culture
-
How to Whitewash a Mass Murderer
Before we begin, you should know what this is all about. Instead of waxing eloquently about how white men get to become sympathetic figures even after they commit the most heinous acts imaginable, we decided to show you. When Adam Lanza strolled into Sandy Hook Elementary strapped with guns and opened fire on 6- and…
-
Las Vegas Is Only the Deadliest Shooting in US History Because Black Lives Aren’t Counted
News reporters and anchors have repeatedly referred to the recent tragedy in Las Vegas as the “worst mass shooting in U.S. history.” Like all things that are constantly repeated, the proclamation has become fact. In 2013 a report by the Congressional Research Service defined a public mass shooting (pdf) this way: incidents occurring in relatively…
-
The So-Called Christians Defending Sweet Potato Saddam Are Begging to Be Jumped by Jesus
Last weekend the president of the United States turned his sights away from a humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory ravaged by Hurricane Maria, to a subject more in line with his interests: black football players daring to exercise their right to peaceful protest. During the following weekend, that spoiled, queso-colored white supremacist…
-
My Life Is Dope and I Do Dope Shit: How I Ended Up Battle-Rapping Against Dave Chappelle
A year ago, when Raheem DeVaughn and I set out to create our new project, Footprints on the Moon, I never imagined the absurd experiences we would have. I was kindly escorted out of a Washington, D.C., club with R&B singer Christopher Williams, and heckled by El DeBarge and his entourage while performing in Anaheim,…
-
We Were 8 Years in Power Moves Ta-Nehisi Coates to Top of Black America’s Draft Board
On Jan. 21, 2004, Comedy Central’s groundbreaking Chappelle’s Show debuted the iconic “Racial Draft” sketch. In it, comedian Dave Chappelle imagined a draft in which each race selected and traded individuals to represent the race. The Asians drafted the Wu-Tang Clan, and Jews picked Lenny Kravitz. The concept quickly became an inside joke that still…
-
‘Darkness Cannot Drive Out Darkness’: An Interview With a Former Racist on Reforming Neo-Nazis With Empathy
There’s a reason that I love Inglourious Basterds and Wolfenstein, and that we’ve joked about a neo-Nazi getting rocked. Nazis are the universal assholes. Few spectacles are more cathartic than seeing them get knocked the hell out. Nevertheless, when Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate…
-
To the ‘Unapologetically Black’ Beth Pearson of This Is Us, With Love
Editor’s note: Season 1 spoilers throughout! This Is Us has wrecked me. I hopped aboard the hype train later than most, but when I did … I bought a season (or series?) pass immediately. There’s an uncanny moment in life when you’re introduced to something that you never knew you needed until you experience it.…
-
Burning Jerseys: The Distant Cousin of Lynching
There is something cleansing about fire. It marks at once both an ending and a beginning. There are two sides to fire: There’s violence and destruction, and there’s the reassurance and protection—each one as powerful as the other. We burn things: wood, garbage, forests, food. It signals the end of one cycle and the restart…