Dear Dean Magazine: May 22, 2024
Dear Dean Magazine, Issue 29, May 22, 2024. Digital magazine created by Myron J. Clifton. Subscribe for free at www.deardeanpublishing.com/subscribe.
Dear Dean Magazine, Issue 29, May 22, 2024. Digital magazine created by Myron J. Clifton. Subscribe for free at www.deardeanpublishing.com/subscribe.
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DEAR DEANMAY. <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2024</strong><br />
MAGAZINE<br />
VP HARRIS<br />
IN DETROIT<br />
THE KAMALA<br />
HARRIS THREAT<br />
WHITE MEN
The Goods<br />
Table of<br />
Contents<br />
03 Welcome From Myron<br />
Happy Mother’s Day<br />
page 07<br />
10<br />
The Kamala Harris Threat<br />
by Victoria A. Brownworth<br />
17 Why You Don’t Know You’re Racist<br />
by Muriel Vieux<br />
20<br />
VP Kamala Harris Economic<br />
Opportunity Tour - Detroit, Michigan<br />
by Christopher Webb<br />
26 Why Do White Men Support Trump?<br />
by Myron J. Clifton<br />
32 Rep. Jasmine Crocket Claps Back<br />
by Myron J. Clifton<br />
35 Why We Speak...<br />
by Muriel Vieux<br />
36<br />
40<br />
44<br />
Myron's HIT or MISS List<br />
Hot Take! x4<br />
My Favorite Things<br />
Streaming Right Now<br />
D E A R D E A N M A G A Z I N E , W E B S I T E ,<br />
B L O G S & B O O K S A R E D E S I G N E D<br />
B Y K A T Y A J U L I E T L E R N E R<br />
<strong>Dear</strong> <strong>Dean</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> | <strong>May</strong>. <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2024</strong> | Page 2
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE<br />
Welcome<br />
<strong>May</strong> <strong>2024</strong><br />
<strong>Dear</strong> Readers,<br />
From now until the November election, your favorite magazine will feature articles that highlight:<br />
President Biden, VP Kamala Harris, Democrats up and down ballot, accomplishments by elected<br />
democrats from 2020 to present, and all major issues that are driving the political conversations.<br />
This issue we are looking at the coverage of VP Harris with feature articles from journalist Victoria<br />
Brownworth – The Kamala Harris Threat, and from Twitter, Christopher Webb recaps Kamala<br />
Harris’ Economic Opportunity Tour in Detroit, Michigan.<br />
And we finish with a comparison between Donald Trump and VP Harris, Why Do White Men Like<br />
Donald Trump?<br />
We have not one but two poems this month from the Haitian Poet, and we also celebrate<br />
Mother’s Day with a feature focused on those who have lost their mother – Happy Mother’s<br />
Day.<br />
All your favorites are here, too, of course including Hot Takes and What’s Streaming.<br />
And as always, please see our advertising sections which have the hottest and latest books,<br />
Streaming Services, Apps, Blogs, and websites – all advertised for FREE! If you have something<br />
to advertise, please message us to reserve your space.<br />
We publish thought-provoking articles on government, gender, race, and politics, while also<br />
providing space for movie and television reviews, poetry, short stories, food, pets, fun, and a<br />
welcoming platform for independent authors and writers.<br />
And we provide this space for free – because our motto is and will remain: Some Art Deserves to be<br />
Free.<br />
So don’t be shy – submit your article!<br />
Myron<br />
<strong>Dear</strong> <strong>Dean</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> | <strong>May</strong>. <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2024</strong> | Page 3
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE<br />
About Me<br />
Website | Bookshop | Twitter<br />
Myron J. Clifton is an author of novels Jamaal’s Incredible Adventures in the Black Church;<br />
Monuments: A Deadly Day at Jefferson Park; BLM-PD: Revenge was Inevitable; Her Legend Lives<br />
in You: The Untold Story Honoring the Goddess & Our Daughters; and short story collection,<br />
We Couldn’t Be Heroes, and Other Stories. Also check out his weekly podcast, Voice Memos, his<br />
FREE digital magazine, <strong>Dear</strong> <strong>Dean</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>, and his weekly blog at both Medium and<br />
<strong>Dear</strong><strong>Dean</strong>.com. Myron lives in Sacramento, California, and is an avid Bay Area sports fan. He<br />
likes comic books, telling stories about his late mom to his beloved daughter Leah, and talking<br />
to his friends. BOOKS ON AMAZON<br />
Loving Myron J. Clifton's Content?<br />
S H O W Y O U R S U P P O R T W I T H<br />
A C O N T R I B U T I O N T O D E A R D E A N !<br />
Advertising / Contributions<br />
words@deardeanpublishing.com<br />
<strong>Dear</strong> <strong>Dean</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> | <strong>May</strong>. <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2024</strong> | Page 4
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE<br />
Part 2<br />
Coming<br />
Soon!<br />
Jamaal's Incredible Adventures in the<br />
Black Church by Myron J. Clifton<br />
Before Jamaal's seventeenth birthday, he’s appointed as his preacher uncle’s designated<br />
driver and unwilling personal confidant. Behind the fine outfits and hats, behind the<br />
delicious cooking, Jamaal is exposed to crazy aunties, sexy church sisters, corrupt<br />
pastors, and predator deacons. A good kid who just wants time to finish his homework<br />
and kiss a girl his own age, Jamaal is dragged through the strange world of the Black<br />
church. You best pray for him.<br />
<strong>Dear</strong> <strong>Dean</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> | <strong>May</strong>. <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2024</strong> | Page 5
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE<br />
Feature<br />
HAPPY<br />
MOTHER’S DAY<br />
Happy Mother's Day to the mothers, grandmothers,<br />
aunties, cousins, sisters, and other women who<br />
raise and care for children. If you've lost your mom<br />
as I have, I hope you have the day that best fits what<br />
you need. Some find joy in other mothers; some<br />
relive the loss.<br />
I think I go back and forth but I mostly lean into the<br />
grief, loss, sadness, and longing because that works<br />
best for my emotions and mental health. I love<br />
seeing the joy others have in celebrating the day<br />
with their moms. There's really nothing like it, in my<br />
opinion.<br />
I still go with my daughter as she gets things for her<br />
mother, grandmother, and auntie. It’s cute and<br />
loving in all the ways.<br />
I remember doing the same for my mother. From<br />
making breakfast, cleaning up, and being extra<br />
sweet on that day while not giving her a second to<br />
be alone.<br />
And now I know she wanted alone time more than<br />
anything after being with her 3 sons who were one<br />
year apart. She was a teen mom at 16, and I was the<br />
3rd boy when she was 18. So, by the time we were<br />
doing Mother’s Day stuff for her she was still only in<br />
her twenties. Hard to believe.<br />
After she passed for years I stayed alone, sad,<br />
angry, on zero. Then I had a daughter and had<br />
to teach her to honor Mother’s Day and that<br />
brought me out just a little at a time. I'm okay<br />
with it.<br />
And I hope if you've lost your mother that you<br />
find your path to your own "Okay."<br />
Mine was lost to colon cancer. She was<br />
diagnosed at 37 and died at 39. It was 18<br />
months of living hell for her and us. Get your<br />
colon checked and all your other stuff because<br />
cancer kills, and it kills quickly if not detected<br />
early.<br />
<strong>Dear</strong> <strong>Dean</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> | <strong>May</strong>. <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2024</strong> | Page 6
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE<br />
Myron J. Clifton<br />
I've written how mothers are God to us at birth,<br />
