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 Meganās 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. ToryĀ Lanez was arrested and given a felony concealed weapon charge. Even after she was treated at the hospital, Megan didnāt tell police Lanez shot her.Ā
When video of the incident began circulating online,Ā Megan clarified that she had in fact been shot, but she still did not say it was Lanez who had done it.Ā
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
Things I’ve Written Elsewhere
Writing I’ve published in other media outlets
In honor of Whitney Houstonās 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.Ā
You couldnāt attend a graduation in the early ā80s without hearing a class full of children or teenagers singing āGreatest Love of All.ā You couldnāt escape her on the radio ā 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 Houstonās 60th birthday, here are my favorite Whitney songs
Black People Have Been Having A Time With The āFade In The Waterā
LinkAt the end of it all, multiple people were arrested ā 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 wonāt escape accountability for their actions.
Because thatās really what all of this boils down to, and thatās whatās really driving the pure joy Black people are experiencing in this moment ā accountability.
You see,Ā accountability is like kryptonite to whiteness. Whiteness is quick to deflect when itās in the wrong, but that same whiteness will demand accountability for Black people at every stop. Itās a weird type of cognitive dissonance none of us have been able to figure out yet.Ā
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 canāt 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 donāt 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 āFade In The Waterā
Are you there, menopause? Itās me, Monique.Ā
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 yāall 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 donāt 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 ā especially the dreaded ābutt crampā that I havenāt bothered Googling to find out what it is about, but I know other women experience it because weāve exchanged stories on Twitter.Ā
I just had a birthday last week, and I can honestly say, Iām 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 Iām 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? Itās me, Monique.Ā
Letās 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 Iām not here to yuck anyone elseās 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 Roscoeās Chicken and Waffles because thatās all people from out of town talk about.
Honestly, Roscoeās chicken aināt all that. I am not saying their chicken isnāt 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 Albertsonās on Crenshaw and 39th seasons its fried chicken way better than that, and itās a lot cheaper.
Letās 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 donāt hear their stories because they donāt get told.
The Carlee Russell story isnāt going to make people stop believing Black women, and it isnāt going to make them stop looking for us. The simple fact is they already donāt believe us, and they already donāt look for us.
The Carlee Russell situation will not stop me from believing Black women
Carlee Russell doesnāt owe us anything
LinkHere is where I inform you that Carlee Russell doesnāt owe anyone anything. She doesnāt 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. Thatās it, and thatās 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.Ā
Except this is not an episode of āLaw & Order: SUV.ā This is someoneās real life.
Did you pray for her safe return because you actually wanted her to return safely, or did you post your āprayersā 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 doesnāt 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 āConfessionsā 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 ācheeksā on full display.Ā
Darius, aka the ābreadloserā in Kekeās 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,Ā he wrote through his tears, āItās the outfit thoā¦you a mom.ā
Keke Palmer and other Black women deserve to express both their sensuality and sexuality unapologetically
Ricky Williams is advocating for mental health in āSoul Trainingā
LinkIn Black and brown communities, thereās a very good reason not to trust mental health practitioners and professionals in the same way that thereās 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. Iām reminded when I go into environments where survival is life and death on a daily basis that vulnerability is not necessarily a thing thatās going to help you survive; itās 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 isnāt available to them.
Ricky Williams is advocating for mental health in āSoul Trainingā
My favorite drug dealer TV shows, ranked
LinkNow, I realize that my favorites are not everyone elseās 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. Itās not definitive by any means; it is just a listing of the ones I like. Your opinion will likely differ, and thatās fine. Go write about it somewhere else because another thing about me? Iām not finna argue with yāall 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 doesnāt mean it is a bad show; it wouldnāt be on this list if I didnāt 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.
Letās begin.
My favorite drug dealer TV shows, ranked
Hereās what Sarah Jane Comrie could do to fix the Citi Bike situation, but she wonāt
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 boyās side of the story has now come out, and weāve learned that she initially asked three of the boys in the video if she could take their bikes, and after being told ānoā by all three, she proceeded to try and commandeer the bike of the boy we see resisting her in the video.Ā
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 ā Black people in particular ā on edge.
Hereās what Sarah Jane Comrie could do to fix the Citi Bike situation, but she wonāt
Mother Of Teen In Citi Bike Video Speaks Out: āNo One Bothered To Ask Him What Happenedā
LinkāThis situation is really driving me crazy and making me sick,ā Betty said. āWe have never been in this situation before.ā
āWe came to this country to make a better life for our kids,ā she continued. āWe are not thieves. Just because we are poor doesnāt mean we are thieves.ā
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.
āAs a mother, you donāt want to see your child like that,ā she said.
Betty said she was horrified when she first saw the video.
āMy reaction when I saw it was āoh my God. I almost lost my son in that moment.ā Do you understand me? I am not from here, but we all know this country,ā she said. āBut how the policemen here do our sons, and our husbands, and our fathers. They kill us.ā
Mother Of Teen In Citi Bike Video Speaks Out: āNo One Bothered To Ask Him What Happenedā
Accountability is like kryptonite to whiteness
LinkThe racist mob has tried to make the narrative be about everything but Sarah Jane Comrieās behavior in the video ā even though itās 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 doesnāt like seeing white people being held accountable.
Accountability is like kryptonite to whiteness
The āreceiptsā donāt matter. The bike doesnāt matter. Sarah Jane Comrieās actions matter
LinkHer lawyerās 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 thatās not the real issue.
