The Cut - I Should Only Know Ma'Khia From TikTok

I wish I’d never known Ma’Khia Bryant’s name. Ideally, our only virtual encounter would have gone something like this: A TikTok-fluent teen, she uploads a hair-tutorial video in which she succinctly and expertly lays her baby hairs and pulls her curls into a side ponytail. A 27-year-old millennial, I watch the video on my phone while lying in bed, my own tangle of hair tucked under a bonnet. I notice how she places her finger in order to swoop her baby hairs just so, and I make a mental note to try the technique myself sometime. I “like” the post, save it to a collection titled “Hair,” and keep scrolling. Maybe my engagement would have been one more small piece of positive feedback encouraging her to make another video and another, because she would have had time.

Instead, I learned Ma’Khia Bryant’s name like everyone else did, when she was shot and killed by police in Columbus, Ohio, last week (just minutes before the verdict was released in the Derek Chauvin trial in Minneapolis). According to her mother, 16-year-old Bryant had called the police seeking their help in breaking up a fight. Instead, once they arrived, an officer shot her in the chest after she appeared to lunge at another girl with a knife.

J.Lo knows the way to a Boston boy’s heart. A multi-skin-toned handshake emoji is coming in 2022. Ellie Goulding had a baby! Mitt Romney narrowly avoided censure at the Utah GOP convention this weekend. Forget fantasies of self-driving cars and just invest in buses, already. The biggest remaining challenge in stopping COVID-19. And top restaurant Eleven Madison Park goes meat free, dropping animal products from its menu.

It happened this week — let’s talk about it. Introducing My Week in New York: a new newsletter from the editors. Sign up to get the next edition this Saturday, featuring senior restaurant critic Adam Platt.