Ricky Skaggs Found His Calling: Honor God And Bluegrass — And Play As Fast As He Can
‘I feel like God wants us to earn the right to share with the audience. It just is something we should do.’
California State University Los Angeles professor of pan-African studies Melina Abdullah issued a tweet telling white individuals not to request to attend a Juneteenth cookout.
"Attention white people… Please don’t ask if you can come to the cookout… #Juneteenth is freedom day for Black folks. It should be #Reparations day for white folks," Abdullah tweeted on Monday.
Last year, President Joe Biden signed legislation to make Juneteenth, which falls on June 19, a federal holiday.
Abdullah's tweet sparked pushback on social media, with some decrying it as "racist."
In response to someone who described her comments as "extremely racist," Abdullah replied, "1. Define racism. 2. Why do you think that?"
\u201c@DocMellyMel That\u2019s extremely racist.\u201d— Melina Abdullah (@Melina Abdullah) 1655130985
Someone else pressed Abdullah about how that standard would apply to people who are "part-black and part-white? Do they come to the cookout or pay reparations or both?"
"Kinda funny…and not. Short answer: Those who would have been enslaved in 1865 get to come to the cookout," Abdullah responded.
Someone else asked Abdullah, "Do you seriously exclude your white father on account of his skin color? Is that progress?"
Abdullah replied by asking, "Do you know why we celebrate Juneteenth?"
"I guess July 4th is for the rest of us. Don't come to the cookout," someone else wrote.
"You can keep it," Abdullah replied.
In her Twitter biography, Abdullah describes herself as a "#BlackLivesMatter organizer."
Touré has contended that Juneteenth should be marked by everyone.
"Juneteenth isn't just for Black people. If you believe slavery was wrong then you should celebrate the end of slavery," Touré tweeted on Wednesday.
"Here's why white people should be part of Juneteenth celebrations—because white people should be acknowledging that slavery happened. Many of them would love to not do that. It's valuable for us to have them acknowledge it and see it as something that still impacts us today," he wrote. "Slavery isn't Black history. It's American history. If we restrict it to Black history and restrict Juneteenth to Black people then we allow white people to escape having to think about it," he declared.
\u201cJuneteenth isn't just for Black people. If you believe slavery was wrong then you should celebrate the end of slavery.\u201d— Tour\u00e9 (@Tour\u00e9) 1655304572
\u201cSlavery isn't Black history. It's American history. If we restrict it to Black history and restrict Juneteenth to Black people then we allow white people to escape having to think about it.\u201d— Tour\u00e9 (@Tour\u00e9) 1655313458
\u201cHere's why white people should be part of Juneteenth celebrations\u2014because white people should be acknowledging that slavery happened. Many of them would love to not do that. It's valuable for us to have them acknowledge it and see it as something that still impacts us today.\u201d— Tour\u00e9 (@Tour\u00e9) 1655312520
Former President Donald Trump and former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly announced Monday that the pair will be going on a national tour in December, discussing "a never before heard inside view" of the Trump administration called "The History Tour."
A news release published on Bill O'Reilly.com states that the "series of live conversations across the country" will begin in December, with locations already set in Florida and Texas, where they "will discuss exactly how things were accomplished, as well as challenges, both good and bad" during Trump's time in the White House from January 2017 to January 2021.
"From the pandemic that killed hundreds of thousands, to the speedy development of the vaccine, to the rise of the economy, to the global challenge from China, Donald Trump was the dominant decision-maker and the most powerful person in the world," the release reads.
Trump said in a statement:
"These will be wonderful but hard-hitting sessions where we'll talk about the real problems happening in the U.S., those that the Fake News Media never mention. I will be focusing on greatness for our Country, something seldom discussed in political dialogue. If we don't make our Country great again, we will soon no longer have a Country! I look forward to working with Bill, who right now has the #1 bestselling book, to openly discuss the real problems of our Country, and how to solve them. Additionally, it will be fun, fun, fun, for everyone who attends!"
O'Reilly added, "My job as a historian/journalist is to get important things on the record in a fact-based way. These conversations with the 45th President will not be boring."
The first event will be on Dec. 11 at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, Florida, and the second talk will be on Dec. 12 at a location that has not been determined. The third event is scheduled on Dec. 18 at the Toyota Center in Houston, and a fourth event at the American Airlines Center in Dallas the next day.
Tickets go on sale June 14.
The tour announcement follows reports that Trump is considering resuming his "Make American Great Again" rallies as he considers another White House run in 2024.
Meanwhile, the former president remains prohibited from sharing his views on several Big Tech platforms, including Twitter (who issued him a lifelong ban following the Jan. 6 riot) and Facebook, who recently announced their post-riot ban wouldn't be lifted until 2023 — two years from its implementation.
Among the millions of Americans who hate President Donald Trump is veteran writer Touré, who made a name for himself back in the day writing for Rolling Stone. (No surprise, right?)
And as rumblings rolled across the land Thursday that Democratic nominee Joe Biden was on the brink of defeating Trump in the 2020 election, Touré went out of his way to deliver a message to fellow Americans who voted for the president.
His Twitter missive was not kind. Not in the least:
If you’re a Trumper I hope the pain and anxiety you feel now is excruciating. You voted against America and for a c… https://t.co/zXQq4N6VgM— Touré (@Touré)1604630453.0
"If you're a Trumper I hope the pain and anxiety you feel now is excruciating," he wrote. "You voted against America and for a cult leader who has no redeeming or admirable qualities. He's a cretin who cares nothing about this country and you don't either. You deserve all the pain and more."
Makes you feel all kinds of warm and fuzzy inside, doesn't it?
Well, Touré — who has amassed over 222,000 Twitter followers — couldn't have expected that his declaration would be devoid of pushback, right? Indeed, it wasn't.
Lots of commenters raked Touré over the coals for his downright nasty post.
Pundit Andrew Sullivan — no Trump apologist by any stretch — reacted by saying, "Some of the woke are so foul, vengeful, and bitter. What a graceless response."
Christopher F. Rufo — who's been reporting about government-sponsored far-left programs to combat "whiteness" — told Touré the potentially hard-to-swallow truth: "Most Trump voters will be momentarily disappointed, then go back to work, family, community — where they draw their primary meaning in life. I can say this for sure: you won't see any Trump voters screaming into the sky or calling in trauma counselors to the office."
Others added the following: