culture
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To White Folks Who Dance With Devils: ‘What Kind of Extremists Will You Be?’
In a press conference during which Donald Trump shed any pretense of being anything other than a white supremacist demagogue deploying his power in the service of fascism, hate-mongering and violence wrought from the desperate need whiteness has to preserve itself, he said this: Trump: Well, George Washington was a slave owner. Was George Washington…
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Look at This Picture. This Is America.
The only difference between Heather Heyer and Deandre Harris is that Deandre Harris is alive. They were both in Charlottesville, Va., protesting against white supremacy. They were both victims of white supremacist terrorist attacks. Heyer was killed Saturday when authorities say James Fields drove his car through a crowd of counterprotesters during the convention of…
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We Need to Talk About Being Mary Jane
Mary Jane Paul has always been a mess, but her many, many faults are what made Being Mary Jane such an interesting watch. As Kelley Carter wrote in the 2015 BuzzFeed piece “BET’s ‘Being Mary Jane’ Has Started a TV Revolution,” the show was a “revolutionary series about a perfectly imperfect single black woman.” Those…
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Michael Bennett Sat During the National Anthem Because He Loves America
My mother loves Michael Harriot. I know this, not because she has told me thousands of times, but because she has loved me. She kisses me on my cheek. She hugs me tighter than Young Thug wears his skinny jeans. We have long, meandering phone conversations. She praises me for every little thing I do…
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With Domestic Terrorism in Charlottesville, Va., Betsy DeVos Fails to Recognize a Teachable Moment
President Donald Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos didn’t wholeheartedly renounce white supremacy over the weekend, but teachers must. James Alex Fields Jr., the driver who allegedly plowed into a crowd of counterprotesters in Charlottesville, Va., on Saturday, killing one and injuring at least a dozen more, had spouted Nazi ideology in high school, according…
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No, Open and Nonmonogamous Relationships Are Not Just for White People
Show of hands: Who here was raised to believe that the only healthy, positive relationships are ones that are monogamous, just one-on-one? Now a show of hands: Who here thinks monogamy is bullshit? Many of us were raised on the idea that we would grow up and find one person whom we would marry and…
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For Black People Who Have to Deal With White People This Week
Bruh (and when I say “bruh,” I don’t mean it in a sexist, gender-erasing way. I mean it as an introductory phrase, like how people from Florida start their sentence with “Fam,” or people from New York start their sentences with “Son” and end them with “B.” Or how people from everywhere start their sentences…
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Here’s a Cookie
Wow. I guess a hit dog will holler. When I wrote this on Sunday regarding the gaggle of white people online who turned the carnage of Charlottesville, Va., into a contest to prove they’re not terrible, I was surprised that so many white people would interpret this to mean I was talking about all white…
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Game of Thrones Shows Us How America Treats White Supremacy
Every time I watch an episode of Game of Thrones, I am left uttering the same phrase as the proverbial man who believes the thermos is the greatest invention of all time because it keeps hot things hot and cold things cold: “How do it know?” Indeed, how do it know? How does “Dem Thrones”…
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On Loving White People and Hating Whiteness
“There is a difference between loving white people and loving whiteness.” This is something I often say when I begin social justice conversations around topics related to race. For some, the concept is easy to process and we begin a conversation around what it means to be white and a person of privilege. For others,…