ColorLines is thrilled to partner with the esteemed Texas Observer this week in publishing Seth Freed Wessler’s gripping investigation into the deportation of Shahed Hossain. The young man’s story is a depressingly apt illustration of how wide and indiscriminate our deportation dragnet has stretched in recent years. ColorLines first published the story in October. Because the Hossain family are Texas residents–Shahed spent half his life in Ft. Worth before being kicked out of the country over a trifle–we sought a print publisher in the state. The Observer was happy to run the story, which appears on the cover of this week’s issue. 

In 2011, we’ll begin publishing monthly long-form features on ColorLines. Many will be investigations like Seth’s. Others will be similar to Jamilah King’s pre-election look at young voters–features in which we’ll dig into the larger ideas and trends behind the headlines we follow daily. In each case, we’ll seek publishing partners in both print and broadcast media. This is one way in which ColorLines differs from the for-profit news media: We’re first and foremost concerned with getting stories about racial justice out to a wide audience. So watch out for our partnerships next year. And you can follow all of our long-form reporting in our Investigation channel.