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What Happens When You Visit The Rootâs Office With Exposed (and Moderately Ashy) Ankles
I flew to New York City last Thursday for The Root 100 gala and left yesterday evening after a marketing meeting at Harper Collins for my book. In the time between, I 1) hosted a happy hour with Panama at my hotel, 2) went to karaoke after said happy hour and sang very on-brand renditions…
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Galleys, Explained
What happened? Is what what you think youâre seeing? No, itâs not. Not yet at least. (Also, chill with the nigga chants. We donât know each other like that. I donât even know if youâre black.) Yes and no. Just ânow?â I have time. What youâre looking at are called galleys. A galley is a…
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Our Parents Might Not Have Known Better About Spanking. We Do
In two weeks, my daughter will be 3 years old. And then, two weeks after her birthday, if things happen when weâre expecting them to, sheâll be a big sister. This will make me, for lack of a better term, a fucking dad. I mean, Iâve been a dad already for (almost) three years. But…
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Weâre Stuck With White People
In the weeks before the midterm elections, America was rocked by three separate acts of domestic terrorism. One, which took place in my hometown, was the deadliest act of anti-semitism in American history. Another was the biggest mass assassination attempt in American history. And then there was the killing of two black people in a…
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Petty Reasons to Vote, Ranked
10. To direct passive-aggressive subs at significant others. âMaybe SOMEONE would have got up and voted this morning if they werenât up all night eating FLAMING HOT Cheetos and watching PORN.â 9. To flirt with elderly women at polling stations, pretending that you want phone numbers and panties when you really just want spaghetti recipes…
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I Just Found the Most Racist Photo (and Caption) on iStock. Here's My 10 Favorite Things About It
Yesterday afternoon, while searching âblack man calls policeâ and âcalling police black personâ on iStockâto find a suitable picture for âMy Self-Care Sunday Story: I Called The Cops On A White GuyââI found the above pic. There are tens of thousands of images on iStock, and I wonât pretend to have seen them all. But…
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My Self-Care Sunday Story: I Called The Cops On A White Guy
Like most black people with a modicum of sense and a willingness to continue their streak of consecutive years lived, I regard the police with a feeling that exists at the intersection of skepticism, annoyance and trepidation. Basically, I see them the same way I see ricotta cheeseâgood in lasagna but might kill me if…
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Yeah, Maybe the NBA (the Players, the Media, the Front Offices and the Fans) Ainât as âWokeâ as It Pretends to Be
The NBA has successfully branded itself as the professional sports league that embraces progressive politics and the individual freedoms of its playersâthe âwokeâ counterpoint to the NFL. You donât have to be very cynical to see the intentionality behind this. The National Football League has a lock on the sort of people who politicians refer…
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The Best Part of Halloween? Stealing Candy From Your Kids and Using It to Extort Them
I have never been a big Halloween person. As a kid, I went trick-or-treating because that what everyone else and also because thatâs where all the candy was. And while Iâve attendedâand even thrownâHalloween parties as an adult, I always partied with a purpose. (When single, my purpose was âthis is where all the women…
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Nowâs The Time to Tell the Truth About Pittsburgh, and This Hagiographical Bullshit Ainât It
Although Squirrel Hill, the Pittsburgh community where the white nationalist terrorist attack on the Tree of Life synagogue occurred, has been described in the media over the past few days as a Jewish enclave, it is not just that. It is also Pittsburghâs largest and most ethnically diverse neighborhood. Combined, over 26,000 people live in…
