Starbucks, racist Holly Hylton and magic training

Do you think we’re anywhere near through discussing this racist, Central City Philadelphia Starbucks incident that resulted in the coffee shop’s manager, Holly Hylton, siccing police officers on two African descendants — Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson — for sitting in the café for just two minutes without buying anything? Hell. Naw. Starbucks could repeat […]

Something to think about when the sight of two Black guys sitting in Starbucks makes you call the police

Unless you really dislike Black people, the video shared by author Melissa DePino of two African descendants being arrested by Philadelphia police officers for simply sitting in a Starbucks in advance of a business meeting should be uncomfortable to watch. @Starbucks The police were called because these men hadn’t ordered anything. They were waiting for […]

“Where are our leaders today?” you ask.

It’s been 50 years and three days after Dr. Martin Luther king Jr.’s assassination, and people still ask “Where are our leaders today?” Which makes me think of Americans’ funny attitudes about leaders. By 1964, a Gallup poll reported that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was the fourth most admired person in America, even beating […]

Trump, Russia and MLK’s Assassination — I don’t see it

I perfectly understand that we’ll see more online Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. references as we move closer to the 50th anniversary of his assassination, but folks should stop recklessly making parallels where none should exist. Consortium News and writer Bob Katz stand guilty at the moment, after they paired the investigation of MLK’s death […]

As if tasing an 86-year old man is a tonic: a sad update about Albert Chatfield

Remember that horrifying story about 86-year old Albert Chatfield? The unarmed dementia sufferer was tased by a Kingstree, South Carolina police officer last October, after a brief car chase and subsequent verbal exchange. Chatfield’s injuries prompted the attending hospital to put him in a medically-induced coma in order to save his life. Here’s a sad […]

Stephon Clark — Killed for Daring to Be Human

“I feared for my safety and the well-being of my fellow officers.” “I feared for my life.” And in the shooting of Stephon “Zoe” Clark, the officers who shot the unarmed man were “fearing for their safety.” I’ve repeatedly written about how the killings of unarmed people of color by law enforcement personnel are almost […]

Bruno Mars and cultural appropriation, part 2: the bake

The fried-rice-and-chicken-wing-theory of Blackness gets too much shine at times. We’ll dig deeper into that point later. I want to continue my thoughts from earlier today about Bruno Mars and cultural appropriation by asking a silly question: what is Blackness? Also, what credentialed person or process gets to determine someone else’s Blackness? No, this isn’t […]

NAACP’s “Feared but forgotten” Robert F. Williams — a Negro with a gun

I want to rap about the latest National Rifle Association’s disingenuous stroke of rhetorical jiu-jitsu brilliance, as exhibited by their spokesperson Dana Loesch, but I think it’s a good idea to share a prerequisite piece about the late Monroe, North Carolina NAACP branch president, Robert F. Williams. Besides, today is Williams’ birthday. I’m not surprised […]

A Proclamation for Nikolas Cruz Day and His Terroristic White Privilege

Whereas “He’s going to explode” Could never be uttered by concerned callers to the FBI about my underprivileged Black azz without a small brigade of suits, flanked by HRT, rolling up to my front door Whereas I, with privileges unchanged, can’t publish a YouTube video of my hypothetical chants about how much I want to […]

Alt-right still mad that Black Panther movie isn’t all-White

File under #Trifling. HuffPost reports that the alt-right — in the form of a group named Down with Disney — plans to destroy Marvel Black superhero movie Black Panther’s Rotten Tomatoes critics score, possibly through the bots used by the same group to attack The Last Jedi film. While we’re only talking about a movie […]