He didn’t give a shit.

Being a huge fan of Billie Holiday, I realized that such descriptions are only of value when you’ve passed on and the damage you can do, as an addict, is no longer visible. Tyson and Holiday hurt countless people with their drunken, drug-inspired antics. I have found, as an addict, that black folks are perhaps the most forgiving of such transgressions. It allows me to continue operating in an Afro-inspired atmosphere without feeling less than a whole black man. All that to say, blackness saved me when I arrived in North America.