There’s Customizing a Message for Your Audience, and There’s Perpetuating Bias

So, Grant Cardone is in the news this week. You may know him as an author and a purveyor of financial and business advice. I’ve never absorbed any of his content. I’m leery of anyone who’s made a fortune telling other people how to make a fortune — especially when they target specific audiences, like Black people. …

Aunt Jemima Is Dead

I must say I don’t feel the least bit gruesome for the subtle satisfaction I feel in acknowledging — dare I say, low key celebrating? — someone’s demise. But I don’t. I suppose it helps that Aunt Jemima isn’t actually a person. She’s a construct. An antiquated, racist construct that has now officially been rebranded. Out with …

Cyborg Is No More — at Least Not Ray Fisher’s Version

So, actor Ray Fisher is in the news. He will officially not be continuing his role as Cyborg in the upcoming movie The Flash, but not because of bad behavior or illness. It appears he's been fired for being too truthful. The short version is, he called out Justice League director Joss Whedon for racist, abusive behavior on set, and …

To Avoid Arrest and Death in Cases of Domestic Terrorism, It’s Best to Have Blue Eyes and White Skin

My closest friends know I have a running joke about how in my next life I want to be reincarnated as a white man. I’d like to be 6’3″, fine, with thick, jet black hair, milk pale skin and blue eyes. I mean blue! That spooky, piercing Chris Pine/Paul Newman blue. The rest of me …

2021, Cool.

I wanted to be terribly hopeful and happy and excited about 2021, but I confess: I’m more like, meh. Honestly, it feels like just another day, which was, for me, par for the course for 2020. One day ran into the next, and before I knew it, my birthday passed. Then it was fall, and …