
Journalist and author, David Dennis Jr. returns to discuss our June Book Club pick White Negroes: When Cornrows Were in Vogue… And Other Thoughts on Cultural Appropriation by Lauren Michele Jackson. Together we unpack writing for the white gaze, our feelings about (anti) racism since 2020, and the long tradition of categorizing Black artists as “urban” and white artists as “mainstream” no matter how similar their work. Plus, a peanut butter and jelly taste test to start things off.
Be sure to listen to the end of today’s episode to find out what our July book club pick will be!
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Everything we talk about on today’s episode can be found below in the show notes. You can also find everything we talked about on Amazon.
- White Negroes by Lauren Michele Jackson
- The Movement Made Us by David Dennis Jr.
- Oreos
- Cinnamon Toast Crunch
- Froot Loops
- Frosted Flakes
- Golden Grahams
- Grape Nuts
- Honey Bunches of Oats

- Raisin Bran Crunch
- Rice Krispies Treat Cereal
- Rice Krispies
- Goodreads.com
- Rachel Dolezal
- Andscape
- The Guardian
- “The real hurts of law enforcement violence and racism” (David Dennis Jr., The Guardian)
- Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard
- Michael B. Jordan
- Lori Harvey
- Will Smith
- Jada Pinkett Smith
- “Comedians get slapped all the time, just not the ones you see on TV” (David Dennis Jr., Andscape)
- Chris Rock
- Lauren Michele Jackson on Twitter
- Nikole Hannah Jones
- The 1619 Project
- Ibram X. Kendi
- “Exhibit of Michael Brown’s death scene ‘atrocious’, activists say” (Zach Stafford, The Guardian)
- Family Matters (ABC)
- Christina Aguilera
- David Chang
- JJ Redick
- LeBron James
- Michael Jordan
- Draymond Green
- Nikola Jokić
- Luka Dončić
- Paula Deen
- Lady & Sons (Savannah, GA)
- Cracker Barrel
- Still Crew (FKA The Smoking Section)
- “Chef Paula Deen Hit By Charity Ham” (CBSNews)
- Ina Garten
- Guy Fieri
- Beat Bobby Flay (Food Network)
- “The Making and Unmaking of Iggy Azalea” (Clover Hope, Jezebel)
- Iggy Azalea
- Nick “Swaggy P” Young
- DJ Premier
- Justin Timberlake
- Timbaland
- Pharrell Williams
- Usher
- Omarion
- FutureSex/LoveSounds (Justin Timberlake, 2006)
- Miley Cyrus
- Machine Gun Kelly
- RedOne
- Lady Gaga
- “Just Dance” (Lady Gaga, 2008)
- Tony Bennett
- Shine Bright by Danyel Smith
- “Ep. 216 Shine Bright by Danyel Smith – The Stacks Book Club (Novena Carmel)” (The Stacks)
- Beyoncé
- Beyoncé at the Country Music Awards in 2016
- Dixie Chicks
- Lil’ Kim
- Drake
- “God’s Plan” (Drake, 2018)
- The Best Man Holiday (Malcolm D. Lee, 2013)
- Elf (Jon Favreau, 2003)
- Home Alone 2 (Chris Columbus, 1992)
- Love Actually (Richard Curtis, 2003)
- Merry Christmas (Mariah Carey, 1994)
- Christmas Card (The Temptations, 1970)
- “This Christmas” (Donny Hathaway, 1970)
- A Very Special Christmas 2 (Various, 1992)
- Southern Smoke 26 (DJ Smallz, 2005)
- Now That’s What I Call Music Vol. 4 (Various, 2000)
- Vine
- Karmin rapping Busta Rhymes on Ellen
- Busta Rhymes
- “Drake Co-Signed Girl Gone Viral Brooklyn Staggs Called Out For N-Word Tweets” (J Taylor, Hip-Hop Lately)
- Lil Baby
- The Notorious B.I.G.
- “Don’t Stop Believin'” (Journey, 1981)
- Lionel Richie
- OnlyFans
- Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih
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