I actually had a difficult time deciding what to write about today. I think I had a racism free day! I went to work, I did my job, I picked up my kids and I came home. A good day was had by all. 

This gives me the opportunity to address one of the subjects I had on my list at the beginning of this trek. I am going to return to the topic of Black imagery in the media and how it can reinforce negative stereotypes. 

When I posted about the Black doll intended for a child’s frustration release, a white woman said that “it’s nothing but a Black doll it doesn’t mean anything.” Her husband followed up with, “Haven’t you ever heard of being in the Black” and a history lesson about “The Real McCoy” as if I didn’t already know it. 

I responded with, “that isn’t how your brain works.” Your brain takes in information, associates past images, concepts and information and applies it to new situations and settings. It’s called generalization. When “Black imagery” has been associated with negative information, it is generalized to new settings, people and concepts. 

Although, I love a good situation comedy, I started to notice in the mid to late 90’s to 2000’s Black women were no longer being introduced as maids and slaves, but love interests. While the image of a successful Black woman seemed to reach its peak with Claire Huxtable and Aunt Helen, the tide never seemed to turn in predominantly white comedies. Whenever a Black female character was introduced, she was a white man’s girlfriend or sex partner, not their boss or intellectual equal. I think I boycotted both Boy Meets World and Friends for this very reason. To me this reinforced the negative image of Black women as overly sexualized, promiscuous and sexually irresponsible; as opposed to, reliable mates and worthy of marriage, children and fidelity. 

Further, this was often a painful image, as during slavery Black women were often forced into sexual servitude to white male masters. While a white woman mixing with a Black man was considered taboo, a white man was entitled to  a Black woman’s body without question. 

Don’t get me wrong, I love me some Barry Allen and Iris West-Allen (that was a Flash reference for the rest of you) and their partnership. Candice Patton’s Iris holds her own with the same drive and passion for her work as Barry does. They complement each other. However, I know the images on Scandal were often hard for some Black people to watch as Olivia took up with not one, but two white men. At the same time, giving credit where credit is due, Kerry Washington’s Olivia Pope was also presented as a woman with a keen intellect and fierce protective streak with several white employees who admired her greatly. On the other hand she did wear “the white hat.” The contradiction always bothered me a bit. 

One might say, “but Scandal was written by Shonda Rimes,” the undisputed queen of ABC drama. No doubt, but also as I have stated before, no one escapes the vestiges of a racist society. In fact, the first stage of developing a racial identity is initially identifying with  the majority race and its culture as superior to your own because that’s what you have also been taught in every aspect of society. I am not saying this is true of Shonda Rimes. I do not know her. However, hopefully, as people of color grow into their identity, they recognize the worthiness of their own cultural norms and seek to celebrate them in equal measure. 

At this time I would like to point out the hypocrisy of the white woman who said, “it’s just a doll!” 

Dear white women: You cannot have it both ways. You cannot on the one hand demand that white girls and women have positive representation in the media, so that they can see themselves and then deny others the same right to positive imagery. You cannot celebrate Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel getting their own movies, but disregard the negative imagery of Black women as slaves, maids and sex partners. You cannot celebrate white First Ladies as “classy” because you want your girls to see who they can become, but call the first African-American First Lady everything but a child of God and deny our daughters the same. If negative body imagery affects your children, it affects ours. If you wouldn’t want a white female doll getting its ass kicked for frustration release because it may inadvertently reinforce domestic violence, you should feel the same outrage at a Black doll getting its ass kicked. IJS