Dear Black People:

When racists hit you with their Fox News talking points about Black-on-Black crime in cities like Chicago, Detroit, Baltimore, Philly, etc., I want Y’all to start listing their crusty, collapsing, opioid-riddled wastelands. Hit ‘em with the real strongholds of white dysfunction, racism, addiction, crime, illiteracy, and incest.

Y’all ready? Get your pens out . .
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Salt Lake City, Utah – Meth, heroin, and white teen suicide rates are so high there, even the Mormon Tabernacle Choir can’t sing over it.

Portland, Oregon – This place is gentrified, homeless-filled, and teetering on the edge of an apocalypse.

Boise, Idaho – White nationalist recruiting ground with fentanyl overdoses.

Spokane, Washington – Meth trailers, missing teeth, and more white-on-white domestic violence than a Lifetime movie marathon.

Duluth, Minnesota – Here is a place where the snow is thick, the heroin is cheap, and the racism is politely passive-aggressive.

Youngstown, Ohio – Boarded-up buildings, drug dens, and enough despair to write ten Bruce Springsteen albums.

Morgantown, West Virginia – Meth labs, overdoses, and “Let’s Go Brandon” flags fluttering in the breeze of generational failure.

Springfield, Missouri – High crime, low hope, and a broken education system.

Erie, Pennsylvania – Think Detroit without culture or rhythm.

Billings, Montana, Fort Smith, Arkansas, Manchester, New Hampshire, Knoxville, Tennessee, Harlan County, Kentucky – Crime, meth, overdoses, and casual racism.

Grundy, Virginia – known for pill mills, poverty, and cousins who double as soulmates. Add to that: Pikeville, Kentucky and Logan, West Virginia. Paintsville, Kentucky – fentanyl, food stamps, and folks who still think Elvis is coming back.

Bluefield, and Elins, West Virginia –where everyone’s related, addicted, or both. Add Jackson County, Ohio, Hazard, Kentucky (the name fits), Clay County, Kentucky, Letcher County, Kentucky, Owsley County, Kentucky, and McDowell County, West Virginia – the most overdosed, underfunded, and inbred place east of the Mississippi.

Don’t get mad, Y'all. Don’t get defensive. Don’t let them deflect. Drag their racist asses back to their hellscapes and make them sit in it. Quietly. Uncomfortably. With all the shame they pretend not to feel.