Good Night, Nightly

I was sad to learn that the powers that be over at Comedy Central cancelled The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore. And not only because I enjoyed the show. I will go out on a limb here and shamelessly admit that at some point over the two-year run of the Nightly Show, I developed a huge crush on the host. Smart and funny are always sexy to me, but when you throw in a Social Conscious, well then, I turn to butter. So, yes, I miss Larry. It has been a week, and already I miss gazing nightly into his friendly eyes through my television screen and his thick black glasses.  I miss his laugh - that infectious little chuckle. And, in all seriousness, I miss the message of the show.

I'm not the only one missing out here. America just lost an important voice in our conversation about social justice.

Obviously, Larry and his Nightly panel gave voice to black Americans. But they didn't stop there. Larry and his crew spoke up for Latino/as, for the LGBTQ community, for the poor and for women. There aren't many male voices speaking up for women - and Gawd do I love him for that.
Not that women aren't perfectly capable of speaking up for ourselves. It's just nice to know that we aren't the only ones who realize the struggle. In fact, if more men would recognize the struggle, maybe they would wake up and help do something about it and then, guess what, there is no more struggle. Social justice issues are like that.

Socal issues are not problems that belong only to "them"- whoever they might be. They are issues that impact our entire society - that means me, you, us. Therefore, tackling these social issues is a collective effort. Larry Wilmore and the team at the Nightly Show demonstrated that collective effort and they are missed.

Larry was in my dream last night. I guess that is the only place I will see him for awhile. I'm sure soon, however, I will see him back in my living room, on a show making a statement - or, Larry if you're interested maybe for real in my living room you know, whatever.