theroot--2020-06-12--How The Wing's Empire Was Built On Trauma, Racism, and Neglect

On June 1 , the women-only social club and coworking space The Wing shared an Instagram post that read “ Black Lives Matter ” in bold , yellow lettering .
The graphic was a far cry from the millennial pink and muted tones that have defined The Wing ’ s aesthetic since it first opened in 2016 , but the message , sent in solidarity with “ protestors who are putting their voices and bodies on the line , ” was more typical of The Wing , which regards itself as a progressive feminist space .
“ The Wing unilaterally @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Black communities , ” the post continued .
“ We stand with the protestors who are putting their voices and bodies on the line to advocate for the dire change that we need in this country.
” ( The post also announced that The Wing will donate $ 200,000 to Color of Change , the NAACP Legal Defense Fund , and the Brooklyn Bail Fund . )
The post ended on a defiant note : “ We are angry , we are grieving , and we are with you .
Black Lives Matter.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ calling bullshit .
In interviews with Jezebel , 11 people who have been employed by the corporation allege it fostered a climate of racist mistreatment in the workplace , and that it spanned from now-former CEO Audrey Gelman on down to individual members of the space .
“ If they cared , they would have blacklisted members who were being rude to us and racist , ” says Johana Broughton , a black former Wing employee who worked at the SoHo location from August 2018 until she was let go in February 2019 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at us like we ’ re supposed to be the maid.
” Black women have built The Wing .
They bus tables , make coffee , wash dishes , keep the space tidy , and pour wine for white women .
And they ’ re expected to do it all while being quiet and invisible lest they chip away at The Wing ’ s pretty pink reputation as a women ’ s only paradise .
Women who have worked in various Wing locations , including New York , Los Angeles , Chicago , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ similar story : Lower level staffers believed they were treated poorly , and while the company appeared to value its white members and staff , The Wing treated its black and Latinx employees with disdain .
Both current and former employees spoke with Jezebel about the systemic racism , poor management , and the culture of fear they experienced at the company , and intimidating nondisclosure agreements that left many too apprehensive to speak out about the trauma they endured .
Jezebel sent representatives of The Wing a detailed request for comment on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they did not directly respond .
Instead , they forwarded an email sent to members yesterday that said they were “ focused on how we move forward and rebuild a safer community that is a sustainable business and has the right roots required for the mission at hand .
We want to get on with our plans of bringing women together for the greater good.
” But black women truly built The Wing , and they ’ re ready to tear it all down .
Accusations of racism at The Wing aren ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Zora reported that two black members were accosted by a white guest over a parking spot at the Wing ’ s West Hollywood location ; the black members were given a free meal by way of an apology .
In March , New York Times Magazine published a deep dive into The Wing ’ s growth and the growing disillusionment among staffers who regularly experienced casual racism from members and staff alike ( “ One [ white member ] eyed a photo board of Wing employees and remarked , ‘ There ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ here.
’ ” ) .
But according to Jezebel ’ s sources , the depths of racism , exploitation , and neglect are bigger than these two stories .
“ It ’ s just really shocking that they promote all this stuff and they throw it in our faces that they give a fuck when they really don ’ t , ” says Tahira Jarrett , who worked at The Wing from December 2017 until she quit in August 2018 .
For Jarrett , a job at The Wing was a bit of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ really looking forward working in a space like The Wing , this magical place where all these feminist women would roam , ” Jarrett says .
But the magic wore off quickly .
It started when she was moved from the front desk of The Wing ’ s Dumbo location to the back of house .
She went from fluffing pillows and offering guests water to spending most of her days doing food prep and washing dishes .
The move felt suspicious to Jarrett , she says , but it wasn ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t have to interact as much with the members anymore , who , she says , were unpleasant .
And besides , she was assured by a general manager that she had a future within the company .
According to Jarrett , her manager suggested that getting a position in The Wing ’ s corporate sphere , known as HQ , was within her reach if she displayed enough tenacity .
So Jarrett prepped : When she wasn ’ t bussing tables , she says , she was developing an event coordinating @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to hire employees from within to work and train at their upcoming London location , Jarrett jumped at the opportunity , using her dual citizenship and British passport as a selling point .
She was repeatedly told that an opportunity was waiting for her , including possibly the London location , but says she was given the runaround by managers and human resources .
“ They were brainwashing us into thinking that there was hope , ” Jarrett says .
The last straw for Jarrett was when she told her colleagues that she @ @ @ @ @ @ @ day after falling ill. Jarrett says a manager blew up her phone all day , goading her to offer a reason why she wasn ’ t at work .
Jarrett finally told her what was going on : She just had a miscarriage .
The message she received from her manager , she says , was less than encouraging .
Jarrett paraphrases the response : “ I ’ m really sorry you ’ re going through this ... if you ’ re not coming in , call us .
Don ’ t wait @ @ @ @ @ @ @ day .
Jarrett , and several other employees across The Wing ’ s locations , say that they never managed to be considered anything more than “ the help.
” Many of the employees who worked service jobs at The Wing were non-white , specifically black , whereas they say the members of the expensive networking space were predominantly white .
And it went beyond mere perceptions .
“ A member was with the guest , and the guest was like , ‘ Oh , should we move our plates ?
’ ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Hollywood Wing employee who—like many Wing employees—worked as “ space staff , ” a nebulous position tasked with carrying out a variety of miscellaneous jobs from day to day ; from greeting guests to serving coffee , and scrubbing toilets .
“ The [ member ] was like , ‘ Oh , no , no ’ and gestured toward me and another employee and said , ‘ The help will get it .
Hahaha.
’ ” Rude , entitled members , former staffers say , were part and parcel of working at The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who requested anonymity says that a member once quibbled with a black transgender employee about the grammatical incorrectness of their preferred pronouns : They/Them .
In an email to Jezebel , this former employee also recalled a moment during Black History Month when the staff decided to screen Love and Basketball , to the displeasure of a white member .
“ [ She ] had a fit and complained to front desk staff about how she does not pay for the noise and distraction of the movie and she was trying to get @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Evening movie screenings are a regular feature at every Wing location .
Dionna Edmondson , a black woman who worked at the SoHo location in New York , says that a white member once had a temper tantrum over an empty pot of coffee .
“ I was taking a woman ’ s order , and we were having a conversation , and this lady comes and was like , ‘ You guys are out of coffee , ’ ” Edmondson says .
“ I ’ m like , okay , as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ her order—there ’ s another pot on—I ’ ll gladly bring it out , just give me a second.
” This apparently wasn ’ t good enough .
The woman , who was white , said she was in a rush , but Edmondson says she wasn ’ t moved .
She told the woman that she had to finish dealing with her current customer first .
“ She slams her cup down and walks away , ” Edmondson says .
“ Little microaggressions like that happened all the time .
Like , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coffee ?
” But Wing staffers say they were encouraged to approach members with a “ the customer ’ s always right ” ethos , no matter the cost .
An employee from The Wing ’ s Boston location told Jezebel that there were pillars at The Wing that they were to work and live by , called “ the Isms.
” “ The first one , and the one that was stressed most often , was called ‘ love thy member , ’ ” the Boston employee says .
“ It was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ above everything else , and that everything we do is to increase the experience and wellness of the members in our space .
It was kind of always implied to us that that came at our expense.
” Another space staff member from Chicago , who also requested anonymity , corroborates this pattern of behavior .
According to the staffer , a local influencer once allegedly quit The Wing because she did not feel safe in the presence of a black staff member who privately messaged her about her white privilege .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rude to black and brown employees .
This staffer also indicated that Wing co-founder Lauren Kassan had a lengthy phone call with the influencer after this incident .
Kassan did not respond to a request for comment .
Still , the former staffers say , the message was more than clear : Treat the members with absolute deference—because without them , their cash , and their prestige , The Wing isn ’ t a headline-making network , or a place where people like Hillary Clinton , Gabrielle Union , and Greta Gerwig give @ @ @ @ @ @ @ members belittled employees , management allegedly did little to intervene .
Though employees say that the company kept a file shared across locations called the “ policy offender log , ” where members who had behaved poorly were listed , it might as well have been a blank Excel document—employees say that action was rarely if ever taken against members who landed on this list .
Or guests for that matter—powerful white guests , that is .
There ’ s no clearer example of this than the 2019 parking lot incident at the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ worked as Deputy Chief of Staff at The Wing and prefers to keep her last name private , tells Jezebel that management in West Hollywood initially banned the belligerent woman for the parking lot affair .
But she wasn ’ t banned for long .
“ She said that she was very well connected in West Hollywood and that she would give a lot of trouble to The Wing if she remained banned , ” Naima says .
