One of the biggest lies out there is that Megan reported Tory to the police or pressed charges against him. The narrative is that the fact that this went to trial at all is Meganâs fault, and that is categorically false.
On the night of the shooting, residents in the area called the police when they heard the disturbance happening in and outside of a car Megan was riding in with Tory and others.
When police arrived on scene, Megan did not tell them she had been shot. Instead, she indicated that she had stepped on glass and was taken to the hospital for treatment. Tory Lanez was arrested and given a felony concealed weapon charge. Even after she was treated at the hospital, Megan didnât tell police Lanez shot her.Â
When video of the incident began circulating online, Megan clarified that she had in fact been shot, but she still did not say it was Lanez who had done it.Â
LAPD was initially unable to press charges against Lanez for the shooting because none of the witnesses, including Megan, were cooperating with their investigation.
Tory Lanez Has Been Convicted And Sentenced, Yet Megan The Stallion Is Still Being Attacked
my work
In honor of Whitney Houstonâs 60th birthday, here are my favorite Whitney songs
LinkI am a proud member of Generation X, and I think I can speak for all of us when I say Whitney Houston was a prominent voice for our generation ever since the release of her eponymous album in 1985.
I was a few months shy of my 14th birthday when I heard that album, and every song on it was a hit.Â
You couldnât attend a graduation in the early â80s without hearing a class full of children or teenagers singing âGreatest Love of All.â You couldnât escape her on the radio â not that we wanted to.
Once she came on the scene, she commanded it. She was the gold standard, and everyone who came after was compared to her. She was the voice and the visuals, baby.
Today, Aug. 9, would have been her 60th birthday, and in honor of the occasion, I want to list my favorite Whitney Houston songs.
In honor of Whitney Houstonâs 60th birthday, here are my favorite Whitney songs
Black People Have Been Having A Time With The âFade In The Waterâ
LinkAt the end of it all, multiple people were arrested â including the white men who started it in the first place after they were identified by people in the crowd watching,
Since it was all caught on video, hopefully they wonât escape accountability for their actions.
Because thatâs really what all of this boils down to, and thatâs whatâs really driving the pure joy Black people are experiencing in this moment â accountability.
You see, accountability is like kryptonite to whiteness. Whiteness is quick to deflect when itâs in the wrong, but that same whiteness will demand accountability for Black people at every stop. Itâs a weird type of cognitive dissonance none of us have been able to figure out yet.Â
As Black people, we have to defend our humanity on a daily basis in America. Whiteness is a privilege that is wielded over us heavily on a daily basis in all parts of our lives. Black people canât eat, sleep, walk down the street, go to the pool, play in the park with their children, or do relatively anything without their words and actions being policed by white people.
And because of whiteness, there are white people who believe they donât owe any respect to Black people in positions of authority.
Witnessing a group of white people get their comeuppance for disrespecting and physically attacking a Black man who was simply doing his job is the smallest and sweetest of victories, and baby? We will take it.
Black People Have Been Having A Time With The âFade In The Waterâ
And we’re back!
LinkI was in the ER for hours, and I do mean hours. They ran all types of tests on me and my eyes, and they determined that I had a detached retina. The ophthalmologist who was on call for the ER that evening didnât think it was a real emergency, and he told them to send me to his office 25 miles away the next day. This annoyed me, and the physicianâs assistant in the ER told me he didnât think it would be a big deal for me to just call the ophthalmologist on the following Monday (which was Juneteenth) and let them know what happened at the ER. He told me to tell them I would need to be seen right away.Â
And we’re back!
Are you there, menopause? Itâs me, Monique.Â
LinkBefore you all start jumping in my mentions on Twitter, sending me emails, or leaving comments on my personal website with your completely unsolicited advice (in another post, I will explain why yâall need to stop doing that under all circumstances), please know that I have been to the doctor plenty of times to address my period woes.
As a teen, I was placed on birth control pills to regulate my periods. I donât have fibroids. I just have a very angry uterus that tries to take me down each month.
These days, my periods last four to five days. I bleed heavily, and I clot a lot. The cramps are uncomfortable â especially the dreaded âbutt crampâ that I havenât bothered Googling to find out what it is about, but I know other women experience it because weâve exchanged stories on Twitter.Â
I just had a birthday last week, and I can honestly say, Iâm ready for my period to go the way of the Dodo.
Being fatigued, cranky, sick to my stomach, crampy, and overall uncomfortable for five days every month is a drag, and Iâm completely over it.
In the same way I was wishing for my period to start, I am now wishing for menopause to start so I can be done with this shit.
