race & politics
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Wilkinsburg, The Side Of America's "Most Livable City" Pittsburgh Doesn't Want You To See
In many of the news stories you’ll read today about the mass shooting in Wilkinsburg Wednesday night — which left five dead and three others wounded — it’ll be referred to as a suburb of Pittsburgh. While this is technically true, it’s a bit of a misnomer. One because none of the qualities commonly associated with suburbs…
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The Increasingly Inane And Problematic Obsession With Ayesha Curry, Explained
Who is Ayesha Curry? Ayesha Curry is the wife of superstar point guard Stephen Curry. Ok, so she’s the wife of a popular NBA player. But that doesn’t explain why her name is the top trending topic today. I’m sure she’s a lovely woman, but there has to be something else, right? Yes! There definitely…
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Maybe Black People Aren't Feeling Bernie Sanders Because We're Tired Of People Saying We Should Be
Bernie Sanders’s recent “ghetto” gaffe is the latest in a string of race-related misunderstandings and misjudgments experienced by the senator during his presidential campaign. There was the #BlackLivesMatter thing. And the multiple times he — either himself or through his campaign — brought up his presence in the Civil Rights movement, which is starting to…
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Melissa Harris-Perry Just Showed What It Means To Give No Fucks About What White People Think
Before we get into what it means to give no fucks about what White People™ think, we must first establish what it doesn’t mean. Because existing in this fuck-less space is complicated, and it’s easy to conflate and confuse existing there with other things that exist independent of its existence. Basically, it doesn’t mean you…
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An Ode To Ben Carson: Our Favorite Gifted-Handed Clusterfuck
Super Tuesday 2016 has come and gone. Barring a miraculous influx of cash from an itchy pocketed donor with literally no one else to give money to (in which case, I would like to point them toward my IRS bill because the Feds are absolutely not playing with me this year), we are more than likely…
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Zoe Saldana As Nina Simone Is What Happens When Diversity Doesn't
When news first broke a few years ago that Zoe Saldana would be cast in Nina — the yet-to-be-released biopic about the iconic artist and activist — I wasn’t as put off about the aesthetic dissimilarity between Saldana and Simone as many of us seemed to be. Mainly because I generally don’t believe an actor needs to…
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Louis Farrakhan Admires…Donald Trump (And Yes, This Is A Real Thing That Really, Actually Happened)
When I first saw the news about Minister Louis Farrakhan praising and complimenting Donald Trump circulating my newsfeeds and timelines, I assumed it was a story from The Onion. “Haha!” I initially thought, “Those jokers at The Onion really tickle my knickers!” Okay, that’s a lie. I knew it wasn’t from The Onion. It would…
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Chris Rock Was Really Bad Last Night, And The #OscarsSoWhite Skits Were Even Worse
I’ve started and stopped writing this three times already; scribbling a few sentences out and deleting them as soon as I was finished typing them. Because, as the title suggests, I am going to talk about how bad Chris Rock was at the Oscars last night, and how bad the #OscarsSoWhite skits were — skits…