I’m a Black journalist, so of course publicists and PR people approach me all the time to cover anything they think is even tangentially related to Black people or Blackness. 

Let me let y’all in on a little secret: Most times the thing they are pitching is only related to Black people or Blackness by the tiniest of threads or not even at all, but that doesn’t stop them from sending a wall of text email pitching their client or idea to me anyway. 

Such was the case Monday when I opened what was an impersonal email that was obviously mass-sent to a bunch of Black journalists and writers to see if anyone would engage with it. The email I opened was in fact a follow-up email, and I recognized that when I opened it and saw I had missed the first time it was pitched to me a few days ago. 

The subject line of the original email was “Black History Month // More Than 50% of Black Women Report a Lifetime STD, Expert Commentary Available.”

This might be the worst Black History Month pitch ever