Just Another Minstrel Show

 

Mammy With A Better Weave....

 

 

An editorial about why Raymond Tyler believes Scandal puts a negative spin on black women and his thoughts on images of people of color on film in general.

 

 

Let me start by saying...many of you that support Scandal will just read the title and start going off before you read a single word. For those that respond with out reading I will disregard.

 

Next let me say, that the reason for this article is not to get anyone that enjoys SCANDAL to stop.

If you love it, you should. Keep watching it if it makes you happy. I mean that.

 

I am writing this article because a couple of days ago I just asked the question on my facebook,

Does The Olivia Pope Character Make Black Women Look Bad?

 

I got so many people telling me I was "this", and "that" and accusing me of a lot of silly things.

So many black women defended the show like I was attacking the show which I never did.

 

I don't think any of Scandal's defenders ever answered the question.

 

I asked the question because I really wanted to discuss the image of a 21st Century Black Woman that is being presented in the show.

I just wanted to understand, so few women thought so little about this image.

Maybe I am just old, because it seems today's athletes, musicians and actors will do anything for  a dollar and no regard to whom it hurts.

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I under stand guilty pleasures. I watch a ton of things that are important to no one but me.



I enjoy Adam West's Bat Man...but I am not under the delusion that it's Shakespeare.

 

I also enjoyed The Wire.

I am not under the delusion that the show made Black people look anything but bad.
The Wire did not just cast blame and shame on "corner boys" but on "journalists" too.

So The Wire DID INDEED MAKE BLACK PEOPLE LOOK BAD.

 

I do not accept the old argument "well white people do it too."
I am also not a fan of Don Draper or Walter White.

In fact I think the current state of television is in a sorry state because the creators seem to be racing to create characters of all races and genders base, common, and nasty.

I would however, accept the argument that Olivia Pope is so over the top she is almost a cartoon character...I love characters like that myself.

 

I do believe you can write a character that is complex, that is flawed but that I would want to sit down and have dinner with. Neither Don Draper, Walter White, Omar Little or Olivia Pope are people that I would bother to shake hands with.

 

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Since the 1915 film Birth of a Nation. People other than African Americans have felt obligated to show the world who WE are.

 

The one place we are allowed to be complex, real, and deep, in character development has been on stage in my opinion.

 

My belief is that if there were more balanced images of Black Women on TV? The character of Olivia Pope would not be such a sore spot to me.

What hurts infinitely more is when Black Women react like there is something wrong with me for not being supportive of a such a high profile and destructively iconic representation of a Black Woman on TV.

What almost makes me upset is when they admit they believe Olive Pope is the best they can aspire to and seem to ignore the many great women that built this country.

 

I know many great Black Women and none of them would be on TV fighting and cussing each week and allowing some one to define that as "reality television." I also believe that as great as they are they aspire to be more than mistresses with good jobs.

You can write off Scandal as Guilty Pleasure TV. I indulge myself in programming that makes us look bad.  However lets be for real and admit Scandal (like some of the shows I watch) does not present a lifestyle that we would want for our children.

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