in caring for us and keeping us alive, and then<br />
they launch us into this world despite many of<br />
us raising so much hell when we have to<br />
separate for daycare or preschool or moving<br />
out.... I still raise internal hell about being<br />
separated from her.<br />
But now I think I've reached a place where I miss<br />
her daily and keep that love and longing in a<br />
special place in my heart so it will remain<br />
untouched by time, unweakened by space, and<br />
her light undimmed in my heart.<br />
I miss my mom, Floy<br />
<strong>Dean</strong>, always will.<br />
I love that about us.<br />
<strong>Dear</strong> <strong>Dean</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> | <strong>May</strong>. <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2024</strong> | Page 7
CLICK TO MEET<br />
THE HOSTS!<br />
MYRON<br />
JENN<br />
Two longtime friends have informative, yet<br />
brief discussions about multitudinous topics.<br />
NEW EPISODES ON FRIDAYS!<br />
<strong>Dear</strong> <strong>Dean</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> | <strong>May</strong>. <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2024</strong> | Page 8
MYRON J. CLIFTON & JENNIFER VANLAANEN'S PODCAST<br />
VOICE MEMOS REVIEWS<br />
Listen Now!<br />
Stay<br />
Shallow!<br />
Like listening to your BFFs June 2, 20<strong>22</strong><br />
kjlerner
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE<br />
Feature<br />
THE KAMALA<br />
HARRIS THREAT<br />
by Victoria A. Brownworth<br />
Author’s note: I have been reporting on Kamala<br />
Harris since 2004 when she was San Francisco<br />
District Attorney and making history by marrying<br />
same-sex couples at the behest of then-<strong>May</strong>or<br />
Gavin Newsom. I wrote in 2017 that if Hillary<br />
Clinton chose not to run again in 2020, Kamala<br />
Harris was the best candidate the Democrats<br />
could field, given her resume, executive experience<br />
as attorney general of the nation’s most populous<br />
state, age, personal charisma and progressive<br />
politics. I covered her campaign throughout that<br />
election cycle for national media until she<br />
withdrew on Dec. 3, 2019.<br />
Donald Trump likes to claim no one in the<br />
United States is more maligned than he is. And<br />
while many Democrats and even some<br />
Republicans would argue that would be totally<br />
justified, given the crimes Trump has been<br />
found liable for as well as all the crimes he has<br />
yet to be held accountable for, the most<br />
maligned person from the executive branch is<br />
unquestionably Vice President Kamala Harris.<br />
Harris, who--as Fox News likes to state<br />
regularly--has historically low approval ratings,<br />
is representative of layers of change that<br />
almost no one in America is ready for–not<br />
even members of her own party. It is, as we<br />
say colloquially way too often but which is<br />
applicable here, a lot to unpack. Yet Harris is<br />
the Democratic party’s greatest strength and<br />
best interlocutor for the <strong>2024</strong> election–if only<br />
the media would let her be that, highlight her<br />
work like the foreign press does when she<br />
travels abroad and most critically, accept that<br />
she is the vice president, she’s not going<br />
anywhere and there’s a chance she could be<br />
president before 2028.<br />
If we begin with the simple fact of who Kamala<br />
Harris is, it explains where the restrictions<br />
come in.<br />
<strong>Dear</strong> <strong>Dean</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> | <strong>May</strong>. <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2024</strong> | Page 10
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE<br />
Victoria A. Brownworth<br />
She’s the first female vice president and the<br />
highest-ranking female official in U.S. history,<br />
as well as the first Black American and first<br />
Asian American vice president. Or as the<br />
MAGA Republicans like to say, a DEI hire.<br />
When the MAGA cohort say they want to take<br />
“their” country back, they mean from people<br />
like the Vice President, who represents and<br />
embodies all that white supremacy and white<br />
privilege most fear and resent.<br />
Replacement theory — the concept that<br />
Western elites, sometimes manipulated by<br />
Jews, want to “replace” and disempower<br />
white Americans — is a prominent conspiracy<br />
among white conservatives, particularly<br />
MAGAs. It is this panoply of racist theories<br />
and their historical foundational legacy that<br />
underpins so much political discourse in the<br />
U.S., and it has made Harris a focal point of<br />
fear, distrust and outrage.<br />
As a graduate of the iconic Howard<br />
University, one of the oldest HBCUs, having<br />
been established immediately after the Civil<br />
War ended, Harris is not part of the Ivy<br />
League or Seven Sisters elite. Howard makes<br />
her too Black, even as some complain she’s<br />
not Black enough. Harris being a “bison” and<br />
soror of Alpha Kappa Alpha, further signals<br />
her Blackness. And it is Harris’s unabashed<br />
and unashamed Black identity as well as her<br />
femaleness that have created the miasma of<br />
bad publicity from white-male-run legacy<br />
media that regularly obscures her<br />
accomplishments.<br />
Misogynoir stalks Harris. Misogynoir is a<br />
term referring to the combined force of anti-<br />
Black racism and misogyny directed towards<br />
Black women. The term was coined by Black<br />
feminist writer Moya Bailey in 2008 to<br />
address misogyny directed toward Black<br />
transgender and cisgender women in<br />
American visual and popular culture.<br />
Kamala Harris has been victimized by blatant<br />
misogynoir throughout her career, which<br />
points to her resilience as well as her<br />
achievements. Despite the breadth of the<br />
racism and sexism she’s faced at every level<br />
of her professional, political and even<br />
personal life, as the <strong>May</strong>a Angelou poem<br />
reminds, Harris can say “and still I rise.”<br />
That’s the thing about Kamala Harris–she<br />
refuses to fail, despite the force of the<br />
structural misogyny that crushed Hillary<br />
Clinton’s presidential aspirations and the<br />
anti-Blackness that meant Harris has been<br />
the first Black person or woman or both at<br />
nearly every achievement of her career.<br />
<strong>Dear</strong> <strong>Dean</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> | <strong>May</strong>. <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2024</strong> | Page 11
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE<br />
Victoria A. Brownworth<br />
Therein lies the threat of Kamala Harris.<br />
When Joe Biden chose her as his running<br />
mate she became not just an historic figure<br />
but the embodiment of all that much of white<br />
America has feared as the country has gotten<br />
less white & some states have become<br />
majority minority. Biden being the oldest<br />
president in U.S. history meant there was a<br />
greater likelihood that his vice president<br />
could succeed him in the presidency. A Black<br />
woman president is the stuff of political<br />
thrillers & MAGA nightmares. In 2020<br />
conservatives were so alarmed by Biden’s<br />
choice of Harris they tried to deny she was<br />
Black, claiming that her Jamaican father &<br />
Indian mother meant she wasn’t really Black.<br />
For months there has been a relentless<br />
cavalcade of opinion pieces and cable news<br />
debates over Biden asking Harris to step out<br />
as vice president (the last time a president<br />
did that was when Richard Nixon’s vice<br />
president Spiro Agnew resigned due to being<br />
indicted for tax evasion). The mainstream<br />
mantra–led by both named and unnamed<br />
Democratic strategists–was that Biden<br />
