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Nancy Lee Grahn’s White Tears, Explained
So, I’ve heard this term “white tears” used before. What exactly does it mean? As I’ve written before, “white tears” is a phrase to describe what happens when certain types of white people either complain about a nonexistent racial injustice or are upset by a nonwhite person’s success at the supposed expense of a white person.…
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10 Things President Obama Has Not Been Accused of Being
It’s a day during a week during a year, which means we were overdue for another fun round of “President Obama is a Muslim,” the game that is basically the conservatives’ version of spades. I actually wouldn’t even be surprised if some of them had regular “President Obama is a Muslim” game nights and potlucks,…
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Why PTOWB (Paid Time Off While Black) Needs to Happen
If you’re black and in America, there’s somewhere between a 100 percent and a 100 percent chance that the following has happened to you at least once. And somewhere between a 95 percent and 99 percent chance that it’s happened at least once this week. You’re minding your black-ass business, living your black-ass life. You…
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7 Things Black Folks Haven’t Been Arrested for … Yet
What makes the choke-slam, arrest and street detainment of James Blake so remarkably telling is the fact that he is, well, remarkably unprofilable. He’s an underwear-model-ad-handsome and wholesome Harvard grad who’s a retired star in the American sport with perhaps the most affluent demographic. He was also standing in front of an upscale hotel in…
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White Tears, Explained, For White People Who Don't Get It
Yesterday, I wrote a short piece celebrating Serena Williams’s 2514th consecutive victory over Maria Sharapova; a win that took her to the Wimbledon final. Titled “Serena Williams Drinks, Bathes In, And Makes Lemonade With White Tears“, it acknowledged and made light of how Williams’s success grinds the gears of certain types of people upset that she…
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I'll Never Stop Saying the N-Word
Writing at Very Smart Brothas, Damon Young says that there is an appropriate time and place to say the word “nigga,” and determining one’s audience is an integral part of figuring out when that time is. Interestingly enough, my knowledge of and affinity for words could be an argument for not using some of them. Since there are…
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The NBA Finals' Most Annoying Viewers
Before Thursday night’s big game, Very Smart Brothas’ Damon Young offered some very direct words of advice to basketball novices, including must-know facts and essential etiquette. … 1. Shut the f*ck up There’s nothing wrong with being an NBA novice. Basketball isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, so it’s perfectly understandable if you just don’t happen…
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The NCAA: Too Good to Be True
While the nation is fully engulfed in March Madness, Damon Young writes in a piece for Ebony that he’s been reminded of why college hoops could never replace pro basketball. Like millions of other sports fans, I spent countless hours following and/or watching the first couple rounds of the NCAA tournament last weekend. And, like much of…
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Kevin Hart, Revolutionary
(The Root) — There are many people who do not think Kevin Hart is funny. This in itself is neither a surprise nor particularly noteworthy. There is no comedian who everyone thinks is funny, and, aside from Michael Strahan and a few four- and five-year-old boys, there is no person who thinks everyone is funny.…
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The 'Black Card': Who Gets One, and Who Gets to Keep It?
Very Smart Brothas‘ Damon Young — inspired by reactions to Christopher Dorner but also referring to figures like Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas — tries to unpack what makes us decide that some folks are authentically black while we retract others’ racial credentials. Anyway, Thomas and Dormer are just two prominent examples of this phenomenon …
