After last night via #WinWithBlackMen, I'm not participating in these over-indexed, over-embellished, anti-Black, bad faith, and inaccurate depictions of Black male voters in the press.

I haven't seen in my adulthood Black men mobilize so rapidly to fundraise for a presidential candidate like I saw last night. And I know they've never done so with the same rigor for a Republican presidential candidate in the modern era. So to those still trying to divide us, knock it off. The grifting has got to stop. The conflation to fit your desperate narratives to create reaching think-pieces for a slither of relevance has run its course.

For every outlier some detractors would like to use to falsely paint a generalization of Black male voters -- let last night be a big joker in the game of spades they won't win on.

THREAD: As the dust begin to settle, and people begin to truly accept the reality of the results -- it's become clear that White Progressives (and their apologists) were the real problem.

They went from being Bernie Bros rooting for Helen Gym into Karens whining -- here's why. For starters, there's been a lot of racist rhetoric used to try to make excuses for why Gym has lost.

No, it wasn't because Cherelle Parker had "low-information" voters -- it's because she won the Black vote -- something that other candidates didn't truly invest their time in.

THREAD: Right now, as these results continue to come out one thing is for certain -- these far-left progressives are taking a massive ass whooping at the polls.

The national appeals, social stunts, nasty tactics, attacks on the local press did more harm than good.

As I knew. Philly politics is local, you can't run a citywide race as a national candidate.

I tried to tell folks that races will be won on the ground, not online solely.

Some spent so much time pushing moral platitudes than strategic campaigning.

They didn't read the room at all.

Getting to the point of your career (and life) when you feel like you don't have anything to prove anyone -- but yourself -- is awesome.

The shit that used to irk you years ago, simply become less contentious.

People will talk. Let them. Shit isn't moving anything over here. I've used this "July 4th" weekend to simply reflect and relax.

Not in celebration of this joke ass holiday, but to be still and process things altogether.

The one constant variable was that shit got done IN SPITE of the noise.

That's really the key.

In an impressively surprising move, @PhillyTrib, the oldest-running Black newspaper in America, has endorsed @JohnFetterman for U.S. Senator.

The primary is one week away. Sparks continue to fly.
phillytrib.com/commentary/in-… As a Black journalist in Philadelphia who has been covering this senate race, I'm not surprised by this endorsement.

If people focused on the data, and not the negative campaign attack optics, Fetterman had been polling well with Black voters throughout this campaign.

Kevin Samuels has made a career off of shamelessly disgracing Black women for profit.

He emboldened the most toxic individuals to project tired and harmful narratives about Black women.

Dead or alive, what a disgraceful life to live.

That's all I've got for that misogynist. We are entering a moment in time when the most marginalized are tired of "getting along just to get along" with our oppressors.

We're throwing hands, we're cursing them out in real time, we're shaming them for all of the violent things they continue to do.

Bring it on.

It's wild to me that some of these Conor Lamb supporters have visited Philly and NOW ARE SAYING SOME of the very things I have said about this race MONTHS AGO.

It's less than two weeks before the primary, and they are seeing the writing on the wall.

I just saw that thread. John Fetterman will be the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate.

No matter how many times you debate these polls, he's coming out each and every time.

Go cry somewhere else, go whine behind another tree.

He's winning, let it go.

When I see how these internet media folks turn on each other at the drop of the dime, I'm reminded of why I engage more with the real friends/mentors I have in real life and don't give too much value to co-signs and randomness of these "digital kinships" y'all produce on here. There's too much trauma bonding and unhealthy expectations of strangers being cultivated on here.

Some of y'all treat this digital space as a therapy session for fans.

None of this is fucking okay at all.

Get a life, get off of here sometimes, and treat this as an accessory.

Nothing makes me cringe more than hearing the term "emasculation" and "Black men" in the same sentence.

It's always a dog whistle that's rooted in homophobia and transphobia every time.

No other community uses such terms and it's seriously a non-issue.

Seriously. Enough. Fun fact: There is no "emasculation" of Black men.

If you believe so, it's gonna lead to you falsely blaming women and LGBTQIA people -- which is repackaged homophobia, transphobia, and misogyny.

Think about it.

I'll keep it short: A lot of these out-of-state political stans weighing in on this U.S. Senate race in PA are delusional.

For some odd reason, they keep acting like Conor Lamb is Joe Biden and I'm sitting here looking like "where?"

A lot of these moderates are ignoring data. While they keep acting like these staged endorsements are defining this race, I'm looking at money amounts and poll numbers.

For all the Twitter standom for Conor Lamb, why is Malcolm Kenyatta still super close to him in the polls -- even though the former has millions more?

THREAD: I'm glad to see recent conversations being had on here about how some Black people in media are perpetuating the problem on how racism is being discussed.

