The Cut
It’s Phoebe Robinson’s World Now
ou might know Robinson best from her 2016 podcast turned HBO special, 2 Dope Queens, with longtime collaborator Jessica Williams or from her solo podcast effort Sooo Many White Guys, which focused on conversations with artists who … weren’t white guys. But in the time since those shows ended, Robinson has leveled up in every way imaginable. The comedian is now a certified multi-hyphenate; she has added the titles author, producer, actress, and writer to her plate. Most curious, she’s added book publisher, too.
Colman Domingo, Voice of the Gods
It’s a creative exchange Domingo is grateful for, especially in light of how long it often takes Black actors to be recognized for their prodigious talents and finally get their breakthroughs. The bass in his voice returns as he tells me almost conspiratorially: “All I can say is I used to sit and wonder why. I would say well why am I not on the cover? Why am I not recognized for that? But then I think, let me just get back to work. Work is where I find my peace and my joy. If somebody doesn’t want to amplify my work I have nothing to do with that.”
Who Cleans Up After a Coup Attempt?
It is telling that the men and women who took the Capitol did not wear masks or hide from cameras. They gleefully plastered their crimes all over the internet and left evidence that they had been there. They defiled the very seat of power that all their wistful American myths hold in such reverence. And they did it because they knew something that certain people, Black people especially, have always known: This land was made for them. This country was never intended to be fair or equitable. It was intended to be a utopia of their own making. And if this American Dream did not materialize of its own accord, then they felt within their rights to make it so.
Today, I’m Moved by Kamala. Tomorrow, I’ll go back to criticizing her.
The stress and low hum of daily existential terror brought on by living under the Trump administration was so profound that simply getting rid of him might feel like the end of the road. Our dread has finally given way to a cautious optimism that life in this country might improve. But despite Trump’s failures and harms, we cannot allow the Biden-Harris administration to trick us into believing that anything better than Trump is good enough.