“ So quickly , the leadership team said , ‘ Let ’ s unban her.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ mediate the situation , they just reversed the decision that the West Hollywood management team made because they were threatened.
” Perhaps there ’ s no better illustration of the dynamic between members and space staff than a series of comments on Edmondson ’ s Instagram post from former employees about the best rooms to cry in while working at different locations .
“ And this is our pump room for new moms , ” one wrote , giving a mock-tour of the space .
“ But I use it to eat my @ @ @ @ @ @ @ staff break room and when I try to eat in the space members will harass me or literally TRY TO TAKE MY FOOD FROM ME THINKING IT ’ S THEIRS.
” But accusations of racism and ill-treatment weren ’ t just leveled against members : The 11 people I spoke to said that space managers and people who worked in HQ were complicit in creating a toxic workplace for employees , particularly for black women .
A manager from the Los Angeles Wing , who did not want to be named in this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ racism within white leadership or involving white members [ ... ] was covered up and ignored.
” “ White feminism is thinking that you because you created an all-woman workplace , that all your problems are solved , ” the Los Angeles manager says .
“ There is a refusal and denial to acknowledge the intersections of oppression that continue to affect and traumatize the black and brown colleagues that we have at The Wing .
And that ’ s why it was so hard for people to work there .
Even when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was just this culture of white silence that perpetuated the entire company.
” Attempts by HQ to address racism , these employees say , were hamhanded and inefficient .
According to McAleese , two white colleagues were caught using the N-word .
( She says the two eventually left The Wing for unrelated reasons and were no longer with the company by the time mass layoffs hit in March . )
After the L.A. incident , well-meaning but tepid meetings about race were held at every Wing location that were of little value @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
But the Chicago location was at the center of several accusations of racism : In September 2019 , according to former employees , five white managers were abruptly sacked after staffers complained of racism they experienced by these managers—including the alleged use of blaccents and snide responses to staffers who wanted to create a Latinx club at The Wing—but there was no transparency about their termination .
Their positions were vacant for months , leaving the staff—underpaid , overworked—to pick up the slack .
Additionally , two Chicago staffers told Jezebel that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ FOBs which gave employees access to the building for opening and closing shifts .
Employees cited this as both an equality issue and a safety concern ; one black employee was allegedly harassed by police officers while waiting to be buzzed into the building .
“ This company literally put black lives in danger by not giving them access to the building , ” one of the staffers wrote via e-mail .
By the time The Wing closed due to covid-19 , two black women who worked as kitchen openers and closers still @ @ @ @ @ @ @ FOBs .
Meanwhile , complaints by black staffers about threats to their safety were roundly ignored .
McAleese says that a man who washed dishes at the West Hollywood location regularly made derogatory statements about women and made violent remarks toward a queer employee .
“ Every time we complained about him , our GM would say , ‘ He ’ s from Compton , he ’ s a black man in America , he doesn ’ t know any better , ” McAleese says .
Carissa Phelan , a black queer space @ @ @ @ @ @ @ says that she understands the way homophobia is normalized in black communities and that she is empathetic to the fact that the man ’ s reality may be very different than that of the white women who make up the majority of The Wing .
But she believes having sensitivity to whatever nuances might have been at play excused the lack of serious action .
“ He said so many awful things , so many just offensive things to so many different people , and every time it was just a little slap @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” Phelan alleges .
Back in Chicago , employees say that managers did not sufficiently protect a black kitchen employee who complained about receiving sexually harassing comments from a mail carrier .
“ Managers ensured they would no longer allow him in the building , but alas , nothing was done and he continued to complete deliveries , ” says a Chicago employee who did not want her name published .
And in New York , black employees watched as less qualified white colleagues landed coveted positions .
Hiring from within was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for lower-level employees .
“ The white girls are coming in , getting promoted , ” says Broughton .
“ Just reach .
They never even work in this place before .
They just reach .
And all of a sudden , they ’ re event lead.
” Wing founder and former chief executive Audrey Gelman doesn ’ t have to think about money .
While her space staffers begged her for modest pay bumps , she has raised a cool $ 118 million in funding and has meticulously built the beginnings of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ just four years .
The news that Gelman resigned from her position as CEO of The Wing on Thursday morning still came as a surprise .
In an e-mail obtained by tech reporter Kara Swisher , Gelman wrote , “ This decision is the right thing for the business , and the best way to bring The Wing along into a long overdue era of change.
” Gelman announced that Kassan as well as The Wing ’ s Senior VP of Marketing , Celestine Maddy , and Senior Vice President of Operations , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ She continued : “ This is a crucial step to creating a solution for the business .
This moment calls for an expanded view of what The Wing will be and I could not feel more confident that this team will usher us into the future.
” I was in the middle of interviewing Broughton when the news broke .
When I said that Gelman was out at The Wing , she cackled .
“ They are so funny , ” Broughton said .
“ They literally just run scared .
They don @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” “ You ’ re just going to resign as a response ?
” Edmondson asked , incredulous .
“ Walk away , and leave everyone else with the mess ?
” She said that Gelman resigning didn ’ t solve anything “ Once she started getting backlash , instead of being a grown woman ... this could have been the perfect example to show members , the world , white women who look up to you that she understands and is willing to fix these problems , ” she said .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the workspace and try to rectify it .
That ’ s it , that ’ s all you had to do.
” Gelman didn ’ t receive high marks from the space staffers I spoke to .
“ Honestly , my entire experience at the Wing was so telling of where Audrey ’ s priorities are , ” a Chicago employee told Jezebel via e-mail .
“ Capital , revenue , the advancement of white rich women , and overpriced furniture.
” The Gelman described in these interviews differs from the Gelman @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have appeared in women ’ s publications every few months , often written by Wing members .
Even relatively sardonic reads questioning the legitimacy of a feminist space running on an elitist model are tempered with glowing interpretations of the ever-ambitious Gelman .
But in conversations with Jezebel , space staffers described Gelman as someone who cosplayed as the help every now and then while shadowing staffers , washing a few dishes , and making a cup of coffee .
These space staffers say they were forced to be robotic in Gelman ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out of sorts .
And during a Q and A in Chicago , staffers who were present say she offered a tepid response when a black member voiced concerns that she was mistaken for a staffer by a white member of The Wing : She promised to do better , barely a step above a rhetorical “ I hear you.
” But it ’ s not just space staffers who tired of Gelman ’ s reign : On Thursday , HQ employees organized a digital walkout not long after Gelman ’ s announcement @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they released a lengthy statement regarding Gelman ’ s departure and the “ incompetence and lack of accountability ” by Wing leadership : The statement said that Gelman ’ s resignation is not enough to solve these “ systemic ” problems at The Wing , but it ended with an optimistic tone , imagining a revamped Wing that is “ equitable , profitable , and representative of the values and causes we claim to uplift.
” Still , many former employees aren ’ t hoping for The Wing ’ s renewal , but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hypocrisy from HQ , management , and members in the wake of this mask-off moment for The Wing .
“ A lot of the people who are now , quote-unquote , standing in solidarity with the mistreatment of employees may have been mistreated by their bosses , but also perpetuated the system of oppression and mistreatment to the rest of their coworkers , ” the Boston employee says .
“ As if they weren ’ t the same ones that were talking down to their employees of color.
” And some believe The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
A competing initiative called Flew The Coup , comprised of former space staff employees , claims that no laid-off space staffers were consulted before Wing Walk Out , so they released a statement of their own : The Coup ’ s demands include the immediate dismissal of all nondisclosure agreements , $ 300,000 allocated to laid-off staffers with a focus on space staffers , and a grant for former space staffers who have had to receive mental health services due to their tenure at The Wing .
The Wing has not responded @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an exaggeration , according to some employees , it ’ s not .
Edmondson said that she goes to therapy due to the psychological turmoil she experienced at The Wing .
And according to The Coup ’ s Instagram stories , countless former Wing employees have sent messages to The Coup—anonymous and otherwise—detailing the exhausting grind , discrimination , and harassment that is coupled with being a Wing space staffer : A culture of silence was pervasive .
Staffers say that complaints were dismissed and often met with punishment ; some recounted cut @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a time .
Harassed staffers were encouraged to solve problems without help or guidance , leaving them adrift and fearful .
Gelman ’ s mini-empire may have made her richer than ever , raised her media profile and social status enough to make any self-proclaimed girlboss proud , but many Wing staffers past and present agree : Gelman ’ s achievements were built on the exploitation and labor of black women above all else .
Still , McAleese reminded me in a text that Gelman may have fostered a toxic environment , but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fester .
“ I can ’ t stress this enough ; Audrey is only one person , ” she wrote .
“ And right now she ’ s a scapegoat to more fucked-up women still in HQ hiding behind her stepping down .
”

