The Hungry Black Man

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The Hungry Black Man Media platform dedicated to the national Black culinary ecosystem served with rants and commentary. Starex Smith.

The Hungry Black Man is a Media Company dedicated to navigating and sharing the Black and minority experience through commentary on food, travel, and culture. Content will be both interesting and informational with the occasional ramblings of the blog's creator, Mr.

29/07/2025

Chicago! It’s been way too long. We back this week! You know we go hard in the city, so post your best new spots or in a rare occasion, a spot we might have missed. Can’t wait to see what’s new with you all.

DETROIT.I have no words.And that, perhaps, is the most terrifying part of all.Because usually, I do. Usually, when a chi...
29/07/2025

DETROIT.

I have no words.
And that, perhaps, is the most terrifying part of all.

Because usually, I do. Usually, when a child is gunned down in some senseless eruption of nihilism disguised as a neighborhood beef, I rise to say something. I write. I gather. I organize what I call a Day of Compassion: a public act of remembrance, protest, and mourning for a child whose only crime was being born in the crossfire.

But today, my mind is a blank page.
And my heart feels hollow.

First it was a four-year-old.
Then a two-year-old.
Now, six-year-old Rylee Love (Below), shot and killed by a stray bullet while doing nothing more threatening than existing. A baby. Gone.

This isn't just violence, people.
This is terrorism, homegrown and internal, with young Black men holding the guns, and other young Black children in the crosshairs.

WE ARE AT WAR.

We can’t keep pretending this is normal. That this is acceptable. That this is anything less than a full-scale war.

And here’s the tragic irony: the enemy in this war looks like us. Sounds like us. Bleeds like us. Prays like us. But they are not fighting for us. They are fighting against the very future of our people.

What we’re witnessing isn’t simply criminal behavior, it’s a cultural collapse. We’ve raised a generation of young Black men emotionally stunted, spiritually malnourished, and seduced by a manufactured culture that glorifies destruction. The music, the media, the so-called influencers pushing a narrative that says violence is manhood, that dignity is weakness, that the gun is gospel.

And for too long, our response has been polite. Respectable. Tepid.
We march.
We pray.
We post hashtags.
We host balloon releases that float toward heaven while our babies fall into the ground.

But where is our strategy?
Where is our counter-offensive?

Since this is war, where are our battle plans?

It starts with truth: These young men are broken. Not evil. Not disposable. But broken. And if we don’t intervene, if we don’t interrupt, if we don’t pour resources into redirecting their lives with urgency, we will continue burying our children and calling it community.

We need job training, not two years of paperwork, but immediate, paid programs with livable wage salaries. Not ridiculous stipends and drops in the bucket. It must be attractive enough for them to consider.

We need conflict resolution as standard as math class, starting in elementary schools. This should also be woven into job training courses and community programming.

We need to dismantle the propaganda machine that celebrates death and markets it as culture.

We need to treat these young men like war survivors, because that’s what they are.

And we need every damn Black pastor, whether AME or Baptist, Kojic or non-denominational, to come out of their silos and form a Black Clergy Council that doesn’t just sing and preach but fights—for policy, for funding, for peace.

Enough with the feel-good gestures.
We don’t need symbolism.

We need strategy. We need demands. We need results.

Because this is war.
And in war, inaction is betrayal.

And while we’re here talking about resources—ask yourself this: how much are we spending on the Super Bowl coming to Detroit? How much money, media, marketing, manpower, and PR coordination are we pumping into that one event?

Tens of millions.

Where are the parades, the city-wide campaigns, the corporate dollars, the wall-to-wall news coverage for our babies?

Where is the same civic urgency for the six-year-old shot on his porch?

Where is the fireworks-level fanfare for stopping the next shooting before it happens?

The truth is: we know how to move mountains when we want to.
We know how to flood the zone.
We know how to make something feel important.
We do it every time a football team rolls into town.

Somebody tell me what’s the point of economic development, downtown beautification, and polished PR campaigns if they are funded by ignoring the trauma and the blood of children?

What kind of city do we think we’re building when we pave the roads, but let our babies die on the sidewalk?

Ask yourself: how many more babies must be sacrificed before we stop sending love and start sending reinforcements?

I haven’t forgotten Baby Wynter Nicole.
I haven’t forgotten Lamara Glenn.
And I won’t forget Rylee Love.

Their names stay with me like prayers. Like marching orders.

They died on our side of this war, and we failed to protect them.

But maybe, just maybe, we can protect the next one.

