The newspaper’s future was in question after founder Sandy Williams died. Reporter Mai Hoang talks about the push to get it up and running again.

For years Black readers in Eastern Washington could rely on The Black Lens, a Spokane-based newspaper, for community news.  

That changed in 2022, when founder Sandy Williams died in a floatplane crash. 

Suddenly the fate of the publication — which had already been on hiatus — was left hanging in the balance. 

In this episode of Northwest Reports, Mai Hoang talks about the push to revive The Black Lens, the publication’s value to community members and the legacy of Sandy Williams.   

---

Credits 

Host/Producer: Maleeha Syed and Isaac Kaplan-Woolner

Reporter: Mai Hoang

Story editor: Ryan Famuliner

Executive producer: Sarah Menzies

---

If you would like to support Cascade PBS, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Cascade PBS.