race & politics
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On Bill Cosby And Living Through The Gray
My favorite episode of The Cosby Show begins innocently enough. Claire Huxtable walks in the house from a long day’s work, kicks off her shoes and falls into the arms of her doting husband, hoping to slumber. Rudy refuses to let her parents rest, though. She traipses down the stairs with a story to tell, a…
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Rapper Drops Mixtape. Just May Pay For It With His Life
What will follow is the most ridiculous thing I think I may have read in life. I don’t even mean that in a cavalier fashion. I mean that in the most sincere way possible. Like, when I say that I don’t like J. Cole, like, at all, I say with the utmost sincerity. That’s how…
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Missouri Just Declared A State Of Emergency, Which Means There's A 99.9% Chance Darren Wilson Will Not Be Indicted
And that fucking sucks. I have nothing else to say about this right now because I have nothing else to say about this right now that I haven’t already said. Just, if you’re in or near Ferguson or plan on traveling to or near Ferguson any time soon, stay safe.
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Sample Literacy Test: Would You Have Been Able To Vote?
The movie Selma is coming to theaters in a few months and the cracker jack marketing team behind the movie decided to drop the bomb on the masses early. As part of the promo for the movie, they crafted a literacy test, complete wtih questions that were used to bar some Black folks from voting in…
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When Being Educated, Rich, and Privileged Doesn't Stop You From Being Black
I often joke with people that I didn’t know I was poor until I got to college. The reason I say this (we weren’t really poor) is because I remember, way back yonder in 1997 when I graced God’s land of Morehouse College, encountering Black folks who came from means. Not that my family was wanting for…
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"Nigga" Is A Part Of My Vocabulary. Here's Why
The Washington Post is currently running a comprehensive interactive about the “n-word.” Titled “Redefining the Word,” the feature gives an historical context for why nigga is entrenched in our culture and interviews dozens of people for their thoughts and feelings about the word today. They didn’t interview me. But, if they did, this is what…
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How Much Do You Know About Your Family?
So I have one of those jobs that requires me to do one of those things where every-so-often, I have to query my family for random facts about things I thought I knew but have no earthly idea about. For instance, I have no idea when my mother re-married her current husband (my step-father). I…
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Dear Black People: Stop Spreading The Lie That Music Was "Better" Back In The Day
I have a confession: Every time I hear someone say music “ain’t what it used to be,” my ass itches. I mean this figuratively but you get the picture: This is, IMHO, a top tier bullshit statement — one of many that have somehow become hallowed communal knowledge. We peddle in many generically “truthy” statements…
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Army Forgets That It's 2014, Says "Negro" Is Okay As Descriptor
I’m going to give the US Army the benefit of the doubt here. I’m going to assume that somebody everybody shit the bed on this one and somehow, someway, EVERY motherfucker who read the new regulations somehow either missed or is so non-racist that they couldn’t even see what they saw that their eyes had seen.…