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White Privilege Seems Like an Abstract Idea Until You Remember It Kills Black People
My mom was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer in November 2012. At that point, she was given four to six months to live. But she held on for an entire year, not succumbing to the disease until November 2013. Her diagnosis, while devastating, was not a surprise. She had been a smoker for more…
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White Privilege Seems Like An Abstract Concept, Until You Remember It Kills Black People
My mom was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer in November of 2012. At that point, she was given four to six months to live. But she held on for an entire year, not succumbing to the disease until November of 2013. Her diagnosis, while devastating, was not a surprise. She was a smoker for…
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Allen Iverson's Greatest Contribution To Basketball Is An Unstoppable And Completely Illegal Dribble Move
There exists among many sports fans a reflexive need to assign a mysticism and morality to what happens on the field. If a team happens to win a game, it’s because they “wanted it more” than the other team, and not because they just happened to make more shots. If a player performs well in…
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Tidal Is the Streaming-Service Equivalent of My Ex’s Mom’s Runny Eggs
In my early 20s, I dated a woman (“Kim”) for a little over a year. We met at the Gap—she was working there and I entered the store while she was working there to pretend like I was buying a “sweater for my sister” with the hope that she’d ask if I needed any help…
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White Privilege Explained, With Help From Ex-News Anchor Who Lost Her Job Over a Racist Facebook Post
Who is Wendy Bell? Before Wednesday, Wendy Bell was a lead anchor for WTAE-TV, Pittsburgh’s ABC affiliate. Today, Thursday, however, she’s the white Pittsburgh female equivalent of Tommy from Martin. So she’s unemployed? Yes. What happened? A week ago, as a response to a shooting in Wilkinsburg, Pa. (a suburb of Pittsburgh), that left six…
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WTF Is Going On With Kehlani, Kyrie Irving, PartyNextDoor, And Chris Brown, Explained
Who is Kyrie Irving? Kyrie Irving is a point guard for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Really? That’s the answer you’re going to give? You’re going to sit up here and pretend that Kyrie isn’t your favorite player in the league, and that you haven’t been writing about him since 2012? I didn’t think that was relevant…
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Why a Black Person Would Support Trump, Explained
Who is Donald Trump? Donald Trump is a billionaire Bornean orangutan who escaped from the Pittsburgh Zoo 69 years ago and is now, inexplicably, the front-runner to receive the Republican nomination in the 2016 presidential race. If you forget for a moment the horror of the realization that a Bornean orangutan is potentially months away…
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Dear Black Men, Please Go to the Damn Doctor
As it was for many others, the news of the death of Malik Taylor deeply resonated with and saddened me. But my feelings about this didn’t have much to do with his iconic status and/or my relationship with his music. Although my backpack is as massive as any other hip-hop fan’s—shake it and a Soundbombing…
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Why "Well-Meaning" White People Like WTAE-TV's Wendy Bell, The White Privilege Turducken, Are The Worst
Wendy Bell is a lead anchor for WTAE-TV, Pittsburgh’s ABC affiliate. I’ve never met her in person before, but I know many people who have. And she’s generally regarded as a pleasant, kind, and professional woman. And, like many otherwise pleasant, kind, and professional White people, Wendy Bell is utterly clueless about race, White privilege, and…
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The Definition, Danger and Disease of Respectability Politics, Explained
So, I’m kinda new to all of this new age social-justice stuff. Of course, I’ve always been aware of what racism and sexism and bias meant, but some of the terminology used to describe specific examples of it—i.e., microaggressions, white privilege, street harassment, etc.—were also new to me and it took a while to understand…
