Hello everyone, I was going to write this post on Facebook, but I have waay too much to say regarding the recent comments Raven-Symone made regarding hiring someone with a "ghetto name." (Here if you haven't heard). I'm going to try to choose my words carefully because I want to make absolutely sure to get my point across so I won't have to repeat myself ever again. A few days ago, the ladies of "The View" showed THIS video of two young boys rattling off the top 60 "Ghetto Black names." The names are over-the-top and highly stereotypical, many of which are just random objects with suffixes like "-isha" and "-iqua," etc. attached. I guess the boys thought this was funny at the time; but frankly I'm shocked that the black community is so enraged at what Raven said and not the boys themselves. Surely, their neck rolls and other stereotypical "black girl" mannerisms should've offended someone, but I digress. After the video was done, the ladies all shared a chuckle and Raven, while still laughing, said something along the lines of "I wouldn't hire anyone named Watermelondrea" (which is said in the "names" video at 0:56). Needless to say, the black community LOST IT. In the days since, I have seen some of the cruelest, nastiest comments made about Raven for what appeared to me to be a jocular statement. Don't believe me?
Just truly awful stuff. And the youtube responses haven't been much better (here. Warning, strong language). Calling her names, insulting her appearance, it's all really juvenile and completely uncalled for. Before I go any further, I'm going to say something; and I want you to think about it.
Black groupthink is a problem for us and has been for a long time. Black groupthink keeps us from expressing our own ideas and feelings for fear of becoming an outcast. Black groupthink is what keeps black people in a box and is the reason we have such trouble making progress in this country. It's black groupthink that made my classmates feel like being smart equaled "acting white" back in middle/high school. It's black groupthink that keeps us shackled to the Democratic party when 97% of us probably don't know the party's real history nor why we even continue to give them our votes. It's black groupthink that compels us to label a black Republican an "uncle Tom". It's black groupthink that breeds low self-esteem in people who can't afford designer clothes. It's black groupthink that has every inner-city kid wanting to be an NBA player or a rapper instead of a surgeon. Black groupthink is the reason the word "ghetto" is so closely associated with African-Americans and not other races. And it's black groupthink that gives us the AUDACITY to try to "give away" Raven-Symone via THIS incredibly snarky and self-righteous "letter to white people" because she dared to say something that went against the grain.
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| "Heard you disagreed with Obama the other day. Yeah, fix that." |
Raven-Symone never said she wouldn't hire anyone with a "ghetto sounding name," she said she's not hiring anyone named WATERMELONDREA; but the media took that statement and turned it into "Raven-Symone says she wouldn't hire people with 'black sounding' names"......HOW IS WATERMELONDREA A BLACK SOUNDING NAME?!! IS THIS WHERE WE ARE NOW? Instead of being mad at Raven, we should be worried about ourselves, because if adding "-drea" to the end of a dang fruit is how black names are created now, then we've got a WAAYY bigger issue on our hands than Raven-Symone Pearman. The name itself was obviously satirical; never in your life have you met anyone named Watermelondrea because THERE IS NO ONE NAMED Watermelondrea and there never has been. I don't have to look it up, I just know. I'm pretty sure that, as a businesswoman, Raven knows good and well that she needs to hire well-qualified people, regardless of their name; if you watch the video, it's clear that she thought the video was funny and was speaking jokingly about a girl named Watermelondrea who doesn't exist...but we just swear we know people and their lives based off of a single statement. A single tweet goes out, and we have the whole story figured out from top to bottom. Smh.
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| "What? He hates hip-hop? He must wanna be a white boy!!" |
In closing, this post isn't solely about Raven; it's about an overarching, jacked-up attitude in my community that I'm honestly fed up with. I find it odd that, in this era of "black unity," we African-Americans still treat our own so cruelly. I for one find it disturbing that the same people who once loved Raven and watched her on Disney Channel faithfully are the same ones now spewing the most disgusting, hateful things about her on the internet. Regardless of how you feel about Raven, she's our sister at the end of the day; and as such she deserves our love and understanding, point blank. We all have family members who say things we disagree with and may even infuriate us, but do we go on social media and air them out to the world? Do we call them everything but a child of God and disown them? Do we enact the cyber equivalent of taking a brick and beating them down til there's no breath left in their body? No, eventually we talk it out and move forward. If you don't like Raven, fine; but don't be so brutal in your criticism of her because she's fighting the same fight as the rest of us. Everyone has a reason for feeling how they feel and saying what they say, and until you learn what that reason is, there's no reason for you to accuse anyone of being stupid or a race traitor; because truth be told, none of us have all the answers. It would behoove us all to talk less and listen more.
-Nick G.
