Get Access to Print and Digital for $23.99 per year.
Subscribe for Full Access
February 2017 Issue [Essay]

The Number That No Man Could Number

Black America’s civil war over gay rights

On the morning of June 26, 2015, barely two hours after the Supreme Court handed down its decision to uphold same-sex marriage, Barack Obama delivered the eulogy for nine murder victims at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. With impeccable timing, he moved from word to song, invoking grace and then singing of its sweetness and redemptive power. To some practiced ears, the president resembled an earnest college boy trying to mimic a field recording. But whether his performance was improvised or not, the product of spirit feel or political instinct, it was a rhetorical coup,…

Subscribe or to continue reading.

’s most recent book is The Fan Who Knew Too Much. His article “Aretha: How She Got Over” appeared in the April 2012 issue of Harper’s Magazine.



| View All Issues |

February 2017

Close
“An unexpectedly excellent magazine that stands out amid a homogenized media landscape.” —the New York Times
Subscribe now

Debug