So I’m asking: who will help me organize a Day of Compassion for Rylee Love?
With his mother’s blessing, let’s give him a warrior’s send-off.

Tag yourself. Inbox me. Get in the fight.

Because the other side is organized.
The other side is relentless.
The other side is willing to die.

The question is:

Are we willing to live for our children?
Are we finally ready to fight for them?

Because if not, then let’s stop pretending we’re innocent.
We’re not.

28/07/2025

🚨Sunday Conversation🚨
What’s the craziest situation you’ve made it out alive from, I mean I’m talking by GOD’S GRACE you made it out that mf unscathed?? How did you do it?”

27/07/2025

Rachel, why did you take her off the schedule?!

27/07/2025

I’m starting a fact based news centered podcast. “This Week in Black America.” Pilot airing Sunday 8/24 at 7pm. If you would like to be a contributer, or work as a journalist, researcher, media support, please email me at [email protected].

27/07/2025

Writer - Food Critic - Food Reviewer- Restaurant Owner - Restaurant Operator - Cook. This evolution has been a 10 year journey and many of you were here to see it unfold. Thank you. I truly appreciate all of you. ❤️

26/07/2025

Detroit! I will be cooking at The Detroit Food Festival on August 8th & 9th. My booth will have soulful creations for you to critique. Putting my money where my mouth is. This is going to be fun.

25/07/2025

STORY TIME:

NORTH CHARLESTON, SC - This is so fu**ed up.

So this happened last week in North Charleston, South Carolina.

A 15-year-old Black boy was standing outside of a Circle K gas station, trying to do something productive, sell roses. Not robbing, not stealing, not fighting, not causing trouble. Just trying to hustle, to earn a little something honestly.

He placed his roses on top of a plastic water bottle display that had a small puncture in one of the cases. That’s it. Nothing dramatic. No mess or damage.

But the manager, the woman in burgundy you see in the video, proudly wearing her uniform like a some sort of convenience store general, decided this child needed to pay for the entire case of water. Six bucks. He didn’t have it.

That’s when some of the actual decent people in the store said, “We got him. We’ll cover the cost.”

But nope. That wasn't enough for her.

She declined the help and instead called the police, claiming the boy was vandalizing property.

Lying. Just...lying.

And when the police came? They didn’t ask questions. They didn’t assess. They didn’t even seem to care that this was a child. Because just like Tamir Rice, our boys are always seen as MEN.

One officer tackled this boy, this small-built, terrified 15-year-old, to the concrete like he was some kind of threat.

The screams he let out were pure horror. Gut-wrenching.

And then, as if that wasn't enough, an entire force of officers surrounded him like he was a literal monster. Then, once outside, two of the officers had the audacity to be Black (one Black man, one Black woman), walked by without even trying to intervene. No comfort. No compassion. Just silence and complicity. That got me even more upset.

Meanwhile, we all remember how Dylan Roof murdered nine Black elders in a church and was treated to a gentle arrest... even a cheeseburger.

But this child? Who didn’t break a single law? Thrown to the ground, screamed at, handcuffed like a criminal because a woman decided his presence and his roses were too much.

But of course, here’s the crazy part: The City of North Charleston conducted an investigation. Guess what?

The boy hadn’t broken any laws. He was released. No charges. Nothing.

And the officer who tackled him? He was demoted and given a 7-day unpaid suspension.

That’s it.

Not fired. Not arrested. Not charged with battery.

A grown man assaulted a child. That’s battery. That’s systemic violence for all these folks quick to say racism is a mirage.

We are sick of watching this same story play out again and again. The badges, the silence, the lies, the fear, the LITERAL screams of our children ignored outside of who always hears our scream, A BLACK WOMAN.

This has to change. Not just in North Charleston, but everywhere.

Because next time, it could be your little cousin. Your nephew. Your son.

And all he wanted to do... was sell a rose. 🌹

25/07/2025

We are 2 weeks away from the Detroit Food Festival! We will release our amazing vendor line up on Monday! We have 12 more spots for food vendors as 8 more for non food vendors.

25/07/2025

Jacksonville have I visited the best of the best or is there anymore stars left for me to review?

25/07/2025

I’m indifferent to the tail on or off. However, I’ve had customers crazy just like this.

Exactly 10 years after Hulk Hogan’s racist rant cost him his WWE legacy, he’s dead. Hell of an Anniversary.
24/07/2025

Exactly 10 years after Hulk Hogan’s racist rant cost him his WWE legacy, he’s dead. Hell of an Anniversary.

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