Are you there, menopause? Itâs me, Monique.Â
Letâs argue: Which fast-food chicken chain has the best fried chicken?
LinkThat man legit rated Popeyes a 7/10 while saying KFC was an 8/10, and I know from personal experience that that is a big ass lie, but Iâm not here to yuck anyone elseâs yum. We all have different tastes in fried chicken, and we all like our fried chicken in different ways.
As an example, I am a Los Angeles native who currently lives in Los Angeles, and I have eaten fried chicken all over my city. I know people love to come here and go to Roscoeâs Chicken and Waffles because thatâs all people from out of town talk about.
Honestly, Roscoeâs chicken ainât all that. I am not saying their chicken isnât good; it definitely is, but the way people be raving about it would have you think there was magic in it, and I can honestly say the deli in the Albertsonâs on Crenshaw and 39th seasons its fried chicken way better than that, and itâs a lot cheaper.
Letâs argue: Which fast-food chicken chain has the best fried chicken?
The Carlee Russell situation will not stop me from believing Black women
LinkIf anything, we should be happy that a missing Black woman got the level of national attention that Carlee did, and we should be advocating for that to happen every time a Black woman or girl is missing. Black women and girls do not get the same level of publicity or attention that missing white girls and women do. This is a fact.
According to the National Crime Information Center, 268,884 women went missing in the year 2020, and of those, more than 90,000 were Black women and girls. This means that while Black women represent less than 15% of the entire U.S. population, they made up more than one-third of the women and girls reported missing. And cases involving Black girls and women, on average, stay open four times longer than other cases. Unfortunately, we donât hear their stories because they donât get told.
The Carlee Russell story isnât going to make people stop believing Black women, and it isnât going to make them stop looking for us. The simple fact is they already donât believe us, and they already donât look for us.
The Carlee Russell situation will not stop me from believing Black women
Carlee Russell doesnât owe us anything
LinkHere is where I inform you that Carlee Russell doesnât owe anyone anything. She doesnât have to talk about what happened to the public. The only questions she needs to answer are those from law enforcement investigators working on her case. Thatâs it, and thatâs all.
The internet and social media specifically have put us in a space where people expect instant gratification at every turn.
A woman disappears on Thursday night, returns to her family safely on Saturday night, and by Tuesday, everyone is demanding that the police investigation be wrapped up and a full public disclosure be made about what happened in these last four days.Â
Except this is not an episode of âLaw & Order: SUV.â This is someoneâs real life.
Did you pray for her safe return because you actually wanted her to return safely, or did you post your âprayersâ to social media for the likes and clout?
Do you actually care about the safety and well-being of Black women, or is Black suffering more your kink?
Carlee Russell doesnât owe us anything
Keke Palmer and other Black women deserve to express both their sensuality and sexuality unapologetically
LinkDarius Jackson, a no-name negro with no claim to fame other than the fact that he fathered a beautiful child with Keke Palmer, recently became the main character on Black Twitter after he dared to try and publicly shame Keke for an outfit she wore to the Usher residency in Las Vegas.
In a video that was widely shared across the internet, the âConfessionsâ crooner walked up to Keke and serenaded her. They danced closely together as he sang to her. Keke, who shows no signs of having recently had a baby, looked stunning in a dazzling Black see-through number that put her âcheeksâ on full display.Â
Darius, aka the âbreadloserâ in Kekeâs house, wrapped himself up in a feelings burrito after the video clip of Usher and Keke went viral. In response to a celebrity news social media account posting the video, he wrote through his tears, âItâs the outfit thoâŚyou a mom.â
Keke Palmer and other Black women deserve to express both their sensuality and sexuality unapologetically
Ricky Williams is advocating for mental health in âSoul Trainingâ
LinkIn Black and brown communities, thereâs a very good reason not to trust mental health practitioners and professionals in the same way that thereâs a good reason not to trust the system, so I think we have to start there and acknowledge that most systems have not been for Black and brown people. So if the help is being offered by the same hand that just bit you, you would be foolish to give them your hand and trust them to heal the wound they created.
You want someone who can journey with you into your inner world and be trustworthy enough not to weaponize it against you or use it against you. You want someone who is cultured enough to understand your experience to never project their ideas of the world onto you and allow you to have your own ideas that are rooted in your culture and who you are and the communities you grew up in.
Being vulnerable is a luxury. Iâm reminded when I go into environments where survival is life and death on a daily basis that vulnerability is not necessarily a thing thatâs going to help you survive; itâs actually a thing that might get you hurt or might get you killed. So when it comes to Black and brown communities, they have been put in a position in society where they constantly have to survive, and this luxury of vulnerability isnât available to them.
