Michael Harriot, One of the Most Eloquent Writers in America Today
Let me start with the disclaimer that I don’t know writer and podcaster Michael Harriot (@MichaelHarriot) in any way other than as a reader and listener. I personally don’t know anyone even a couple degrees of a couple degrees of separation from him. I am also in no way connected to the Gawker Media Group — @TheRoot, @Jezebel, @splinter_news or any of their other websites. (“Hey, isn’t Gawker that site that published photos of Hulk Hogan’s dick?” Yep. That was them. Back then. Not what’s going on now.) The Root is just where I first came across his writing.
Also, I am not black. My children are black. I am deeply vested in what it means and is going to mean for them as black people in America. Actually, their mother is coloured South African. That’s another whole fuc*ed up frying pan of shi*ty race relations. In America, however, they’re black. I’m just trying to muddle my way to doing my part to help them have the best chances of being happy and successful in whatever they choose to do with their lives. And that means understanding and being able to navigate how race shapes the reality of everyday life around us all. My son is 14, my daughter is 12. I see them taking in how the world reacts to their existence. I see them processing what they experience. What I want to give them are the tools they will need in their lives to…
