An Open Letter to Our Community

Pure Nowhere stands with the Black community, though we cannot (and will never) be able to understand your experience. In the weeks following the murder of George Floyd, we’ve seen the anger, frustration and pain felt within our friends and communities, and it seemed impossible to fully express the depth of these emotions on a digital platform while contributing productively to the conversation at hand.

Because of this, we decided to put a temporary pause on publishing web content, in order to further amplify the needs and voices of the Black community. Throughout this period we have been made hyper-aware of the space we take up online, asking ourselves how we can use our privilege and platform to best support and uplift the voices of our beautiful Black friends, artists, and activists.

Now, as we transition back into the content flow, we are committed to keeping this question at the forefront of our minds in everything we create and release to our readers. We understand that this battle cannot be won in a matter of weeks; it’s been a long time coming and will be a long time until it’s fully seen through. We’re here for the long run.

As a publication, we will continue sharing our resources, and work harder to ensure our content reflects stories that are as diverse and inclusive as our community reading. Our recent growth is accompanied by an imperative responsibility to fill the gaps left behind by mass media. We know that it is our daily responsibility to educate ourselves and others about the struggles and oppression of our most vulnerable communities.

Moving forward with full transparency, we are committing to:

Better supporting and consulting the brilliant BIPOC members of our team, and prioritizing the applications and submissions of BIPOC youth in the future as we continue to grow.
Expanding our Newsroom section in the coming months, to publish more consistently on wider social issues and injustice. Specifically, in the weeks moving forward, all of our Newsroom pieces will pertain to and reflect our support of Black Lives Matter and solidarity with the Black struggle.
Featuring, discovering, and exposing our readers to more Black artists, visionaries, and story-tellers — not just now, or next month, but forever.
Listening to your feedback. As allies, we believe it’s imperative to ensure that we are actively responsive to the criticism and advice of the communities we stand with. Though it is not the responsibility of the Black community to educate us about their struggle, in the name of radical honesty and communication, we ask that you keep us in check, should we need it.

Following this, below is the detailed breakdown of the $1500 we donated last week to various charities as an early initiative in support of the BLM movement. With your support, we were able to match 66 donations, and together as a community donated $3000.

We do not see this donation as a one-time occurrence and will work to actively put our money where our mouth is, whether that’s in the form of donation matching, fundraising, or micro-grants to diverse creative youth. We pledge to continue to support this fight with our money, our platform, our voices, our time, our resources, and our energy.

Once again, if there’s something more you want to see us doing, if there’s a question you want to ask, a concern to raise, or simply a thought you want to share - our DMs and emails are always open. We are always looking to hear how we can do better, so don’t hesitate to reach out.

Our platform is yours, now and always.

Instagram: @purenowhere
Email: hello@purenowhere.com

WITH LOVE AND STRENGTH —
Abby (Co-Founder & Head Editor)
Kyla (Co-Founder & Head Editor)
Sarah (Newsroom Editor)