race & politics
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On The Dominican Republic And "Convenient Blackness"
Convenient Blackness is en vogue in America and the rest of the “Americas” as well. While we were caught up in the ridiculousness of “She who shall not be named” and the tragedy in Charleston, the Dominican Republic is deporting tens of thousands of Haitian-Dominicans to a country many of them have never lived in.…
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Dear Respectability Politics Brigade: This Is Time For You To Shut The Fuck Up
In the wake of the Emanuel AME church in Charleston, South Carolina, this letter is equally outdated and timely. In what seems like the unsavory mixture of an eternity and “just yesterday,” Black people have been murdered (again) by a White person (again) for the crime of “existing while Black” (again). As I struggle to…
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I'm Sorry White Guys Who Happen To Look Like Dylann Roof, But I'm Profiling The Fuck Out Of You
I know, I know, I know. Assigning characteristics to a person just because of the way they look, or the way they’re dressed, or the way they wear their hair, is wrong. It is not right to assume that every dead-eyed White guy hanging out in a Black church is just biding his time until he kills…
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Killed At A Church? A Church! A Church.
By now, almost everybody has heard what happened in Charleston, SC. It’s all over local and national news and when you walk into work (if you haven’t already) there’s a good chance somebody will bring it up. For those not in the know, a white gunman walked into Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC, sat…
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Nowhere, No Safety, No Country For Black Americans
The privilege of being allowed to exist on Earth — and the experiences, the enlightenments, and the beauties associated with this privilege — comes with a couple unfavorable conditions. 1. We will die. 2. We will coexist with entities actively attempting to kill us. These are facts every human is conscious of. But this awareness…
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There Is Nothing Wrong With Making And Laughing At Jokes About Ridiculous Ass Rachel Dolezal
Rachel Dolezal’s appearance on The Today Show this morning — and her admission that she identifies as Black — confirms it: She is a turducken of bullshit. A turducken inside of a giraffe inside of a whale that was eaten by a fucking Indominus Rex. Not only is her actual aesthetic an intentional optical illusion, following…
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What About Bob?: My White Friend Who REALLY Wanted To Be Black
When I was in middle school in Frankfurt, Germany, I had a friend named Bob Dobalina. Obviously this isn’t his real name, but a name I’ve made up to protect the identity of said friend….who is not named Bob Dobalina. But we shall call him that. Mr. Dobalina, Mr. Bob Dobalina. Bob would be 36…
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A Failed Attempt at Deciphering Nirvana's Indecipherable "Smells Like Teen Spirit"
Recently, I saw a video featuring America’s most popular and liked light-skinned dude, Blake Griffin (liked being the operative word; Terrence Howard is more popular but nobody actually likes him) helping some ne’er do well folks (Jarrett and Traci “who says ‘it’s SO gangster’ at the least gangster thing ever…I hate her) from ClevverTV interpet…
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In Too Deep (No, Seriously. In Waaaaaaay Too Gotdamn Deep): The Rachel Dolezal Story
Thoughts about the post-racial Imitation of Life. 1. You know those news stories and segments that’ll pop up every couple months or so about a White mom who has no damn clue what to do with her biracial daughter’s hair? And the piece will always be accompanied by a pic of the clueless mom and…