MINORITY MINORITY REPORT

The new EBONY magazine is out and the cover is graced with “real housewife” of Atlanta and now sitcom star Nene Leakes. Now over the past few years I’ve accepted “reality” TV and it’s hot personality of the minute but seeing Nene on the cover of EBONY took me aback. Just last month President Obama and his wife Michelle were on the cover. I can’t help but think you went from the leader of the free world to a woman claiming to be a housewife but really isn’t. I can already hear the cries of “hater”, “let Nene get hers” and “STFU” but my issue or should I say discovery wasn’t Nene or her newfound fame. What I am discovering I am now a minority within a minority. Behavior that used to be deemed inappropriate was now the status quo in the black community. Flava Flav, Nene, Stevie J and the Basketball Wives—sidepieces—hoes—whatever they are called are controlling the narrative of black America or at least the ones that are focused on. I won’t say I don’t know these people or haven’t seen them in this life but media outlets be it TV, film or print would have you think they are the majority of black America and that’s sad. I can’t lie I cringe at Nene in the new sitcom The New Normal not because she took work from real actresses—okay I do a little, but it’s why she has the role. I recently saw her on a morning news show and she said that when she met with the show creator Ryan Murphy he said “We were looking for actresses who act sassy and do what Nene Leakes does and we thought why don’t we just get Nene Leakes and let her be herself”. Sadly, the Nene Leakes that the world knows is a paradigm of pathology of black women, which is sassy, lip pursing, neck rolling and hip holding. I couldn’t help but recall the impetus of Dave Chappelle’s exit from his titular hit Comedy Central show to the Motherland. Dave was doing a sketch called the Nigger Pixie and he noticed one of the crew who was not of color was laughing in a different manner then most people. Dave realized what he was doing may have been sending a message that he didn’t need to perpetrate. Black people don’t always have enough great images to fight the negative images as seen during a time where a black man is the leader of the free world. I can’t help but recall the film A Soldier’s Story and Adolph Ceasar in his classic role as Sgt. Waters. He had a line that will always live with me forever. He told an imprisoned soldier, CJ, whose behavior he thought to be coonish and an embarrassment to black people, “the black race can’t afford you no more C.J.”. Can you understand what that is saying? During that time period there were probably twenty million black Americans in the country and Sgt Waters felt this one man’s behavior held back the progress of a whole race. While I don’t think Nene can do that alone, she contributes to a team of all-stars that do. Now Follow Me! Follow Me To Freedom!