Ricky Williams is advocating for mental health in âSoul Trainingâ
a hot link sandwich #4
LinkWhen I tell yâall 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.
a hot link sandwich #4
My favorite drug dealer TV shows, ranked
LinkNow, I realize that my favorites are not everyone elseâs favorites, and I realize that I have not watched all the same shows as everyone else, so this is why I say this is my ranking. Itâs not definitive by any means; it is just a listing of the ones I like. Your opinion will likely differ, and thatâs fine. Go write about it somewhere else because another thing about me? Iâm not finna argue with yâall about nothing.
Oh, one other thing before I get this list started. All of these shows are personal favorites. A show being last on the list doesnât mean it is a bad show; it wouldnât be on this list if I didnât like it and recommend it for viewing. It just means that when compared to my other favorite shows, this is where it is on the list.
Letâs begin.
My favorite drug dealer TV shows, ranked
Hereâs what Sarah Jane Comrie could do to fix the Citi Bike situation, but she wonât
LinkWe are upset because Sarah Jane Comrie chose to react in a way that was too over the top for the type of dispute that was happening at that moment.
The boyâs side of the story has now come out, and weâve learned that she initially asked three of the boys in the video if she could take their bikes, and after being told ânoâ by all three, she proceeded to try and commandeer the bike of the boy we see resisting her in the video.Â
His side of the story makes her look so much worse. She comes off as entitled at the very least, but the history of white women weaponizing their whiteness and tears in the name of causing trouble for Black people is what has people â Black people in particular â on edge.
Hereâs what Sarah Jane Comrie could do to fix the Citi Bike situation, but she wonât
Mother Of Teen In Citi Bike Video Speaks Out: âNo One Bothered To Ask Him What Happenedâ
LinkâThis situation is really driving me crazy and making me sick,â Betty said. âWe have never been in this situation before.â
âWe came to this country to make a better life for our kids,â she continued. âWe are not thieves. Just because we are poor doesnât mean we are thieves.â
Betty said Michael had to stay home from school for a few days because of the mental anguish of the incident and all that has come after it.
âAs a mother, you donât want to see your child like that,â she said.
Betty said she was horrified when she first saw the video.
âMy reaction when I saw it was âoh my God. I almost lost my son in that moment.â Do you understand me? I am not from here, but we all know this country,â she said. âBut how the policemen here do our sons, and our husbands, and our fathers. They kill us.â
Mother Of Teen In Citi Bike Video Speaks Out: âNo One Bothered To Ask Him What Happenedâ
Accountability is like kryptonite to whiteness
LinkThe racist mob has tried to make the narrative be about everything but Sarah Jane Comrieâs behavior in the video â even though itâs her behavior that everyone is upset about.
There is a reason for this.
Accountability is like kryptonite to whiteness. Whiteness does not like being held accountable. Whiteness doesnât like seeing white people being held accountable.
Accountability is like kryptonite to whiteness
The âreceiptsâ donât matter. The bike doesnât matter. Sarah Jane Comrieâs actions matter
LinkHer lawyerâs statements in the media are meant to obfuscate the actual issue at hand. He is making it about whether or not she tried to steal a bike and whether or not she actually paid for said bike, but even he has to know on some level thatâs not the real issue.
Judging by his statements in defense of her, the employment lawyer representing Sarah Jane Comrie understands that her very loud and public outburst where she weaponizes her tears and begins screaming for help even when she was in no imminent danger is the issue.Â
People who saw that video understood exactly what Sarah Jane Comrie was doing. It was evident in the smug look you see on her face right before she began screaming for help.
Attorney Justin Marino knows that even Sarah Jane Comrieâs employer, NYC Health + Hospitals called her behavior in the video âdisturbing.â
The âreceiptsâ donât matter. The bike doesnât matter. Sarah Jane Comrieâs actions matter
White People Like Sarah Jane Comrie Always Get The Benefit Of The Doubt
StandardItâs really funny the way white people get all up in arms about one of their own being dragged through the media, but they have no issue with it when itâs a Black victim having their past dredged up in the wake of their murder ala Jordan Neely. The hypocrisy is blinding and white.
Adding to the madness is a follow-up article from the New York Post in which they claim to have receipts sent to them by Justin Marino, an employment lawyer defending Sarah Jane Comrie to help her keep her job with NYC Health + Hospitals (NYC H+H).Â
Marino claims the alleged receipts prove that Comrie rented the bike first and it was immediately put back in the rack one minute later, and then she rented another shortly thereafter.
The Post follow-up was written after Marino sent a letter in response to their original article.
