I lost an old friend, a great mentor, but the world lost an important voice: Danny Schechter, to pancreatic cancer last week.

Many remember him from the golden age of  WBCN, “Danny Schechter Your News Dissector,” and that he did. He called himself a “Jactivist:” a journalist activist, telling the truth to power. He dug out the buried truths and brought them to a great many people, in hopes of activating us all to take action, to be citizens in the original meaning of the word, to make our own history.

I first got to know him when I was a grad student and he helped me find a primary source for a paper I was doing about Jamaican cultural identity in the mid-seventies. For the next decades, Danny went on to make movies, produce for television, and make a big difference in politics.

Much has been said about him, I can’t really add much, except that he most directly inspired me to do all I can do to keep democracy alive, using radio as the means. I hope you all do what you can too!

We will carry it on!