Ashley Reese on Jezebel, shared by Alexis Sobel Fitts to The Root

On June 1, the women-only social club and coworking space The Wing shared an Instagram post that read “Black Lives Matter” in bold, yellow lettering. The graphic was a far cry from the millennial pink and muted tones that have defined The Wing’s aesthetic since it first opened in 2016, but the message, sent in solidarity with “protestors who are putting their voices and bodies on the line,” was more typical of The Wing, which regards itself as a progressive feminist space.
“The Wing unilaterally condemns all racist and state-sanctioned violence against Black communities,” the post continued. “We stand with the protestors who are putting their voices and bodies on the line to advocate for the dire change that we need in this country.” (The post also announced that The Wing will donate $200,000 to Color of Change, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and the Brooklyn Bail Fund.)
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The post ended on a defiant note: “We are angry, we are grieving, and we are with you. Black Lives Matter.”
Former and current Wing employees are calling bullshit. In interviews with Jezebel, 11 people who have been employed by the corporation allege it fostered a climate of racist mistreatment in the workplace, and that it spanned from now-former CEO Audrey Gelman on down to individual members of the space.
“If they cared, they would have blacklisted members who were being rude to us and racist,” says Johana Broughton, a black former Wing employee who worked at the SoHo location from August 2018 until she was let go in February 2019. “Because they’re looking at us like we’re supposed to be the maid.”
Black women have built The Wing. They bus tables, make coffee, wash dishes, keep the space tidy, and pour wine for white women. And they’re expected to do it all while being quiet and invisible lest they chip away at The Wing’s pretty pink reputation as a women’s only paradise.
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Women who have worked in various Wing locations, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Boston, all told Jezebel a similar story: Lower level staffers believed they were treated poorly, and while the company appeared to value its white members and staff, The Wing treated its black and Latinx employees with disdain. Both current and former employees spoke with Jezebel about the systemic racism, poor management, the culture of fear they experienced at the company, and the intimidating nondisclosure agreements that left many too apprehensive to speak out about the trauma they endured.
Jezebel sent representatives of The Wing a detailed request for comment on these allegations of discrimination, to which they did not directly respond. Instead, they forwarded an email sent to members yesterday that said they were “focused on how we move forward and rebuild a safer community that is a sustainable business and has the right roots required for the mission at hand. We want to get on with our plans of bringing women together for the greater good.”
But black women truly built The Wing, and they’re ready to tear it all down.
Accusations of racism at The Wing aren’t new. In August 2019, Zora reported that two black members were accosted by a white guest over a parking spot at the Wing’s West Hollywood location; the black members were given a free meal by way of an apology. In March, New York Times Magazine published a deep dive into The Wing’s growth and the growing disillusionment among staffers who regularly experienced casual racism from members and staff alike (“One [white member] eyed a photo board of Wing employees and remarked, ‘There’s a lot of colored girls that work here.’”). But according to Jezebel’s sources, the depths of racism, exploitation, and neglect are bigger than these two stories.
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“It’s just really shocking that they promote all this stuff and they throw it in our faces that they give a fuck when they really don’t,” says Tahirah Jarrett, who worked at The Wing from December 2017 until she quit in August 2018.
For Jarrett, a job at The Wing was a bit of dream come true. “I was really looking forward to working in a space like The Wing, this magical place where all these feminist women would roam,” Jarrett says.
But the magic wore off quickly. It started when she was moved from the front desk of The Wing’s Dumbo location to the back of house. She went from fluffing pillows and offering guests water to spending most of her days doing food prep and washing dishes. The move felt suspicious to Jarrett, she says, but it wasn’t a dealbreaker: At least she didn’t have to interact as much with the members anymore, who, she says, were unpleasant. And besides, she was assured by a general manager that she had a future within the company.
According to Jarrett, her manager suggested that getting a position in The Wing’s corporate sphere, known as HQ, was within her reach if she displayed enough tenacity. So Jarrett prepped: When she wasn’t bussing tables, she says, she was developing an event coordinating pitch. When The Wing was looking to hire employees from within to work and train at their upcoming London location, Jarrett jumped at the opportunity, using her dual citizenship and British passport as a selling point. She was repeatedly told that an opportunity was waiting for her, including possibly the London location, but says she was given the runaround by managers and human resources.
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“They were brainwashing us into thinking that there was hope,” Jarrett says. The last straw for Jarrett was when she told her colleagues that she had to go to the hospital one day after falling ill. Jarrett says a manager blew up her phone all day, goading her to offer a reason why she wasn’t at work.
Jarrett finally told her what was going on: She just had a miscarriage. The message she received from her manager, she says, was less than encouraging. Jarrett paraphrases the response: “I’m really sorry you’re going through this... if you’re not coming in, call us. Don’t wait too late.” She quit the next day.
Jarrett, and several other employees across The Wing’s locations, say that they never managed to be considered anything more than “the help.” Many of the employees who worked service jobs at The Wing were non-white, specifically black, whereas they say the members of the expensive networking space were predominantly white.
And it went beyond mere perceptions.
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“A member was with the guest, and the guest was like, ‘Oh, should we move our plates?’” says Rose McAleese, a former West Hollywood Wing employee who—like many Wing employees—worked as “space staff,” a nebulous position tasked with carrying out a variety of miscellaneous jobs from day to day, from greeting guests to serving coffee and scrubbing toilets. “The [member] was like, ‘Oh, no, no’ and gestured toward me and another employee and said, ‘The help will get it. Hahaha.’”
Rude, entitled members, former staffers say, were part and parcel of working at The Wing. A former Chicago staff member who requested anonymity says that a member once quibbled with a black transgender employee about the grammatical incorrectness of their preferred pronouns: They/Them. In an email to Jezebel, this former employee also recalled a moment during Black History Month when the staff decided to screen Love and Basketball, to the displeasure of a white member.
“[She] had a fit and complained to front desk staff about how she does not pay for the noise and distraction of the movie and she was trying to get work done,” the employee says. Evening movie screenings are a regular feature at every Wing location.
Dionna Edmondson, a black woman who worked at the SoHo location in New York, says that a white member once had a temper tantrum over an empty pot of coffee.
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“I was taking a woman’s order, and we were having a conversation, and this lady comes and was like, ‘You guys are out of coffee,’” Edmondson says. “I’m like, okay, as soon as I’m done taking her order—there’s another pot on—I’ll gladly bring it out, just give me a second.”
This apparently wasn’t good enough. The woman, who was white, said she was in a rush, but Edmondson says she wasn’t moved. She told the woman that she had to finish dealing with her current customer first.
“She slams her cup down and walks away,” Edmondson says. “Little microaggressions like that happened all the time. Like, what? Freaking out over some free coffee?” But Wing staffers say they were encouraged to approach members with a “the customer’s always right” ethos, no matter the cost.
An employee from The Wing’s Boston location told Jezebel that there were pillars at The Wing that they were to work and live by, called “the Isms.”
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“The first one, and the one that was stressed most often, was called ‘love thy member,’” the Boston employee says. “It was essentially saying that the members come first above everything else, and that everything we do is to increase the experience and wellness of the members in our space. It was kind of always implied to us that that came at our expense.”
Another space staff member from Chicago, who also requested anonymity, corroborates this pattern of behavior. According to the staffer, a local influencer once allegedly quit The Wing because she did not feel safe in the presence of a black staff member who privately messaged her about her white privilege. The influencer was also said to be notoriously rude to black and brown employees. This staffer also indicated that Wing co-founder Lauren Kassan had a lengthy phone call with the influencer after this incident. Kassan did not respond to a request for comment.
Still, the former staffers say, the message was more than clear: Treat the members with absolute deference—because without them, their cash, and their prestige, The Wing isn’t a headline-making network, or a place where people like Hillary Clinton, Gabrielle Union, and Greta Gerwig give talks and host exclusive screenings.
As members belittled employees, management allegedly did little to intervene. Though employees say that the company kept a file shared across locations called the “policy offender log,” where members who had behaved poorly were listed, it might as well have been a blank Excel document—employees say that action was rarely if ever taken against members who landed on this list.
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Or guests for that matter—powerful white guests, that is. There’s no clearer example of this than the 2019 parking lot incident at the Los Angeles location.
Naima, who worked as Deputy Chief of Staff at The Wing and prefers to keep her last name private, tells Jezebel that management in West Hollywood initially banned the belligerent woman for the parking lot affair. But she wasn’t banned for long.
“She said that she was very well connected in West Hollywood and that she would give a lot of trouble to The Wing if she remained banned,” Naima says. “So quickly, the leadership team said, ‘Let’s unban her.’ They didn’t try to mediate the situation, they just reversed the decision that the West Hollywood management team made because they were threatened.”
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Perhaps there’s no better illustration of the dynamic between members and space staff than a series of comments on Edmondson’s Instagram post from former employees about the best rooms to cry in while working at different locations. “And this is our pump room for new moms,” one wrote, giving a mock-tour of the space. “But I use it to eat my lunch and cry because we have no staff break room and when I try to eat in the space members will harass me or literally TRY TO TAKE MY FOOD FROM ME THINKING IT’S THEIRS.”
But accusations of racism and ill-treatment weren’t just leveled against members: The 11 people I spoke to said that space managers and people who worked in HQ were complicit in creating a toxic workplace for employees, particularly for black women. A manager from the Los Angeles Wing, who did not want to be named in this story, alleges that “accusations of racism within white leadership or involving white members [...] was covered up and ignored.”
“White feminism is thinking that because you created an all-woman workplace, that all your problems are solved,” the Los Angeles manager says. “There is a refusal and denial to acknowledge the intersections of oppression that continue to affect and traumatize the black and brown colleagues that we have at The Wing. And that’s why it was so hard for people to work there. Even when they would raise their voice, there was just this culture of white silence that perpetuated the entire company.”
Attempts by HQ to address racism, these employees say, were hamhanded and inefficient. According to McAleese, two white colleagues were caught using the N-word. (She says the two eventually left The Wing for unrelated reasons and were no longer with the company by the time mass layoffs hit in March.) After the L.A. incident, well-meaning but tepid meetings about race were held at every Wing location that were of little value to the black and brown space staffers.
