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Christopher Webb

@cwebbonline

Jun 15

The Father I Didn’t Know – And What It Taught Me

On This Father’s Day, I want to share something I learned the hard way. It’s a bit rough in the beginning, but it’s leading to something that will hit. Especially if you’re a dad.

About two and a half years ago, my father passed away. Massive heart attack. It was a Sunday, the anniversary of Bloody Sunday. My sister called to tell me the news. It was also her birthday.

As a family, we decided to cremate him and hold a celebration of life later that summer. A home-going. And when July came, we gave him the best home-going you could imagine. In a venue right on the water.

🧵

My father was retired, but he had been a documentary filmmaker, a media director at a college, a jazz musician, and an art lover with a large collection of Black art. He was also a pack rat, which, in this case, was a blessing. He’d kept nearly everything. We set up a series of exhibits in the space: his art, his films, college mementos like his track spikes. We also reunited his bandmates who agreed to play that day. We played a film of his life’s work. Guests could walk from station to station, remember him, and talk about him.

I made a point to speak with every single person there. What I didn’t expect were the stories. Stories of how he used to cook entire Thanksgiving meals—multiple turkeys, pies, sides—and give them to the homeless. Stories from younger Stanford alumni who said, “When you get to Palo Alto, find Salah. He will show you the ropes and connect you with who you should be connected with.” Remember there aren’t too many Black people at Stanford. One told me, “He helped me get into Stanford.”

That one hit me. Years earlier, my dad had worked every angle trying to get his grandson, my son, into Stanford. He’d reached out to trustees, pulled every string he could, but his grandson wasn’t accepted. Pop was so mad. He took it harder than my son. I told him not to be so upset, that I had read even board members can’t get their kids in. But hearing folks say he helped them get in made me realize why he took it so hard that he couldn’t get his own grandson in. Hearing those stories later, I understood just how far back his reputation went.

(2 of 4)

Then, about a week after the home-going, I got a call from a Bay Area number. I normally don’t pick up unknown numbers, but I answered.

“Hi Chris, you don’t know me, but my name’s Max. I was really close to your father.”

I hadn’t heard that name before. I asked if we’d met at the service. He said no. “I couldn’t come. I just couldn’t get it together. That’s why I’m calling.” And then he started crying. Hard.

He told me that during his divorce, my dad took him in, cared for him like family. They would say “I love you” to each other like brothers. As Max sobbed, I found myself trying to comfort him when I think he called intending to comfort me. And in the middle of that call, something hit me that I wasn’t ready for:

The man Max was mourning, the man so many had described, I didn’t know that man.

I knew the dad who had a sharp sense of humor, who was strict, who could be tough on his kids. But this man? This deeply compassionate, generous man? That was someone his friends got to know.

And I wish I had.

That realization messed me up. The next day, I couldn’t even make it to the office.

(3 of 4)

Read 4 tweets

Christopher Webb

@cwebbonline

May 6

A CASE STUDY- that no one wanted to experience…

If you want to know what cutting Medicaid does to rural America—look at Mississippi.
#DontFuckWithMedicaid

Their Republican governor refused to expand Medicaid. Now over half their rural hospitals are at risk of shutting down and many already have.

Killing Medicaid kills healthcare in rural communities.
No Medicaid = no hospitals. No doctors. No care.
#DontFuckWithMedicaid

In states that rejected Medicaid expansion, rural hospitals are shutting down left and right.
People are dying because care is miles—or hours—away.
#DontFuckWithMedicaid

Read 7 tweets

Christopher Webb

@cwebbonline

May 3

NAFTA: My Front-Row Seat to the Race to the Bottom…

Let me tell you what NAFTA looked like from the inside—because I lived it. Americans didn’t just lose jobs to Mexico, jobs were lost to China too.

When it was ratified in 1994, I was the head designer at a company called Z Cavaricci.

We tried moving production from Los Angeles to Mexico, thinking we could take advantage of the trade deal. But it was a disaster. Every factory we tried fell short—bad quality, missed timelines. Also, our styling was too complicated for most factories used to doing basic 5-pocket jeans.

And if you know manufacturing, you know it’s all about consistency and relationships. You can’t just bounce around.

So I told the owner: we had to do production in China if we wanted to compete. We did.
🧵

We started producing pants, non-denim fabrics, eventually denim with all kinds of treatments and novelty work. It was cheaper. A lot cheaper. And the capabilities in China were things we simply couldn’t pull off in the U.S.