Judging byĀ his statements in defense of her, the employment lawyer representing Sarah Jane Comrie understands that her very loud and public outburst where sheĀ weaponizes her tearsĀ and begins screaming for help even when she was in no imminent danger is the issue.Ā
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 Comrieās employer, NYC Health + Hospitals called her behavior in the video ādisturbing.ā
The āreceiptsā donāt matter. The bike doesnāt matter. Sarah Jane Comrieās actions matter
White People Like Sarah Jane Comrie Always Get The Benefit Of The Doubt
StandardItās 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 itās 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 theĀ New York PostĀ 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).Ā
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 afterĀ Marino sent a letterĀ in response to theirĀ 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 āRaising Kananā 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 Raqās 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, Iām not sure how all of that leads to him being the homicidal maniac he is in the original series, but Iām sure weāll 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 ā 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 ārescueā her.
Itās 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 Tillās murder, but she never was. She died of old age ā a luxury she denied Emmett Till.
Emmett Till was murdered because of her lie.
Sarah Jane Comrie Is A 2023 Version Of Carolyn Bryant
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 ā whether itās Popeyes, Churchās or Roscoeās ā I always ask for all thighs. Donāt 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
Snowfall is legend
Everyone 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
If 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
Rape is never an appropriate punchline to your fucked up joke.
Continue readingWhat it’s like for Black women in America
This piece I wrote for NewsOne is very personal for me.
Continue readingThe Tennessee State House just did the most racist thing
I 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
Have 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
Today, 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 āI Have a Dreamā 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 ānot be judged by the color of their skin.ā
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 āsins.ā
Bye, legacy Twitter verification
Ever since Elon Musk purchased Twitter, he seems to be on a mission to destroy everything good about the app one bad decision at a time, and his latest stunt proves that he is a nincompoop who deserves to lose the $44 billion he spent on the worldās most expensive online game of idiocy ā which is what he has turned Twitter into since becoming the CEO.
Elon has been promoting Twitter Blue for a while now. Twitter describes it as, āour premium subscription service that elevates quality conversations on Twitter.ā
How exactly it āelevates quality conversationsā is unclear, especially given that one of the perks for joining is receiving a blue checkmark on your account. Receiving the blue checkmark is a highly promoted perk of the Twitter Blue service, and is likely the biggest draw for those who have already elected to join it.
Elon Musk can have this blue checkmark back because I refuse to pay for Twitter
‘Fo shizzle, my nizzle…’
Iām sure Barbie was a beloved part of peopleās daily news routine down there, and thatās fine, but thereās this thing that happens when white people get too comfortable around Black people: They start thinking they can say and do things they normally wouldnāt if they didnāt have that familiarity.
To be clear, ānizzleā is a euphemism for the n-word. Most of us know that, and Iām sure Barbie Bassett was well aware of that before she let it come out of her mouth. Using the euphemism instead of the real word when you are a white person is still egregious no matter how you try to defend it or spin it. You shouldnāt be trying to use that word in any way, shape or form, even if you try to say she was just emulating or paying homage to Snoop Dogg, itās still wrong.
Itās just like the digital blackface conversation ā there are no passes for this.
Bassett has not appeared on air since the incident happened, and according to multiple news reports, no reason has been given for her absence. While station vice president and general manager Ted Fortenberry said on social media, āWLBT is unable to comment on personnel matters,ā there is no official word on whether she has actually been fired. Her bio is no longer on the stationās website, and she has reportedly removed any mention of WLBT from her Facebook page.
A white lady news anchor said āfo shizzle my nizzleā on air and got benched for her trouble
Let’s talk about digital blackface
To be clear, Black people were not always equally represented in the GIF game. In fact, aside from some really creative people making their own, there was a decided dearth of Black reaction gifs for us to share. That changed in 2016 when Jasmyn Lawson became the culture editor at GIPHY and made it her mission to make ātheir library of GIFs an inclusive reflection of the world.ā
She accomplished her goal. She added some of the funniest and most iconic moments with our favorite Black celebrities, athletes, and social media personalities to the mix and suddenly we had a way to express ourselves with each other on social media. It was like having a graphics version of AAVE to speak in.
Black folks speaking in memes and GIFs with each other on social media is a type of shorthand we all know and recognize. Itās a way we signify with and relate to each other.
Our use of these memes and GIFs comes with an inherent cultural understanding of where they came from and what they represent when we use them with each other.
That type of understanding and nuance is not present when non-Black people try to use them in the same way.
There are levels to this ādigital blackfaceā discussion
There are only 4 episodes of ‘Snowfall’ left
Before I started writing this, I had no idea the actress who plays Franklin Saint’s mother is British-American.
Continue readingY’all started it
LinkBefore I get started, let me be clear about one thing: All white people have white privilege.
Whenever white privilege comes up as a topic, there are always white people who want to claim they donāt have it because they are poor or uneducated or whatever excuse they come up with to try and distance themselves from the very thing that gives them a leg up no matter their class or circumstance.
White privilege is an inherent gift that all white people benefit from just by virtue of being white. You can put a poor white person in the same space as a poor Black person, and the white person is going to be viewed as somehow better no matter their station.
White privilege is about opportunity.
Being the smartest, most educated and experienced person applying doesnāt guarantee a Black person will get a job, but a mediocre white person can get a job over them because of white privilege.
White people made everything about race
My latest for theGrio discusses the social construct of race, whiteness, white privilege and white supremacy.