Do they represent the best of us and the worst? Or just the worst?
I know that they don’t represent me, as a Black woman in
America. They don’t represent me because I am not wealthy, married to someone
wealthy, or trying to get on television by any means necessary. They don’t represent
me, because I don’t behave that way, and
my friends don’t either. It wouldn’t matter how much money we had.
PAUSE
Courtesy of Bravo |
I am not knocking their hustle. There was a time when we
couldn’t portray ourselves. They used white people with black face. I guess you
could say that we are on the come up!
We, in the Black community, know what we are looking at. In
most cases, we DO NOT relate to their “reality”. If the constant drama is how
the other half live, I (WE) take a pass. Their friendships change with their
underwear, their marriages look like jokes, and to think they have children
watching it all!
This is not really real. This foolery is what gets ratings!
Why?
What concerns me most is that people of influence, outside
of our race, may fail to recognize the difference. The influential people of
speak of are the human resource directors, small business owners, and fast food
managers who hire “:REGULAR” Black woman.
Does the TV persona cause the hiring manager to hesitate to offer
positions to several women of color because he doesn’t want any fighting in his
establishment? Is he afraid of baby’s daddy’s jumping across counters fighting
one another because she disrespected you by looking at you.
It may be funny to watch them on TV, while they
make big money.
But would it be funny if you fail to get that great job you were qualified for, because they
have a secret quota of only one person of color in the office; because they don’t
know what would happen if there were two of you.
As a famous, yet out of the spotlight, comedian once said, “they
aren’t laughing with me, they are laughing at me”.
Are there people thinking that this is how we behave
regardless of our location, status, wealth, etc, etc.
Let’s be clear!
Regular Black folks wouldn’t get away with half of what goes
on in television.
I can just see it now… Me and my girls in a fancy restaurant
screaming, cursing each other out; throwing dishes, bottles and pulling wigs.
Would we get to walk out, go home, and threaten to sue one another?
No, we don’t get to pass GO, We go straight to JAIL.
Lala
1 comment:
I agree as well. The true essence of wat it means to be an urban african american has been lost in countless ways:
1) Our conversion from political hiphop to gangster rap.
2)Our failure to succeed because those "artist" and "poets" have made a social movement revolving around skipping school, doing drugs, joining gangs, and professionalizing in being a menace to society.
3)because "THEY" (the weathly) set the standards for "US" (the regulars), without having to face the reality of the middle and lower-classes.
4) the once "white supremaitist" goverment now capitalizes on a minority controled enterprise to make most of its profit.
Anyway i also feel that the hustle of making money the best way you can, cannot be knocked. Yet, i find that what people like to see is a reality similar but different to their own. In relation to the cosby show, while it does represent positive black families, it set a standard that most african americans at that point in time and even today could not live up too.
I personally feel as though tv has lost its way
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