This Week's Opening Thought: November 17, 2025

This week’s opening thought, directed at people of pallor: Last Friday, I posted about how the current hubbub around that one particular Epstein e-mail was rooted in homophobia. By Sunday morning, I watched as hundreds of comments from an overwhelmingly large number of people of pallor called my queer self everything from a coward and a hetero mansplainer to homophobic for calling out casual homophobia and hoping we could all be just a little better than the 800 sexual innuendo memes floating across the internet right now. Most of them had profile bios touting their liberal views. Fun!

Meanwhile, a person of pallor I know posted a similar message to my own a day after my original post. The response they got? Nothing but kudos, atta boys, and agreements from other people of pallor.

Real talk?

I really need people of pallor, especially the “moderates” and the “allies,” to own why they hop online and attack Black and Brown folx, especially Black women and intersectional melanated folx, for having informed views and opinions that call you in or out for doing and saying harmful things then turn around and applaud people of pallor who damn near copy and paste what we already posted or said that irked you so much you couldn't contain your outrage towards us but could swallow hearing it from a plagiarizing skin-susceptible-to-the-sun virtue signaler.

I mean, we, the melanated masses, know why you do what you do. But I can't help but wonder if y'all ever have a moment in your day where you take a second to sit with your ingrained white supremacist values long enough to realize no matter how many rallies you attend, causes you swear you support, or books you read, you're still too thin-skinned to look yourselves in the mirror and process how angry Black and Brown folx, Black women, and melanated queer folx make you feel about how “good” as neighbors, co-workers, and community members y'all actually are

On Emails, Allegations, and Collective Engagement

TW: mentions of homophobia, pedophilia, hebephilia, ephebophilia, sex trafficking.

So... let’s talk about the elephant in the room.

At this point, I’m sure you’ve seen that one email from the 20,000+ Epstein emails alluding to an alleged sex act between two former presidents (one of them being the current acting president).

In less than 24 hours, that damn email has produced countless memes, skits, sketches, and jokes, and has become one of the hottest topics of conversation across the internet. We’ve all had us a nice lil’ laugh about it, our minds speculating wildly. I, too, got caught in the salaciousness of the situation, bringing it up to my wife a couple of times last night. My wife, being the person that she is, did not engage in the laughfest. Instead, she hit me with some realness.

We’re all participating in some groupthink homophobia, and it is not a good look, y’all.

Real talk? An alleged sex act between two consenting adults, regardless of their public personas and heteronormative nonsense they’ve both spewed over the years, is the most “whatever” part of this email leak at this point. Seriously. There are thousands of emails talking about sex trafficking, sexual abuse, and the assault of minors by prominent and wealthy people, y’all’s president likely being one of the people who either openly participated, knew all of this was happening, and decided not to stop it, or both. And yet here we all are, stuck on an alleged sex act between two cis men. We’re laughing about sexual relations between two men, likely because many of us are either unconsciously latching onto the piece of information from this info dump that is the least upsetting to us or taking this as another opportunity to engage in anti-gay rhetoric. Either way?

We’re collectively in the wrong, and many of us are doing inadvertent harm to our gay and queer friends, family, and neighbors.

Let’s not allow this distraction - because that’s precisely what it has become - to dominate our collective consciousness and pull us away from the fact that two of this country’s presidents were likely a part of a sex trafficking ring that catered to pedophiles, hebephiles, and ephebophiles.

And their victims deserve justice.

On Megyn and White Apologism

TW: mentions of pedophilia, sex trafficking, harm.

"I know somebody very close to this case…Jeffrey Epstein, in this person's view, was not a pedophile…He was into the barely legal type, like he liked 15-year-old girls…He wasn’t into like 8-year-olds…There's a difference between a 15-year-old and a 5-year-old."

What you just read came out of the mouth of weak-sauce woman of pallor and faux investigative journalist Megyn Kelly. Megyn Kelly thought this morning that, after seeing the dozens of email excerpts floating around out there as well as the mountains of evidence showing that Jeffrey Epstein was a sex trafficker and pedophile, today was the day to grace the world with this horrific take on her raggedy-ass podcast.

This right here is an impeccable illustration of one of the many instances where white supremacy, as a concept, action, and movement, has always been absolutely bonkers to me.

