• Black Women Should Be Like Ayesha Curry? How Many Black Men Are Willing to Be Like Steph?

    It’s been roughly a month since Ayesha Curry—wife of NBA superstar Stephen Curry and mother of NBA post-game press conference superstar Riley Curry—published the tweet that would launch a million more tweets, a thousand more think pieces and a hundred more “clever” memes incorporating “thoughts” and “thots.” The dust and debris left by this dustup…

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  • President Obama's Gun Control Tears Are The Blackest Thing That Ever Happened This Week

    It’s been well-documented here that President Obama is firmly and fully ensconced in the fuck devoid span of his presidency. He has nestled in his full-length no fucks futon; his bare feet stretched on his no fucks ottoman, reading perhaps How to Give No Fucks and Influence People or Chicken Soup for the Fuck-less Soul. This…

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  • Does Kanye West Suck At Music Now?

    “Facts” — a track released by Kanye West on New Years Day — is a terrible song. Usually, when a person does what I just did (refer to a song as anything — great, bad, terrible, thirsty, etc — other than existing), this is considered an opinion. Because my feelings about the song, as valid and as…

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  • How #YallQaeda Is Nothing but a Big Bucket of Highly Armed White Tears, Explained

    Who is this #YallQaeda you’re talking about? On Saturday, a group of anti-government militiamen—armed to the teeth and ready to fight to the death—took over the federal Malheur Wildlife Refuge after a protest in Harney County, Ore. They were apparently upset because two ranchers—Dwight Hammond Jr. and his son, Steven—had been convicted of arson. The…

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  • A Summary Of VSB's Very Good But Not Quite As Good As We Want It To Be Yet Year

    Happy New Year and shit, everyone! If you’re reading this, you’ve made it to 2016 (congrats!) and you’ve decided, for whatever reason, to spend at least one second of this year reading VSB. So thanks for that. Since you’re here, I might as well let you know that 2015 was, by every measure, the best…

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  • As Someone Raised on Bill Cosby, I Feel No Joy in Writing About His Alleged Crimes

    My parents forced me to have a crush on Rudy Huxtable. Now, I realize how that might read. I can imagine people picturing a dictatorial and deranged mother and father tying an 8-year-old me to a chair when The Cosby Show came on and forcing me to chant, “I will crush on Rudy Huxtable” while…

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  • On Being a New Parent When News Like Tamir Rice Hits

    Invariably, among the countless words and rants and tweets and think pieces and blogs and status messages and emails and texts generated whenever another news story breaks about a police-involved killing of a young black person, are the words from parents. Mothers and fathers of black babies, of black boys and girls, of black teenagers…

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  • Tamir Rice Was 12 Years Old

    I was in the lobby of the Ace — a boutique hotel that opened its doors this month in East Liberty (the Pittsburgh neighborhood I grew up in) — meeting with activist and educator Liana Maneese. We were meeting to discuss her new project — Adopting Identity, which is described on its website as “a movement that…

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  • 10 Stale, Tired and Tasteless Jokes About Kwanzaa so You Don’t Have to Create Your Own

    It’s Dec. 23, which means we’re smack dab in the middle of the time of year when families across the country come together to celebrate Christmas. Or Hanukkah. Or Festivus. Or they have no religious affiliations but are grateful for the extra days off and the post-Christmas Nordstrom sales.   It’s also the time of…

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  • Why Steve Harvey Crowning the Wrong Miss Universe Is the Best Thing to Happen to Miss Universe

    So let’s get a couple things out of the way first: 1.  Steve Harvey has too many jobs. Steve Harvey is the host of The Steve Harvey Morning Show. And Family Feud. And Steve Harvey the talk show. That’s three full-time jobs. Plus dozens of panels, talks and seminars. And, I’m assuming, a couple hundred…

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