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Beyoncé Should Win All the Grammys This Weekend, but It Won’t Make Up for How This Show Treats Black Women and Black Art
On its surface, when news hit of Beyoncé leading the 2017 Grammy Awards with nine nominations, it read as nothing short of a win for the behemoth pop star. The Houston native has scored nods in the three big categories: Album of the Year, for her sixth studio offering, Lemonade; and Song of the Year…
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My Black History: The Cash Money-Ruff Ryders Tour Changed Me Forever
Editor’s note: During Black History Month, the focus is usually on historical figures who loomed larger than life, paving the way for the progress we experience today. But black history isn’t just about telling stories of our past. History is being made every day and has been made throughout our lives; it’s not just in…
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If I Were Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton, I’d Put America Under ‘Do Not Answer’
When I saw the image of former President Barack Obama in flip-flops, shorts and a backward cap, along with his wife, former first lady Michelle Obama, in the shortest of shorts, walking across the beach, I was relieved for them. They served this country well for eight years—even when millions of its citizens blatantly disrespected…
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Please Stop Your Whiny Diatribes; Academic Achievement Is Not ‘Acting White’
Midway through reading Boluwaji Ogunyemi’s New York Times essay “When ‘Black Like Me’ Means ‘White Like Them,’” I needed to find a napkin. I had to wipe the drool from my mouth after falling asleep from reading yet another essay that centered on the age-old myth that black people are betraying their cultural identities when…
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Sean Spicer Looks Like Howard the Duck in Human Form, Is Scared of Children and Is a Terrible Press Secretary
Sean Spicer often looks guilty of something. He looks like the person who went into the work refrigerator, saw the juice with your name on it and drank it anyway—and put it back with not the slightest ounce of shame. Spicer also seems like the driver you end up cursing out on the freeway because…
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Why Is Tina Campbell Helping President Hog’s-Head-Cheese Hussein?
If I could charter our new President Hog’s-Head-Cheese Hussein a flight anywhere, the destination would be obvious: the Seventh Circle of Hell. If his long list of sins against humanity before he was elected (insert laugh track) president did not confirm what an arrogant, selfish, greedy, cruel waste of the gift of life he is,…
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New Survey Wants More Journalists to Enter Comments Sections; Nah
Whenever I am asked why I don’t go into the comments sections of any of my published work, my response is immediate and in the form of a question: “Why do you hate me?” I am black, gay, work in media and have private student loans. Have I not suffered enough? For years now, many…
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Welcome Back to Music, LeToya Luckett. You Had Me Waiting Forever, Girl
I knew that I loved LeToya Luckett when I noticed in the thank-you notes for Destiny’s Child’s immaculate sophomore album, The Writing’s on the Wall, that she shouted out Pappadeaux’s crawfish platter. Of course, there was already an affinity there—she’s from the same hood in Houston I’m from (Hiram Clarke, ho)—but really, that crawfish mention…
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For Kellyanne Conway Haters Who Need Support When Shouting at the TV Is Not Enough
I should have known Kellyanne Conway couldn’t be trusted when it became all too apparent that she couldn’t be bothered to place trust in a comb before appearing on national television. If that sounds cruel to you, to quote my spiritual adviser, Beyoncé, “I ain’t sorry,” so don’t anticipate any Anita Baker-grade apology from me.…
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I’ll Be Skipping the Pity Party Held by Honeysuckle Lenin Voters
As the pool of white tears begins to flood from the influx of supporters of our newly elected authoritarian who are expressing regret over their votes, allow me to extend the following invitation to one and all: Drown. Recently, USA Today published an op-ed entitled, “I Voted for Trump, Not Against Planned Parenthood.” In it,…
