continue learning and taking action outside of this space as well, and encourage all of our readers to do so too.
All our best,
The Attic on Eighth