"May he rest in preference" : What Hannah Grace Cobb & the Kardashians Have in Common
First, before I get started, I want to say that I didn’t come up with the “rest in preference” phrase. I wish I could say I did; however, I saw it on Threads and I cannot find the Black woman who said it but I want to shout them out and give credit…so if that was you: sis, that was clever asf and thanks!
*Someone found a tweet with this phrase, but unsure if it is the original poster but obviously I will share
Now, Let’s dive in!
If you are on social media, in any capacity, you have seen that story making its rounds and what is that story? Telvin “Telbo” Rackins—a Black man—was “accidentally” shot in the chest by his white girlfriend and baby mama (I hate this phrase; however, if they can call Black women that derogatorily, may as well throw it back), Hannah Grace Cobb. The story goes: she was checking her gun and it accidentally went off. 😒😒. I am no gun owner but what I do know is: you ain't checking your gun after a night out of drinking with the safety off. But, like I said: I’m no gun owner. Basically: none of us buy it but it ain’t none of my Black business.
Now, you may be thinking: but, Black Lives Matter. They do! You may be thinking: people love who they love. They can! You may be thinking: murder/death isn’t a laughing matter. You’re right!
All of those things remain true; however, that ain’t got shit to do with this!
See, Black women are often the first to speak up when Black men (fatally) brutal violence at the hands of white [wo]men. We grab our megaphones and bullhorns. We make our posters. We take to the streets. We organize.
When that Black man has a digital footprint bashing Black women…. We gonna stay the fuck inside. Okay, I’m sure there is someone somewhere thinking I’m a hypocritical bitch…and you may be right..but you aren’t right right now. Because, Telvin “Telbo” Rackins got on Angela Bassett’s internet and wrote, and I quote: I will fuck a dog before I ever fuck a black bitch. It gotta be a white dog thoe.
You see why we are staying home? His family is on social media and in the news claiming to be upset because “us Black women” aren’t speaking up for this injustice, this violence—but ol’ girl in custody and being charged with felony involuntary manslaughter. I am not familiar with all of the intricacies of the law and how the decide to charge someone, although I can suspect involuntary manslaughter doesn’t have the same level of punishment as voluntary manslaughter—and maybe that is why the family is upset. Families deserve the right to grief. No one wants to bury a loved one under these circumstances. Maybe his family members did not have the same beliefs he did, but that is none of my business.
Telbo’s utter disdain of Black women cost him his life. His “preference” —read obsession—with white women is the reason we are here. Actually, it is the self-hate he had that got him killed. Society tells us that white is right. History has painted white women as the epitome of femininity. Black women have been painted as Jezebels—what Patricia Hill Collins calls a controlling image—these hyper-sexual beings. A thing you can have “fun” with but not someone you can start a family with. But white women, they were deemed pure historically and we would be dumb to act like that shit wasn’t passed down.
So if Telbo, himself, could not be white the next best thing was being in the closest proximity of whiteness that humanly possible: date a white woman. Not just date but have children with. See there is this old latin phrase and law from the 1600s—which I mention in the chapter one notes of Killing the Black Body—that means: offspring follows the mother. This was put into place because white male slave owners were raping enslaved Black women and impregnating them and they wanted to ensure that those babies were enslaved and had no claim to whiteness. So, if we are following that same logic—not saying it is right—if a Black man has children with a white woman? What do those children get to be? 🫣🤔 Do not conflate what I am saying as if I believe this logic. Do not think I am not aware of the intricacies of interracial families and children. Do not think that I believe that society, in 2025, won’t view these children as Black in someway. But I would be remiss if I didn’t make you aware of that historical thread that is ever present.
Throughout history, Black men have been beaten, maimed, and often killed for even looking at white women. (or the lie that a Black boy looked at you: Emmett Till) White women have ruined lives of many Black men. Y’all remember in 2018 that girl who went missing and she told everyone she was kidnapped and raped by Black men and come to find out she made it all up. Her claims sent terror through her small community and the story was posted to Trump subreddits—fueling the hatred far right nationalist had towards Black people.
White women have the potential to ruin a Black man’s life simply by saying/accusing them of something, even when it is a lie. White women have been the death—literal and proverbial— of many Black men.
So, how does the Kardashian klan fit with all of this?
Almost every Black man that has been associated with the Kardashians had their lives changed forever—and not in a good sense.
You could say I’m pulling a muscle cause this is a stretch; however, follow me…
The young folk may not know that Kim started out her “career” as a stylist to the stars. She was an assistant/stylist for her childhood friend Paris Hilton and a stylist for Brandy—which is where she met Ray J.
