As the Amsterdam News celebrates being in circulation since 1909, the next 115 years will start off in good hands. Aaron Foley arrives from the PBS NewsHour to serve as news editor while Damaso Reyes rises from investigative editor to executive editor.
Their appointments coincide with crippling uncertainty in the news industry as smaller newsrooms shutter and larger organizations conduct mass layoffs. But Foley says journalists of color like himself have always fought to keep their “heads above water.”
“As much uncertainty as there is in the business, what keeps me going is the fact that you have to keep fighting to get those stories told,” said Foley. “I felt like with Amsterdam News, there was more of an opportunity to get some of the stories I’d like to see told here than [at] a larger institution.”
Racial equity journalism is a welcome sight to the Detroit native, who recalls times when he was the only Black person or the only queer person in the newsroom where he worked. In fact, the Black press is in Foley’s DNA—his mom was a reporter and editor at the Michigan Chronicle, his home state’s oldest Black newspaper.
“That was not just my first exposure to her career, but just any career,” he said. “I always admired what she did. But then I started writing myself—little short stories as a kid—and realized that I liked it enough where I wanted to eventually pursue it on my own.”
Foley ended up studying journalism at Michigan State with the intent to tell Black stories. That desire has taken him far in the industry. He was the inaugural director of CUNY Newmark’s Black Media Initiative. Foley authored “Boys Come First,” a critically acclaimed novel about three gay Black millennial men. He was even Detroit’s first “chief storyteller,” an official city role of documenting and highlighting the experiences of the Motor City’s 200-some neighborhoods.
For the past four years, Foley has lived in New York City in the historically Black neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant.
And speaking of Bed-Stuy, the Brooklyn neighborhood’s own Damaso Reyes now heads a newsroom he’s been a part of since his teens..
“I started my career at the Amsterdam News nearly 30 years ago as a freelancer when I was still in high school and I’m excited that I have the opportunity to continue my journey as a leader of one of America’s best newspapers,” he said.
Reyes spent the past two years building up Blacklight, the AmNews’ fledgling investigative unit. His brainchild has grown to a staff of three, producing long-form pieces about bail reform, labor apprenticeship, and COVID-19 safety.
“It’s an exciting time to be at the Amsterdam News and I am honored to have been selected as a custodian of this important legacy,” said Reyes. “The Black press is more important than ever and my goal during my time as executive editor is to make sure our people are well informed and well represented.”
Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps member who writes about public safety for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.