needed a white man on the ticket with him,<br />
like popular Millennial Secretary of<br />
Transportation Pete Buttigieg who also won<br />
the first two primaries in 2020, California<br />
governor Gavin Newsom, or even a white<br />
woman, like Michigan governor Gretchen<br />
Whitmer.<br />
Thus the obverse of what transpired in 2008<br />
when Barack Obama chose Biden as his<br />
running mate was realized: while Biden’s age<br />
and long Senate history brought gravitas<br />
support to a younger presidential nominee<br />
with no executive experience and only one<br />
term in the Senate, Harris’s relative youth,<br />
Blackness and femaleness scared those not<br />
ready to envision that much change, even<br />
though in some respects she was more<br />
qualified for the presidency than Biden. Yet<br />
as it was, white America had voted for Donald<br />
Trump in 2016 in reaction to eight years of a<br />
Black president–a Black woman president<br />
was simply a bridge too far.<br />
Or so we keep hearing. In the constant thrum<br />
of pundit and media chatter about Biden’s<br />
age–which is exactly four years older than he<br />
was when he won more votes than any<br />
presidential candidate in U.S. history in 2020-<br />
- is the true underlying concern: the threat of<br />
a Kamala Harris presidency.<br />
First, the U.S. is never going to have an allwhite-male<br />
Democratic ticket again. The last<br />
one was 2004. Those days are over. Second,<br />
Biden forcing Harris out would sunder his<br />
chances with Black voters. Even among Black<br />
voters who don’t like Harris, such a move<br />
would be perceived as the zenith of<br />
disrespect of the Democratic base, which is<br />
Black women. Yet the debate continues. On<br />
CNN’s “The Chris Wallace Show” on April 27,<br />
the panel debated how bad Harris was as a<br />
vice president.<br />
The conversation, led by Wallace, editor-atlarge<br />
of “New York <strong>Magazine</strong>” and Recode<br />
founder Kara Swisher and “National Review”<br />
founder and Los Angeles Times columnist<br />
Jonah Goldberg, with occasional comments<br />
by Lulu Garcia-Navarro, “New York Times”<br />
journalist and host of “The Interview” and<br />
Eliana Johnson, editor-in-chief of “The<br />
Washington Free Beacon.”<br />
<strong>Dear</strong> <strong>Dean</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> | <strong>May</strong>. <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2024</strong> | Page 12
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE<br />
Victoria A. Brownworth<br />
This discussion, with only one person of color<br />
on the panel, epitomized what Harris faces in<br />
mainstream media and it highlights the<br />
schism over race and gender that has only<br />
grown with the invidiousness of Trumpism in<br />
both the GOP and the nation as a whole.<br />
Wallace said, “Recent focus groups conducted<br />
by the super PAC Republican voters against<br />
Trump found that swing voters don't like<br />
Harris. And focus groups conducted by the<br />
Democratic National Committee also found<br />
Harris rubs some people the wrong way.”<br />
Wallace then said, “So Jonah, how big a drag<br />
is Kamala Harris on the ticket?”<br />
Goldberg responded, “I think she's a pretty<br />
big drag. I think she was arguably Biden's<br />
worst political decision of his presidency, to<br />
pick her in the first place. And one of the<br />
special reasons that she's a drag is Biden's<br />
age concerns people. They worry that he<br />
can't fill a term. They worry that he's not up<br />
to the job. And so, the vice president matters<br />
more than they normally do.”<br />
And there it is: the quiet part out loud. White<br />
America isn’t ready for a Black woman<br />
president. Or as is always the case when men<br />
talk about women in power, this particular<br />
woman president. In 2016 the argument was<br />
that people wanted a woman president, just<br />
not Hillary. In 2020 there were six women,<br />
including four senators, a House rep and a<br />
best-selling author running for president and<br />
none of them came close, putting the lie to<br />
that claim.<br />
Goldberg said the Harris problem is she’s in<br />
a liberal bubble. “I generally think going into<br />
the future that Democrats really should not<br />
nominate or front people who come from<br />
decidedly all blue states unless they're like<br />
once-in-a-generation talents like Barack<br />
Obama, because Kamala Harris does not<br />
know how to talk to the center or to the<br />
right. She only really knows how to sort of<br />
speak the language of the base of the party.<br />
And that's 34 percent.”<br />
Again, Goldberg is only talking about Black<br />
people and maybe women, since Hillary was<br />
from a blue state.<br />
Whether one believes that or not, the next<br />
facet of the debate devolved into a<br />
discussion about how irritating Harris’s voice<br />
is with Wallace noting focus groups said “one<br />
of the things that people objected to was her<br />
voice. They said they found her voice,<br />
especially her laugh, annoying.”<br />
Swisher said, “Oh dear” and said succinctly<br />
that women get graded on their voices all the<br />
time (she didn’t invoke Hillary, but there<br />
were dozens of stories about Hillary’s<br />
“cackle” over the years). Swisher said, “Yes,<br />
because no one ever writes about women<br />
and their voices. No one ever writes about<br />
women smiling or being appealing.”<br />
Goldberg said Harris’s voice is as irritating as<br />
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s voice. Kennedy has a<br />
medical condition called spasmodic<br />
dysphonia, which causes involuntary spasms<br />
of the vocal cords, and which has<br />
hospitalized him several times.<br />
<strong>Dear</strong> <strong>Dean</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> | <strong>May</strong>. <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2024</strong> | Page 13
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE<br />
Victoria A. Brownworth<br />
This was less than 10 minutes of the hour,<br />
but it was a telling segment, and it epitomizes<br />
the way people talk about Black women in<br />
power–because that is the issue: Kamala<br />
Harris is a breath from the presidency and as<br />
a consequence is the most powerful Black<br />
woman in America.<br />
Part of the discourse on the Wallace show<br />
was that Harris has no political voice, which<br />
made the conversation about her literal voice<br />
almost metaphoric. But this is a claim made<br />
by both sides of the aisle–that Harris flails<br />
and fails.<br />
A counter argument against Harris as<br />
potential president is that she is somehow a<br />
“cringeworthy lightweight” — despite being<br />
the sitting vice president and having been<br />
attorney general and senator of the most<br />
populous state, as well as district attorney of<br />
San Francisco. In addition to winning all these<br />
elections, Harris is known for her hard-hitting<br />
questioning of right-wing candidates, like<br />
Brett Kavanaugh, who she grilled over<br />
Obergefell v. Hodges, demanding to know if<br />
the potential Supreme Court justice viewed<br />
same-sex marriage as settled law. She was<br />
equally harsh with Trump Attorney General<br />
Bill Barr on Barr’s handling of the special<br />
counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation and<br />
report.<br />
Biden the presidency. She has become the<br />
spokesperson for reproductive rights, one of<br />
the most critical issues of the <strong>2024</strong> election<br />
since Trump’s Supreme Court overturned<br />
Roe v. Wade.<br />
Harris warned of future rulings by the<br />
Supreme Court, telling prospective voters, “I<br />
worry about fundamental freedoms.”<br />
Harris said, "You could even look at Clarence<br />
Thomas saying a lot of the quiet part out<br />
