I just want to thank the many people who have had kind words to say about The Capital City Hues and even me personally as we have entered our 20^th year of publishing. The Hues has never been about grabbing the headline or even attention to itself. In those 20 years, I think we had one scoop when we announced through our cover story on Shwaw Vang that he had decided not to run for election to the Madison school board. When I read other articles that said, ‘As announced in The Capital City Hues …,’ I was somewhat surprised.

Instead of grabbing headlines, The Hues has always been about reporting on current issues through the voices of communities of color, some well-known and some hidden. And it has been this multitude of voices over the past 19 years and counting that has contributed, in its own way, to a more positive image for people of color in the Madison area. It is through the preponderance of voices and articles over time that people can gain a fuller understanding of the cosmopolitan urban area that Madison was becoming.

And it has facilitated discussion between people of different backgrounds, giving them a pretense to meet each other and something to begin the conversation with. It has also been a consistent source of positive images for people of color and indeed the entire Madison area. People of color could always count on The Hues for positive inspiration every two weeks. And with the constant barrage of voices and images, I feel it has been a deterrent for racist stereotypes to gather traction in this community because the constant presence of The Hues exposes those stereotypes as a lie.

The Hues has also been a place where some future leaders of color have gotten their first real public exposure. Through the stories, that have had a say in the initial development of their public image, making it harder for other writers to write negative articles about them that could kill their careers in public service in their infancy. The Hues has made no one’s career, but we helped nurture them in their infancy.