race & politics
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SCOTUS Ruling Allows "Closely-Held Corporations" to Deny Birth Control for Employees
While shaking my head furiously at the obvious women-hating this decision is laced with, I pictured a “closely held” corporation to be one that the SCOTUS is hugging tightly. Turns out, the IRS put the kibosh on my silly theory and confirmed a “closely-held corporation” is one that: 1. Has more than 50% of the…
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VSB Presents: The #BlackestName In America Tournament – CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND
It’s all come down to this. Fight night. The big kahuna. Walla wall bing bang. It’s the moment of truth where Blackness has come ’round the bend. It’s time to put the kids to bed and determine, who has the #blackestname in America. Is it, the queen of WTFificence, Va’Shaundya Karlette Nelson aka Shaunie O’Neal,…
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Rep Your Set: Stuffing or Dressing?
This past weekend, my delegation of Black friends here in Panama and I, all homesick and missing starchy Southern goodness, decided to tear da kitchen up and assemble like Black ass high-calorie Voltron for an elaborate, Itis-friendly Sunday dinner. Our crew—made up of HalfroPanamanians (me and two others), DMV-raised Africans, a Trinidadian-Panamanian from Brooklyn, and…
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America's Annoying "So…What Are You?" Game
I got an issue with this. And this. I’m going to try to put my finger on why. Bear with me. So the idea that “the face of America is changing” is one that keeps popping up in reputable news outlets. This, of course, makes me wonder whose face was “the” face of America, the…
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VSB Presents: The #blackestname in America Tournament, The Sweet 16 (Pt. 2)
In the time it takes for Beyoncé to drink some wowdamelm, at least two Sharkeishas and one Dontelmomthebabysittersdeadisha’s have been born. And like Shaq taught us one of his multi-platinum albums (!!!!), you can’t stop the reign. Black rules everything around me, but creamy crack gets the money. Dolla dolla bill y’all. It’s the Sweet…
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VSB Presents: The #Blackestname In America Tournament, The Sweet 16 (Pt. 1)
We started at the bottom, and now we’re here. And by “we started at the bottom, and now we’re here” I mean “we started with 64 of the loveliest examples of Blackness nirvana, and now we’re down to 16.“ Yup. 16. These are the 16 Blackest names in America. Which is an honor in its…
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On "Redskins", Reverse Racism, and Mascot Mockery
By now, everybody is completely aware of the controversy surrounding the Washington, DC, NFL team and it’s name, Redskins. Daniel Snyder, the owner of said team, has not only refused to budge on changing the name but he went so far as to slap the face of nearly any Native American who has a problem…
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VSB Presents: The #blackestname In America Tournament, Round 2 Day 2
The hills may be alive with the sound of music, but the Blackness is flourishing in our tournament to determine the #blackestname in America. Yesterday, Damon dropped off a list of 10 things he learned and/or observed about the first round. Well I shall do the same based on the two brackets I’m shepherding through…
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"New Black" Is The New Black
This level of awareness isn’t inherently negative. The process of thinking about Blackness doesn’t make you love it any less. Sometimes, it makes you love it more. And, as The Blackest Names tournament proves, it can be fun. But, an existence in and navigation of a place where you’re perpetually forced to examine how your…
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Jason Whitlock, Greg Howard, And Speaking Around "Company"
Because of some mechanical issues, a Megabus trip last week from D.C. to Pittsburgh — a journey that’s usually six hours long — ended up lasting close to nine. Aside from spending an hour cursing my decision not to just drive to D.C. and back, I spent a good part of that trip reading Greg…