loud. Just look at what he said and then<br />
maybe that gives us some indication. Just<br />
look at one of the justices to see where they<br />
might go next."<br />
She’s not wrong about this or many other<br />
issues she’s spoken out about. In April she<br />
talked to ABC’s Rachel Scott about Israel’s<br />
planned invasion of Rafah and sounded so<br />
presidential it felt like she was the president<br />
in that moment as she said, “I’m looking at all<br />
the options.”<br />
Going forward toward the conventions and<br />
the general election, Harris will become<br />
more and more critical to this campaign.<br />
While she’s fine on abortion, Biden and the<br />
campaign should have her on more issues,<br />
not fewer. Harris talked about housing and<br />
infrastructure in Detroit the week before she<br />
was in Pennsylvania.<br />
On the left the complaint is “what is she<br />
doing?” and “where is she?” (Her schedule is<br />
listed on her administration website daily.)<br />
On the right it’s that she’s talking too much.<br />
On <strong>May</strong> 9 Harris was in Pennsylvania, a<br />
pivotal swing state and the state that won<br />
It also would help Biden to be seen with<br />
Harris, but with her speaking. At 59, Harris<br />
brings vitality and youthfulness to the fore<br />
for people nervous about Biden’s age. And<br />
despite comments about her voice, Harris is<br />
a strong and dynamic speaker whose natural<br />
charisma is best displayed to a crowd.<br />
<strong>Dear</strong> <strong>Dean</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> | <strong>May</strong>. <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2024</strong> | Page 14
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE<br />
Victoria A. Brownworth<br />
As a former prosecutor, Harris is also<br />
uniquely positioned to speak about Donald<br />
Trump’s ongoing legal problems and what<br />
they mean for the country. In a New York<br />
Times interview <strong>May</strong> 9, Harris spoke about<br />
GOP corruption from Clarence Thomas to<br />
Trump. Harris harkened back to Hillary<br />
Clinton’s warnings in 2016, telling The Times,<br />
“I don’t want to, at this point, use my voice in<br />
a way that is alarmist,” she said. “But this<br />
court has made it very clear that they are<br />
willing to undo recognized rights.”<br />
That interview also reminds people that it<br />
was Harris’s grilling of Brett Kavanaugh<br />
during his confirmation hearings in 2018 that<br />
propelled her into the national spotlight.<br />
Which again puts the lie to claims that Harris<br />
has no coherent voice.<br />
This will likely be the tightest election in<br />
history. It will rest on a half dozen states, not<br />
one of which is polling in Biden’s favor at<br />
present. The administration and most<br />
importantly Biden’s handlers must realign<br />
their thinking about Harris’s role and stop<br />
restricting her focus. They should push her<br />
into the foreground and propel her into<br />
those must-win states where–Jonah<br />
Goldberg’s theorizing notwithstanding--she<br />
has the potential to lure swing voters,<br />
especially women. Harris also has had a<br />
powerful impact on an essential demographic<br />
for Biden–youth voters. Harris should speak<br />
directly to young voters, who have turned out<br />
in droves to see her at colleges and at other<br />
events. She has a natural affinity for these<br />
voters that resonates.<br />
Harris is also the progressive voice of the<br />
administration, with past work as a senator<br />
with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) on<br />
key issues like the Green New Deal and<br />
criminal justice reform.<br />
In many respects, Harris is the one person in<br />
the administration who has the capability of<br />
being all things to almost all people.<br />
Laphonza Butler, president of EMILY’s List<br />
and the recently appointed senator of<br />
California, who is also a Black lesbian, told<br />
CNN last year, “What we have in Vice<br />
President Harris is a competent, capable,<br />
intelligent, authentic leader of color.”<br />
Butler said, “People have to get comfortable<br />
seeing women, and women of color, in<br />
places of leadership, period.”<br />
That’s the most succinct point about a Harris<br />
presidency. So, part of Harris’s role in these<br />
next months will be to convince America and<br />
voters that not only is Biden the candidate<br />
they want to re-elect, but that she will be just<br />
as good if not better as a president than<br />
Biden himself.<br />
<strong>Dear</strong> <strong>Dean</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> | <strong>May</strong>. <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2024</strong> | Page 16
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE<br />
NEW!<br />
ON SALE<br />
NOW<br />
Sometimes, when you’re at a crossroads, a door will open and what enters will inspire you.<br />
Other times, what enters will make you gag. These stories by a ride-share short-timer might<br />
have the same effect on you. A man, recently laid off from his job and intrigued by the people<br />
he might meet (and the money he might make) decides to drive ride-share while looking for a<br />
new professional management position.<br />
Don’t want to drive drunk? Well, then, by all means, plug in your location and get your friendly<br />
neighborhood ride-share driver to ferry you to your next bar. Need to move but can’t afford<br />
movers? There’s an App for that! Tired of waiting for tricks on the corner? Wait—I’ve got an idea.<br />
. .<br />
The behavior and stories of folks who call on ride-share turned into a unique anthropological<br />
study for one man who decided to drive ride-share while looking for a new professional<br />
management position. Recently laid off from his job and intrigued by the people he might meet<br />
(and the money he might make), the author unwittingly became the anonymous confidant for<br />
men, women, nonbinary people, and children. Unfortunately for him, he also became the<br />
innocent target of people who couldn’t hold their liquor, others who couldn’t hold their temper,<br />
and at least one who couldn’t keep his hands to himself.<br />
Little did they know they were in the Prius of a writer, who would be able to look in the rear view<br />
and tell their stories.<br />
This collection of anecdotes is non-judgmental, full of irony and dry humor, and may help<br />
someone else decide: Is driving ride-share for you?<br />
<strong>Dear</strong> <strong>Dean</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> | <strong>May</strong>. <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2024</strong> | Page 18
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE<br />
We Couldn't Be Heroes<br />
Short Story Collection: We Couldn't Be Heroes And Other Stories What if a Black man<br />
could control the weather, God called 911, or aliens took our souls? Would we notice?<br />
Would we care?... Enjoy the entire collection, seven stories in all, on earth and in space<br />
and in any order.<br />
<strong>Dear</strong> <strong>Dean</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> | <strong>May</strong>. <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2024</strong> | Page 19
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE<br />
Feature<br />
Vice President Kamala Harris<br />
Economic Opportunity Tour<br />
Detroit, Michigan<br />
by Christopher Webb<br />
Over the past three years, the President and I<br />
have invested trillions of dollars in America's<br />
infrastructure, in clean energy and a clean energy<br />
economy, in manufacturing, and in supply chains.<br />
Our work is also guided by the understanding<br />
that there are certain communities that have<br />
faced, historically and currently, profound<br />
obstacles to acquire that opportunity.<br />
President Biden and I have invested hundreds of<br />