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But the Chicago location was at the center of several accusations of racism: In September 2019, according to former employees, five white managers were abruptly sacked after staffers complained of racism they experienced by these managers—including the alleged use of blaccents and snide responses to staffers who wanted to create a Latinx club at The Wing—but there was no transparency about their termination. Their positions were vacant for months, leaving the staff—underpaid, overworked—to pick up the slack.
Additionally, two Chicago staffers told Jezebel that black employees initially did not receive key FOBs which gave employees access to the building for opening and closing shifts. Employees cited this as both an equality issue and a safety concern; one black employee was allegedly harassed by police officers while waiting to be buzzed into the building.
“This company literally put black lives in danger by not giving them access to the building,” one of the staffers wrote via e-mail. By the time The Wing closed due to covid-19, two black women who worked as kitchen openers and closers still did not have access to the key FOBs.
Meanwhile, complaints by black staffers about threats to their safety were roundly ignored. McAleese says that a man who washed dishes at the West Hollywood location regularly made derogatory statements about women and made violent remarks toward a queer employee.
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“Every time we complained about him, our GM would say, ‘He’s from Compton, he’s a black man in America, he doesn’t know any better,” McAleese says.
Carissa Phelan, a black queer space staffer at the Los Angeles location, says that she understands the way homophobia is normalized in black communities and that she is empathetic to the fact that the man’s reality may be very different than that of the white women who make up the majority of The Wing. But she believes having sensitivity to whatever nuances might have been at play excused the lack of serious action.
“He said so many awful things, so many just offensive things to so many different people, and every time it was just a little slap on the wrist and on he went,” Phelan alleges.
Back in Chicago, employees say that managers did not sufficiently protect a black kitchen employee who complained about receiving sexually harassing comments from a mail carrier. “Managers ensured they would no longer allow him in the building, but alas, nothing was done and he continued to complete deliveries,” says a Chicago employee who did not want her name published.
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And in New York, black employees watched as less qualified white colleagues landed coveted positions. Hiring from within was a rarity, they say, especially for lower-level employees.
“The white girls are coming in, getting promoted,” says Broughton. “Just reach. They never even work in this place before. They just reach. And all of a sudden, they’re event lead.”
Wing founder and former chief executive Audrey Gelman doesn’t have to think about money. While her space staffers begged her for modest pay bumps, she has raised a cool $118 million in funding and has meticulously built the beginnings of the humble empire spanning two continents in just four years. The news that Gelman resigned from her position as CEO of The Wing on Thursday morning still came as a surprise.
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In an e-mail obtained by tech reporter Kara Swisher, Gelman wrote, “This decision is the right thing for the business, and the best way to bring The Wing along into a long overdue era of change.” Gelman announced that Kassan as well as The Wing’s Senior VP of Marketing, Celestine Maddy, and Senior Vice President of Operations, Ashley Peterson, will take over.
She continued: “This is a crucial step to creating a solution for the business. This moment calls for an expanded view of what The Wing will be and I could not feel more confident that this team will usher us into the future.”
(Gelman did not respond to Jezebel’s requests for comment; an email to her account at The Wing returned an autoresponse which said that “Audrey Gelman is no longer at The Wing” and referred to Lauren Kassan’s email for “further assistance.” Again, Kassan did not respond to Jezebel’s request for comment.)
I was in the middle of interviewing Broughton when the news broke. When I said that Gelman was out at The Wing, she cackled. “They are so funny,” Broughton said. “They literally just run scared. They don’t want to take any responsibility.”
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Edmondson agreed.
“You’re just going to resign as a response?” Edmondson asked, incredulous. “Walk away, and leave everyone else with the mess?” She said that Gelman resigning didn’t solve anything
“Once she started getting backlash, instead of being a grown woman... this could have been the perfect example to show members, the world, white women who look up to you that she understands and is willing to fix these problems,” she said. “Own up to the shit that happened in the workspace and try to rectify it. That’s it, that’s all you had to do.”
“Capital, revenue, the advancement of white rich women, and overpriced furniture.”
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Gelman didn’t receive high marks from the space staffers I spoke to. “Honestly, my entire experience at the Wing was so telling of where Audrey’s priorities are,” a Chicago employee told Jezebel via e-mail. “Capital, revenue, the advancement of white rich women, and overpriced furniture.”
The Gelman described in these interviews differs from the Gelman of the fluff pieces about her that have appeared in women’s publications every few months, often written by Wing members. Even relatively sardonic reads questioning the legitimacy of a feminist space running on an elitist model are tempered with glowing interpretations of the ever-ambitious Gelman. But in conversations with Jezebel, space staffers described Gelman as someone who cosplayed as the help every now and then while shadowing staffers, washing a few dishes, and making a cup of coffee. These space staffers say they were forced to be robotic in Gelman’s presence, lest she noticed anything out of sorts. And during a Q and A in Chicago, staffers who were present say she offered a tepid response when a black member voiced concerns that she was mistaken for a staffer by a white member of The Wing: She promised to do better, barely a step above a rhetorical “I hear you.”
But it’s not just space staffers who tired of Gelman’s reign: On Thursday, HQ employees organized a digital walkout not long after Gelman’s announcement. Called The Wing Walk Out, they released a lengthy statement regarding Gelman’s departure and the “incompetence and lack of accountability” by Wing leadership:
As employees of The Wing, we have been told over and over by our leadership that we’re a mission-driven company, even as the company’s actions consistently prove otherwise.In solidarity with so many of our colleagues — past, present, and in particular, the Black and brown people without whom The Wing would not exist —as a united group of employees, we are participating in a virtual walkout beginning today, Thursday, June 11, 2020.
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We are frustrated and saddened by the incompetence and lack of accountability demonstrated time and time again by The Wing’s leadership. Last year, our co-founders admitted that their own biases, blind spots, willful ignorance, and conscious decision to prioritize growth led to a dysfunctional company structure and have had a lasting impact on the performance of our business. Without transparency and clear growth paths for employees, these leadership decisions have disproportionately failed and continue to fail people of color at The Wing. A quick look at our social media reveals several detailed accounts from former space team members, most of whom are Black and brown people, about the abuse they endured in our spaces and the lack of support they received from The Wing’s leadership. The public perception of The Wing is at an all-time low — and rightfully so.
The statement said that Gelman’s resignation is not enough to solve these “systemic” problems at The Wing, but it ended with an optimistic tone, imagining a revamped Wing that is “equitable, profitable, and representative of the values and causes we claim to uplift.”
Still, many former employees aren’t hoping for The Wing’s renewal, but rather its downfall, as they allege hypocrisy from HQ, management, and members in the wake of this mask-off moment for The Wing.
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“A lot of the people who are now, quote-unquote, standing in solidarity with the mistreatment of employees may have been mistreated by their bosses, but also perpetuated the system of oppression and mistreatment to the rest of their coworkers,” the Boston employee says. “As if they weren’t the same ones that were talking down to their employees of color.”
And some believe The Wing Walk Out missed the mark entirely. A competing initiative called Flew The Coup, comprised of former space staff employees, claims that no laid-off space staffers were consulted before Wing Walk Out, so they released a statement of their own:
As former space staff, our voices, experiences, and our collective trauma has been continusly excluded and disissed by The Wing narrative. Collectively, we have faced racism and anti-LGBTQIA rhetoric from management, HQ staff, and members. We have faced physical and psychological violence within the various Wing locations, and discrimination when attempting to move up within the company. The Wing was build on the idea of being a “safe and inclusive space for the advancement of all women and non-binary individuals” and we have continuously seen the exact opposite of this mission. We deserve justice for the numerous unjustified terminations of our peers and for the many team members who HAD to quit just to escape the abuse.
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If The Wing wants to continue to claim that Black Lives Matter to its online community, we demand to see them practice it in its spacs as well.
The Coup’s demands include the immediate dismissal of all nondisclosure agreements, $300,000 allocated to laid-off staffers with a focus on space staffers, and a grant for former space staffers who have had to receive mental health services due to their tenure at The Wing. The Wing has not responded.
If the last demand sounds like an exaggeration, according to some employees, it’s not. Edmondson said that she goes to therapy due to the psychological turmoil she experienced at The Wing. And according to The Coup’s Instagram stories, countless former Wing employees have sent messages to The Coup—anonymous and otherwise—detailing the exhausting grind, discrimination, and harassment that is coupled with being a Wing space staffer:
The Wing was the worst place I’ve ever worked. I was traumatized when I left. they devalued my worth so much my anxiety and panic took over my life.
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We are cult survivors... So proud of everyone who was able to speak up!!!!! I’ve tried so hard to suppress the trauma since I quit 3 months ago and it’s truly a weight lifted off my shoulders being able to share just a snippet of my experience.
I was a former employee at The Wing and whenever you want to hear my experience when they tried to deny me maternity leave pay I am ready to blast off. [...] I also was constantly harassed by white members and management never saw it as a priority to speak to members for their behaviors which led me to continuously feel unsafe at work
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I knew I had to get out for my sanity, but on that same note, my biggest regret was leaving. I felt like I was abandoning everyone [...] I can’t tell you how many times me and the other managers of Dumbo would “go for a walk” and literally just go around the block to cry. We would lock ourselves in an office with the lights off, sit on the floor and cry so the members wouldn’t see it.
Let’s talk about how the Event Curators were constantly told to ask community members to host events in the space for free. Asking women, WOC for FREE labor on a regular basis. But the company spends thousands (10k+ in some spaces) to do a book event with Demi Moore.
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A culture of silence was pervasive. Staffers say that complaints were dismissed and often met with punishment; some recounted cut hours and dish duty for days at a time. Harassed staffers were encouraged to solve problems without help or guidance, leaving them adrift and fearful. Gelman’s mini-empire may have made her richer than ever, raised her media profile and social status enough to make any self-proclaimed girlboss proud, but many Wing staffers past and present agree: Gelman’s achievements were built on the exploitation and labor of black women above all else.
Still, McAleese reminded me in a text that Gelman may have fostered a toxic environment, but many other women helped it grow and fester. “I can’t stress this enough; Audrey is only one person,” she wrote. “And right now she’s a scapegoat to more fucked-up women still in HQ hiding behind her stepping down.”
Update 6/18/20: The Wing disputes the timeline of the opening of their London location.