White People Like Sarah Jane Comrie Always Get The Benefit Of The Doubt
Let’s talk about the 50 Cent Cinematic Universe
LinkIf âRaising Kananâ accomplishes anything, it makes teenage Kanan (Mekai Curtis) something of a sympathetic character. You can see how the things that happened to him in his youth, especially when it comes to dealing with his mother Raq (Patina Miller). The main men in his life, his uncles Lou (Malcolm Mays) and Marvin (London Brown) are drug dealers and major players in Raqâs drug empire, and they are his main influences. Then he gets the added rub of finding out his real father is a cop (Omar Epps). Life is hard for young Kanan Stark.
That said, Iâm not sure how all of that leads to him being the homicidal maniac he is in the original series, but Iâm sure weâll find out. The show has already completed two seasons, and a third should be released this summer.
The 50 Cent Cinematic Universe has me in a chokehold
Sarah Jane Comrie used her whiteness to try and steal a Citi Bike
LinkContinue readingSarah Jane Comrie knew exactly what she was doing when she began yelling. She wanted to draw the wrong type of attention to those young men so she could force them to give her what she wanted â the motorized bike.
She understands that as a white woman, she is always going to be viewed as the victim in any situation. She knows that white comfort is always prioritized over everything else. She is aware that if she makes a loud enough scene, some white man or a cop will come flying in to ârescueâ her.
Itâs what she wanted.
Sarah Jane Comrie is a 2023 version of Carolyn Bryant.
Bryant, who died two weeks ago on April 25, should have been tried in Emmett Tillâs murder, but she never was. She died of old age â a luxury she denied Emmett Till.
Emmett Till was murdered because of her lie.
Sarah Jane Comrie Is A 2023 Version Of Carolyn Bryant
writing stuff
StatusI wrote an op-ed comparing Sarah Jane Comrie to Carolyn Bryant.
It will be live in the morning.
My favorite piece of chicken is the thigh
LinkYou heard me. The chicken thigh is the best piece of chicken in the entire bunch. Whenever I go somewhere and get chicken â whether itâs Popeyes, Churchâs or Roscoeâs â I always ask for all thighs. Donât bother giving me any other pieces, because I am definitely going to complain and send them back.
The definitive ranking of chicken pieces in order from best to worst
Let’s talk about the way Black women are constantly targeted for ‘humbling’
LinkBefore the whining starts, I want to be clear that I realize all women are shamed for the tiniest of things that shouldnât even matter or be anyone elseâs business, but as Black women, we are held under a microscope and have every decision, emotion, hairstyle, financial status, education level, number of previous lovers â you name it, we have had it picked apart and thrown in our faces at any given moment.Â
Black women get shamed for everything
Snowfall is legend
StandardEveryone from the hood or hood adjacent knows a dude who is out there wandering the streets looking crazy and lost. When we see him, we say, “You know who that is?”
For us right now in this moment, that dude is Franklin Saint.
Continue readingHappy 4/20
StandardIf you are me, it’s 4/20 every day at 4:20 p.m.
Continue readingNo matter how you look at it, David Choe is a disgusting human being
StandardRape is never an appropriate punchline to your fucked up joke.
Continue readingWhat it’s like for Black women in America
StandardThis piece I wrote for NewsOne is very personal for me.
Continue readingOnce again, it’s Monique’s Mailbag
StandardMonique’s Mailbag came out on a Tuesday this week, and it’s good.
Continue readingThe Tennessee State House just did the most racist thing
StandardI believe Elie Mystal said it best when he told MSNBC, “Tennessee has now given the entire country an object lesson in critical race theory better than any AP history course ever could have. Everybody sees it now. Everybody knows it now. Everybody gets exactly what is going on.”
Continue readingWe will never look at Jonathan Majors the same again
StandardHave you noticed that outside of scattered chatter about the alleged attack on his girlfriend, no one is talking about Jonathan Majors anymore?
Continue readingMLK is not your Black Jesus, white people
StandardToday, on the 55th anniversary of his murder, I wrote about how white people weaponize Dr. Martin Luther King, his work, and his message against Black people.
“One of the biggest lies ever told about King is that he believed in a colorblind society. This is false.
It is an idea derived from a 40-word passage from his 1963 âI Have a Dreamâ speech in which he said, ‘I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.’
And if we are being honest, that 40-word passage has been whittled down to nine simple words ânot be judged by the color of their skin.â
What King meant when he said that and what white people have twisted it to mean are two different things.”
Dear white people: Martin Luther King Jr. is not Black Jesus. He did not die for our âsins.â