I occasionally become impatient with Dyson's mix of verbal gymnastics combining preaching and hip-hop, but I can forgive him that. That's part of his schtick. He is not being "entertaining" for the benefit of white people; he's being entertaining because that's how he gets both blacks and whites to listen and it allows him the space to get to the truth. Plenty of white folks in the media have disliked him.

What I CAN'T be angry at him for is telling the truth. (As he said, "There. I said it.") I've met too many black men who are charmed by white women, consider them the fairest blossom at the top of the tree, and believe that black women will never be equal to them. We're too accessible, too convenient, too dark, and too everything that is not this dream of perfection that is white skin. Dyson's not lying or belittling. He's telling the truth that too many black women already know.

So, these women are too white-adjacent to be full members of the black community? They're still black, and they have been subjected to every single insult the rest of us have. Dyson is right. These women are well educated, have survived the rigors of demanding institutions, and have, a step at a time, reached increasing levels of achievement. I doubt their white partners had to beat black men out of the way to win their hands. I doubt these women themselves had to turn away scores of black suitors from their doors. They married whom they married, but without their husbands standing beside them, they are still black women who endure what black women endure.

President Biden doesn't have to hate black men to advance black women. He is keeping a promise, giving them their due, and, strategically, selecting women who have already been vetted by the same people who will vote yay or nay. It's not always about hate. Sometimes it's just about trying to win.