Every things is content and dirty laundry

Black Folx drama for public consumption

Perspective: Cultural commentary for the soul

I realize that I have been writing about a lot of food experiences as of late partly because living in the Bay Area is like living in the middle of a food mecca where I have to force myself to try something other than the 3 food restaurants I frequent.

From time to time there’s an event online or news story that peaks my interest and I try to make sense of what it means in the larger sense of the world. It’s something from the days when I was doing wellness blogging. It’s not so much about telling what to believe or having the right answer for things but I do believe in giving myself permission to be think about the big ideas and how they impact daily life.

We all should, even if it’s wrong. Give yourself permission to think about something that makes you uncomfortable.

News You May Have Missed

Essence Magazine had some very bad press this year and it’s a bit unsettling to hear. But it’s also good to know that we in the Black community can take accountability for the actions that we take.

The news was information that had resurfaced from 2020, when employees of the company allegded mistreatment and dehumanization in their working environments.

Then during Essence Fest, organizers filed a cease and desist against a local bookstore Baldwin Bookstore’s citing it misused it’s trademark to promote a book event happening at the same time as the festival. Essence Fest dropped the cease and desist against the bookstore but maintained its suit against the event promoter Lit Diaries. You can read more about the events here.

Then there was the “outrage” by the aunties about Megan Thee Stallion performing, like there wasn’t a whole ass movie essentially advertising Essense Fest as rich aunties gone wild in 2017.

It’s a lot to take in for a festival —the legal conflicts, the respectability politics, and don’t even get started on the headlines about the male celebrity, his new girlfriend and his legal troubles making pseudo headlines.

The part that is the worst of it and that gets lost in the shuffle of stories is that some of these issues were under the leadership of Black women. Its already hard enough that Black women have a difficult time being heard and understood at work. Employees in all industries are tired.

While billionaires who own the social media we use to share all this news are staging (hopefully) a fight to the death cage match, we don’t really have the bandwidth for any more fuckery. Hopefully, the Essence organization figures out that Black employees are allowed to also express their discomfort with Black supervisors without taking it personally. The rest of the mess can go down in history with the Shade Room, Neighborhood Talk, and World Star and whoever else is airing dirty laundry online. All the madness that has now become the norm.