theroot--2020-06-12--Malcolm Brogdon Says Some Players Are 'Super Interested' in Sitting Out the Return of the NBA 2020 S

Malcolm Brogdon Says Some Players Are 'Super Interested' in Sitting Out the Return of the NBA 2020 Season

Close to three months after the NBA suspended its 2020 season amid a global pandemic , the organization announced that 22 of the league ’ s 30 teams will be making a glorious return , resuming the season at Walt Disney World Resort at the end of July .
But Indiana Pacers guard Malcolm Brogdon thinks some players are “ super interested ” in choosing not to play when the season resumes— either due to the still very much ongoing COVID-19 health crisis , or to show Black Lives Matter solidarity amid nationwide protests over the deaths of George Floyd @ @ @ @ @ @ @ According to Yahoo Sports , Brogdon discussed the possibility of players sitting things out on The Ringer podcast Wednesday .
“ I ’ ve talked to a few guys that are super interested in sitting out , possibly , ” Brogdon said .
“ At the end of the day , I was actually talking to Chris Paul ... and he said , ‘ Man , this is an individual decision that every man has to make for himself.
’ I think that ’ s exactly what it is .
I think it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s Adrian Wojnarowski confirmed Brogdon ’ s statement , tweeting that a “ faction ” of players gathered on a conference call to discuss whether or not the return was a good idea .
According to Wojnarowski , the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association are “ expected to agree on a provision that wouldn ’ t require players to restart the season , nor subject them to discipline for staying home.
” While that decision is likely based on protecting players from COVID-19 infection , Brogdon made it clear that some @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the game simply isn ’ t as important and standing up and fighting for racial justice .
“ Some guys are going to say , ‘ For health reasons , and COVID , and the long-term effects that we don ’ t understand about COVID , I want to sit out , ’ ” Brogdon said on the podcast .
“ Other guys are going to say , ‘ The black community and my people are going through too much for me to basically be distracted with basketball .
I ’ m not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ community , I ’ m going to sit out.
’ ” Brogdon said he supports players who refuse to play as a show of support for the movement , but “ if you ’ re going to sit out , you have to have demands.
” “ You have to have policies that you want to see changed , ” he said .
“ There has to be something very organized and strategized to go into that … The attention on you and your platform actually grows the farther you stay in Orlando @ @ @ @ @ @ @ perspective I want guys to think about and understand before they make a decision .
”

Close to three months after the NBA suspended its 2020 season amid a global pandemic, the organization announced that 22 of the league’s 30 teams will be making a glorious return, resuming the season at Walt Disney World Resort at the end of July. But Indiana Pacers guard Malcolm Brogdon thinks some players are “super interested” in choosing not to play when the season resumes—either due to the still very much ongoing COVID-19 health crisis, or to show Black Lives Matter solidarity amid nationwide protests over the deaths of George Floyd and other victims of police violence.
According to Yahoo Sports, Brogdon discussed the possibility of players sitting things out on The Ringer podcast Wednesday.
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“I’ve talked to a few guys that are super interested in sitting out, possibly,” Brogdon said. “At the end of the day, I was actually talking to Chris Paul... and he said, ‘Man, this is an individual decision that every man has to make for himself.’ I think that’s exactly what it is. I think it depends on your perspective.”
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ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski confirmed Brogdon’s statement, tweeting that a “faction” of players gathered on a conference call to discuss whether or not the return was a good idea.
According to Wojnarowski, the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association are “expected to agree on a provision that wouldn’t require players to restart the season, nor subject them to discipline for staying home.”
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While that decision is likely based on protecting players from COVID-19 infection, Brogdon made it clear that some players will choose not to play because the game simply isn’t as important and standing up and fighting for racial justice.
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“Some guys are going to say, ‘For health reasons, and COVID, and the long-term effects that we don’t understand about COVID, I want to sit out,’” Brogdon said on the podcast. “Other guys are going to say, ‘The black community and my people are going through too much for me to basically be distracted with basketball. I’m not going to prioritize this over the black community, I’m going to sit out.’”
Brogdon said he supports players who refuse to play as a show of support for the movement, but “if you’re going to sit out, you have to have demands.”
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“You have to have policies that you want to see changed,” he said. “There has to be something very organized and strategized to go into that … The attention on you and your platform actually grows the farther you stay in Orlando. So that’s definitely a perspective I want guys to think about and understand before they make a decision.”


theroot--2020-06-12--The Case For Ending All Traffic Stops

The Case For Ending All Traffic Stops

As millions of Americans warm up to an old idea ( cops are bad ! )
and Minneapolis appears ready to disband its police department , let me offer another step on the path toward abolishing America ’ s police and forming a more just country .
Let ’ s straight up give up on all traffic stops .
End them .
As it turns out , they ’ re only really good at one thing , and that ’ s racism .
I can explain why .
What Do Traffic Stops Do ?
Traffic stops in America present a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Nominally , traffic stops are meant to do things like prevent speeding and keep unsafe cars off the road .
( This is not how police departments see them , but we ’ ll get to that in a minute . )
The idea is that the twin scourges of people rolling through stop signs and driving with broken taillights are bravely combatted by police departments across the country .
Let me get this going by asking : Do Traffic Stops Keep Us Safe ?
Think about any drive you have taken recently @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fixed our nation ’ s broken taillights ?
Have police officers stopped the red-light runners , or drunk drivers , or speeders ?
Of course not .
Even if we are to take the job of policing traffic seriously , and if we are genuinely afraid of , say , commuters doing 78 in a 55 , it ’ s important to recognize that cops don ’ t really prevent those kind of infractions .
I have never driven on any highway in my entire life and not seen at least somebody speeding @ @ @ @ @ @ @ If we are meant to think that traffic stops are some justified evil , a racist price to pay for safety , we have to ask if they are effective at providing safety itself .
Tens of thousands of people are killed on the roads every year are we to believe that cops are making that number smaller ?
When I ’ m crushed riding my bike to the beach some sunny weekend by an SUV driver who couldn ’ t see me , I will die thankful that cops are out somewhere @ @ @ @ @ @ @ some shit .
If Traffic Stops Aren ’ t Protecting Drivers , What Are They Doing ?
In part , traffic stops make money .
I am not trying to do more work than I have to , so I will quote right from the New Yorker ’ s excellent 2016 piece “ The Link Between Money And Aggressive Policing.
” ( I could think of some other words that could go in place of “ Aggressive ” in that headline . )
A recurring theme while researching this story is that there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ brokenness of policing in America , it has been looked into time and time again , and is widely understood .
What we don ’ t have , is action .
From the New Yorker : Ferguson is not alone , as anyone with sense could tell you , but since I ’ m making a case , I will cite some more studies .
Here is Governing.com writing “ Addicted to Fines : Small towns in much of the country are dangerously dependent on punitive fines and fees ” in September 2019 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and towns generate major dollars from different types of fines , sometimes accounting for more than half of their revenues .
Some places are known for being speed traps .
Others prop up their budgets using traffic cameras , parking citations or code enforcement violations .
To get a picture of just how much cities , towns and counties rely on fines and fees , Governing conducted the largest national analysis to date of fine revenues and the extent to which they fund budgets , compiling data from thousands of annual financial audits @ @ @ @ @ @ @ What we found is that in hundreds of jurisdictions throughout the country , fines are used to fund a significant portion of the budget .
They account for more than 10 percent of general fund revenues in nearly 600 U.S. jurisdictions .
In at least 284 of those governments , it ’ s more than 20 percent .
Some other governments allocate the revenues outside the general fund .
When fine and forfeiture revenues in all funds are considered , more than 720 localities reported annual revenues exceeding $ 100 for every adult @ @ @ @ @ @ @ even higher if they included communities reporting less than $ 100,000 in fines ; those jurisdictions were excluded from our analysis .
In some places , traffic fine revenue actually exceeds limits outlined in state laws. I could wonder if all of these drivers feel like the money extracted from them goes back to making them feel safe on the road , or cared for in their community , but I will not dwell on that question .
Instead let ’ s ask if it ’ s worth it , because these traffic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ They disproportionately target black people , and they kill black people .
We can not forget Philando Castile , who was stopped at least 46 times before cops killed him , as NPR noted in a 2016 feature “ The Driving Life And Death Of Philando Castile.
” The piece explains that Castile “ spent most of his driving life fighting tickets , ” how they trapped him in a cycle of tickets and debt , and how his situation was tragically common : Walter Scott ’ s life ended after Officer Michael @ @ @ @ @ @ @ broken taillight .
It could have been a turn signal , or a rolled stop sign .
Sandra Bland was found dead after calling bullshit on a cop tearing her out of her car over a lane change .
Each of these well-known tragedies and countless others we don ’ t know about have got to be weighed against something .
And that is , presumably , road safety .
More than 36,000 people died on our roads last year , per the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration .
How does harassment over @ @ @ @ @ @ @ help reduce that number ?
Well , it ’ s unclear , as Stanford ’ s Open Policing project explains : Stanford did the digging , though , and managed to come through with at least one clear takeaway from data on the traffic stops America ’ s police perform : That is to say , if there ’ s anything traffic stops are good at , it ’ s pulling over people who aren ’ t white .
( In fact , the whole history of police having discretion on whether or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you get a ticket or a warning , was so that white drivers would get fewer tickets and not complain , as my old coworker Aaron Gordon just wrote at Vice . )
And , surprise , traffic stops are bad at producing safe conditions for anybody .
I actually pulled up the paper the Open Policing project put together and searched it for “ safety.
” The term only came up once : The Open Policing project cited another paper on the subject from the Stanford Computational Policy Lab , based on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ got worse : Why was it studying Nashville anyway ?
As the paper explains , Nashville makes “ considerably more traffic stops per capita than the national average.
” Nashville could cut traffic stops by 90 percent and still be “ on par ” with the other highest-stopped cities , the paper notes .
You may have read through this article and thought , well of course traffic stops haven ’ t ended all drunk driving , or halted all speeders , or fixed every broken taillight .
There just aren ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ enough eyes on the road .
But Nashville is that outlier , and all of this added interrogation wasn ’ t shown to have made anyone safer .
On the one hand we have cities and towns across the country using traffic stops in place of taxes , extracting money from people of color and from the poor , and using these stops to terrorize and kill black people .
Is there some positive impact that could possibly outweigh this ?
Are our traffic stops saving lives that would otherwise be lost ?
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ We are still losing tens of thousands of people per year , and I can not for the life of me see how traffic stops , speeding tickets , whatever , is helping bring down that number .
Looking at how many people die versus how much we are driving ( that is , deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled ) , we ’ ve basically been flat for a decade , and haven ’ t moved the needle more than a few thousand fatalities per year since , say , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ seatbelts became the norm .
What has taken off since the early 1990s is spending on police forces across the country , and an increased militarization of the police at that .
“ My sense in general , it ’ s hard to get national numbers on policing , ” Dr. Ravi Shroff , an author on both the Open Policing Project and the Nashville study , explained to me in a recent phone interview .
Police departments operate with so little oversight that it ’ d take “ a lot of legwork @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , or how much of that money is going to traffic safety .
But what is clear is how police view stops .
I mentioned earlier that stops generate a lot of money .
That is not their only function , as Dr. Shroff points out .
They are a legal pretext to conducting searches .
With traffic stops “ it ’ s very easy to find legal reason to stop people , ” Dr. Shroff explains .
Find any way to stop a car , find any way to search it .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ This is in training manuals across the country.
” This is all to say that while the theoretical goal of traffic stops is for traffic safety , the practical goal is that they ’ re reasons to search people when it would otherwise be illegal .
Alright so this sets up that there are two categories of stops .
There are the ones that are possibly about road safety , like speeding , and there are the ones that are really only pretexts for searching your car , like getting pulled over @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The Nashville study lays out a clear case against the latter kind .
But what about the former ?
What if we checked in on , say , car crash rates in Nashville .
Surely all these traffic stops must be making Nashville a driving haven !
A paradise of safety .
Nah !
Crash rates have been actually “ spiking , ” as local News 4 Nashville reported last year , with crash rates rising well past increases in population .
“ Whenever you have a large population such as Davidson [ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a lot of crashes but the fault of the crashes are on the drivers , ” Lt. Bill Miller with the Tennessee Highway Patrol told the news station .
Putting the fault on the drivers !
Even the cops know that they ’ re not the ones keeping roads safe .
And they ’ ll tell you .
If we really wanted to make our roads safer , there are all sorts of well-known policies and technologies we could implement .
Instead , we spend billions on cops .
What Do We Do @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we need to examine the value of police as a whole , we need to examine the value of traffic stops as a whole .
Certainly , there would be real opposition to ending traffic stops , enough that I would really need another article to lay it all out .
( At 20 million stops per year , traffic stops , as Dr. Shroff points out , are actually the most common way people interact with the police .
“ I thought it ’ s be 911 calls , but no.
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hard to imagine cops giving automotive stop-and-frisk up easy .
What ’ s not hard is to imagine a life without it .
We can develop systems we already have in place for making sure cars are registered and inspected , even speed cameras for watching roads .
We even have a fantastic system of preventing drunk driving called “ public transportation ” that our government seems particularly eager to ignore , to say nothing of funding walkable neighborhoods , supporting cab drivers , the list goes on .
This country once even @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1970s !
There are a lot of ways and existing proposals for keeping roads safe that do not involve police , enough that I ’ ll need another article to go into them all .
But know that there are other ways to keep this country ’ s roads safe , ways that don ’ t involve dumping billions into an increasingly unhinged , militarized police .
“ If what you care about is broken taillights , ” Dr. Shroff jokes , “ literally why not just go to neighborhoods with a bag @ @ @ @ @ @ @ He ’ s being facetious , but he has a point .
If our stated goal is to make all cars safe , all drivers safe , there are better ways than using cops .
Dr. Shroff adds , “ my guess is that it might even be cheaper .
”