billions of dollars to address these disparities.<br />
ACCESS TO CAPITAL FOR BLACK BUSINESSES<br />
Black entrepreneurs are three times as likely to<br />
not apply for a loan, for fear they're going to be<br />
turned away from a bank. Two years ago, I<br />
founded the Economic Opportunity Coalition -- a<br />
group of 31 companies and nonprofits --<br />
including, for example, the Bank of America,<br />
MasterCard, and the Ford Foundation -- that are<br />
working currently to invest $3 billion in<br />
community banks -- banks which we know are<br />
uniquely designed to serve minority and women<br />
entrepreneurs.<br />
This work is helping Black businesses receive<br />
loans not only for thousands of dollars, but for<br />
millions of dollars.<br />
INVESTMENT IN AUTO SUPPLY<br />
COMPANIES<br />
I'm proud to announce we are investing $100<br />
million in small- and medium-sized auto<br />
supply companies, many of which are Blackowned<br />
and based right here in Michigan.<br />
These grants will allow businesses to upgrade<br />
production and production lines to produce<br />
parts for electric vehicles.<br />
MATCHING GOVERNMENT BACKED LOANS<br />
I'm also pleased to announce the launch of a<br />
new program that will match governmentbacked<br />
loans with private equity capital to<br />
help small- and mid-size auto suppliers<br />
access loans from a quarter million dollars<br />
to 10 million dollars.<br />
<strong>Dear</strong> <strong>Dean</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> | <strong>May</strong>. <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2024</strong> | Page 20
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE<br />
Christopher Webb<br />
This investment will help to keep our auto supply<br />
chains here in America, which strengthens<br />
America's economy overall.<br />
MEDICAL DEBT RELIEF<br />
Black Americans are twice as likely to have<br />
medical debt and more likely to struggle to<br />
repay student loan debt.<br />
EXPANDING ACCESS TO FEDERAL CONTRACTS<br />
At the beginning of our administration, President<br />
Joe Biden and I pledged to increase federal<br />
contracts for minority-owned small businesses<br />
by 50 percent, knowing that, traditionally and<br />
historically, folks didn't necessarily have access<br />
to the relationships to get those contracts.<br />
And we are on track to meet our goal by the end<br />
of next year.<br />
The last administration invested access to tax<br />
cuts for billionaires. We are investing in access to<br />
capital for entrepreneurs.<br />
HELPING 1ST GENERATION HOME BUYERS<br />
President Biden and I outlined a blueprint to<br />
provide folks who are first in their family to buy a<br />
home with $25,000 toward a down payment to<br />
give families up to $400 a month to help with a<br />
mortgage; and to build 2 million units of<br />
affordable housing to lower costs for<br />
homebuyers and renters.<br />
ADDRESSING RACIAL BIAS IN HOME<br />
APPRAISALS<br />
Today, I'm proud to report that we have made it<br />
now easier for more homeowners to appeal<br />
home appraisals. And we have reached a<br />
commitment that all licensed home appraisers<br />
be required to complete racial bias training.<br />
President Biden and I have made debt<br />
forgiveness a central pillar of our economic<br />
agenda. And we have already forgiven about<br />
$500 million of medical debt for hundreds of<br />
thousands of Americans across the nation.<br />
And in Wayne County, Michigan, we will<br />
forgive an additional $700 million of medical<br />
debt for as many as 300,000 people.<br />
NEW RULE: MEDICAL DEBT CAN’T BE USED<br />
TO CALCULATE YOUR CREDIT SCORE<br />
Which means medical debt cannot be the<br />
reason someone is denied a car loan, a home<br />
loan, or a small-business loan.<br />
On average, more than $30,000 per person and<br />
$70,000 for our public servants, like nurses,<br />
firefighters, and teachers -- and God knows we<br />
don't pay them enough as it is, so it's only right.<br />
THE BIDEN HARRIS INVESTMENTS IN THE<br />
COMMUNITY ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE<br />
Since taking office, we have seen record Black<br />
small-business growth and we have created<br />
more than two and a half million new jobs for<br />
Black workers. And since 2019, Black wealth is<br />
up 60 percent.<br />
So, the bottom line is that every family, I believe -<br />
- every family, whatever their background, their<br />
race, their geographic location -- has a right to<br />
the full and fair value of their home.<br />
Christopher Webb<br />
<strong>Dear</strong> <strong>Dean</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> | <strong>May</strong>. <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2024</strong> | Page 21
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE<br />
F e a t u r e d B u s i n e s s<br />
Maurice Woodson<br />
Maurice Woodson Began his career in the publishing Business.<br />
He has written for Right On! <strong>Magazine</strong>, Black Elegance, Class<br />
<strong>Magazine</strong> as well as ran Black Beat and Spice Superposter<br />
music <strong>Magazine</strong>s as Editor N Chief. In the early 200s he owned<br />
The Suburban herald, a small newspaper in upstate New York.<br />
He then ventured into the music industry managing artists and<br />
briefly working as A&R and A&M records. Looking to be more<br />
involved in telling stories he began writing screenplays and<br />
also honed his craft working as a script consultant. His love of<br />
creating and storytelling led to him writing Novels and<br />
children's Books.<br />
Woodson has been studying Black history and true History for<br />
nearly two decades. He believes that if schools won't teach our<br />
stories we must because we need to know how we got here in<br />
order to know where we are going. "We must plant seed in<br />
young minds, inspire. and empower." This has led to the<br />
publishing of children's books including the popular "We Know<br />
The ABCs Of Black History...Do You? and "I love What I See<br />
When I Look At Me."<br />
Woodson is also the owner of upcoming streaming service<br />
NXS Entertainment, which will feature diverse and<br />
inclusive movies, Series, Documentaries and more.<br />
<strong>Dear</strong> <strong>Dean</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> | <strong>May</strong>. <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2024</strong> | Page 23
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE<br />
Marcus A. Banks-Bey, M.Div<br />
Gathered experience and elevation gained from years as an Army & hospital chaplain, mental health worker<br />
and clinical psychology doctoral student, equips Marcus A Banks to aid in journeying the reader to<br />
intelligently question their past belief systems and future creative visions of thought and identity as a<br />
purposeful means to developing their own personal reality for establishing their “true identity.”<br />
Within Dig Deep lies practical language, developed to help the reader grow the relationship with themselves,<br />
and understand why nurturing the relationships we have with our Faith, Family, Friends, Fitness and<br />
Finances will support our Purpose, Planning, Patience, and Persistent-Perseverance. This system helps one<br />
establish their own 5×5 Side by Side Guide through life. Dig Deep was written following a series of extremely<br />
challenging life occurrences, including the suicide of the author’s brother, Iverson; divorce; and war<br />
deployment. From this place, the author engaged in the process of self-discovery, self-awareness and<br />
meaning.<br />
<strong>Dear</strong> <strong>Dean</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> | <strong>May</strong>. <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2024</strong> | Page 24
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE<br />
