Tory Lanez Has Been Convicted And Sentenced, Yet Megan The Stallion Is Still Being Attacked

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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 Megan’s 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 didn’t tell police Lanez shot her. 

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. 

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

In honor of Whitney Houston’s 60th birthday, here are my favorite Whitney songs

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I 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. 

You couldn’t attend a graduation in the early ’80s without hearing a class full of children or teenagers singing “Greatest Love of All.” You couldn’t escape her on the radio — 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 Houston’s 60th birthday, here are my favorite Whitney songs

Black People Have Been Having A Time With The ‘Fade In The Water’

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At the end of it all, multiple people were arrested — 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 won’t escape accountability for their actions. 

Because that’s really what all of this boils down to, and that’s what’s really driving the pure joy Black people are experiencing in this moment — accountability. 

You see, accountability is like kryptonite to whiteness. Whiteness is quick to deflect when it’s in the wrong, but that same whiteness will demand accountability for Black people at every stop. It’s a weird type of cognitive dissonance none of us have been able to figure out yet. 

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 can’t 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 don’t 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 ‘Fade In The Water’

And we’re back!

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I 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 didn’t 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 physician’s assistant in the ER told me he didn’t 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. 

And we’re back!
Aside

This Jamie Foxx/AAVE discourse is interesting to say the least.

There are a great many white people who use AAVE as if it’s a type of slang for them. They co-opt our words and phrases and use them on social media without understanding where they come from or how they originated.

As many people have pointed out, AAVE is not “slang.” It’s a language unto itself that we speak in the comfort of our community.

Jamie was speaking in that context, and his post was misunderstood by those who don’t have that cultural history or understanding. And I get why they would misunderstand it with those two things missing for them.

However, when it’s explained to you that you misunderstood something, to continue to double down and act like he was trying to do harm when he was simply saying something everyone with a praying Black grandmother with a church fan has said millions of times before is weird.

And this is why I get annoyed when I see women like that criscrissycris broad on TikTok performing in a Blaccent as she speaks in AAVE in all her videos. Same with TikTokMomma7 or whatever. Y’all want our rhythm, but not our fucking blues, and the shit is tiring.

My Blackness is not a costume I can take on and off depending on the situation. I am always fucking Black. The world sees me as Black. I can’t start speaking the white man’s English and have people see me differently.

So when situations like this come up where someone misunderstands a Black colloquialism and takes it to the extreme, it’s frustrating as a Black person to watch. I want to scream.

You can do all the fucking TikTok dance challenges you want. You can rap along to Bun B and Drake and whoever the fuck else in your videos to try and seem down. You can have all the Black men in your comments telling you that you are “invited to the picnic.”

But the minute that coopted Blackness no longer serves you, you will switch back to regular whiteness like nothing happened. Look at Miley Cyrus.

Look at the rebrand happening with the Kardashians. They want to go back to being white now that coopted Blackness is no longer serving them in the way that it used to.

To be clear: There is no American culture without Black people. Black culture is American culture. No, I will not debate this with you or explain it. Black people know what I mean.

Another saying my Black granny repeated often is “We can’t have shit to ourselves,” and it’s true. But y’all don’t want to have THAT discussion.

It’s so tiring being Black in America and having to deal with the cognitive dissonance that is people wanting to steal everything from our culture at the same time they want to disenfranchise us from every other aspect of life.

Because even when we try to point the bullshit out, y’all play in our faces and gaslight us and telling us we’re “being victims” or “making everything about race” when the fact of the matter is the invention of whiteness as a social construct was not our doing.

The invention of race as a social construct and classification system was not our doing.

And now that the institution of whiteness is being openly called out more and more, y’all are afraid like roaches when the lights come on. You want to stop it, so you have shit like what’s happening in Florida.

And this is why I will never shut up about it. Black people should not have to continue to be oppressed in this country in order for everyone else to feel comfortable. Fuck you, and fuck that.

And by “everyone else,” I mean all the non-Black POC who help to uphold whiteness and white supremacy and anti-Blackness.

Oh. One more thought: this (the Jamie Foxx situation) also plays heavily into the way a lot of white people think it’s their job to police the words and actions of Black people at all times.

