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3 Thoughts on the Uppercut Heard Round the Internet
Very Smart Brothas‘ Damon Young reflects on the role that he believes gender played in the recent punch by a Cleveland bus driver, and wonders whether it’s problematic that he wasn’t more upset by the violent footage. … [T]hat uppercut heard ’round the internet reminded me of the fact that some men — myself included —…
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How to Build a Black Relationship Bomb
Very Smart Brothas‘ Damon Young gives his comedic take on what happens when we idealize high-profile African-American couples. Step 1: Find a famous Black couple, and hold them and their relationships up as infallible paragons of everything right with Black love, Black dating, Black relationships, Black sex, and Black marriage It does not matter if…
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Aaliyah, Drake and Why We Lie When Famous People Die
Very Smart Brothas‘ Damon Young says we have no idea what the late singer would have thought of the “emo” rapper’s obsession with her, and we shouldn’t pretend that we do. I wonder … if Drake fans will be able to forgive him for being haughty enough to release an album featuring tracks from the…
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5 Things That Get Men All Emotional
From weight to fashion to music, Very Smart Brothas‘ Damon Young presents a list of topics about which guys are surprisingly self-conscious. Although the common stereotype is that women are the emo-est gender, anyone who’s ever spent any time around any man knows that there are certain common subjects — income, height, sexual prowess, fighting…
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Gwyneth, the N-Word and Why We're to Blame
(The Root) — At face value, there is nothing truly provocative about a (presumably) intoxicated person committing a social faux pas while partying with her equally intoxicated friends. But since this person is famous and white, and since the faux pas committed happened to involve a word that Farai Chideya once called “the nuclear bomb…
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Idris Elba Proves Cool Is More Important Than Swag
At Very Smart Brothas, Damon Young unpacks the celeb’s attractiveness and concludes that it’s all about “being placed in a position that enabled him to be cool.” Well, it seems like Black women’s feelings about Elba are directly correlated to when they first saw him. Basically, my completely unscientific opinion tells me that the majority…
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When Do We Allow Whites to Criticize Blacks?
Very Smart Brothas‘ Damon Young grapples with the way black people tend to recoil at certain comments, even when those comments address the same things we criticize about ourselves. … I know we generally do not take kindly to White people criticizing anything that has to do with Black people and Black culture. As stated…
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Why Being a Single Man Is Overrated
Very Smart Brothas‘ Damon Young reflects on half a year of being single and says it’s not bad, but it’s not all the beer commercials make it out to be. The most “interesting” of these “interesting” thoughts? Being a single man is kind of overrated … 1. It can be very lonely As a person…
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What Black Movies Can Do Better
At Ebony, Damon Young provides a list of tips for black filmmakers who aspire to make movies that measure up to Coming to America and Love Jones. Anyway, instead of continuing to make the usual myopic and ambiguous remarks about the lack of “memorableness” synonymous with today’s Black films, I’ve decided to be a bit…
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Why I Haven't Seen 'Red Tails' Yet
In an entry at his Very Smart Brothas blog, Damon Young lists several reasons that he has not seen Red Tails, including being turned off by its guilt-based marketing and calling into question the perception that we need to see black faces on the big screen in order to bolster our self-esteem. (Today’s post is…