Looking back on the Before and the events leading up to the After, it was impossible to say precisely<br />
when everything went to shit. Understanding the importance of human connection, a lone trader braves<br />
the Weeps and an emerging cult to unite the survivors of a shattered world. The Before and The After is a<br />
tale of loss, acceptance, and finding one’s truth in a barren future.<br />
Catherine Sequeira<br />
Catherine Sequeira is a veterinarian, author, and teacher. Originally from California, she has lived in<br />
Switzerland, New York, Oklahoma, and Scotland. She is an avid tabletop gamer and was all verklempt the<br />
first time her older son kicked her ass at Lords of Waterdeep. She would live in the garden if she could,<br />
pretending to be Snow White or channeling her inner Poison Ivy. When the weather chases her inside, you<br />
can find her reading sci-fi and fantasy or binging horror shows. She lives in Northern California with her<br />
partner, younger son, cat, and rescue dragon (the bearded kind, that is).<br />
<strong>Dear</strong> <strong>Dean</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> | <strong>May</strong>. <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2024</strong> | Page 25
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE<br />
Feature<br />
Why Do<br />
White Men<br />
Support<br />
Trump?<br />
I just can't understand how Trump can be<br />
the republican's choice.<br />
There must be… 60m eligible white men who<br />
can vote?<br />
So maybe half or 30m of them are old<br />
enough to be president?<br />
And out of them they decide, whelp, Trump<br />
is our absolute best man/candidate... again.<br />
How?<br />
I personally know a handful of eligible white<br />
men who are republican who would not only<br />
be a good candidate, but a good president if<br />
a miracle happened.<br />
Yet, there is Trump at the very top of the<br />
republican tower.<br />
I don't know why or how white men gave up<br />
their power to him once and now are about<br />
to do it again.<br />
Of course there are bad politicians all over, but in<br />
this country, none are as bad as Trump and<br />
various republicans like Boebert, Tuberville, Marge<br />
Green, Lindsey Graham, et al.<br />
I think perhaps we non-white men specifically go<br />
so hard against Trump is that being born/raised<br />
here and fed education and media that told us<br />
how heroic white men are.<br />
How brave, strong, honorable, capable.<br />
How they look like God, how they speak for god.<br />
How white men are God incarnate.<br />
But Trump, lol. That’s what y’all are giving us after<br />
400 years of brainwashing how y’all are the peak<br />
evolved humans ever.<br />
<strong>Dear</strong> <strong>Dean</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> | <strong>May</strong>. <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2024</strong> | Page 26
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE<br />
Myron J. Clifton<br />
Big LOL.<br />
It is like those tales of entire cities dying<br />
from dancing or laughing epidemics - you<br />
know those weird European tales?<br />
White men in America seem to be under a<br />
spell like that.<br />
*Big old disclaimer for the angry person<br />
reading this. NOT ALL WHITE MEN.<br />
Just the 70? 75? Or 80% who vote<br />
GOP/Trump.<br />
Calm down.<br />
Because white men own the media, they<br />
are working OT (unpaid since they are<br />
management, lol) to save him, to protect<br />
him, and to promote him. They are working<br />
to convince us that his presidency wasn’t<br />
too bad.<br />
I think the giving up and letting go of white<br />
men that the other demographics have done<br />
and are doing... is partially why all other<br />
demographics go so hard at white women<br />
because they seem salvageable.<br />
We WANT them to be salvageable. But<br />
gotdamn.<br />
We can't want it more than white women.<br />
I'll add that the vitriol directed at VP Harris is<br />
directly related to the awareness that white<br />
men have of Trump's ineptness when<br />
compared specifically to her.<br />
Not to Biden, or Pete, Gavin, or Gretchen.<br />
It is and always have been about Kamala Devi<br />
Harris.<br />
Because there is no greater power distance in<br />
America than that between white men and<br />
Black women.<br />
.<br />
There isn’t room enough in this article to list<br />
why his presidency was a disaster for most<br />
Americans, the United Nations, and<br />
countries, the environment, taxes, foreign<br />
policy, health care, abortion, the Supreme<br />
Court, and on and on and on all the way to<br />
millions of citizens dead from Covid.<br />
No matter the outstanding results of<br />
President Biden, the historic work of VP<br />
Harris- benefitting ALL the people...<br />
They are crying so loudly while uncovering<br />
the substance of their administration’s<br />
accomplishments.<br />
<strong>Dear</strong> <strong>Dean</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> | <strong>May</strong>. <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2024</strong> | Page 27
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE<br />
Myron J. Clifton<br />
And the fact that the lowest on the power<br />
balance is a Black woman (mixed to make it<br />
worse to them - Indian, Jamaican, and all<br />
that African DNA just burns them so much).<br />
And the fact that SHE is smarter, more<br />
accomplished, beloved across the globe,<br />
and is gorgeous makes Trump and his<br />
voters ready to destroy the country and<br />
end American-style democracy for good.<br />
We’ve been led to believe that American<br />
democracy is the best thing in the history of<br />
the world… but only if a white man is in<br />
charge. Because if he isn’t, then they seem<br />
to be saying “We will take our democracy<br />
back and burn this country down.<br />
The flipping of the power balance is driving<br />
them insane and even giving democrats in<br />
the big tent heartburn because that wasn't<br />
supposed to happen according to them<br />
who wouldn't even support Hillary... but<br />
that's another story.<br />
Anyway, Vote for President Biden and VP<br />
Harris and let the gop stay mad.<br />
<strong>Dear</strong> <strong>Dean</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> | <strong>May</strong>. <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2024</strong> | Page 28
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE<br />
Coming Soon!<br />
Dr. Josie Harjo is used to cutting up dead bodies. As a veterinary pathologist at a state diagnostic lab, it’s her<br />
job to figure out the cause of death in a never-ending parade of various non-human species. Most cases are<br />
cut-and-dried, and rarely will a carcass roll in that gets her racking her brain.<br />
When a rancher shows up with a dead horse, Josie thinks it’s going to be a typical day at the office. She<br />
quickly learns that this is the third suspicious death in as many days, and the clock is ticking to figure out<br />
what’s going on before any more lives are lost.<br />
The necropsy is frustratingly unremarkable, and Josie is forced to follow all leads no matter how<br />
implausible. Tensions rise as the rancher starts pointing a finger at a disgruntled employee and an assault<br />
charge forces the cops to start asking questions. With a hefty insurance payout on the table, Josie realizes<br />
that she can’t ignore the possibility that the rancher might be involved. As the pathologist leading the case,<br />
Josie has to wonder, is it just coincidence or is there something more nefarious killing horses at JW Ranch?<br />
<strong>Dear</strong> <strong>Dean</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> | <strong>May</strong>. <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2024</strong> | Page 29
Vernon L. Andrews<br />
Policing Black Athletes<br />
Racial Disconnect in Sports<br />
O R D E R<br />
T O D A Y !
