The year of 2017 brought a few laughs and a few tears. I chose these moments because I felt they would be overlooked on other people’s year-end lists. These are the moments that shouldn’t be forgotten because of their outrageousness and ability to spawn a conversation. These are moments we aren’t going to gloss over and act like didn’t happen.

1. Chris Brown vs. Soulja Boy

At the very beginning of 2017, the year seemed to start off badly for singer Chris Brown. Just a week into the year, Chris Brown starts a fight over Soulja Boy because he liked a picture of his ex-girlfriend, Karrueche Tran, on Instagram.

Especially when all these “Twitter fingers” try to turn physical when Soulja Boy posts a video of himself on live Instagram yelling “Fuck Chris Brown” and associating himself with the Fruit Town Piru gang and is seen to be around other guys committing acts of vandalism. Also, Floyd Mayweather tries to bring the fight into a ring and make it pay-per-view for charity and getting the internet very excited. Then here we are at the end of the year with no pay-per-view fight and the beef died down the second week of 2017.

We’re not gonna act like this didn’t happen. What angers me most about this timeline of stupidity is how both of these young black men rose above their surroundings. They did so too build a better future for themselves and their families, and they still decided to be gang affiliated. What makes it worse is how they represent these gangs on their social media (where they have millions of followers), as if those gang members are real friends and not just protection for when they’re out in L.A.

2. Katy Perry on SNL

Back in May, Katy Perry performed “Swish Swish” and “Bon Appetit” on Saturday Night Live. The most cringe-worthy performance of the night came from “Bon Appetit”, which features The Migos. Anyone with rhythm knows exactly what I mean by cringe-worthy.

The entire performance was very awkward and hard for social media to dissect and understand. But, the most important story that came out of this performance is how Katy Perry basically chose The Migos over her drag queen performers. Allegedly, Migos was uncomfortable being around them and their team has denied that, so Perry’s team cut back on the drag queens.

We’re not gonna act like this didn’t happen. Not just Perry’s horrible dancing or attempts to act so black, we noticed...

The entire run of her album, Perry was trying to find so many ways to seem woke,like a changed person or someone who was open to change. If Perry had known anything she would know that Hip Hop has a history of homophobia and transphobia within the community. I’m not condoning any ignorant actions or speech to either community, but that wasn’t the night for Perry to try and tackle this ingrained issue. She should’ve either picked another song or stood her ground, and make Migos understand everyone has a right to be on her platform if these allegations are true.

3. Amanda Seales puts Caitlyn Jenner in her place

The most amazing thing to come out of Katy Perry’s Witness album era and overall 2017 is the mainstream debut of Amanda Seales, formally known as Amanda Diva. In a live stream on Perry’s Youtube channel titled, “Dinner and Discourse”, Seales and Jenner joined Van Jones, Margaret Cho, Sally Kohn, Anna Navarro, and Yung Skeeter to have a conversation about anything and everything in a respectful manner.

https://twitter.com/AuraOfKINGDOM/status/874141545125093378

We’re not gonna act like this didn’t happen. This moment needs to go down in black history as one of our most crowning achievements as people. Not only did Seales respectfully tell Jenner her problems about Jenner’s views, but she didn’t try to adjust herself in order to do it. She gave amazing facts about her own experience and why her generation has their problems. Seales let everyone know she wasn’t the “angry black woman”, but she was the passionate black woman because the issues that plague her people are still not being understood or fixed.

4. Tyrese acting a fool

The only thing that needs to be said about this pathological liar is that his “Baby Boy” ass is being left in 2017. We’re not gonna act like these memes didn’t happen, so please enjoy this collection.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fWfyTFI16w

5. White supremacy kills Erica Garner

Unfortunately, we have to end this year off on a very bad note. Daughter of NYPD chokehold victim Eric Garner, Erica Garner, age 27, suffered a massive heart attack after an asthma attack and has since been declared brain dead. I can only offer best wishes and positive energy to her family and hope for the best. For this last talking point, I want to give light to all the hard work she’s done in dedication to her father. We’re not gonna act like this didn’t happen.

Twice a week, for over six months, Erica Garner staged die-ins where her father, Eric Garner, was killed. She laid down on the sidewalk in the exact spot he gasped his last breath. Sometimes she did it with hundreds of people. Sometimes she did it with news cameras in her face. Sometimes she laid there for hours. Sometimes she laid there for minutes. When it got too cold, she put cardboard down to protect her body from hypothermia and frostbite. And when the people stopped coming, and the news stopped caring, she kept doing it. Twice a week. For more than half a year. #SayHerName