This was never our intention, and we are deeply sorry for the hurt it caused.

We could tell you it was just one incident and we didn’t mean to offend, but Black Americans have experienced centuries of indignities like this and today we are guilty of unintentionally participating in that. We know words can hurt even if they don’t have the intent to cause pain.

We value diversity and inclusivity and are committed to ensuring that all our communications reflect these principles. To prevent such occurrences in the future, we are implementing additional, more thorough review processes for our content published online, in print and via email. We are also committed to implementing additional training in sensitivity and awareness for our staff to help them recognize and prevent future lapses in judgment.

We understand that this issue has breached trust in our community. We are dedicated to rebuilding that trust. With that, we are grateful for the feedback we have received from our community. It is crucial for our growth and helps us better serve all our readers with the respect and consideration they deserve. 

We invite you to share your feedback and opinions on how we can improve. You can reach me anytime at morgan.womack@statenews.com or at (517) 295-1680. We are here to listen and grow.

Thank you for your understanding and continued support.