We weren’t alone. Everyone in fashion was making the same move—Mexico or China. Because in this industry, it’s not just about style. It’s about price. The buyer sees two pairs of jeans, and the cheaper one usually wins.
2.

What came next was predictable: American denim mills after denim mill closed. Graniteville, Avondale, Burlington—these weren’t just businesses, they were the economic backbone of entire towns. Gone.

And over time, American consumers got used to cheap. Or at least the option of cheap.

NAFTA didn’t just shift where things were made—it rewired how we think about value. It sparked the era of price wars. Manufacturers racing to the bottom, and consumers rewarding it.

This race has no finish line. Just a slow grind downward in quality and stability.
3.

Read 5 tweets

Christopher Webb

@cwebbonline

Apr 3

Trump’s trade war is going to cost you.

He’s jacking up tariffs because he claims trade deficits are bad for Americans—but guess what? We don’t grow coffee beans in the US. You’re going to pay more for coffee, bananas, avocados, olive oil, electronics, and more than half the stuff in your house.
🧵

Everyday imported goods because they aren’t made or grown in the US.

Food:

•Coffee (Brazil, Colombia, Vietnam)
Bananas (Ecuador, Guatemala, Costa Rica)
•Olive oil (Spain, Italy, Greece)
•Cocoa/chocolate (Ivory Coast, Ghana)
•Tea (China, India, Sri Lanka)
•Avocados (Mexico)
•Spices (tropics)

2/7

Electronics & Tech:

•iPhones/smartphones (China, Vietnam, South Korea)
•Laptops & tablets (China, Taiwan)
•TVs (South Korea, China, Japan)
•Batteries (China, South Korea, Japan)
•Microwaves (China)

3/7

Read 7 tweets

Christopher Webb

@cwebbonline

Mar 22

Pete Buttigieg breaks down DEI for everyday folks—keeps it simple without being condescending.

“The opposite of diversity is uniformity. The opposite of equity is inequity. The opposite of inclusion is exclusion. I don’t know a lot of people who think we’d be better off if our lives had more uniformity, inequity, and exclusion.” @PeteButtigieg

Our problem is clear though: too many value uniformity over inclusion, and they’re the ones running the government today.
🧵

Let me tell you about redlining in my own family. In 1957 my grandpa, Osborne Crews, a successful chemist at Stanford research, was ready to buy in Palo Alto & wanted to purchase from the architect Joseph Eichler. Eichler wouldn’t agree to build or sell to Black folks until the 1960’s. Also at the time, Bank of America was the only major lender that would lend to Blacks.
2/5

Imagine only having one mortgage lender option. No competition for your business or competitive rates.
Architect John Mackay agreed to build grandpa a house but he had to find his own lot (not easy to find someone who would agree to sell to a black man) and it could not be anywhere within the tracts designated for whites only.
3/5

Read 5 tweets

Christopher Webb

@cwebbonline

Mar 3

I saw people protesting at my local Tesla service center today. Right on ✊🏾

I’m convinced that unelected co-president Elon Musk is turning the U.S. government into a version of how he runs Tesla—and that should terrify everyone. Hear me out.

When I first got my Tesla, I loved it. They delivered it straight to my home during peak COVID lockdown. Anytime I had a question, I could easily reach a sales rep or advisor. Sometimes, we’d even stop by the Tesla store just to check out the cars—always a friendly experience, no issues at all.
🧵

Fast forward three years. A customer loyalty advisor reached out with an incredible deal on a new Tesla. I figured, why not? I placed an order but made it clear I didn’t want to take delivery until my lease was up in a few months. No problem.

Then, about a month before my lease ended, I started getting notifications pressuring me to accept delivery of the new car. I declined every time. But suddenly, my Tesla app locked me into a delivery screen, refusing to let me use basic functions—like opening my own damn trunk.

Pissed off, I tried reaching my advisor through phone and email. Nothing.
2.

Meanwhile, my car developed a camera issue—probably from water damage after a bad storm—which disabled Autopilot. I couldn’t book a local service appointment through the app, so I tried calling. Messaging about loaners. No satisfactory response.

No real person, just an endless loop of recordings. Service center? Same thing. Retail store? Same thing. Corporate? Same thing.

Frustrated, I drove to a service center just to ask a simple question about my lease—something I should’ve been able to do with a damn phone call.

While there, I requested a new loyalty advisor since mine had vanished. The staff told me, “Oh, maybe she was laid off.” I said, “No, definitely not. Her voicemail still works, and I haven’t received any undelivered email notices.” They checked and informed me—she had been laid off that week, along with 1,000 other Tesla employees.
3.

Read 4 tweets

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