The hard truth for Teen Vogue is that it’s reaping the fruit of the identity-infused cancel-culture wars it, and others in media and entertainment, have been sowing for many years. Dividing people by race is an absolute rejection of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream that we view each other as members of a universal family.

Are all people irredeemable? What does redemption look like? The Vogue team said that McCammond, whom I briefly worked with when I advised Bustle.com, was an attractive hire because of her work writing about social justice and being a voice for marginalized communities. The Teen Vogue team vetting McCammond said she was open and honest about her past statements during the interview process, and that she was contrite and acknowledged the pain she’d caused, a crucial first step in reconciliation.

Jim VandeHei (my former boss at Politico), the Axios cofounder who hired McCammond, said on Twitter that his former staffer “admited [sic] her mistakes, repented (years ago and again of late) and showed during her four years with us she was a strong woman with a big heart. She was a great colleague who often stood up 4 others.”