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America Doesn’t Have a Gun Control Problem. We Have a White-People Problem
Last August, as my wife and I and two of our friends biked through the Great Allegheny Passage in McKeesport, Pa., a city 12 miles from Pittsburgh, I joked that we probably wouldn’t see any more black people until Maryland. I was wrong. In the 150 miles between Pittsburgh and Cumberland, Md., we saw four.…
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What’s the Biggest National Chain You’ve Never Actually Stepped Foot in Before?
Fifteen or so years ago, Oprah had a show where various celebrities offered their favorite sandwiches: what’s in them, where they’re sold, how often they eat one, etc. Chris Rock was featured in this segment, and described a shrimp-and-bacon club from the Cheesecake Factory. This memory has stuck in my mind because of two thoughts…
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Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner’s Drinking Chocolate Milk for ‘Diversity’ Is the Whitest Thing That Ever Happened This Week
The pervasive mindlessness of white people—a dynamic stemming from the perpetual withdrawing from humanity required to keep whiteness erect—is something we’re reminded of and endangered by every day. Sometimes, as with the reactions from the White House and its minions to the shooting in Parkland, Fla., it manifests as a craven cowardice where you sincerely…
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Is It Sterling K. Brown’s Personal Mission to Make Us Cry in Every Damn Role He Plays?
The most popular show on network television stars black people and is set in Pittsburgh, but I cannot bring myself to watch This Is Us. I’m sure it’s as compelling as everyone says it is. But the commentary attached to the show—which vacillates from “OMG THIS SHOW MAKES MY EYES SHALLOW PUDDLES OF SALT!” to…
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Pittsburgh Cop Shoots 3 Black People in Less Than a Year, Kills 1
On Feb. 11, 39-year-old Mark Daniels was shot and killed by Pittsburgh police officers after he allegedly shot at and ran from them when they attempted to approach him. The details, reported by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, are somewhat fishy. The police were called to the scene after being “alerted to an actor with a gun.”…
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A List of Things That Are Definitely Racist
1. Pittsburgh potholes (Related: On the way to see Black Panther Friday night, I hit a pothole and got a flat. Fortunately, I was a quarter mile away from a gas station, so I was able to drive there and park my car. From there I caught an Uber to the theater, watched the 2-hour-and-15-minute-long…
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An Open Letter to the Men Whose Girlfriends and Wives Saw Black Panther and Now Want to Move to Wakanda
Like everyone else, you were excited to see Black Panther. You’ve been waiting for it for years, got excited for the trailers and even read all of the newer Ta-Nehisi Coates- and Roxane Gay- and Yona Harvey-penned comic books. And while you didn’t go full Wakandan cosplay for the premiere, you did wear all black.…
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Yet Another Reason Why Shuri From Black Panther Is the Greatest Disney Princess Ever
If “Don’t scare me like that, colonizer” wasn’t already enough to give Black Panther’s Shuri (depicted amazingly by Letitia Wright) the crown as the Greatest Disney Princess Ever—it was, but let’s just pretend that it wasn’t—there are dozens more reasons why she deserves it. In the last half of the movie alone, she saved a…
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Down for Some Biased Boning and Nationalistic Nookie? Try These Dating Apps for Trump Supporters
Apparently, it’s hard out here for a “Make America great again” pimp. Since the election, there have been myriad stories about Donald Trump supporters having difficulties dating. And I can only imagine how it must feel to be ostracized and discriminated against because of your beliefs. That thing that has never happened to me or…
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Donald Trump Calls Oprah ‘Insecure,’ Challenges Her to Run for President, Has Obviously Lost His Damn Mind
So, Oprah Winfrey is (probably) not running for president. We have to make that clear. She is (more than likely) not running! Of course, she can if she wants to. Because she’s Oprah, and if Oprah says, “Hey, y’all. I want to do this thing,” you don’t say, “No, Oprah, you cannot do this thing…