Raphael Orlove on Jalopnik, shared by Monique Judge to The Root

As millions of Americans warm up to an old idea (cops are bad!) and Minneapolis appears ready to disband its police department, let me offer another step on the path toward abolishing America’s police and forming a more just country. Let’s straight-up give up on all traffic stops. End them. As it turns out, they’re only really good at one thing, and that’s racism. I can explain why.
Update, Monday, January 30, 2023: We’re re-running this story from June 12, 2020 following the police beating death of 29-year-old Tyre Nichols during a traffic stop in Memphis, Tennessee. Police claim they pulled Nichols over for “reckless driving,” but no evidence for the cause of the traffic stop has come forward as of this update. All five officers involved have been fired from the force and arrested for second-degree murder.
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Previous Update: April 12, 2021. We’re re-running this story from June 12, 2020 following the police killing 20-year-old Duante Wright during a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center, Minneapolis, as our colleagues at The Root report. Cops had reportedly pulled him over for having an air freshener tree hanging from his rear-view mirror.
What Do Traffic Stops Do?
Traffic stops in America present a very unbalanced pros and cons list. Nominally, traffic stops are meant to do things like prevent speeding and keep unsafe cars off the road. (This is not how police departments see them, but we’ll get to that in a minute.) The idea is that the twin scourges of people rolling through stop signs and driving with broken taillights are bravely combatted by police departments across the country. Let me get this going by asking:
Do Traffic Stops Keep Us Safe?
Think about any drive you have taken recently. Do you think traffic stops have fixed our nation’s broken taillights? Have police officers stopped the red-light runners, or drunk drivers, or speeders? Of course not.
Even if we are to take the job of policing traffic seriously, and if we are genuinely afraid of, say, commuters doing 78 in a 55, it’s important to recognize that cops don’t really prevent those kind of infractions. I have never driven on any highway in my entire life and not seen at least somebody speeding or breaking some other traffic law. If we are meant to think that traffic stops are some justified evil, a racist price to pay for safety, we have to ask if they are effective at providing safety itself. Tens of thousands of people are killed on the roads every year. Are we to believe that cops are making that number smaller? When I’m crushed riding my bike to the beach some sunny weekend by an SUV driver who couldn’t see me, I will die thankful that cops are out there somewhere hassling somebody for having expired tags or some shit.
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If Traffic Stops Aren’t Protecting Drivers, What Are They Doing?
In part, traffic stops make money. I am not trying to do more work than I have to, so I will quote right from the New Yorker’s excellent 2016 piece “The Link Between Money And Aggressive Policing.” (I could think of some other words that could go in place of “Aggressive” in that headline.) A recurring theme while researching this story is that there is a wealth of research around the brokenness of policing in America, it has been looked into time and time again, and is widely understood. What we don’t have is action. From the New Yorker:
Alexes Harris is an associate professor of sociology at the University of Washington and the author of “A Pound of Flesh.” Published in June, the book analyzes the rise of monetary sanctions in the criminal-justice system. Harris argues that jurisdictions have increasingly relied on levying fines for minor infractions—broken tail-lights, vagrancy, traffic violations—as a way to generate municipal revenue. For instance, a Department of Justice investigation revealed that, in 2013, police in Ferguson, Missouri, issued arrest warrants for nine thousand people, almost all for municipal-code violations such as failing to pay a fine or missing court appearances. Doing so allowed the city to collect $2.4 million in fines and fees, the second highest source of income for the city, behind taxes.
Ferguson is not alone, as anyone with sense could tell you, but since I’m making a case, I will cite some more studies. Here is Governing.com writing “Addicted to Fines: Small towns in much of the country are dangerously dependent on punitive fines and fees” in September 2019:
Throughout the country, smaller cities and towns generate major dollars from different types of fines, sometimes accounting for more than half of their revenues. Some places are known for being speed traps. Others prop up their budgets using traffic cameras, parking citations or code enforcement violations.
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To get a picture of just how much cities, towns and counties rely on fines and fees, Governing conducted the largest national analysis to date of fine revenues and the extent to which they fund budgets, compiling data from thousands of annual financial audits and reports filed to state agencies. What we found is that in hundreds of jurisdictions throughout the country, fines are used to fund a significant portion of the budget. They account for more than 10 percent of general fund revenues in nearly 600 U.S. jurisdictions. In at least 284 of those governments, it’s more than 20 percent. Some other governments allocate the revenues outside the general fund. When fine and forfeiture revenues in all funds are considered, more than 720 localities reported annual revenues exceeding $100 for every adult resident. And those numbers would be even higher if they included communities reporting less than $100,000 in fines; those jurisdictions were excluded from our analysis. In some places, traffic fine revenue actually exceeds limits outlined in state laws.
I could wonder if all of these drivers feel like the money extracted from them goes back to making them feel safe on the road, or cared for in their community, but I will not dwell on that question. Instead let’s ask if it’s worth it, because these traffic stops come at a distinct cost.
They disproportionately target Black people, and they kill Black people. We cannot forget Philando Castile, who was stopped at least 46 times before cops killed him, as NPR noted in a 2016 feature “The Driving Life And Death Of Philando Castile.” The piece explains that Castile “spent most of his driving life fighting tickets,” how they trapped him in a cycle of tickets and debt, and how his situation was tragically common:
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“What Mr. Castile symbolizes for a lot of us working in public defense is that driving offenses are typically just crimes of poverty,” says Erik Sandvick, a public defender in Ramsey County, which includes St. Paul and its suburbs. When he heard about Castile in the news, his name sounded so familiar that Sandvick looked up the records and saw his own name listed as Castile’s public defender in a 2006 case. He vaguely remembers Castile, but his story is like that of many other clients he’s had. They get tickets they can’t pay, and then they are ticketed over and over for driving with a suspended license or not having insurance.
Walter Scott’s life ended after Officer Michael Slager decided to stop him for a broken taillight. It could have been a turn signal, or a rolled stop sign. Sandra Bland was found dead after calling bullshit on a cop tearing her out of her car over a lane change. Each of these well-known tragedies, and countless others we don’t know about, have got to be weighed against something. And that is, presumably, road safety. More than 36,000 people died on our roads last year, per the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. How does harassment over expired tags, taillights and turn signals help reduce that number? Well, it’s unclear, as Stanford’s Open Policing project explains:
Police pull over more than 50,000 drivers on a typical day, more than 20 million motorists every year. Yet the most common police interaction — the traffic stop — has not been tracked, at least not in any systematic way.
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Stanford did the digging, though, and managed to come through with at least one clear takeaway from data on the traffic stops America’s police perform:
Data from 21 state patrol agencies and 29 municipal police departments, comprising nearly 100 million traffic stops, are sufficiently detailed to facilitate rigorous statistical analysis. The result? The project has found significant racial disparities in policing.
That is to say, if there’s anything traffic stops are good at, it’s pulling over people who aren’t white. (In fact, the whole history of police having discretion on whether or not they pull you over, whether you get a ticket or a warning, was established so that white drivers would get fewer tickets and not complain, as my old coworker Aaron Gordon just wrote at Vice.)
And, surprise, traffic stops are bad at producing safe conditions for anybody. I actually pulled up the paper the Open Policing project put together and searched it for “safety.” The term only came up once:
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Similarly, enforcement of minor traffic violations, like broken tail lights—even if conducted uniformly and without animus—can place heavy burdens on Black and Hispanic drivers without improving public safety.
The Open Policing project cited another paper on the subject from the Stanford Computational Policy Lab, based on a study conducted in Nashville. Things got worse:
One reason—and arguably the primary rationale—for carrying out large numbers of traffic stops in high-crime areas is a belief that this enforcement strategy has broader benefits for public safety. One might posit that traffic stops deter future crime or lead to apprehending those responsible for past incidents. Though plausible, we find little evidence of such a connection between traffic stops and serious crime levels in Nashville. Over the 2011–2017 time period, crime levels for Part I offenses remained steady despite substantial reductions in stop rates over the same period. Further, week-to-week changes in area-specific stop rates were uncorrelated with changes in local crime levels.
Why was it studying Nashville anyway? As the paper explains, Nashville makes “considerably more traffic stops per capita than the national average.” Nashville could cut traffic stops by 90 percent and still be “on par” with the other highest-stopped cities, the paper notes.
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You may have read through this article and thought, well of course traffic stops haven’t ended all drunk driving, or halted all speeders, or fixed every broken taillight. There just aren’t enough cops! There aren’t enough eyes on the road. But Nashville is that outlier, and all of this added interrogation wasn’t shown to have made anyone safer.
Pros And Cons, Reviewed
On the one hand, we have cities and towns across the country using traffic stops in place of taxes, extracting money from people of color and from the poor, and using these stops to terrorize and kill Black people.
Is there some positive impact that could possibly outweigh this? Are traffic stops saving lives that would otherwise be lost? Of course they’re not! We are still losing tens of thousands of people per year, and I cannot for the life of me see how traffic stops, speeding tickets, whatever, are helping bring down that number. Looking at how many people die versus how much we are driving (that is, deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled), we’ve basically been flat for a decade, and haven’t moved the needle more than a few thousand fatalities per year since, say, the early 1990s, as modern car safety features like seatbelts became the norm. What has taken off since the early 1990s is spending on police forces across the country, and an increased militarization of the police at that.
“My sense in general, it’s hard to get national numbers on policing,” Dr. Ravi Shroff, an author on both the Open Policing Project and the Nashville study, explained to me in a recent phone interview. Police departments operate with so little oversight that it’d take “a lot of legwork” to even get numbers on budgets, or how much of that money is going to traffic safety. But what is clear is how police view stops. I mentioned earlier that stops generate a lot of money. That is not their only function, as Dr. Shroff points out. They are a legal pretext to conducting searches. With traffic stops, “it’s very easy to find legal reason to stop people,” Dr. Shroff explains. Find any way to stop a car, find any way to search it. Say you smell marijuana, whatever. “This is in training manuals across the country.”
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This is all to say that, while the theoretical goal of traffic stops is for traffic safety, the practical goal is to find reasons to search people when it would otherwise be illegal.
Alright, so this sets up two categories of stops. There are the ones that are possibly about road safety, like speeding, and there are the ones that are really only a pretext for searching your car, like getting pulled over for a broken license-plate light. The Nashville study lays out a clear case against the latter kind. But what about the former? What if we checked in on, say, car crash rates in Nashville. Surely all these traffic stops must be making Nashville a driving haven! A paradise of safety.
Nah! Crash rates have been actually “spiking,” as local News 4 Nashville reported last year, with crash rates rising well past increases in population. “Whenever you have a large population such as Davidson [County] you are going to have a lot of crashes, but the fault of the crashes are on the drivers,” Lt. Bill Miller with the Tennessee Highway Patrol told the news station. Putting the fault on the drivers! Even the cops know that they’re not the ones keeping roads safe. And they’ll tell you.
If we really wanted to make our roads safer, there are all sorts of well-known policies and technologies we could implement. Instead, we spend billions on cops.
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What Do We Do Instead Of Traffic Stops?
Just as we need to examine the value of police as a whole, we need to examine the value of traffic stops as a whole. Certainly, there would be real opposition to ending traffic stops, enough that I would really need another article to lay it all out. (At 20 million stops per year, traffic stops, as Dr. Shroff points out, are actually the most common way people interact with the police. “I thought it’d be 911 calls, but no,” Dr. Shroff told me.) I mean, it’s hard to imagine cops giving automotive stop-and-frisk up easy. What’s not hard is to imagine is a life without it.
We can develop systems we already have in place for making sure cars are registered and inspected. We can implement speed cameras for watching our roads. We even have a fantastic system of preventing drunk driving called “public transportation” that our government seems particularly eager to ignore, to say nothing of funding walkable neighborhoods, supporting cab drivers, the list goes on. This country once even legally mandated seat belt interlocks in the 1970s! There are a lot of ways and existing proposals for keeping roads safe that do not involve police, enough that I’ll need another article to go into them all.
But know that there are other ways to keep this country’s roads safe, ways that don’t involve dumping billions into an increasingly unhinged, militarized police.
“If what you care about is broken taillights,” Dr. Shroff jokes, “literally why not just go to neighborhoods with a bag of taillights and give them out.” He’s being facetious, but he has a point. If our stated goal is to make all cars safe, all drivers safe, there are better ways than using cops. Dr. Shroff adds, “my guess is that it might even be cheaper.”


