7 Essays To Read This Week: Anti-Blackness, Amy Winehouse, And Fathers

In the aftermath of the South Carolina church shooting, Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote a scathing condemnation of the Confederate flag. In it, he explains what the hateful banner really symbolizes and urged those of South Carolina to remove it from Capitol grounds. Read it at The Atlantic.

Even in the face of cancer, Katy Kelleher and her sick fiancé have learned to laugh and carry on. In a devastating essay for Jezebel, Kelleher wrote about her experience of becoming the caretaker of a man with blood cancer, from the diagnosis to the chemotherapy to the comments of well-meaning friends. Read it at Jezebel.

Why is it that, following a mass shooting, gunmen of color are called "terrorists" or "thugs," yet white perpetrators are called "mentally ill?" "...The go-to explanation for his actions will be mental illness. He will be humanized and called sick, a victim of mistreatment or inadequate mental health resources," Anthea Butler writes of Dylann Roof. "That is the power of whiteness in America." Read her piece at The Washington Post.

After years of disappointing dates, Jess Haberman finally found someone great. The only problem was his engagement to another woman. What began as casual dating and curiosity about his polyamorous lifestyle turned into full-fledged feelings for Haberman. In a poignant and relatable essay for BuzzFeed Life, she recounts the unconventional relationship. Read it here.

It's easy to look at Amy Winehouse as someone who drank and partied herself to death. After watching Asif Kapadia's Amy documentary, Kathy Iandoli realized that we are all at fault for the singer's death. "Fame piled on, the media (both UK and U.S.) were beyond cruel to an already fragile soul," Iandoli writes. Read it at Pitchfork.

Antiblackness runs deep in the Latino community. That much is evident in the detainment and deportation of Haitians, currently taking place in the Dominican Republic. We can’t afford to let it go unnoticed, urges Daniel José Older. Read it at BuzzFeed Ideas.

Bruce Eric Kaplan didn't know his father very well. Despite spending time together, the two never spoke about anything of substance. For The New York Times Magazine, Kaplan wrote about his now deceased father and the strange feeling of missing someone you hardly knew. Read it here.