"I Do See Color" weekly newsletter: Election Week 2022
Weekly newsletter 6: Combination of race- and culture-related posts from "We Need to Talk," "I Do See Color," "BlackTechLogy" and "Window Shopping"
Welcome to the “I Do See Color” newsletter (with a bonus section of two first-person interviews called “Deuces”).
Please VOTE TODAY! (Election Day 2022)
AND IF YOU’RE NOT VOTING TODAY: If you’re not voting today, please shut up ~ Why is the most inactive group so loud?
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Now let’s get into the weekly newsletter!
Each week, eight* carefully selected posts will be chosen, which focus on culture, politics, health and race from a black (wo)man’s perspective.
NEW! 1. Therapy for victims of racism should be tax deductible ~ What if the IRS treated therapy for black people the way it does for “emotional distress” lawsuits?
A recent freelancing assignment caught my attention and gave me an idea. The article I was assigned to edit discussed how the Internal Revenue Service handles “emotional distress” and anxiety when it comes to personal injury cases. A thought kept coming into my mind: If black people could go to therapy for free and have an outlet to openly discuss the harm that racism does to us, is that tax deduction a reasonable way to get reparations?
2. Newsroom editors can cripple or embrace reporters ~ Stories you want: Holding local and national news accountable
Please do not give me Florida. Please do not give me Miami or Orlando or Tampa. I’m begging you. I don’t give a damn what Florida Man has to say. I was given Florida as my news beat anyway — and lots of idiotic “funny” stories to write about. Meanwhile the 20-something white guy who had minimal interest in Black Lives Matter got the East Coast cities. There was no grumpier person on the planet than me being told to write about Disney World while fully aware that a black man had been beaten so bad that his “spine was 80% severed at his neck.”
During the initial online training days, before we were given a beat, I ran off some accomplishments of Black Lives Matter. The editor (a 20-something, white, blonde female) responded, “Yeah, we’re not going to write about that. We don’t even know if that small group will stick around.” I was dumbfounded. Years later, Black Lives Matter is stronger, better and quicker — and worldwide. I hope the editor who dismissed “that small group” eats crow every day for the rest of her life.
3. Junee reacts to Usher on NPR’s “Tiny Desk”
Update on April 21, 2024: There used to be a story about two memories I had with Usher Raymond IV songs. However, when I moved “Tickled” from its own Substack series to “We Need To Talk,” that story was accidentally erased. If/when I get around to rewriting it, I’ll update this post. The funniest part was Junee’s reaction to watching “Tiny Desk” though. Nothing I said was funnier to me than that.
4. Is social media going to ruin black ’90s sitcoms? ~ Twitter is making the teen version of me fight with my adult self
I winced multiple times while watching the first few episodes of “Moesha.” I honestly didn’t realize how stereotypical Kim’s character was and how she was disrespected left and right. I was also completely confused by the episode when Fredro Starr was introduced. How could Moesha, a black girl, be mad that she was told she had a big butt? That has never been a complaint for black women anywhere — unless it was just ridiculously out of shape and flat. But in an era with Sir Mix-a-Lot’s “Baby Got Back,” E.U.’s “Da Butt” and pretty much any song by 2 Live Crew, how did this get past the writer’s room? Hell, how did someone in a vocal group like Onyx not go, “Yeah, this is dumb.”
5. I’ll never wear weave but relaxers don’t bother me ~ Why I keep walking the straight-hair tight rope
I smiled and waved at two sistas that I knew from our work floor. They worked in the financial department, and I worked in marketing. I didn’t know much about them nor their names, but we always greeted each other with smiles and friendly hellos if we shared the same elevator or happened to be in the gym locker room at the same time.
“I’m trying this natural thing with you,” one said to the other.
I grabbed my bag and collected my wet towel, lazily overhearing their conversation.
“But sometimes I just miss having a relaxer,” she continued. “It was just way easier to do my hair.”
“No! Absolutely not! Do not go back to that,” the other one said.
I paused and let out a “hmm.”
6. Denzel made journalist Katie Couric ‘uncomfortable’ with her questions ~ Should journalists feel ‘shaken’ when interviewees challenge their questions? (2020)
As an interviewer who has covered just about every topic one reads in a newspaper — minus minimal sports news — I’m a bit perplexed by journalist Katie Couric’s complaint about actor Denzel Washington. It’s not so much that she was “uncomfortable” by him challenging a question of hers, but that she held onto this feeling for 16 years.
“Deuces” ~ “I Do See Color” newsletter’s bonus interviews:
1. Even a boxing Michael Lee couldn't 'box' Tristan 'Mack Wilds' into a genre
It's easy to get boxed into an acting category once an actor is consistently recognized for one role. But Tristan "Mack Wilds" Paul resume says otherwise. "The Wire" fans recognize him as a student who's a straight shooter (literally). No way in the world was anybody, including Marlo Stanfield, going to get the best of Wilds' character Michael Lee.
2. Actress Taylor King ponders on Season 4 'The Wire,' secret cast crush, Baltimore
The women on "The Wire" were anything but weak, and one of the most rebellious ones came in the form of a 14-year-old girl's body. Actress Taylor King played the role of Zenobia Dawson in "Season 4."
* During the Substack transition of “Tickled” to “We Need To Talk” in March 2024, two stories were accidentally deleted. If/when they are reproduced, the missing two of eight stories — including the one with Junee — will be updated.
Did you enjoy this post? You’re also welcome to check out my Substack columns “Black Girl In a Doggone World,” “BlackTechLogy,” “Homegrown Tales,” “I Do See Color,” “One Black Woman’s Vote,” “Tickled,” “We Need To Talk” and “Window Shopping” too. Subscribe to this newsletter for the weekly posts every Wednesday.
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