It’s fair to say we’ve established that there are some African-American celebrities who have reached such a level of success, that they’re just completely ignorant to the problems that people in the Black community face.
We’ve took it upon ourselves in the culture to add so many of those same Black celebrities to our nationally recognized “(explotive) list” within the past few years, that it’s almost second nature to want to revoke their “Black cards” when they open their mouths. We’ve bashed Raven-Symone for her hate and ignorance towards multisyllabic names, and we’ve dragged Rza for telling our Black men that if they dressed in a properly “refined manner”, that they wouldn’t invoke fear in the police to want to bruatlize them (rolls eyes as hard as possible).
While a majority of us have nominated and voted to add these melanin rich folks to the “(expletive),” I nominate that we bypass voting, and add Stacey Dash to the top of the list for all of the ridiculousness that spews out of her mouth as well! How many times does Dash have to be read to filth is my question?
Recently on Fox News, Stacey Dash commented on the uproar around the Oscars and people’s feelings towards the event’s lack of diversity. Also known as #oscarssowhite. “We have to make up our minds. Either we want to have segregation or integration, and if we don’t want segregation, then we have to get rid of channels like BET and the BET Awards and the Image Awards, where you’re only awarded if you’re black,” she continued. “If it were the other way around, we’d be up in arms. It’s a double standard. There shouldn’t be a black history month. We’re Americans, period.”
Sitting in your own ignorance has to be the nastiest feeling ever. There are multiple reasons why Stacey Dash’s comments are not only ignorant, but also completely invalid; for today I’ll settle for speaking on four.
Girl, shut up, we can be mad if we want to.
News flash Ms. Dash, People of color have the right to be infuriated with a platform that year after year that doesn’t acknowledge our existence in the world of film. This year like many others, quality films, that have received critical acclaim, have been box office and online streaming smashes with people of color as the lead; all extremely thought provoking and well put together, Concussion, Beasts of No nation; movies that are equally as good as the movies that were nominated for award night, yet still no nod from an institution that’s supposed to recognize great films? If that’s not complete disrespect, I don’t know what is. Straight Outta Compton and Creed were nominated this year, but not in a manner that makes sense. Paul Giamatti received a nod for his portrayal as Jerry Heller. Only Sylvester Stallone received a nod from the Oscar’s this year for his performance in Creed, not Michael B. Jordan as the Lead Character, or Ryan Coogler for his directorial skills in the film. There’s no way around the fact that each film listed and it’s actual lead actors are just as much a contenders for those awards as the ones that were chosen.
Stacey Dash is apparently unclear on why Black people have their own award shows and networks.
Does anyone remember when the live version of The Wiz aired? Wasn’t too far back to remember some the idiotic posts from white people condemning the all Black cast. Numerous posts were made via social media stating that the broadcast was racist and if there were an all white version, that black people would be up in arms about it. It’s also not hard to remember how hard we laughed at them when they realized that The Wiz is a remake of the Wizard of Oz, which hosts an all white cast, even down to the green witch! Creating award shows and networks geared towards showcasing black people, is the same thing only 10 times bigger.
For years, prior to the inception of BET, BET Awards, NAACP Image Awards, or anything else geared towards blacks, we begged and pleaded to be accepted into white platforms. Everything under the sun was done to be accepted into a society that didn’t understand us. The few times African Americans took home academy awards, it was because Black Actors played roles like mammies, sex crazed abusive women, and crooked drug dealing cops. What other choice was there?
With Stacey Dash’s statement, she’s implying that Black people should have just taken the mistreatment from Hollywood and waited at the door until they decided to throw us scraps. Black networks and award shows were created simply for no other reason than to acknowledge our contributions to entertainment as a whole. Obviously, no one else was going to do it so we did it ourselves. Stacey dash would rather African Americans to still beg to be acknowledged, meanwhile current day, white entertainment platforms send Iggy Azalea and Macklemore home with Best Rapper superlatives? I think not. It’s impossible to choose between segregation and integration regarding being recognized. Black entertainment platforms weren’t created to ostracize us from the rest of the world, they were created because white entertainment awards shows and networks ostracized us from the get go.
If Black History Month Was Disbanded, You’d never learn Black History.
While reading this I want you to imagine your time in school between first and twelfth grade. Think back to how many times in your 180 day school year, you actually learned about the contributions Black people have made to society. If your answer was only during Black History Month or when your teachers taught you about slavery, then I rest my case. Honestly it’s sad that we’ve been reduced by the masses to a 28 day month to talk about Black excellence. In school most of us we’re taught that our history started on a boat ride to America to make it “great.” If we were represented in day to day conversations about our place in history, then we wouldn’t have sought out to combat with a Black History month in the first place. Someone please tell Stacey Dash that there is absolutely no need to have a white history month because it’s been White History Year, every year for as long as Black people can remember. Double standards can’t exist here, sorry.
Stacey needs a hug and a history lesson no matter how you look at it.
I honestly feel bad for lost and bewildered Stacey. She’s so oblivious to the fact that Black people are an underrepresented race in all aspects. Her fame has caused her to have such skewed bias to the way life actually works. I’m not sure if I’m mad with her, or that I just feel sorry for her. In order to understand the plight of African Americans, and our struggle to be noticed Stacey Dash, you have to bring you head out of that tiny little bubble it rests in and open your eyes. If you see this, ask yourself if you’ve took the time to understand that the world isn’t only white, there are shades of Black too.