theroot--2020-06-12--Go Long for Summer Sports With 20% Savings on Rawlings Gear

Summer is coming , and your back and glutes had better be in good shape if you ’ re planning @ @ @ @ @ to play catch or try out for the local amateur team .
You can save @ @ @ @ @ and footballs , all of which come with team-specific branding to celebrate your fandom .
@ @ @ @ @ glove starting at just $ 32 .
Don ’ t forget to gr ab a @ @ @ @ @ chairs and Coleman in sulated cooler bags if you ’ re planning to have some @ @ @ @ @ weeks ahead .

Quentyn Kennemer on Kinja Deals, shared by Gabe Carey to The Root

20% off Rawlings Sports Gear | Ama zo n
Summer is coming, and your back and glutes had better be in good shape if you’re planning to teach your children how to play catch or try out for the local amateur team. You can save 20% on Rawlings baseballs and footballs, all of which come with team-specific branding to celebrate your fandom.
Baseball fans can add a glove starting at just $32. Don’t forget to gr ab a couple of these NFL tailgating chairs and Coleman in sulated cooler bags if you’re planning to have some socially-distanced sports outings in the weeks ahead.


theroot--2020-06-12--NYPD Police Officer Tells Fellow Cops He Kneeled Because the Protesters Were Scary

If you saw images of cops gallantly taking a knee during the ongoing protests against police brutality—brutality that has been on display throughout the protests—and mistakenly believed the performative gesture actually means anything , you may be in for a surprise .
One such gallant police officer has since sent an email apologizing for his show of solidarity with the idea that black lives matter .
According to a report from the New York Post , Lieutenant Robert Cattani of the NYPD said that he has been “ losing sleep ” after choosing to kneel while working at a protest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wrong .
I know that it was wrong and something I will be shamed and humiliated about for the rest of my life , ” Cattani wrote in the mea culpa to his colleagues .
He also hilariously suggests that his fear of the protestors is why he took a knee : “ The conditions prior to the decision to take a knee were very difficult as we were put center stage with the entire crowd chanting , ” he wrote .
“ I thought maybe that one protester/rioter who saw it would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a cop .
I know I made the wrong decision .
We didn ’ t know how the protesters would have reacted if we didn ’ t and were attempting to reduce any extra violence.
” Cattani goes on to add that it was a mistake to “ concede for other officers ’ mistakes , ” by kneeling at the protest against police brutality—saying “ we all know that asshole in Minneapolis was wrong.
” It ’ s a rich statement coming from someone who works for the NYPD , a police force @ @ @ @ @ @ @ president of the Fraternal Order of Police in Chicago—another city flush with incidents of police brutality—says that any Chicago Police Department officer who takes a knee in symbolic support of the uprisings against racial injustice will be kicked out of the police union .
“ If you kneel , you ’ ll be risking being brought up on charges and thrown out of the lodge , ” Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara said to Fox 32 Chicago on Thursday .
Earlier this week , president of the New York Benevolent Police @ @ @ @ @ @ @ where he spoke out against what he called the “ vilifying ” of police officers , according to a report from The Hill .
“ Stop treating us like animals and thugs and start treating us with some respect , ” Lynch demanded , right after he dismissed the idea that black mothers worry their children may die at the hands of a police officer .
It seems the police are sending a clear message about where they really stand : in direct opposition to the concepts of accountability and black lives matter @

