September Blog Post

“Having a clear view of the distorted images and painful stereotypes that make America a crooked room for African American women is the first step toward understanding how these stereotypes influence black women as political actors.” –Melissa Harris-Perry

            As a Netflix addict, I must admit that I have watched dozens of full series of shows. Many of the Netflix shows are especially easy to binge considering most only have one or two seasons available for viewing. One of my recent favorites is Dear White People (2017). I watched the first season in only two nights after work, staying up until almost three in the morning even when I had to be up by six. I literally felt silly but as the main character dove into “waking” the white people of her surrounding university, I truly felt as if I was waking up to struggles of black women that I had never considered.

            On the show, there is a character named Troy Fairbanks, a black man whose father forced him into the world of college politics. Although the show does a great job of showing Troy’s struggle to become the first black president of the university and how he must portray himself in a certain way to get his white peers to vote for him, we also see the same story line from his girlfriend, Coco. Coco mentions in multiple episodes that she must be the next Michelle Obama. In the first couple episodes, it seems as if it is natural and that is how she has always been, but as the show develops, you watch as she must change herself to appear like America’s first black lady. She changes her speech to sound more “white” educated, wears a wig of straight hair because her natural hair is too curly and thick, wears conservative dresses and pantsuits every day (very Hillary Clinton but less pants and more skirts), maintains amazing grades to be more respected by her peers, allows her boyfriend to cheat on her, and hangs out with a group of popular white girls who constantly insult her without realizing it (Dear White People, 2017).

            After reading just a few pages of the crooked room chapter (2011), it made me realize that Coco’s character on the show was constantly standing in a crooked room to try and look straight to other people, or in the shows case, white people. She experienced discomfort and was continuously having to put up with more and more crap every day because she wanted a future in politics and even the white house. She even took on the "Jezebel" persona that Harris-Perry discussed as a woman who loves sex. Her friends even saw her as the “welfare cheat” by using offensive and derogatory comments without being aware of it. The one thing that was not addressed until the end of the season was that she felt like she had to go through all of this just to be THE WIFE OF AN INFLUENTIAL POLITICAL LEADER. Luckily, she realizes she can be Obama and not just Michelle and she starts to forge her own path as she is, and how it should be (not that being Michelle is bad, simply that she can be a political leader as well such as the president).

            It is important to acknowledge the crooked room Coco is in because it shows true inequality in the show and in life. Her character reminds me so much of Michelle that it makes me question if Michelle had to change herself too. Coco may just be one woman or one character in a show, but her character is the symbol of all black women, and even broader, a symbol of all people who feel suppressed to our predominantly white, male run society. The more we start to acknowledge the feelings and actions of others, especially the suppressed, the more we will grow to empathize and try to fight for equality. No one should have to change who they are, their history, their behavior, their looks or personality, because it is different than the norm. As Harris-Perry said:

To be deemed fair, a system must offer its citizens equal opportunities for public recognition, and groups cannot systematically suffer from misrecognition in the form of stereotype and stigma (pg. 37).

References

Crooked Room. (2011). In M. Harris-Perry, Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes and Black Women in America (pp. 28-50).

Dear White People. (2017). Retrieved from Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/80095698