Anthony Mackie seriously seems to be everywhere these days. Every time you turn around he’s turning in another appealing supporting performance, whether as the mysterious hat-wearing force of fate in The Adjustment Bureau, the robot boxing promoter in Real Steel, or maybe most famously, a charismatic soldier in The Hurt Locker. This weekend he’s back lending support to a leading man, but a much more famous leading man than even he’s used to. That would be Abraham Lincoln, who in this weekend’s Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter spends more time fending off the undead than running the country– and as Abe’s childhood friend Will, Mackie is right there fighting alongside him.
Still independent.
We hope this story was worth your time. For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed Black-owned and independently run. We didn't get here by waiting on ad budgets that were never built to prioritize us. Our readers did that.
Corporate support for Black media has always been thin. Outlets like ours get roughly 1% of the $170 billion spent on U.S. advertising each year, and that margin is shrinking further as advertisers walk back the DEI-linked commitments they made in 2020. That's the backdrop. It's not why we're asking.
The wider picture isn't any steadier. Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under, it's rarely the ones built to center a Black perspective from the ground up that get to stick around.
We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.
If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.
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