If you saw images of cops gallantly taking a knee during the ongoing protests against police brutality—brutality that has been on display throughout the protests—and mistakenly believed that gesture actually meant anything, you may be in for a surprise.
One such gallant police officer has since sent an email apologizing for his show of solidarity with the idea that black lives matter. According to a report from the New York Post, Lieutenant Robert Cattani of the NYPD said that he has been “losing sleep” after choosing to kneel while working at a protest in the city.
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“I was wrong. I know that it was wrong and something I will be shamed and humiliated about for the rest of my life,” Cattani wrote in the mea culpa to his colleagues.
He also hilariously suggests that his fear of the protestors is why he took a knee:
“The conditions prior to the decision to take a knee were very difficult as we were put center stage with the entire crowd chanting,” he wrote. “I thought maybe that one protester/rioter who saw it would later think twice about fighting or hurting a cop. I know I made the wrong decision. We didn’t know how the protesters would have reacted if we didn’t and were attempting to reduce any extra violence.”
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Cattani goes on to add that it was a mistake to “concede for other officers’ mistakes,” by kneeling at the protest against police brutality — saying “we all know that asshole in Minneapolis was wrong.”
It’s a rich statement coming from someone who works for the NYPD, a police force notorious for misconduct.
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Meanwhile, the president of the Fraternal Order of Police in Chicago—another city flush with incidents of police brutality—says that any Chicago Police Department officer who takes a knee in symbolic support of the uprisings against racial injustice will be kicked out of the police union.
“If you kneel, you’ll be risking being brought up on charges and thrown out of the lodge,” Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara said to Fox 32 Chicago on Thursday.
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Earlier this week, president of the New York Benevolent Police Association Pat Lynch held a press conference where he spoke out against what he called the “vilifying” of police officers, according to a report from The Hill.
“Stop treating us like animals and thugs and start treating us with some respect,” Lynch demanded, right after he dismissed the idea that black mothers worry their children may die at the hands of a police officer.
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It seems the police are sending a clear message about where they really stand: in direct opposition to the concepts of accountability and black lives matter.


theroot--2020-06-12--Auntie Unfiltered: Black People Can’t Save You; We Tryna Save Ourselves

It is not up to black people to educate you and help you understand racism .
It is not up to black people to tell you what you need to say to your white racist friends .
It is not up to black people to undo racism .
It is not up to black people to undo white privilege .
It is not up to black people to hold your hand while we are trying to save ourselves .
The revolution is happening .
It is on your city streets and television screens every day .
Black people are tired @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are sick of being tired .
Being black in America is exhausting , because AmeriKKKa gaslights black people on a daily basis .
Please do not add to the insult that is existing in a space of white supremacy as a black person by bringing your white self over and asking for absolution and validation and a pat on the head for being a “ good white.
” As always , I want to hear from you .
If you have a question , or if you need advice , or if you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ think Auntie should cover , please email me at AuntieSubmissions @ theroot.com .

We may earn a commission from links on this page.
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude


theroot--2020-06-12--Exclusive: HBO to Host Insecure Season 4 Finale Pre-Show On IG Live in Support of Black Lives Matter

We ’ ve just about made it to the season 4 finale of Insecure and I ’ m lowkey ( OK , highkey ) excited to see what will happen .
Well , Issa Rae and Yvonne Orji will be here with the pre-game for those of us ( me ! )
who are on the edge of their seat in anticipation .
The Root has exclusively learned that Rae and Orji are hopping on Instagram Live via the official Insecure IG page to host a live Q & A session before the episode airs .
So , ask them @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s going to happen to Molly ( Orji ) and Issa Dee ( Rae ) ?
Will Lawrence ( Jay Ellis ) actually become a San Francisco treat ?
Will Nathan win Issa ’ s heart through his southern drawl ?
Is Andrew aka Asian Bae ( Alexander Hodge ) going to have to choose between Molly and his brother ?
OK , I ’ m pretty sure they ’ re not going to spoil anything in the season finale , but hey , doesn ’ t hurt to try .
*wink* Immediately @ @ @ @ @ @ @ treated to a special performance by Miguel !
Litty !
Oh , and to add some depth to what will surely be a fun time , a donation will be made in support of Black Lives Matter , via ActBlue Charities .
As per Black Lives Matter Foundation ’ s mission statement in relation to the announcement , “ Black Lives Matter Foundation ’ s mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes.
” And just in case @ @ @ @ @ @ @ expect from the season finale episode as well ...
I got y ’ all ( with the help of HBO ’ s press release ) : So , if you ’ re not already , make sure you follow @ InsecureHBO right now and get your Prosecco and Vodka ( shouts to Issa Dee ) ready for the party .
The season 4 finale of Insecure , “ Lowkey Lost ” airs at 10 p.m. ET/PT on HBO .

Tonja Renée Stidhum on The Grapevine, shared by Tonja Renée Stidhum to The Root

We’ve just about made it to the season 4 finale of Insecure and I’m lowkey (OK, highkey) excited to see what will happen.
Well, Issa Rae and Yvonne Orji will be here with the pre-game for those of us who are on the edge of their seat in anticipation. The Root has exclusively learned that Rae and Orji are hopping on Instagram Live via the official Insecure IG page to host a live Q&A session before the episode airs.
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So, ask them what your heart desires! What’s going to happen to Molly (Orji) and Issa Dee (Rae)? Will Lawrence (Jay Ellis) actually become a San Francisco treat? Will Nathan win Issa’s heart through his southern drawl? Is Andrew aka Asian Bae (Alexander Hodge) going to have to choose between Molly and his brother?
OK, I’m pretty sure they’re not going to spoil anything in the season finale, but hey, doesn’t hurt to try. *wink*
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Immediately following the convo, fans will be treated to a special performance by Miguel! Litty! Oh, and to add some depth to what will surely be a fun time, a donation will be made in support of Black Lives Matter, via ActBlue Charities.
As per Black Lives Matter Foundation’s mission statement in relation to the announcement, “Black Lives Matter Foundation’s mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes.”
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Here are the deets, via HBO:
Q&A with Issa Rae and Yvonne Orji
Talent: Issa Rae (@insecureHBO) & Yvonne Orji (@yvonneorji)
Timing: Sunday, June 14th – 8:30-9:15pm EST
Platform: Instagram | @InsecureHBO Musical Performance Talent: Miguel
Timing: Sunday, June 14th – 9:30-10:00pm EST
Platform: Instagram | @InsecureHBO Twitter Watch Party with Cast & Crew Timing: Sunday, June 14th – 10:20pm EST Platform: Twitter | @InsecureHBO #InsecureHBO
And just in case you need the deets on what to expect from the season finale episode as well...I got y’all (with the help of HBO’s press release):
Season 4, Episode 10: “Lowkey Lost” (Season finale) Debut date: SUNDAY, JUNE 14 (10:00-10:30 p.m. ET/PT) Molly (Yvonne Orji) takes Andrew (Alexander Hodge) to a work function and they struggle to see eye-to-eye. Issa (Issa Rae) continues to search for happiness. The girls get a distressing call about a friend. Written by Prentice Penny; directed by Prentice Penny.
So, if you’re not already, make sure you follow @InsecureHBO right now and get your Prosecco and Vodka (shouts to Issa Dee) ready for the party. The season 4 finale of Insecure, “Lowkey Lost” airs at 10 p.m. ET/PT on HBO.


theroot--2020-06-12--The Root Jams Weekly (6/12/2020): 'A Roller Skating Jam Named Blackness'

Its Black Music Month , and summer is on the way .
One of the funnest old school summer night @ @ @ @ @ skating rink .
Roller rinks always had the best jams , so we ’ re @ @ @ @ @ Roller Skating Jams .
Break out the skates !
And don ’ t forget to @ @ @ @ @ and roll .

Panama Jackson on Very Smart Brothas, shared by Panama Jackson to The Root

Its Black Music Month, and summer is on the way. One of the funnest old school summer night activities was going to the skating rink. Roller rinks always had the best jams, so we’re putting together our list of Roller Skating Jams. Break out the skates! And don’t forget to bounce, rock then skate and roll.
Michael Harriot
Tupac “Picture Me Rolling”
Wale featuring Gucci Mane “Pretty Girls”
Mariah Carey featuring Ol’ Dirty Bastard “Fantasy (Remix)“
Masta Ace “Born to Roll”
Pharcyde “Passing Me By”
Special Ed “I’m the Magnificent”
A Tribe Called Quest “Electric Relaxation”
Ashley Velez
Fatman Scoop & The Crooklyn Clan “Be Faithful”
Mary Jane Girls “All Night Long”
The Gap Band “Outstanding”
Phony Ppl featuring Megan Thee Stallion “Fkn Around”
Chance The Rapper featuring Knox Fortune “All Night”
Panama Jackson
Ray Cash featuring Scarface “Bumpin’ My Music”
Soul 4 Real “Everything Little Thing I Do”
Ciara featuring Ludacris “Oh”
Cherrelle & Alexander O’Neal “Saturday Love”
musiq “Forthenight”
Zhané “Hey Mr. DJ”
Tonja Stidhum
Quad City DJs “C’mon Ride It”
Beyoncé “Blow”
Jay Connor
DJ Jazzy Jeff & Kardinal Offishall “She Was So Flyy”
Mila J “Kickin Back”
Anderson Paak & Schoolboy Q “Am I Wrong”
Maiysha Kai
Slave “Watching You”
Stephanie Mills “Never Knew Love Like This Before”
Change “The Glow of Love”
Carl Carlton “She’s A Bad Mama Jama (She’s Built, She’s Stacked)”
Donna Summer “Bad Girls”
J’Na Jefferson
Free Nationals “Gidget”
Tyler, The Creator “I Think”
Lionbabe and Leikeli47 “The Wave”
Anderson .Paak“Twilight”
George Clinton “Atomic Dog”