May 30, 2003

To My Former Students: How Race Works

By NEIL HENRY

Jayson Blair, a young black reporter, recently resigned from his job at The New York Times after admitting to systematic plagiarism and fabrication over the course of his four-year career there. In the wake of the scandal, I sent a version of the following e-mail message to my black former students currently working as reporters and editors at the Times, The Washington Post, and other newspapers around the country.

Dear [friends]: I don't