As we close out the 2020 election, the As The South Votes team reflects on their own political journeys—as journalists, and as active agents of change in democracy.

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Anoa Changa offers some reflections, learnings, and insights from reporting on the 2020 election period.

Editor's note: This election cycle, As The South Votes was Scalawag's answer to traditional horserace election coverage. Each week's reporting—by the three amazing contributors you'll hear from below—was inspired by messages we received from you, our readers.

Throughout this process, we saw that many of your questions didn't come with easy answers. Your concerns, curiosities, and need for ongoing conversation and context amidst the chaos are what fueled our reporting.

But our own identities did too.

At Scalawag, we believe in producing news that is grounded in the experiences of oppressed people. That means working with journalists who are proud to be stakeholders in conversations about the intersections of race, religion, history, and politics. While a recent wave of stories about justice and liberation may have just reached mainstream appeal—we are not new to this. Stories of liberation and mobilization have always been a founding principle of our work, because telling the story of the whole South means knowing justice is not a trend—it has always been an organized vision with a rich and complex history. To close out the 2020 election period, we wanted to share some of our own stories of activation—as journalists, and as agents of change. —Lovey Cooper, Managing Editor

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Lovey Cooper is Scalawag's Digital Editor and the voice behind This Week in the South. Follow her on Twitter: @LoveyCooper.