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“We have to know our past in order to understand our current moment, but we can’t let our past prevent us from working toward a better future.”

— Lauretta Charlton, the Race/Related editor at The Times

Welcome to the third installment of our Elevator Interview — a summer series showcasing the voices of Times writers and editors, attempted to be conducted during the ride upstairs inside our very slow corporate elevators but actually usually taking place over email. What can we say? We had too many questions for one ride.

This week we caught up with Lauretta Charlton, an editor on the National desk who oversees the Race/Related newsletter, which focuses on race, identity and culture. (You can subscribe to it here.)

IHW: First, a bit about you. How do you start your days off on the right foot and how do you end your days to wind down?

I like to start my day with a run, when I can. During the run, I think about what I want to accomplish for the day, the things I’m stressed out about but don’t need to be stressed out about and the many things for which I am grateful. It clears my head and helps me think more creatively. I also listen to podcasts because my fiancé is a big fan of them. At the end of the day, I drink wine or a margarita.

In moments of self doubt or adversity how do you build yourself back up?

I used to be a big fan of mantras, which is a tool I learned practicing yoga. I still repeat mantras, but now I would say the thing I do most to build myself back up is to focus on what I can do to improve my performance and be better at accepting challenges rather than letting them frustrate me and throw me off track. Also, it’s totally O.K. to have a bad day. Let it go.

Tell us about your job. Why does The Times need an editor focused on race and what exactly does that mean?

Some readers — not many, but some — will contact me and say, “There is only one race and it’s the human race.” That’s a lovely thought, but what they are suggesting is that everything would be harmonious and peaceful if we were to ignore the violent history of white supremacy and the global issues of anti-blackness and colorism. But when we ignore violence and injustice, they don’t go away. When we ignore racism, it doesn’t go away. The newsletter is a small but healthy and necessary reminder of this. It is also a place to celebrate diversity and collaboration. Being the Race/Related editor means many things to me. I consider it a huge responsibility with very little margin for error. Ultimately, my job is about spreading awareness, both inside and outside of the newsroom, about how race affects our lives.

You are editing pieces during a remarkably polarized time in our country. How do you think about your role?

First and foremost my role is to be a good journalist and to tell the truth. It’s not my job to tell people what to think, but to provide them with information, evidence and context so that they can make sense of the world and come to their own conclusions. Find facts and present them. Turn every page. Bonus points when the story is told grippingly and the sentences are beautiful. All of this remains true when I’m writing about myself. We should be fair. We should be respectful. We should be clear. We should hold power to account. We should be more inclusive of marginalized voices and perspectives. I don’t know that there is a formula for balancing all of these things, but I believe most of us are doing our best.

The Times recently launched the 1619 Project to examine the legacy of slavery. Is it part of your role to think about ways we can re-examine some of the most basic foundations of what we believe?

Yes, of course. The stories I edit tend to focus on race in America and this is not only by virtue of the fact that I am an editor on the National desk. I find these stories deeply fascinating. There is an intimate relationship between race in America and the “American dream.” We are a forward-thinking country, but this habit of always thinking about the future often means we ignore or glorify the past. We sometimes have selective memory. It’s like Americans suffer from a particular form of amnesia, especially when it comes to racism. We have to know our past in order to understand our current moment, but we can’t let our past prevent us from working toward a better future. I want readers to have the tools they need to ask the right questions about all of this.

Before coming to the Times you wrote a music column for The New Yorker. What do you like to listen to when you’re writing or editing?

When I need deep concentration for editing, I listen to Steve Reich’s “Music for 18 Musicians.” That is my go-to. Others include “Einstein on the Beach,” by Philip Glass, “Nixon in China,” by John Adams and “Femenine,” by Julius Eastman. Sadly, I can no longer listen to music when I write. It’s too distracting.

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What else is happening

Here are five articles from The Times you might have missed.

“You can’t think of women’s rights and say, ‘The 19th Amendment, the end!’” As the 19th Amendment turns 100, three exhibitions in Washington — all curated by women — explore the contentious and unfinished struggle for voting rights. [Read the story]

“Boxing women out of the labor market.” Americans still aren’t in agreement over whether mothers should work, which explains why the United States has been so resistant to universal public child care. [Read the story]

“Never will a girl sing in a boys’ choir.” A 9-year-old girl tried again and again to join a centuries-old choir in Berlin, but was rejected. So she sued. [Read the story]

“There was no money without her.” A banking heiress, bent on keeping immigrants out, helped sow the seeds of the Trump anti-immigration agenda. Her money still fuels the movement. [Read the story]

What’s your workplace confession? We want to hear your true-life tales of office awkwardness for an upcoming project about workplace culture. [Share your story]

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Introducing: The 1619 Project

In August of 1619, a ship carrying enslaved Africans arrived at a port in Virginia. On the 400th anniversary of this fateful moment, it is finally time to truthfully tell the story of black Americans — and of America itself.

The project — a collection of essays, criticism and art — aims to reframe the country’s history, understanding 1619 as our true founding, and placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of the story we tell ourselves about who we are. From the lack of health care to mass incarceration, from the brutality of capitalism to the epidemic of sugar — no part of America has been untouched by slavery.

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