In 2007, the sex tape between the two stars was released and for decades Kim has told the world that she did not agree to it; however, Ray J insists that Kim and her mom/manager Kris embraced the idea. Over the years, we have gotten an inside peak into the mind of Kris Jenner and her diabolic ways so, unfortunately, it is completely believable that Kim & Kris agreed. So, let us think critically: by Kim claiming that she did not agree—implying and directly calling Ray J a liar—she was catapulted into the spotlight. Women everywhere understood the horrors of their intimate pictures and videos being leaked by vengeful men, it was easy for us to view Kim as the victim in this situation. (I’m not saying she fully isn’t but what I am saying is Kris Jenner is a marketing genius and it was her idea, and at the very least Kim is a victim of Kris’s greed.)
Where is Ray J, now? Sure, we’ve seen him periodically on different reality tv shows and we all remember that awful versus; however, because for decades Kim has told us that did not agree, Ray J has been painted as a villain. A tale as old as time: Black man is accused of taking advantage of a white woman and that Black man is vilified.
Are you still following?
Let’s talk about Lamar Odom.
I will not be so brazen and blame all of Odom’s addiction issues on the Kardashian klan; but, I will say they were exploited for national television. Odom had his issues long before Khloe, Odom had some really tragic things happen to him in a short amount of time. Even the most regular of us have struggled with trauma and attempted to cope in harmful ways; however, we have the luxury of those darkest moments not being archived in a reality tv show. And I am sure there are some readers who have been the caretaker and support for someone who is going through addiction, even that deserves to not be fodder for reality tv show.
Again, yes, Lamar Odom had his own demons prior to his marriage to Khloe Kardashian—really an initiation—but, as this played out on a syndicated show where almost every frame is orchestrated by evil genius..I mean her mother, Kris Jenner. While Lamar was bashed in the media for his addiction and other issues, Khloe was the saint that stayed married to him to help him recover post coma. I mean, Khloe & Lamar had their own show.
There is something that goes on in that family where the Black men come out way different then when they went in. Praise God Kris Humphries was only married to Kim for 72 days; although, he did somewhat fade into obscurity he did so with his reputation—and sanity—intact for the most part. And honestly, that is a win.
Do they do blood sacrifices or something? I have no idea. But there is something about this family that draws attention from Black men—far and wide. And we know it is extremely layered.
The Kardashian klan has managed to take the aesthetics that Black women have—that have been deemed as ghetto/ugly/too much/not respectable—and monetized them and made them a trend. They made them respectable and while being with a Black woman won’t get you to the top (these aren’t my actual thoughts, but I hope you have picked up on that by now) but a Black man can be with a white woman that still resembles all of the women he fantasizes about—or from the porn he watches. And the irony is that, Kanye West rapped about this phenomenon and then he goes and marries Kim.
And we all saw how that played out. Again, I am not one to pretend that Kanye wasn’t problematic asf before he married into the klan. But it was the crash out that was so public that made folks raise their eyebrows even higher. I personally think Kanye ain’t been right since his momma died and he needs therapy.
The Kardashian/Jenner klan have spent decades black-fishing and being culture vultures and now multiple of them have children by Black men, permanently setting them up to be eternally Black adjacent which legitimizes their [successful] attempts to maintain their status as influencers in pop culture.
So, how does this tie back to my claim that Hannah Grace Cobb and the Kardashians have things in common? Simple.
These Black men made an active choice—and maybe not as vile as Rackins—to associate themselves whiteness in order to get ahead. And the white women who have ruined—or took—their lives come out unscathed as their reputations are all but ruined.
Also, if you happen to see photos of Hannah Grace Cobb at times she is emulating the same style of Black women—you know the fashion sense I’m talking about.
Constantly, we see Black men turn to white women—who have copied everything Black women do—for relationships all while dodging Black women in name of preference.
Yes, Ray J & Kanye & even Lamar Odom have dated Black and Brown women; however, think about it: when were they most in the media? When were they getting publicity? When they were attached to the Kardashian name. (outside of Kanye). And when the Kardashians were attached to Blackness, they received street cred from their peers and even society.
I do not have time to go into the dating history of Kylie and Kendall, but it is very similar.
These white women—yes the Kardashian klan is white no matter how much spray tan they do—get to pick up and put down the Black aesthetic. Somehow, the dirt never falls back on them because they are able to elicit their innocence because who will society view as a villain and who will they view as the victim. We know the answer.
Hannah Grace Cobb murdered that Black man and she will get off easy, as is to be expected. Even though there is video of her and Telbo out partying and there a Black girls around and we see Hannah visibly jealous, Cobb is just an innocent girl who was innocently checking gun and it accidentally shot Rackins in the chest. Kim Kardashian was just a victim of sexual exploitation—we all took her word for it and Ray J became a pariah. Khloe was a martyr in the name of love. Kim was a casualty of Kanye’s tirades—that coincidentally got worse when they were together and as they demised.
Cobbs and the Kardashians are cut from the same cloth they just are in different tax brackets.
May Telvin “Telbo” Rackins rest in preference.
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