Very Smart Brothas
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Wendell Carter Jr.’s Black Panther-Inspired NBA Draft Outfit Is the Blackest Thing That Ever Happened This Week
For many, the annual NBA draft is the most wonderful time of the year. Young men become instant millionaires, getting the opportunity to take their talents to one of 30 outposts to play basketball for a living and do the economic version of moisturizing their situation. It’s also a time of tremendous pomp and circumstance…
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White Dudes at Morehouse Isn’t Really News. White Women at Spelman Would Be a Much Better Story
Vice dropped a video on Wednesday about a white student named Tiago who just finished his freshman year at Morehouse College, the all-male historically black college in Atlanta which boasts alumni such as Martin Luther King Jr., Spike Lee, Samuel L. Jackson, Panama Jackson, Robert E. Johnson, etc. In the video, we hear from Tiago;…
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Antwon Rose Was Our Nephew
I spent last Saturday afternoon, as I have many Saturday afternoons in the past six years, with my 17-year-old nephew and 19-year-old brother-in-law. I first met them when my wife and I began dating in late 2012, and was happy to discover that they both loved and played basketball. Since then, I have drilled with…
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Pittsburgh Mayor’s Response to Pittsburgh-Area Teen Killed by Police: My Name’s Dewitt and I Don’t Give a Shit
I didn’t think it was possible for a series of tweets to accurately synopsize a city (Pittsburgh), a country (America), a mindset (whiteness), a political policy (kind colonization) and a person, but Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto somehow did exactly that. Last night, Shaun King tweeted out the news about the death of Antwon Rose Jr.,…
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17-Year-Old Killed by Pittsburgh-Area Police; Reportedly Shot in the Back While Running Away
Details are still emerging, but what is known now is the following: At approximately 8:20 p.m. Tuesday, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, police responded to a shooting in North Braddock, Pa., a borough 11 miles east of Pittsburgh. Apparently, a car was seen fleeing the scene, according to witnesses. A vehicle matching the description was…
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I’m Not Saying I Vote Just to Get an ‘I Voted’ Sticker, but I Really Like Getting My ‘I Voted’ Sticker
Today is Tuesday, June 19, in the year of our Lord 2018. In Washington, D.C., it’s primary voting day. That, and there’s a very hotly contested initiative (Initiative 77) on the ballot to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2020, which would gradually raise the minimum wage for tipped employees to the…
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Stop Pretending You Actually Gave a Shit About XXXTentacion’s ‘Growth’ and Potential
My only context for XXXTentacion is a terrible one. I first became aware of him several months ago, after reading about how his star was rising not just in spite of the numerous crimes he allegedly committed but specifically because of them. He was back off my radar until a month ago, when Spotify sought…
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A List of Things That Happen Within the 1st Hour After Beyoncé Drops New Music
In chronological order: I happened to be at the Ross Park Mall on Saturday afternoon, walking from the food court to Macy’s in search of a Father’s Day gift for my dad, when I happened to notice 17 black women, laid on the mall floor, paralyzed in shock, mouths agape and wigs snatched all the…
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How the Book of Ryan Became My Therapy and Helped Me Understand Fatherhood
When I’m in the studio, I sometimes have these visions of conversations I’d like to have with my father. It leads me to think what it would be like if he and I could communicate on a higher level because there’s always been this barrier between us. Not even just us—everybody in our family. In…
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I See My Dad When I Look in the Mirror, and I’m Terrified I’ll Repeat His Mistakes
I was 34 years old when I could no longer escape the man I never wanted to see again. For the past 30 years, the day designated to celebrate men’s investment in their children has not brought me a great deal of joy. In 1988, just two weeks after Father’s Day, my dad was convicted…