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What Would R. Kelly Have to Do to Make His Supporters Turn Against Him?
Last week R. Kelly was invited onstage to perform at the Soul Train Awards—an event that was as close to a Memorial Day BBQ at a black family’s house as you’ll ever see on live TV. The only thing missing was an uncle in tube socks and flip-flops burning his shins while deep-frying a turkey.…
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The Difference Between ‘white people’ and ‘White People’
Last week I read a piece you wrote called “The Friendly, Caring, and Kind Crossing Guard on My Block Hates Muslims.” It talked about your reaction to this usually nice, white-lady crossing guard making an offhandedly bigoted remark about Muslims to you. Anyway, I’m bringing it up because of something you said in it: “Sometimes you…
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Two Days Ago, I Became A Dad. Here's What I've Learned Since Then
1. In the 48 hours since our daughter was born, my wife and I have received hundreds of texts, calls, emails, visits, and other forms of congratulations. I’ve also been asked dozens of questions. (“Did you change her diaper yet?” “Are you getting any sleep?” “When you go out tomorrow, can you get me some coconut…
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Kobe Bryant Is the Best Kobe Bryant of All Time
Sunday afternoon, while much of the country was either watching NFL games or fantasizing about rib eyes and milk shakes while completing day 3 of their annual post-Thanksgiving Day green-juice cleanse, Kobe Bryant announced that this NBA season would be his last. The news was both completely shocking and completely foreseeable. Because while it made…
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Laquan McDonald And The Slow Death Of Black Joy
This is how it happens. This is how it fucks you up. It’s Tuesday. It’s a little after 7pm EST. On most Tuesdays, at this time, I’m either walking my dog or feeding my dog before walking him. After walking the dog, I usually go to the gym. And then, after the gym, I pick…
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What to Do at Thanksgiving Dinner When Someone Says Something Offensive
It was Thanksgiving at my parents’ house, maybe 20 years ago. All the usuals were there: my parents and I, my sister and her three kids, my (maternal) grandmother, and my great-aunt Gladys. Dinner was over, and everyone had left the dining room to watch TV in the living room. Well, everyone except Aunt Gladys…
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What Mizzou and the Cam Newton Letter Really Exposed About White America’s Relationship With the Black Athlete
It is apropos that the Charlotte Observer would publish Rosemary Plorin’s hysterical open letter to Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton a week after a threat of a boycott by the black football players at the University of Missouri led university President Tim Wolfe to step down. Because both instances—while separate in scale and seriousness—articulate how…
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The 10 Blackest Things President Obama Has Done While in Office
When President Barack Obama found a way to incorporate “folks wanna pop off” at an international press conference Monday to address people with misinformation, it was just the latest confirmation of something many of us have suspected for some time: that the president, fully secured in his second and last term in office, is not…
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President Obama's "Folks Wanna Pop Off" Is The Blackest Thing That Ever Happened This Week
During a press conference this morning, President Obama used the term “pop off” in reference to people making uninformed and patently ridiculous claims about what should be done with France and ISIS. And, unless I go outside today and witness a Sojourner Truth hologram double dutching with Marilyn Mosby, I’m very confident in declaring that the Black…
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The Term ‘White Tears’ Is Funny, but What It Often Leads to Isn’t
There aren’t many recently invented terms in our cultural lexicon that I enjoy using more than I enjoy using “white tears”—the phrase created 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…
