Police brutality is not a racial issue. — They say that given enough time, you can get used to anything. Pain, indignity, the sight of police officers beating young black men to death. From Philip White to Manuel Ellis, Eric Garner to George Floyd, we’ve gotten so used to police brutality that it barely piques our interest except…

The poisonous power of victimhood — October 2015. Lisette Espinosa, a student at Claremont McKenna College, publishes an article in the student newspaper about her feelings of inadequacy and anxiety on campus. Mary Spellman, the dean, emails Espinosa thanking her for speaking out and inviting her to discuss the issues in person. Unfortunately, Spellman’s well-intentioned email…

Why are young men swallowing the “red-pill”? — There’s a lot I could say about the Andrew Tate/Greta Thunberg debacle, but I won’t bore you with that. After all, we’ve all heard that story before, right? “Alpha male” taunts environmentalist with his collection of “dead-dinosaur” fuelled sports cars. Environmentalist claps back with a burn so harsh it probably…

Are words weapons? — Christmas 1914, five months after World War I began, British and German soldiers laid down their weapons, climbed out of their trenches, and played a game of football. There’s no need for hyperbole here. They hadn’t been debating each other’s “right to exist” or engaging in “stochastic terrorism.” They weren’t…

The etymology of self-doubt. — Growing up black taught my dad to doubt himself. Even as a kid, I noticed how his lightly accented English lost its roundness when he spoke to strangers. How his pronunciation stiffened when he answered the phone. He wore his carefully managed eloquence like a suit of armour. …

Why are we so unwilling to confront child abuse? — If you lay out even a few of the red flags pointing to R. Kelly’s decades-long history of child abuse, it’s unbelievable nobody cottoned on sooner. There was his raunchy debut single, “She’s Got That Vibe," in which he sings about how “little cute Aaliyah," who was 12 years old…

The late registration of a “Black Skinhead.” — At some point we need to stop pretending we’re shocked when terrible people do terrible things. Or, as Maya Angelou put it, “when someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” Roseanne Barr was dressing up as Hitler (and eating lightly charred “Jew cookies”) long before the…

The great democratisation of ideas. — If you’d never heard of democracy, if you lived in a parallel universe where voting required proven expertise or years of study, you’d think “one person, one vote,” was an insane way to run a society. “Wait a minute,” you’d say, “you want to give everybody, no matter how incompetent…

In search of a better way to discriminate. — If I were masochistic enough to live with the people advertising this apartment, I’d get a $50 a month discount based solely on the colour of my skin. No forms to fill out. No income declaration. No proof of historical oppression. A paper bag means test, if you will. In…