You see, white supremacy is an exercise in apologism: whiteness traumatizes, hurts, or kills someone, then expects to be forgiven after a half-hearted apology. And when the forgiveness doesn't come because forgiveness hasn't been earned or deserved? That's when people of pallor and systems of pallor begin spinning the situation, making up excuses for why the pallor colonizer terrorism and violence someone has been on the receiving end of "isn't that bad" and pushing that we all agree with that narrative. And if you don't get on board with the narrative? Gaslighting and violence are in your future. Don't believe me?

Go and ask anyone who isn't a part of the white supremacist culture model due to their melanin or beliefs, and they'll tell you a story about how this has played out for them or someone they love. Hell, some of us could write you a whole book of our experiences.

Let's keep it 100: there is no difference between a 5-year-old girl, an 8-year-old girl, and a 15-year-old girl when we're discussing acts of sex trafficking and pedophilia. NONE. NADA. No difference. No excuse. It is all abuse of vulnerable underage people, people we are supposed to protect from predatory acts of any kind. Period. No discussion.

Anyone who thinks otherwise and tries to spin these clear facts that I keep hoping we can all agree on to protect themselves, their own best interests, the interests of wealthy people who could give two craps about them who happen to have been long-time friends with horrible human beings they deify and admire, or the person they voted for to be President of the United States is just as dangerous as those initiating these acts.

And I don't apologize for saying that because there's nothing to apologize for.

Supporting harmful and toxic behavior and trying to "rationalize" it or explain it away is vile, disgusting, and a clear and present danger to others.

And it's one of the engines that keeps white supremacy running.

And so many of y'all are literally more than willing to continue being the gasoline that keeps the old jalopy moving.

This Week's Opening Thought: November 10, 2025

This week’s opening thought: If after watching last night's Senate vote you’re still thinking that either major political party in the United States cares about you enough not to do egregious levels of harm to millions of people or has the backbone to stand up for you, fight for you, and represent your needs in tangible ways that won't have you choosing between healthcare or food for you and your family then I don’t think we’re watching the same TV show. Hell, we’re not even watching the same channel.

You’re watching Christmas movies on the Hallmark Channel.

The rest of us are watching Buried in the Backyard on Oxygen, and we’re horrified by what we see.

On Seeking Forgiveness and Being Undeserving Of It

It's funny how people didn't care that their vote would increase the cost of or outright eliminate healthcare options, terrorize communities with masked bootleg police and the U.S. military, devastate the job market, increase the cost of living, and dismantle and eliminate food assistance programs and other social services for millions of people because they somehow thought that Black folx, Brown folx, Indigenous folx, trans folx, and immigrants would be the only people harmed...until they found themselves also being hurt because, you know, all of the things mentioned above impact everyone and not just a couple of communities voters felt were expendable and disposable.

It's also funny how these same voters begged and pleaded like Keith Sweat for their president to save them for months on end, only to realize late last month that they would not be saved because their president had essentially used them to increase his wealth and power.

Hilarious.

Now, suddenly, it's y'all begging forgiveness on TikTok and Instagram for "mistakenly" voting for y'all's president (some of y'all in the last three presidential elections) and putting us in this autocracy.

Now it’s, "I made a mistake" and "We have to stick together."

Y'all can miss me with all of that.

I can care about you as a person, even if you don't care about me and mine, because I don't want to see anyone hurting and struggling. I'm a humanist and an empathic being. Even if you hate me, I want you to be okay. But let's keep it 100: you did not make a mistake. You knew what you were doing. All of you did. So nah, we are not "sticking together." I do not forgive, and I definitely will not forget.

Y'all need to learn that empathy only goes so far.

I do not have it in me to forgive you for willingly hoping others would suffer so you could thrive under a hateful regime. And I know I'm not the only one feeling this way.

Y'all expect people you harm to forgive you because you live in a country where white supremacy has trained y'all to abuse others and expect forgiveness. It ain't happenin' this time, and a bunch of y'all are starting to see this, and you're unraveling. A part of me feels sorry for you, for your despair. But it's a small part, because y'all have made it very clear that this was supposed to be your "survival of the fittest" moment and you're realizing that a whole bunch of y'all ain't the fittest. And knowing that probably sucks. But...well...

I hope that you survive what you've inflicted on all of us, because that's what I want for everyone. And most of y'all will survive because of the work and community programs created and led by the people you were hoping would be harmed by all of this. But that's all that you'll get from me, and all you should get from them. That's more than enough. And if you have a problem with hearing that?

Better go and embrace some of that greatness you voted for to keep you fed and wealthy while "liberals" decide whether to help y'all at all.