(ThyBlackMan.com) Star Jones has recently launched a campaign to take on the show “Vh1 Basketball Wives.” For Star Jones, the depiction of Black women on the hit show coupled with the violence and abuse needs to stop. Jones recently vented:
“It may be ‘comfortable’ to be quiet when women of color slap the crap out of each other & run across tables barefoot, but #ENOUGHisENOUGH.”
I congratulate Star Jones on her bold and aggressive challenge to a fiasco that has become the new “Jerry Springer Show.” The idea of bringing together a bunch of Black women and encouraging them to bully one another, engage in shallow behavior, and throw punches on camera is the saddest embarrassment to Black women since BET’s “Uncut.”
It’s astonishing that women such as the ever-so-ignorant Evelyn Lozada have been propped up by mainstream media as role models for young girls. Similar to the boys who learn Black male manhood from Lil Wayne, these young women are ignoring their parents and learning Black womanhood from heroes, such as Lozada, Tami Roman, and the other brawlers who should probably come to work with brass knuckles.
In fact, I’d like to lay out a few lessons that these young women are learning from their long-haired, thin-skinned professors:
1) No matter how rotten and eroded you are on the inside, you can always increase your self-worth through the possession of material objects: The images of Evelyn rolling up in a Range Rover, wearing expensive shoes, and packing a $2,000 weave leave an impact on any girl trying to get the attention of the cute little boy in English class. While the girl might be tempted to gain his affection by engaging him with intelligent conversation, Professor Evelyn teaches her that she can get the party started faster by batting her eyelashes and flipping up her skirt. Instantly, she becomes the most popular girl in school.
2) You can always get money without having a real job: Do any of the women on”Vh1 Basketball Wives” actually have careers that go beyond being stars of reality TV? Although I’m sure many of them used their “skillz” to get ahead (wink, wink), I’d love to see what they’ve accomplished to earn their national platforms of influence. I would hate to see my daughters give up the value of hard work and education to instead line up with hundreds of other women trying to sleep with an athlete who has had waaaaaay too many sex partners already. But then again, that’s just me.
3) How to flip your weave with an attitude: I am always intrigued by the “mean girls” bullying that I see on “Vh1 Basketball Wives.” The idea of being loving and nurturing toward other human beings has little value in a world where TV shows will do any ridiculous thing to get ratings. Each week, we are treated to a lovely testosterone fest that would put the NFL playoffs to shame – women jumping across tables, slapping each other, and engaging in ferocious gossip attacks that might leave a 12-year-old girl suicidal. Good for you VH1, you ruin at least a few thousand young lives every single week.
4) If I am pretty enough, that makes me a good and classy person: Many of the women on “Vh1 Basketball Wives” are as pretty as their weaves are long. I wonder if our society has become a place where any crass, disgusting human being can be transformed into an angel by putting on enough makeup — like cow manure being converted into a birthday cake. I can’t imagine any intelligent man wanting to be the husband of any of the “Vh1 Basketball Wives.” Everything that makes a woman into a loving Mother, wife, and role model seems to be missing from this group of televised gang bangers who are being allowed to influence an entire generation.
5) I am only as good as the man I had a baby with: Let’s be clear, most of the “Vh1 Basketball Wives” have never been married to anyone. I’ve suggested changing the name of the show to “Basketball Baby Mamas” or “Basketball Wifeys” (“wifey” is a term used to describe the woman who stands by the man’s side for years without ever getting a ring). I must confess that when I speak to my own daughters, I remind them that simply dating a successful or wealthy man is not the same as going into the world and accomplishing things on their own. Fortunately, millions of successful Black women probably agree, and Attorney Star Jones is one of them.
Good job, Star Jones, I’m, oh, so proud of you. I loved the way you took on the behemoth ex-stripper Nene Leakes during her neck-swingathon on “Celebrity Apprentice.” You made it clear that when given a choice, we can either engage the foolishness or we can elevate. By using your platform for such a productive purpose, you have also elevated and inspired me; you’ve also reminded me of the power of extraordinary Black women. Now, let’s go kill the demon of ignorance and raise our young girls to fulfill their truest destiny.
As a high school counselor, this show makes my job that much harder. One thing I pride myself on is trying to help our young African-American girls build their self-esteem. These young ladies need positive, hard-working role models. Sadly, some (not all) of them look up to those women.
I have to hand it to the network. They know what sells in America…drama.
Critics of the cancellation movement repeat the age-old, “change the channel if you don’t like it” mantra, failing to recognize that the core issue is the perceived disrespect that is inherent in the networks’ refusal to portray productive examples of African American women in their current programming. Networks executives also fail to realize that it is not the low-wage, minimally educated African American woman that they have offended, but it is the presumed, public counter-parts to the very characters on their programs.
More at blazetelevisionnetwork.com
http://www.change.org/petitions/cancel-basketball-wives
I just want to say thank you Star Jones for putting this out there about Basketball Wives. I really had some respect for Shanie at the beginning. I do believe she like drama as well. I also believes she fake. Evelyn needs counseling.
This. This is exactly what I try and get across to my friends about all these “wives” shows. Between none of them being married and their behavior it does nothing for woman of any color. One episode of Real house Wives Of Atlanta made me wonder about…. well… a lot. And how can it be plural if only one woman is married?
These shows should have banned years ago, but lets face it, the same lying black women who claim they hate the show are the ones who privately support it and defend these gold digging whores.
Thank you Star. Maybe if more celebrities took a stand they would stop this foolishness because I truly believe that some of their antics is an attempt to show off in front of the cameras. It is not cute — like Star said it is disgusting to conduct yourself in the manner they do. It has gotten so bad that viewers are passing around a petition to boycott Evelyn’s spinoff. I signed that petition and I am glad I did. We must send a message that their behavior is not acceptable and we should refuse to watch these shows and enhance their viewer ratings.
Yes yes, get that mess off family tv just to make money and women slapping other women and jumping off tables throwing bottles is just Jerry Springer our kids don’t need that. GROWN old women acting like Children, I wander how there children really feel, or therefriends and all that drinking do they ever go to church are talk about JESUS.