The myopic scope is excluding the real lived experiences of more marginalized members in our community. For starters, I'm glad to see that we're beginning to recognize how the "Dear White People" era of race discussions have been rooted in unproductive and limited understandings of our community at large.

Black people experiencing racism in elite institutions isn't main struggle.

For clarity, as of right now: DJ Akademiks isn't right about anything pertaining to Megan Thee Stallion and these DNA Tests THAT HAVE NOT YET BEEN MADE PUBLIC AND PRESENTED BEFORE THE COURT.

At this point, his stans are just believing him based on no proof, just like Jason Lee. What we are witnessing is a fandom over facts -- this reminds me of Trump supporters.

You don't like a person, so you'll push conspiracy theories, gossip, and innuendo during a trial that requires actual facts, evidence, and creedence.

Journalists share facts and updates.

THIS JUST IN: My latest for @RollingStone on #AmirLocke and how right now, continuing the failed efforts to “fix” policing in America feels insane, what’s needed is radical and systemic change.
rollingstone.com/culture/cultur… Writing & researching on the failures of police reform has changed my entire perspective on it. In order to believe in police reform, you have to trust the police.

You literally have to believe they want to change, reflect, and do better.

Everything they've done say otherwise.

The Isaiah Rashad situation is very complicated.

In one sense, it reminds you that hip hop remains homophobic (like the rest of the music industry) but it also reinforces the continuous disdain and infatuation folks who don't care about LGBTQIA people still care. This cycle of "why can't people just be straight up" is proven everytime y'all resort to bashing closeted people with homophobic jokes.

Hell, look how y'all talk about Lil Nas X on here and egged Boosie's attacks on him.

The North never forgot.

How come the only time these white celebrities take a bold stand for free speech, fighting against censorship, and protecting creativity is when something racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, and anti-vaxx happens?

Black authors are having books on race banned: Silence. Like where's Jon Stewart coming out to promote and support all of these diverse writers and thinkers who he used to have on his show who have their books being banned by the GOP?

Why is Joe Rogan, a white man, the barometer of your outrage?

Y'all are telling on yourselves.

Why is it that there are some people who feel like they have to reiterate "Blackness isn't a monolith" as if Black people don't already know that.

As if anyone else don't already know that.

It reminds me of the cringy "well I don't agree with everything you said, but" -- DUH. There seems to be this problematic need to put a disclaimer around all things Black.

It reeks of anti-Blackness, in the sense that talking about Black people, issues, and culture has to be given a forewarning that NOT ALL as if it's wrong to just say something without such note.

The Amir Locke murder is another example of how you can't reform your way out of policing in America.

You literally have to trust the police in order to believe reform is possible.

How can you trust an institution that you have to DEMAND REFORM from?

Logically, it's trash. Think about it, you have to create policies to reform police actions -- THEN reinforce consequences if they violate them -- THEN hope there aren't loopholes for them to fuck up -- THEN trust that politicians are actually on your side -- THEN hope they stay in office.

Yeah, no.

The older I get, the more I've begun to use "anti-Black" when describing the racism Black people experience because it's not that society doesn't want to talk about racism -- it's that they don't want to discuss it when it impacts Black people, therefore making them anti-Black. Notice how there was no mass debate, confusion, or argument when #StopAsianHate went viral. White conservatives like Meghan McCain could rally behind that in solidarity without feeling as if it was attacking her whiteness.

The same couldn't be said for #BlackLivesMatter

DaBaby is a multi-millionaire who can afford image consultants, PR reps, and crisis management professionals.

No, it was never the job of LGBTQIA people to "educate" him for free.

We are too busy fighting to survive in a world where his uneducated hate is costing us our lives. Every time some public figure is humbled by their bigotry, they pull the "I didn't know" card.

Ignorance, if that's what you want to claim it as, has consequences.

Somehow, bigots realize they are uneducated when they start getting unpaid and unbooked.

Interesting...

THREAD: It's become clear to me in these recent conversations about Lil Nas X, Naomi Osaka, and Simone Biles, is that a lot of y'all are scared to see this generation of young Black people prioritize themselves above institutions and the gaze of whiteness. Seriously, there are so many Black people who can't fathom what it means to simply say "no," to walk away, or not give a fuck.

Watch Helen Gym use this in her mayoral campaign ads in 2023.

Save this tweet, remember it, because the pandering is going to reach all heights at this point.

She would rather pose as an activist than do more in City Council.

https://twitter.com/dalemezz/status/1407761417097388033

Of course white progressive Philly and Gym's paid staffers would flood my thread. I said what I said.

Gym got arrested and then turned around and chilled at Pork & Fork in Harrisburg right after.

Go chase headlines, not my tweets.