a hot link sandwich #4
One thing that brings me a lot of joy is when one of my peers/contemporaries tells me they enjoyed something I wrote.
This happened last week when out of the blue, Michael Harriot called me to tell me he liked this piece I wrote for theGrio ranking my favorite drug dealer tv shows.
When I tell y’all I was completely humbled and flattered by that, please believe me. Ever since Michael and I started working together in 2017, I have been one of his biggest fans. His writing is brilliant. He is a gifted storyteller and a knowledgeable historian.
I really want to be like him when I grow up, and him liking something I wrote is worth bragging about, so there you have it.
Speaking of Michael, he wrote “‘Woke’ is the opposite of whiteness,” and yep, that pretty much sums it up.
Plus, I think whiteness is infinitely fascinating. Whiteness is as transfixing as a distant star in the telescope of an earthbound astronomer. I am transfixed by its ability to transform itself and maintain its gravitational pull. I am mesmerized by how it explodes and collapses upon itself. And I know I’m not alone.
He also wrote Violence is bad. Protest is good. White people are weird.
I have no evidence that white people have a secret email list in which they disseminate these standard Caucasian talking points and counterarguments. I don’t believe white people are so brilliant that they collectively concocted a 400-year-old strategy to oppress Black people. But I am awestruck by the predictable consistency of white people’s response to Black protests.
Panama Jackson has a series of articles he’s doing for Black Music Month, and the focus is mostly hip hop songs that came out in 1993. So far, he’s written about “93 ‘Til Infinity” by Souls of Mischief, Outkast’s “Player’s Ball,” Jodeci’s “Diary of a Mad Band,” Tony! Toni! Toné!’s “Sons of Soul” album, and BBD’s “Hootie Mack.”
Panama also made the mistake of saying Menace II Society is not a good film, but I’ll let y’all read his egregiously wrong opinion on that film anyway.
For the record, I have long believed that Menace II Society resonates more for people who are actually from L.A. because we grew up knowing someone that matched every character in that film.
I’ve been very busy on TikTok these days, making videos that discuss my articles and the Sarah Jane Comrie aka Citi Bike Karen incident. White racists are not fans of my videos, and that’s too bad for them. I’ll keep repeating that Sarah Jane Comrie’s behavior was the issue and not the bike for as long as it takes to make people understand that.
I know they are being willfully ignorant, and that’s par for the course, but they aren’t going to silence me when it comes to speaking up on and speaking out against racial injustice.
Writing and covering this incident has kept me super busy for the last month. That’s how the news cycle works.
That’s all I’ve got for now.
See you next time!