U.S. race relations magazine RiseUp to launch with 4 million newspaper-carried circ

Four million copies of a curious new magazine Called RiseUp that will address relations between races is due to drop out of several major metropolitan newspapers in the U.S. on June 22. And, if the publisher's ambitions are to be believed, by the first quarter of 2009, circulation will be 8 million this fall and could be as high as 12 million in the top 15-25 cities in the country by the first quarter of 2009.

This is fairly timely with the high likelihood of black candidate Barack Obama contending for the U.S. presidency. Founder and executive editor Janice Ellis told Folio: magazine:

“The mission of RiseUp is to provide an ongoing conversation for all races and ethnicities to better understand each other and to build stronger communities, cities, nations and a better world.”

RiseUp, which will be driven by (unspecified) national advertising, has so far secured distribution in several well-known newspapers—including the New York Daily News, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune and the Houston Chronicle.

Racism, while as old as the human race, has managed to escape a sustained conversation in any media in the public domain" says the magazine's web site. "Each week, RiseUp will keep this most important issue in front of us in an educational, informative and fun way."