Harvard Man

As many of you may know, in addition to being a published author, an equal rights activist, and a nerd seraph, I’m also a pop culture analyst.

A regular fixture on the Nerds of Color, my work has also been featured on Salon, MTV.com, Mental Health Matters, Geeks OUT, Black Girl Magic Lit Mag, and a host of other places.

Whether it’s comic books, video games, blockbuster films, or music albums, it is absolutely paramount that we critique our media if for no other reason than to analyze its influence in molding minds and shaping society.

Social justice has even been an influence on our media that has allowed us to have conversations that 5-10 years ago would’ve been virtually unheard of. Examples include but certainly not limited to:

Police corruption and the #BlackLivesMatter movement being featured on Scandal.

Depictions of slut-shaming on How To Get Away With Murder and Riverdale.

The introduction of the non gender binary character Taylor on the second season of Showtime’s Billions.

Islamophobia and the double standards of white privilege on a national level on Quantico.

Jack schooling Bozer on the absurdity of the friendzone and how guys should learn to respect a woman’s choice, her friendship, and accept rejection with grace and class on MacGyver.

Heroes who fall on the autistic spectrum such as Julia on Sesame Street and Billy in the new Power Rangers film.

These conversations are both imperative and long overdue. Moff’s Law and all of that.

What’s interesting is that too often many of these think pieces become a lightning rod for both unwavering support and harsh rebuke.

A fact I know all too well.

A prime example of this would be a piece I wrote a few years back entitled, The Myth of Black Homophobia: Why I’m Not Feeling Macklemore and Why White Saviors Are Anything But.

It breaks down why not only are blacks generally less homophobic than whites but there wouldn’t be an LGBTQ movement if weren’t for us. It also explains why gay will never be the new black, or brown, or red, or yellow and why Macklemore is an opportunistic con artist who made his $18 million exploiting black and gay culture.

The piece went viral. I got a lot of hate mail and white trolls spamming my Amazon page. I also go a lot of support from folks thanking me for speaking truth to power.

But it didn’t stop there.

It was featured on the Harvard Political Review (yes, as in Harvard University) where a conservative columnist penned a response.

It basically discusses privilism which is a fancy buzzword for reverse racism and how minorities should mind their tone or they’ll hurt the fee-fees of would-be allies.

My initial reaction upon reading the article. OH MY GAWD! MY WORK IS BEING FEATURED AND DISCUSSED AT HARVARD!!!!! MY THINK PIECE IS BEING FEATURED AT ONE OF THE PREMIERE IVY LEAGUE UNIVERSITIES!!!!!

For those of you who don’t know, I have a history with Harvard University. During my time in Boston I studied there. Okay actually I studied a pamphlet while I visited the campus when I was in Boston for a conference, but you don’t need to worry about all of those details.

But after reading the article a second time. I was a bit confused and unsettled.

Now I had it on good authority that Harvard was an Ivy League school. You know, like for smart people or something. At least that was word on the street. Oh well. There’s always Yale.

But in all seriousness, there’s no such thing as would-be allies. You’re either about this life or you’re not. If they can be scared off, then they aren’t allies to begin with. Contrary to popular misconception, equal rights was never about getting the privileged majority to love and accept the minority. It’s about ensuring that minorities have the same equal rights and protection under the law regardless of what the majority thinks of us.

Calling out allies and demanding better is not only encouraged but crucial. It quickly exposes which allies are involved in our spaces for the right reasons and which double agents are involved for hubris, monetary gain, and other ulterior motives. If they can be scared off, then they aren’t allies to begin with. Because if you refuse to fight for equal rights because you weren’t validated by being told you’re a pweddy pweddy pwincess, that says everything about you right there. And none of it is flattering Veruca. So miss me with the white fragility.

You can also miss me with the privilism, i.e., reverse racism. In addition to there being no such thing, ultimately you’re telling on yourselves. Reverse racism implies white people facing racial oppression at the hands of people of color; thus making people of color the source of reverse racism. If that’s the case then that means racism in its proper definition is people of color facing racial oppression at the hands of white folks. Thus making white folks the source of racism.