Brenda Payton has been a journalist for 40 years. She was a columnist at the Oakland Tribune for 26 years. She contributed to KQED radio’s Perspective series for 20 years. She was a co -producer of “Your Loan Is Denied,” a documentary about lending discrimination that aired on PBS’ Frontline. She was a reporter at the San Francisco Examiner, the Boston Phoenix and the New Bedford Standard Times. She was a lecturer at San Francisco State University, teaching newswriting, reporting and feature writing.