EXTRA!<br />
EXTRA!<br />
Sequel Coming Soon!<br />
Myron J. Clifton’s acclaimed novel, “Jamaal’s Incredible<br />
Adventures In The Black Church“ is getting a sequel, where you<br />
will be able to continue to follow Jamaal’s adventures as he<br />
attends the Annual National Church Convention and much more<br />
-- it’s a wild ride! Be sure to keep an eye out for the upcoming<br />
release date!<br />
If you have not read the first book, now is the time!<br />
Order “Jamaal’s Incredible Adventures In The<br />
Black Church” on Amazon today.<br />
<strong>Dear</strong> <strong>Dean</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> | <strong>May</strong>. <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2024</strong> | Page 31
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE<br />
Feature<br />
REPRESENTATIVE<br />
JASMINE CROCKETT<br />
CLAPS BACK<br />
Rep Jasmine Crockett after being verbally<br />
attacked by Marjorie Taylor Green asks the<br />
Committee Chairman, “Hypothetically speaking,<br />
if I say, “Bleach Blond Bad Built Butch Body”<br />
would that be okay, too, since it was okay for<br />
Marjorie Taylor Green to insult me?”<br />
The committee chair blocked her efforts and<br />
refused to address Rep Taylor Green, allowing<br />
her to start a fight and then retreat to the<br />
comfort and safety of the rules she had just<br />
broken.<br />
There’s an interesting divide on the Jasmine<br />
Crockett rebuttal to the unprovoked attack on<br />
her by Marjorie Taylor Green, and it’s one that<br />
like most issues in America is divided by race.<br />
Black women and men side with Rep Crocket,<br />
especially Black women who are sick of<br />
attacks on their bodies. Attacks by everyone<br />
but especially by white women.<br />
The co-opting of Black women’s body<br />
“thickness”, full lips, rounded hips and butts,<br />
hair versatility, and makeup, while<br />
simultaneously denigrating the same features<br />
in Black women.<br />
The laws against Black women’s hair that<br />
necessitated the Crown Act which is<br />
designed to protect Black women and their<br />
hair at work and school. Protect from whom?<br />
White people - mostly white women.<br />
And recently we’ve seen attacks by white<br />
women on Black women because Black<br />
women said they’d prefer to be in a forest<br />
with a bear over white women, and in a<br />
meeting at work, choosing white men over<br />
white women. White women reacted with<br />
anger and by doing exactly what white men<br />
did when told white women prefer being in<br />
the forest with a bear over being with a white<br />
man – attacking Black women, refusing to<br />
listen, accusing them of not being “for<br />
women.”<br />
This is really all the stuff we all know but<br />
seem to forget everything there’s an<br />
interracial and/or inter-gender flare up.<br />
<strong>Dear</strong> <strong>Dean</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> | <strong>May</strong>. <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2024</strong> | Page 32
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE<br />
Myron J. Clifton<br />
But now add what some white gay folk to believe<br />
is a homophobic element to Rep Jasmine’s<br />
clapback- Her use of the word “Butch” and the<br />
complexity of the disagreement deepens for<br />
some white gay folk. For *me, I haven’t seen any<br />
similar concerns from Black/POC gay folk.<br />
I’ve written before how Black language is<br />
sharper, more direct, extra cutting, and will<br />
spare no one -whether in humor or anger, or in<br />
what we call “The Dozens”<br />
It’s familiar, its church, it’s street, it’s salon, and<br />
barbershop all combined, and it’s understood<br />
within our community.<br />
It’s not for the faint of heart. And it is white<br />
Americans who are the faint of heart in this<br />
story. White Americans speak in a different, less<br />
direct and specific way.<br />
Black people understand Will Smith saying,<br />
“Don’t start nothing won’t be nothing.” That’s<br />
a promise, a threat, a joke, a warning.<br />
White men especially as American history tells<br />
us will always rush to defend even the worstbehaving<br />
white women.<br />
When white women cry, Black people die.<br />
And don’t get me started on Conservative<br />
white men -- Looking at you, Rep Fetterman,<br />
who blamed “Both Sides” for turning<br />
Congress into the Jerry Springer show. Never<br />
mind Rep. Fetterman looks like a washed-up<br />
unemployed bro who goes to work in<br />
Congress in a hoodie, regularly wears<br />
sweatpants even when meeting with the<br />
president, and once brandished a shotgun at<br />
an innocent Black man who was minding his<br />
own business. Rep Fetterman can have a seat<br />
– preferably at a tailor who can fix his browardrobe.<br />
But it is how white gay folk are not happy with<br />
“Butch” being used -I’m of the though as many<br />
have said, she wanted to use “Bitch” but white<br />
America would have imploded and she knew<br />
that.<br />
White people have “Bless your heart” as one<br />
example that conveys similar ideas but less<br />
directly.<br />
Rep Jasmine didn’t start it, but she finished it.<br />
That’s Black.<br />
Marjorie started it but then leaned on the “rules<br />
of (white) decorum” and (white) power to shut<br />
down Rep Crockett.<br />
Then Marjorie sat back and watched more<br />
people run to her protection than to support<br />
Rep Crockett from standing her ground.<br />
<strong>Dear</strong> <strong>Dean</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> | <strong>May</strong>. <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2024</strong> | Page 33
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE<br />
Myron J. Clifton<br />
supremacist rallies, attacked Sandy Hook kids,<br />
supports January 6th insurrectionists, asked<br />
for a pardon, and regularly screams and yells<br />
at the President at the State of the Union<br />
Address.<br />
It is as exhausting as it is predictable.<br />
The public often says of democrats: “Fight<br />
Back! And then when one does, here come<br />
white people saying, “But not like that.”<br />
I’ve written before that we know that every ally<br />
has a line with Black folk.<br />
White gay men side with supremacy with<br />
depressing frequency. White gay women less so,<br />
but still depressingly frequent.<br />
Black LGBTQI are on an island of brutal isolation<br />
from the community they love and support, but<br />
which too often won’t protect them.<br />
I know a straight person using “Butch” can be<br />
homophobic and I’ll respect folk who take issue<br />
with it.<br />
I don’t take issue with Rep Jasmine protecting<br />
herself from a vile attack by a white woman<br />
while she was at work on camera.<br />
I don’t believe Rep Jasmine Crockett is<br />
homophobic. She’s smart enough to know<br />
words matter. She’s smart enough to know<br />
her worth and the worth of Black women and<br />
girls watching her who are enduring much<br />
worse every day at home, school, work, and<br />
online where they are the most attacked<br />
demographic in the world.<br />
I’ll end with this.<br />
LGBTQI folks are necessarily sensitive. Give<br />
them grace.<br />
Black women -including LGBTQI Black women<br />
are necessarily sensitive, defensive, and ready<br />
to “GO IN” if anyone wants to “Go there.”<br />
Give them grace.<br />
And, don’t start nothing, won’t be nothing.<br />
The ongoing attacks on Rep Crockett about her<br />
looks, her language, her education, and her hair,<br />
show that the road for Black women is never<br />
easy and contains no rest stops.<br />
That Marjorie Taylor Green is skating by after her<br />
unprovoked attack shows that even allies will<br />
derail conversations, center themselves, and<br />
seek to put Black people back in their place –<br />
even against a woman who attends white<br />
<strong>Dear</strong> <strong>Dean</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> | <strong>May</strong>. <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2024</strong> | Page 34
MYRON'S<br />
HIT OR MISS<br />
list<br />
HIT<br />
President Biden’s ability to circumvent republicans<br />
and the supreme court by canceling over $138B in<br />
debt for<br />
4 million students.<br />
<strong>Dear</strong> <strong>Dean</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> | <strong>May</strong>. <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2024</strong> | Page 36
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE<br />
MISS<br />
The Met Gala, always easy to mock and make fun<br />
of, outdid itself with numerous celebrities wearing<br />
outrageously ugly outfits.<br />
HIT<br />
VP Kamala Harris emphatically launching a F bomb,<br />
saying women need to “Kick the fucking door down.” As<br />
they move through life and corporate jobs.<br />
HIT<br />
Zendaya and Anuk figured out the assignments<br />
and slayed the Met Gala.<br />
MISS<br />
Anna Wintour had to apologize for giving the<br />
celebrities complicated dress code instructions<br />
that included “Timeless Garden”<br />
MISS<br />
Miss USA Noelia Voigt, and Miss Teen USA<br />
UmaSofia Srivastava both quit after saying the<br />
program was toxic, the workplace hostile, and<br />
negatively impacted their mental health.<br />
HIT<br />
Hit after hit after hit is how to describe the great<br />
Stevie Wonder who turned 74 this month. Happy<br />
birthday to the man who turned out hits for half a<br />
