Hey My Friends!

Welcome to the brand new home of The North Star!

We’re proud to announce that we’ve joined the brilliant team at Substack - which we think is the single best hub for authors and publishers in the world. We’re going into our third year as an independent, Black-owned and operated, grassroots media company and I can’t wait to tell you all about where we’ve been and where we’re going. Substack allows us to be able to just focus on writing and producing our podcasts while they provide exceptional systems to make sure we stay online with a fast reliable website, with great customer service and account management features.

We’re not just here to repeat what you see everywhere else, we are unashamedly here to advocate, agitate, disrupt, and mobilize. Like the original North Star that was launched in 1847 to confront and abolish slavery, we wear our heart and our mission on our sleeve. We are here to fight for freedom and help us all get free.

And today begins our first annual membership drive as we push for 25,000 new members of The North Star! 504 people have already joined and we’d love for you to become a member today!

As you may have noticed, I am now writing writing a brand new daily column!

In my years as Senior Justice Writer at the New York Daily News, Writer-in-Residence at Harvard Law School, and Justice Writer for The Intercept - I was one of the most read, most shared writers in the world on issues at the nexus of race and power. I’m going to pick up where I left off here at The North Star. Starting tomorrow, most of my articles will be for members and subscribers only. If you are already a member of The North Star, you don’t need to join again! The team at Substack ported your membership from our old platform to this new one, OK?

One of the strangest lies we keep seeing people share about The North Star is that we never launched. Social media counts on people simply believing anything they see or hear without actually confirming it. When you become a member, you will get immediate access to over 2,000 original articles, commentaries, and essays from our archive here.

In addition to publishing over 2,000 articles, our gifted team has produced over 500 podcast episodes for 6 different original podcast series. As a member, you will get access to every episode here.

We’re incredibly proud of what we’ve built and how we’ve made it this far without any debt or loans, without a single dollar owed to outside investors or corporations, and without having one single ad on our website as we go into our third year. Let me tell you what this means…

It means we are un-bought and un-bossed.

It means we can literally write or speak about any corporation or corrupt leaders - speaking truth to power without fear of them being able to hold it against us or cancel us in any kind of way.

This is the power of being independent and fully funded by our members. And it’s why I am asking you to join now and support our work!

In addition to my new daily column, you are going to regularly be able to hear from one of my favorite writers in the world - Donney Rose - who is now our Chief Content Editor here. Here is his brilliant daily column. Listen, I may be well-known, but Donney is as good as it gets.

You are also going to hear from special guest writers, participate in private online events for our members, and be able to join a new book club we are forming as well. Also, starting today, our comments will be open for members-only - which means they will be hate and spam free - so that we can finally have smart discussions again.

What am I funding?

Your monthly or annual membership funds our writers, editors, graphic and web designers, sound engineers, social media staff, accounting team, and more. Every full-time employee of The North Star receives a true living wage, full health insurance, paid sick-leave, and generous vacation days. Your support also underwrites the costs of our photographs, software, email systems, marketing, legal compliance, and customer support.

We are proud that our company has survived the pandemic so far, but that was only because of the generous support from everyday people from all over the world.

We want and need your support!

I love and appreciate you all!

Your Friend and Brother!

Shaun

PS: If you are a student, teacher, senior citizen, or love our work and sincerely cannot afford a membership, we are creating a new way for you to join next week. Love y’all!

PSS: If you want to gift a membership to a friend or family member, you can do so here…

Give a gift subscription