This week, we’re sharing stories from Aaron Gell, Donovan X. Ramsey, Hannah L. Drake, E. Alex Jung, and Lina Mounzer.
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1. Unlucky Charms: The Rise and Fall of Billion-Dollar Jewelry Empire Alex and Ani
Aaron Gell | Marker | July 8, 2020 | 43 minutes (10,868 words)
“Astrology, private equity, a $1.1 billion gender discrimination lawsuit, and a precariously built bangle behemoth.”
2. The Political Education of Killer Mike
Donovan X. Ramsey | GQ | July 8, 2020 | 22 minutes (5,644 words)
“Mike is for Black banks, Black businesses, Black guns, Black colleges, Black homeownership—all things Black Americans can do here and now without passing a law or asking for permission. He’s also for using Black voting power to wrest everything we’re owed from the government. It’s Black nationalism with a hint of socialism and armed to the teeth.”
3. Breonna Taylor, Say Her Name.
Hannah L. Drake | The Bitter Southerner | July 7, 2020 | 6 minutes (1,591 words)
“Louisville poet and activist Hannah Drake reflects on the women in her family whose names were lost and stolen and the names of Black women that must never be forgotten.”
4. Thandie Newton Is Finally Ready to Speak Her Mind
E. Alex Jung | Vulture | July 7, 2020 | 31 minutes (7,920 words)
“What I am evidence of is: You can dismiss a Black person. If you’re a young Black girl and you get raped, in the film business, no one’s going to fucking care. You can tell whoever the fuck you want, and they’ll call it an affair. Until people start taking this seriously, I can’t fully heal.”
5. Waste Away
Lina Mounzer | The Baffler | July 7, 2020 | 13 minutes (3,363 words)
“To say that we’re drowning in our shit—the shit we all made together—is no longer a figure of speech in Lebanon today.” Lina Mounzer writes about Beirut’s broken sewage system and the political and economic factors that have drowned the city in its own waste.
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