Mar 26Member-onlyBenavidez/ Plant Postfight: The Good Bros.A recap of their terrific fight, and a brief look at the champion's ascendancy to superstardom. Another reason why David Benavidez is beloved could be seen at the 12th round of his star-stamping victory Saturday night. …Sports3 min readSports3 min read
Mar 24Member-onlyBenavidez/Plant PreviewOn the aspiring young Renton champion, and his superb, compelling( if overmatched) pro of an opponent. To this grandson of a bartender who watched tapes of the Univision classic fights replays her brown former customers gave to her; David Benavidez fights like another imperfect great fighter of half a century…Boxing2 min readBoxing2 min read
Published in An Injustice!·Mar 4Member-onlyErnest Owens Doesn’t Speak Truth To Power As Much As He Sneers At Liberal GhostsReview: The Case For Cancel Culture If you’re a liberal with a skeptical streak to your personality, Ernest Owens’ The Case For Cancel Culture will bring you some pain. In 153 pages, the author creates a slapdash and vague history of liberalism, using examples of activism with numerous variables having…Woke4 min readWoke4 min read
Feb 2Member-onlyOn A Word Thomas Chatterton Williams Needs To Keep Out Of His Mouth.The man who blamed hip-hop records on his act of domestic violence wants to lecture black people (who think Tyre Nichols's death’s had a racial component) about agency. In the last few years, Thomas Chatterton Williams has cultivated a quieter, more eloquent online reputation. Gone is the writer who, in…Race6 min readRace6 min read
Published in The Riff·Jan 4Member-onlyAttention Must Be Paid: Luther VandrossAn appreciation of the soul master on the 35th anniversary of his for-the-ages performance at the Image Awards. — It was the first warm day in a warm spring in a warm year. To add specifics, it was a Saturday, and my dad had dropped me off at big momma’s. …Music6 min readMusic6 min read
Published in An Injustice!·Updated Jan 2Member-onlyYou Had Your Chance, Bro2022 was the year a new hip hop generation of men fully became the patriarchs they once blamed all their problems on — He used to bully me when I took the bus to University Place. In the years I went back and forth and then lived there, he and his “Starbuck Gang Homies” considered me to be a “bitch” “Faggot” and then an “uncle tom” because I wasn’t gangster enough. Time and…Racism5 min readRacism5 min read
Nov 24, 2022Member-onlyThe NBA Prep School Hotep’s Heaven Is the Black Liberal Misanthrope’s Hell.But which place is actually which? There might not have been a black-owned hin the history of this nation less hospitable to the black Israelites and the nation of Islam than my grandparents’ three-bedroom. Built in 1971, on the corner of 15th and Sprague avenue, it was deceptively bottom heavy. It had a basement containing that…10 min read10 min read
Nov 3, 2022Member-onlyEnough, Dawg.I am from a generation of black folks infuriated by toxic internet politics. Kanye West and Kyrie Irving are the final straw after years of bullshit. I come from a place people call Up South. My spiritual and actual roots are from black people who came up from the south…Kanye West3 min readKanye West3 min read
Sep 30, 2022Member-onlyPortrait Of The Artist As A Boxing HomeboyRemembering Pernell Whitaker. The appeal of pure boxers in minority communities is that they are physical manifestations of intellect. To stand in front of a fighter, hit, and not get hit is to show an improvisational mastery of skills, skills that aren’t just obvious but ones that no white person can deny. …Boxing3 min readBoxing3 min read
Sep 13, 2022Member-onlyPoem: Why Uncle Moe Played The Washboard On The Block When He Had Health ProblemsA poem from my upcoming collected works manuscript Is it the silences between descriptive verbs? Is it the pattern(or sound)? Repetitions made new? the sight from his pitch beyond notes and figures of his delta-to-the-north-hill sorrow songs? Is it the sliver branch order in ivory soap and metal beyond blown blue-black scales? Is it a motion…Poetry1 min readPoetry1 min read
