Very Smart Brothas
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Things I Learned Yesterday After Being Stuck in an Airport for 10 Hours Because of a Flight Delay
I’m writing this from a hotel room in Washington, D.C. I’m here for a Q&A and book signing with Franchesca Ramsey Wednesday evening, and I’ll also be on Al-Jazeera’s The Stream Wednesday afternoon. Because my day is so busy, I wanted to get here early just so I’d be settled and ready, and my flight…
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Exclusive: A Leaked Email Exchange Between Aaron Schlossberg and His PR Firm, You Can’t Say That MFer LLC
Editor’s note: This is satire. What is satire, you ask? According to Dictionary.com, satire is the use of humor, irony, exaggeration or ridicule to expose and criticize people’s stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues. Keep that in mind. Thanks. Recently, Aaron Schlossberg went full racist tirade on…
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I Went Down a Hip-Hop Rabbit Hole and Ended Up at the Fu-Schnickens Like It Was 1992 All Over Again
As it did for so many folks I know, hip-hop changed my life. I don’t mean in the “It saved my life” way, but when I was introduced to hip-hop, I fell hook, line and sinker into the ocean and never came up for air. I was living in Germany in the late ’80s and…
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Dear Laura Mvula: Thank You for Being the Musical Bridge for My Daughter and Me
Since my daughter was born, I’ve had two very clear objectives: 1) Raise a good human being who goes to Spelman College, and 2) Turn my daughter (and the rest of my kids) into music heads. I want my kids to be the ones who go to school talking about that new Marvin Gaye Here,…
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Do White People Go to Chuck E. Cheese’s?
As the father of a baby person—and also the uncle of some baby people—I’ve spent a disproportionate amount of time (for an adult) at Chuck E. Cheese’s in the past three years. Birthday parties, potty-train parties, random Saturdays when you’re babysitting your nephew and don’t have shit else to do—I’ve been there enough to consider…
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We Used to Have Money, Now We Have You! Is the Bedtime Story We All Secretly Tell Our Kids
Editor’s note: Corey Richardson, the author of We Used to Have Money, Now We Have You! A Dad’s Bedtime Story, is a frequent VSB contributor. If you’re a father of any number of kids, as much as you love your children, the pragmatist in you always manages to seep into your thoughts. You love your…
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Are We Still Boycotting H&M or Nah?
A few months ago, there was an issue with an H&M shirt, a black boy and a monkey. We were all like, fuck yo’ couch, H&M! And then folks shut a few H&Ms down in South Africa, and then H&M was closing down tons of stores (while opening others), and I think Brick killed a…
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#SayHerName: 100 Years Ago, Mary Turner Was Lynched
Editor’s note: This story contains graphic descriptions of a lynching, which some may find triggering. Mary Turner was eight months pregnant when she was lynched on May 19, 1918. It all began, as do many things in America, with a mediocre white man. What happened 100 years ago today has been forgotten by America. Like…
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The Full Story of the White Woman Arrested for Petting a Black Woman’s Dog Is Even Wilder (and Whiter) Than You Think
As I noted yesterday, Becky With the Bold Hands went through the entire gamut of aggrieved white weaponry when she was detained by police officers for attempting to pet a black woman’s dog without permission. Tears, kicks, threats, panic attacks smoothly transitioning into lucid vulgarities—it was like watching Beatrix Kiddo at the House of Blue…
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8 Things You Need to Know if You’re Invited to a Wedding This Summer
If you cannot afford to give money, your presence is all that counts. And if you can’t afford to give money, but you do crochet and shit, crochet some shit for them. Crochet your happy, crocheting ass off. But if you do have money, give money. Because weddings are damn expensive. And unless they’re in…