Take a deep dive into one of Knoxville's most fascinating public figures
Welcome to "Your Week in Knoxville," a weekly note from Knox News editor Joel Christopher for subscribers only. Five of our top stories from the week are always highlighted at the bottom of this newsletter.
The profile is one of the most challenging forms of journalism, and reporter Angela Dennis tackles a particularly challenging one today with her piece about Nzinga Bayano Amani, known to most in Knoxville as activist David Hayes.
Amani has changed their name and their pronouns (hence my use of the plural instead of singular), and dives deep with Angela into their evolution as a thinker, activist and leader, and how that evolution was informed by their childhood and role as a parent themself.
Amani, you'll recall, was front and center in the news in January after they were arrested by Knox County sheriff's deputies after exiting a public forum on policing in Knoxville.
The profile is a long piece that took months to come to fruition, and the whole package required the support of a lot of journalists, including photographers, designers, editors and digital producers.
Amani, who goes by Z, which is short for their first name Nzinga, is a complex human, and elicits strong reactions from supporters and detractors alike. It's hard to be neutral about a person who lives life so publicly and passionately.
I expect we'll hear some criticism for the time and space we spent on Z's profile, but the objections point to the very reason it's an important piece. Angela's profile deepens the public's surface knowledge of Z, whose impact on Knoxville's politics is real.
Our newsroom has done some fantastic profiles since I arrived in 2019, including wonderful pieces about University of Tennessee at Knoxville Chancellor Donde Plowman and Lamar Alexander, Tennessee's former U.S. senator, governor and UT president.
And we'll continue to do them about an array of folks who make this place what it is. I'd love to hear your thoughts about our Nzinga Bayano Amani profile, and your suggestions for others who deserve this sort of deep dive.
(Though the Amani piece published in print today, it will go live online after, partly because we needed the time to give it a worthy digital presentation, and partly because we want to make sure great work gets in front of as many people as possible, and pieces published on weekends, outside of sports coverage, simply don't reach as many folks.)
I can't say it enough: Without subscribers like you, we can't do storytelling with the depth and richness of the profiles I mentioned here.
Thank you!
Joel Christopher, joel.christopher@knoxnews.com, 865-342-6300
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Take a deep dive into one of Knoxville's most fascinating figures
