On Trey Reed and Strange Fruit

TW: Anti-black violence, harm, black body trauma, murder.

A 21-year-old student named Trey Reed from Grenada, Mississippi, was found hanging from a tree this morning on the campus of Delta State University at 7:00 a.m.

Authorities closed the campus after discovering Trey's body, but made sure to emphasize that no lockdown was put in place and that there is no danger to the campus.

The local authorities and the Delta State University administration do not believe there was any foul play. They're all expecting things to "get back to normal" in the next day or so.

And, to top it off, the local authorities said nothing about Trey's death to the public until this afternoon. THE AFTERNOON.

And that all leads me to a whole lot of "don't believes":

I don't believe for one minute that Trey hung himself from a tree and completed suicide. Black people do not hang themselves from trees.

I don't believe for one minute that Delta State University's campus is not a current and present danger to students, staff, and faculty, especially the Black and Brown folx attending classes or working there.

I don't believe Delta State will address the matter if it is found not to be a suicide. Nor will local law enforcement.

I don't believe that there will be any kind of resolution to this horrible situation that will not cosign the ongoing understanding that Black people live with every day: that in the United States, strange fruit still hangs from the poplar tree.

I don’t believe we'll ever have a clear answer to any of this.

I so hope in my soul that Trey and his family find justice in this, but I live in the United States, so I don't expect anything but disappointment and trauma.

I'm so sorry, Trey. Whatever happened, you did not deserve this kind of pain.

This Week's Opening Thought: September 15, 2025

This week's opening thought: People are legitimately losing their employment over posting the actual words and recorded actions of a bigot and white supremacist terrorist in protest to the idea that said bigot and white supremacist should be seen as a "civil rights activist" or "advocate for free speech" and not the bigot and white supremacist that he was.

His actual words and actions.

Not made-up quotes, paraphrasing, or conjecture.

His. Actual. Words. And. Actions.

Things he said. Things he was recorded saying. Things that he actively did and said that caused harm to thousands of individuals and threatened multiple communities.

His actual words and actions.

People are losing their jobs over being honest about a dangerous individual who terrorized people for over a decade and made money doing so.

Look, as a company I can understand if you have an issue with an employee who represents you as a public face posting "dancing in the streets" memes about a public figure's murder and deciding it would be best to cut ties with them. I get it. In this case? It may not be the approach I would take, as I think things aren't as black and white as that, but OK. I kinda get it. But firing people for quoting someone? For posting videos and recordings of them saying and doing horrible things? For stating the truth?

I mean, damn, y'all.

Regardless of how this has all played out and will continue to unfurl, the biggest things I will walk away with from all of this is that white supremacy REALLY does not like having to look in the mirror at what it's done and capitalism desperately needs white supremacy to ensure the mirror can't be held up to its face because that reflection is a doozy.

Meanwhile, a morning "news" show host on a conservative "news" network happily and firmly stated that he believed we should be euthanizing homeless and housing insecure citizens. He still has his job because that evidently isn't horrible enough to even elicit a meeting with HR let alone a termination.

Sounds about white.

On 33 hours of Prayer, Xenophobia, Bigotry, and the Cool-Down Period

"You know, this bad stuff happens...and for 33 hours, I was praying that if this had to happen here, that it wouldn't be one of us. That somebody drove from another state, somebody came from another country. Sadly, that prayer was not answered that way. I hoped for it, just because I thought it would make it easier on us if we could just say, hey - we don't do that here."

- Utah Governor Spencer Cox, sharing his disappointment that the person who killed Charlie Kirk wasn't from a race or culture they could easily scapegoat, villainize, and politicize at the press conference announcing the capture of Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old cishet white male suspected of the murder.

Prayed for 33 hours, eh?

Cool story, bro. 😑

It's interesting how fervent people of pallor have been over the past few days about seeking "justice for Charlie." It's interesting how many cishet males of pallor have been online threatening violence toward "liberals" and trans folx, and how many bomb and mass shooting threats were called in to HBCUs and DNC offices.

It's also interesting watching that fever pitch of white supremacy and bigotry slowly decline and become more and more about "togetherness" and us "hearing each other" and agreeing to disagree around bigotry and hate as it became crystal clear that the murder suspect was not an "illegal" immigrant, melanated person, non-Christian, or trans person, but one of their own: a young cishet male of pallor from a conservative family, a family who has always supported y’all’s president.

Interesting, ain't it?

Sorry your prayers didn't get answered, Spencer. Maybe the line was busy?

On Blackness as a Scapegoat For White Supremacy

It took hateful, emboldened people of pallor less than 24 hours to blame Black people for the murder of one of their hate idols, even though all the evidence points to a shooter of pallor.

Less than 24 hours to begin threatening violence at HBCUs across the country, forcing them to lock down their campuses or outright cancel classes to ensure their Black students, who had NOTHING TO DO with yesterday’s violence, don’t become casualties of anti-Black hate and terrorism.

Less than 24 hours to see Black bodies as their perfect scapegoats for the violence they feel justified to inflict on their ”enemies.”

I swear racism and white supremacy have had the same playbook for 400+ years.

On Charlie

So...Charlie Kirk was shot this afternoon while in Utah on one of his college campus indoctrination of young adults tours. He was shot while in the middle of talking about how trans mass shooters are one of the largest dangers to our society when the truth is cishet men of pallor are overwhelmingly the largest demographic of mass shooters and domestic terrorists in the United States.

All reports state that he didn't make it.

In other news, I'm making okra and tomatoes, cornbread, and fish for dinner. So...I'm really looking forward to that.

Now, before some of y'all call me out for being callous, let me just stop you right there because you'll be wasting your time and energy.

Charlie Kirk was a deplorable human being. His legacy will be that of a deplorable human being who added nothing to society other than pain and oppression by elevating hate in every space he could present it in.

You get from the universe what you put into it.

That includes violence, hate, and harm.

I shed no tears for horrible people who believe me or anyone else shouldn't exist or should be oppressed. I have no thoughts and prayers for them. Yeah, it sucks that we live in a country where anyone can be shot at any given time, regardless of whether I condone their beliefs or not. Thousands of innocent lives have been lost because the U.S. cares more about the right to own a gun and do with it what you will than the lives of its citizenry. But people like Charlie Kirk literally advocated for opposing gun laws that could save lives. There's footage of him saying that he thought not having gun laws was worthwhile, even if it meant we "had a few gun deaths each year," because sensible gun laws would infringe on [white] people's "rights."

Ironic, and not in that Alanis Morrisette way.

You get from the universe what you put into it.

Regardless of how they view my existence or the existence of others without their privilege, power, and positionality, I don't want anyone to die at the hands of gun violence, or any kind of violence for that matter. But again, you get from the universe what you put into it.

And let's be real here: it'll be those who have no power who will catch the most harm from Charlie Kirk's death. The powers-that-be will be extra harsh toward "liberals" - not "liberals" of pallor, mind you, but those who fit the "DEI agenda" - in the aftermath of all of this. We'll all learn nothing from it and Charlie's hateful legacy will be viewed through rose-colored glasses. I'm already seeing news outlets gloss over how hateful and harmful he was, with pundits calling him a "godly man," "enormously courageous," "unapologetic about his views," and someone who "cared deeply about informing young voters."

So...yeah.

I'm making okra and tomatoes, cornbread, and fish for dinner.

I hope your dinner is equally as delicious as mine will be. Sending that energy your way...

...because you get from the universe what you put into it.