Mourning a colleague
Let us pause to acknowledge the passing of Fatimah Ali.
I did not know former Daily News editorial columnist Fatimah Ali, but I read her. Whether you agreed with her politics or not, Ali did what any opinion writer ought to: She made people think. She inspired debate. She got readers to shake the newspaper, to feel, to connect, to respond.
Ali died in her sleep Monday night at her home in North Philadelphia, according to this Daily News obituary. She was 56. This story contains additional information and describes the last piece she published in the newspaper in March, 2011.
In it, she talked about the numbing effect of gun violence in the city. And about her career trajectory in radio and print media.
"I can't imagine loving any profession more," she said of journalism. "And it's a privilege I don't take for granted."
-- Monica Yant Kinney