century and who continues to inspire artists in<br />
every musical genre in every part of the world.<br />
MISS<br />
The media clutching their collective pearls on their<br />
fainting sofas after VP Harris dropped an F-bomb<br />
while they gleefully cover Donald Trump cussing every<br />
day at one of his poorly attended and desperate<br />
rallies.<br />
MISS<br />
Virginia just voted to reinstate Confederate Names of<br />
public schools after renaming them in 2020. Really,<br />
Virginia?<br />
HIT<br />
MISS<br />
Almost every poll that continues to majority sample<br />
older, white republicans, and so-called<br />
independents to promote Donald Trump leading vs<br />
President Biden. IN <strong>2024</strong> the major polls still leave<br />
out Black, Latino, and Asian voters – in every<br />
demographic – to push the narrative that makes<br />
them the most money.<br />
President Biden talking in studio for over an hour with<br />
Howard Stern, just days after the New York Times<br />
whined like big babies that the president would not sit<br />
with them for an interview. The Times has spent five<br />
years writing hit-pieces about the president, laughing<br />
at his stutter, his walking, and his son, while writing<br />
positive puff pieces about criminal Donald Trump.<br />
<strong>Dear</strong> <strong>Dean</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> | <strong>May</strong>. <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2024</strong> | Page 37
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DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE<br />
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<strong>Dear</strong> <strong>Dean</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> | <strong>May</strong>. <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2024</strong> | Page 39<br />
Even as an amateur artist, I had close to 200 song files<br />
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DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE<br />
Myron's<br />
HOT TAKE<br />
#1<br />
Meghan Markle in Africa with her husband<br />
really shows how badly the British Royal<br />
family fumbled the bag by attacking her.<br />
Meghan and Harry were received by<br />
thousands including four Kings, queens, and<br />
princess on their successful tour to promote<br />
the Invictus games.<br />
#2<br />
Prince Catherine (Kate) Middleton hasn’t been<br />
seen in public since December, but the British<br />
media is more focused on where Meghan Markle<br />
is. Seems like they might want to check to see if<br />
Kate is still alive because it sure seems like she<br />
has left the earth…<br />
#3 #4<br />
The WNBA finally started to use Charter<br />
WNBA superstar Angel Reese is so popular that<br />
Airplanes for players after years of<br />
her first pre-season game was live streamed by<br />
complaints. Call it the Caitlin Clark effect. The a fan and reached 400k views, prompting the<br />
new superstar’s popularity is forced the WNBA WNBA to broadcast her next game. The league<br />
to step up its game.<br />
is moving slowly in capitalizing on the growing<br />
interest started by Reese and Clark.<br />
<strong>Dear</strong> <strong>Dean</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> | <strong>May</strong>. <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2024</strong> | Page 40
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE<br />
BLM-PD<br />
BLM-PD<br />
BLM-PD<br />
BLM-PD. BLM-PD. BLM-PD. BLM-PD<br />
BLM-PD<br />
In the not too distant future, the US has been taken over by white nationalists, and the<br />
institutionalized racism that has underscored the country’s entire history has once<br />
again been codified. California has seceded from the US, and a band of strong women<br />
plan to start the next civil war following the death of their friend at the hands of the<br />
police. This is BLM-PD.
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE<br />
Her Legend Lives In You:<br />
The Untold Creation Story Honoring The<br />
Goddess And Our Daughters.<br />
by Myron J. Clifton<br />
Available on
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE<br />
NEW!<br />
ON SALE<br />
NOW<br />
A cup of coffee or tea paired with interesting company is an unbeatable combination. We<br />
learn and share so much through this simple social ritual. Nuanced origin stories. Browraising<br />
secrets. Good news. Bad news. Hopes and dreams, insecurities and fears. Sip by sip, we<br />
do business, catch up, plan our lives, and discover common ground.<br />
To gain a better understanding of his friends, Myron went on a mission to try their favorite<br />
drinks. He was struck by the complex flavors and simple pleasures that characterized their<br />
personalities. Sweet. Spicy. Bold. Bewitching. Optimistic. Ostentatious. Practical. Perfectionist.<br />
In Coffee, Grounded, Myron reviews these drinks and brews up a perfect blend of culture and<br />
caffeine. He examines the history of various ingredients and coffee-growing regions, painting a<br />
vivid picture of faraway lands and hometown haunts.<br />
Pour yourself a cup and curl up with this tasty collection of stories steeped in friendship and<br />
fun.<br />
Order & Indulge!
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE<br />
MY FAVORITE THINGS<br />
streaming right<br />
now...
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE<br />
S T R E A M I N G N O W<br />
Apple TV: Dark Matter. A man is kidnaped by…<br />
himself from another reality. Trippy, moody, and<br />
intense the first three episodes will hook you.<br />
Netflix: Selling Orange County – 3 Seasons. Beautiful<br />
homes, beautiful real estate sellers, and ugly behavior.<br />
The perfect trashy summer binge.<br />
Dead Boy Detectives / Sandman – The story is in the<br />
title. They detectives are young dead men and women<br />
who even though they are ghost, work to solve<br />
mysteries from characters who are alive or dead<br />
Serious, dark funny, and well done. Sandman is unique<br />
and though not needed to watch first, if you want to<br />
understand the Sandman universe the Dead Boy<br />
Detectives are working in, start there.<br />
Paramount+/Showtime: Star Trek Discovery, final<br />
season. The final season for the Star Trek series that<br />
started slowly but found its way with inventive<br />
storytelling, fun and interesting character arcs, and all<br />
the Star Trek things Trekkies and Trekkers love and love<br />
to hate.<br />
Disney+ - X-Men 97. Season 1. The best animation<br />
on television right now. A reboot of the 1990’s series<br />
in plots and storylines, characters, costumes, and<br />
controversies. The writers, animators, and creators<br />
love the X-Men universe and their love shines<br />
through every episode. Watch it, then rewatch for all<br />
the Easter eggs.<br />
Invincible – Seasons 1 & 2. The animation series<br />
that shocked viewers at the conclusion of Season<br />
one, where Mark/Invincible, was confronted with his<br />
true history and forced to face his father, comes<br />
back with a strong season 2 where Mark and the<br />
other heroes are forced to rebuild and prepare for<br />
war.<br />
<strong>Dear</strong> <strong>Dean</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> | <strong>May</strong>. <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2024</strong> | Page 45
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE<br />
Pre-Order<br />
NOW<br />
The Empire Wars<br />
A powerful YA debut set in a world where survival and magic are a deadly mix.<br />
Coa, who was born feral in the North Transatlantic wilds, has just been captured. Now, Coa<br />
is subject to public humiliation and execution in a gruesome spectacle known as The Great<br />
Hunt.<br />
If participators die in the Great Hunt—their entire family will be executed. In front of<br />
everyone. The nationalist regime, known as the Allied Force, will not rest until all foreigners<br />
are exterminated. Her best hope might be Princess Ife, born of privilege, but newly married<br />
into the authoritarian lineage.<br />
Her riskier choice is an alliance with a gorgeous, cunning participator—marked as a traitor<br />
to his militarized nation. Soon, Coa entangles herself with the captivating, deadly young man<br />
who could be her ultimate downfall.<br />
Akana Phenix is a recent Harvard alum who researches<br />
genocide. The Empire Wars comes out on July 30, <strong>2024</strong>. It is now<br />
available for pre-order on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Audible, Apple<br />
Books and more. On social media, she is primarily on Twitter, but<br />
she can also be found on Instagram and TikTok. She is located in<br />
the United States of America. Linktree: https://linktr.ee/akurephenix<br />
<strong>Dear</strong> <strong>Dean</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> | <strong>May</strong>. <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2024</strong> | Page 46
New Children’s Books!<br />
by Katya Juliet Lerner<br />
Now Available on<br />
Now Available on<br />
Now Available on<br />
Now Available on<br />
Now Available on<br />
<strong>Dear</strong> <strong>Dean</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> | <strong>May</strong>. <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2024</strong> | Page 47
STREAMING PLATFORM<br />
LAUNCHES SOON!<br />
The Joyful Warrior<br />
Podcast Network<br />
Music App<br />
Mark Lerner Astrology<br />
Katya Juliet's Jewel Box<br />
Great Start Initiative
2part