Because it has been repeatedly explained by Black people over the last two days what he meant when he said that, yet white people are talking over us (as fucking usual) and refusing to listen. They don’t want to understand. They just want to be right.

Anyway, argue amongst your fucking selves. I’m finna go smoke a joint and this shit is muted already. Kiss my fat, flat Black ass.

Are you there, menopause? It’s me, Monique. 

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Before 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 y’all 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 don’t 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 — especially the dreaded “butt cramp” that I haven’t bothered Googling to find out what it is about, but I know other women experience it because we’ve exchanged stories on Twitter. 

I just had a birthday last week, and I can honestly say, I’m 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 I’m 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? It’s me, Monique. 

RIP, Pee Wee Herman

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Pee Wee Herman died. He was 70 years old.

I was a teen when his show started, but that didn’t stop me from watching it. In fact, we used to watch Pee Wee’s Playhouse religiously as a family every weekend.

When I had to work on a Saturday morning, my mom wouldn’t tell me what the secret word was, but if I guessed it, she would scream just like they did on the show when someone said the secret word.

I still actively quote Pee Wee’s Big Adventure in regular ass conversations. I know that movie by heart.

I remember when he was a guest on 227. In that episode, he called Lester “Kunta.” They would never get away with that today.

Phil Hartman was on Pee Wee’s Playhouse, and he co-wrote Pee Wee’s Big Adventure with Paul Reubens.

Now they are reunited on the other side.

Rest in peace, Pee Wee Herman.

Mecka-lecka-high mecka-hiney-ho.

Let’s argue: Which fast-food chicken chain has the best fried chicken?

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That 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 I’m not here to yuck anyone else’s 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 Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles because that’s all people from out of town talk about. 

Honestly, Roscoe’s chicken ain’t all that. I am not saying their chicken isn’t 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 Albertson’s on Crenshaw and 39th seasons its fried chicken way better than that, and it’s a lot cheaper. 

Let’s argue: Which fast-food chicken chain has the best fried chicken?
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I went to go get waxed this morning.

When I parked, I gathered up little pieces of trash to throw away the same way I do every time I get out of my car.

On the sidewalk I saw a bench and a green metal trash can. I threw my trash in it, and turned to walk into the wax place.

There was an unhoused gentleman sitting on the bench next to the trash can, and when I walked away, he started yelling.

“What the fuck are you doing, lady? This isn’t a fucking trash can!”

I turned to look back at him and realized what I thought was a trash can was actually a container he was using to hold all of his stuff.

I immediately felt like shit.

I walked back over to him and began apologizing profusely.

“I am so sorry,” I said.

“I saw what I thought was a trash can and threw that stuff in there without even looking. Please forgive me. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

His demeanor immediately softened, and I found myself wishing I had cash on me to give to him, but I legit never carry cash.

It didn’t matter. He smiled at me and said, “It’s OK. I understand.”

I apologized again and started walking away.

Another older gentleman witnessed the whole thing, and he said to me, “Did you throw your trash in his basket? ‘

“Yeah,” I said, still embarrassed.

“It’s not your fault. The way it’s sitting there next to the bench, it looks like a trash can.”

“I still feel really bad,” I said.

All I could think was, imagine being unhoused and someone comes and tosses their trash in your stuff.

I’m super glad it was just a straw wrapper, the paper from my banana bread from Starbucks, and a napkin.

I still had espresso in my cup, or it could have been worse.

The Carlee Russell situation will not stop me from believing Black women

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If 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 don’t hear their stories because they don’t get told. 

The Carlee Russell story isn’t going to make people stop believing Black women, and it isn’t going to make them stop looking for us. The simple fact is they already don’t believe us, and they already don’t look for us. 

The Carlee Russell situation will not stop me from believing Black women

Carlee Russell doesn’t owe us anything

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Here is where I inform you that Carlee Russell doesn’t owe anyone anything. She doesn’t 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. That’s it, and that’s 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. 

Except this is not an episode of “Law & Order: SUV.” This is someone’s real life. 

Did you pray for her safe return because you actually wanted her to return safely, or did you post your “prayers” 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 doesn’t owe us anything