race & politics
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"Straight Outta Compton" and The Gang Called N*ggaz With Attitudes
Y’all gon’ have to excuse me for a second because I’m about to go full fanboy. NWA is my favorite rap group of all time. I love Outkast. I love Mobb Deep. I respect the hell out of Run-DMC. But NWA? That’s how you do group. I’ve written about how I discovered a lot of…
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Why It Matters That The New York Times Refused To Refer To "White People" When Reporting On Lynchings In America
As horrified as I’ve always been by the fact that thousands of Black Americans were lynched — unjustly murdered by mobs for crimes they did or didn’t commit — I recently learned that I haven’t quite been horrified enough. Very aware of much of the chilling history associated with that act of America terrorism —…
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Kendrick Lamar, And The Beauty Of Black Rage
Yesterday, Kendrick Lamar dropped “The Blacker The Berry” — one of the most beautifully angry rap songs we’ve ever heard. He’s furious, and it’s fantastic, and we needed to talk about it. 1. This song is an exercise in compelling writing. Not just song writing. Writing period. I wanted to READ the lyrics while listening…
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Dear Black People: Black History Month Is No Excuse To Make Shit Up
I’m Black. Black Black. Emergency bonnet in the car Black. So Black that everyone on “Light Girls” thinks I want to stab them. And I’m here to talk to you about Black History Month. Or, more specifically, a few incarnations of Black history celebrators you may or may not encounter over the next 28 days.…
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When White Liberals Attack
Doing things The Right Way — when your actions are closely aligned with what would be considered the most moral way to act — is (obviously) the right way to do things. It is often very difficult; and, in the moment, The Right Way is also often unpopular. In this context, human nature is a saboteur.…
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Yes, Black People Can Be Privileged. Because Blackness Is Fucking Awesome.
Earlier this week, our conversation about Light Girls segued to a conversation about colorism, which then segued to a conversation about the concept of privilege. Specifically, how certain members of the Black community are privileged more than others. Predictably, some scoffed at the notion that a Black person living in America in 2015 could be privileged…
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A Dark Girl On Light Girls
“When did you learn to be okay with being a brown skinned woman?” This question appeared in my Ask.fm mailbox and kind of took me aback, mostly because it’s premised on the idea that at some point I wasn’t okay with it. Or that perhaps hating your skintone is part of what you go through…
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Acknowledging Dark Skinned Black Male Privilege
The word “privilege” is so often used as a catch-all to describe preferential racial treatment that it loses its meaning. When something is used to describe everything, it tends not to describe anything. That said, although darker-skinned Black males don’t possess the type of privilege most commonly associated with certain social, political, and economic advantages…
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10 Thoughts On "Light Girls"
1. Like it or not, a show, song, role of hot buttered wax called “Light Girls” is going to be met with a million side-eyes BEFORE anybody even sees it. It’s an uphill battle from the second the title hits the ether. To that end, there’s nearly no way this can be successful by doing…