Aug 17, 2021Member-onlyYou’re Wrong. I’m Tired of You. I Want to Shake You. I Still Love You.It’s not just that you’re wrong and, be clear, you’re clearly, obviously, empirically wrong. It’s the combination of confidence and condescension with which you peddle your wrongness that angers me. It’s galling. You equate grammatically incorrect memes and the opinions of crackpots and strangers to the experiences of doctors worldwide…Covid-194 min readCovid-194 min read
May 8, 2021Member-onlyThe Color of LoveMom didn’t share all of her world with me, but she did share this. Maybe because she had no one else to tell; maybe she because she thought I needed to hear. I’ve told myself this story a hundred times, yet like a stone smoothed over by a rolling river…Mothers Day2 min readMothers Day2 min read
Apr 22, 2021Member-onlyNever EnoughI know she was 16. That should be enough, but she’s a Black girl so it isn’t enough. It’s never enough. She was always going to need more. Apparently she was in a foster home. That’s all I know about her. And while that’s not a lot, and it’s enough…BlackLivesMatter2 min readBlackLivesMatter2 min read
Apr 14, 2021Member-onlyBurn It AllAfter this, all of this, a this so obvious and evident that you know exactly what this is without me even insinuating anything beyond the word “this,” I have nothing to say. No insightful words. Nothing. In my younger days I wonded how others could remain so, for lack of…BlackLivesMatter3 min readBlackLivesMatter3 min read
Mar 30, 2021Member-onlyThe Devil is in the DetailsThere was no outrage when Satan dated 2020. You knew it was satire. You knew It was a joke. Your laugh was not in appreciation of Satan, but an ironic acknowledgement of the joke. You’re not stupid. You get it. Nas was going to name that album “Nigger.” There was…Lil Nas X2 min readLil Nas X2 min read
Mar 26, 2021Member-onlyA Prophetic ReminderBecause past is too often prologue, of course our resistance is personified through the visage of a Black woman’s arrest. Give Representative Cannon her things. Including campaign contributions. But spare the fake shock and performative empathy. None of this is surprising. It happened after reconstruction. It happened in streets in…Voting2 min readVoting2 min read
Feb 18, 2021Member-onlyBlack Power Supports Yellow PerilAs we celebrate the life of the ancestor Huey, I find myself meditating on a perverse, pervasive lie of capitalist thought: that all things are zero sum — a gain for one must come at the expense of another, and those gaining are always and only those I can see. …Huey Newton2 min readHuey Newton2 min read
Feb 18, 2021Member-onlyMay Rush Limbaugh Reap What He SowedI don’t know if Rush was a good person. I don’t know his heart or his mind. I don’t know the actions he took in private, or his relationship with the Lord. But I do know what he said in public. I know how he made his money. I know…Death2 min readDeath2 min read
Nov 24, 2020Member-onlyMayor Dinkins Deserved to Witness Rudy’s DeclineWondering Thoughts about America’s Real Mayor, in Memoriam — I wonder when you last walked down 125th street. Did you smile? Were you proud? Was this your vision for uptown or a perversion of it? I wonder when you last went to a Broadway play? Who performed? What did you think of the “progress” around the theater? Surely you…David Dinkins2 min readDavid Dinkins2 min read
Sep 26, 2020Member-onlyMANIFESTOMANIFESTO (This was written on 9/25/2015; this is applicable for eternity.) I love dark skinned Black people. I love light skinned Black people. I love brown skinned Black people (raises brown skinned fist; we get no love). I love natural haired Black people. I love Black people with blond weaves…Manifesto2 min readManifesto2 min read
