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Of Course The Officer Who Killed Philando Castile Was Acquitted, Because Nigger Hunting Season Is (Always) Here
I’m trying right now to find the right words to articulate the surreal inevitability of police-involved killings like this and the verdicts that follow. And I am not able to do it without repeating the millions of words I and countless others have already said when trying to find the right words to articulate the surreal inevitability of…
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I Will Literally Give Someone Actual Money To Attend Dr. Umar Johnson's Hotepalooza In Brooklyn And Report On It
You might remember geographically incorrect Africa medallion soaked in Thunderbird with sentience Dr. Umar Johnson from his prominent role in last year’s Hotep Civil War. (And if you don’t remember any of that, great! Congratulations! I’m jealous of your ability to erase that shit from your mind, and please forgive me for reminding you of it.) If…
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Five Perfectly Practical Reasons Why Y'all Need To Stop Inviting Every Random-Ass White Person To The Cookout
Invariably, as the controversy over Bill Maher’s house nigga continues to persist, a peripheral conversation about Maher’s mythical cookout-invitee status has occurred. According to some of y’all—and by “some of y’all” I really mean “some of y’all”—Maher has done enough in his career to warrant enough of a benefit of the doubt to still score…
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Five Quick Thoughts On Bill Maher Going Peak Bill Maher (And A Quick Aside On White People And Nigga/Nigger)
This is haircut and hoop day for me, so this is going to be quick. 1. I was actually watching the show when it happened. I wasn’t watchingwatching — which’ll be clearer in #2 — but the TV was on, and it was on Real Time with Bill Maher. 2. I didn’t actually hear him…
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Jared Kushner Is A Thug
Thug has become such a ubiquitous dog whistle for a certain type of uncomfortable Blackness — and by “certain type of uncomfortable Blackness” I mean “all Blackness” — that the whistle is no longer necessary. Nothing is coded, nothing concealed, nothing cloaked. Those who use it in this context can’t even feign to deny anymore that…
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I'm Scared That My Hundreds Of Unanswered Emails, Facebook Messages, And Texts Will Come To Life One Day, Band Together, And Kill Me
The 100,000 word first draft of my book is due in September. (I’m currently a little over 60k.) Writing the book has caused my digital output to decrease quite a bit, but I’m still working; managing VSB, writing and editing pieces for VSB, and writing pieces for GQ, Slate, and The Root. I’m also a husband.…
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Root For LaVar Ball If You Want To, But Just Know You're Rooting For A Piece Of Shit
There’s so much to like about the idea of LaVar Ball that at times it feels like he was created in a Likable Nigga Generator. First, of course, is the fact that he’s the very involved Black dad of three star athletes, which contradicts both a stereotype about Black men and a stereotype about Black athletes.…
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Welcome To Pittsburgh, Where White People Open "90's Style Hip-Hop Fried Chicken" Spots In The Gentrified Hood
If this weren’t a real thing that was really actually happening, the concept of a 90’s style hip-hop fried chicken restaurant created by White people in the hood would make for a cute and clever Chappelle or Key & Peele skit. The owners would be the type of overzealous 90’s hip-hop fans who still rock…
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On Black Basketball Dads, And Not Knowing How To Feel About LaVar Ball
It took roughly a month at Sterrett Classical Academy for me to be known as the best basketball player there; an admittedly considerable feat for a 10-year-old sixth grader in a school with 14-year-old eighth graders. It was a status due to a combination of the reputation I already earned from playing with the Homewood…
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There’s No Such Thing as ‘Good Police’
In the reality-adjacent, Baltimore-centered ecosystem of The Wire, “good police” stood as the single highest honor a character could receive. It was reserved for those who possessed the inherent qualities making someone a naturally gifted police officer and who also performed those duties with integrity and verve. You had to be born “good police,” but…
