Suits made a mark
I posted the following on Facebook after watching last night’s episode of Suits:
“I never thought I would live to see the day in which a black female managing (name) partner of a large New York law firm told a (subordinate) white man that she would slap the taste out of his mouth…even on TV. But it gave me life enough to last me through the bar.
Jessica Pearson, GOAT.”
Subsequently, a white male classmate of mine sent me this message:
“So I’ve got a personal question for you; and, I ask this sincerely: what’s the end-game in all this anti-white protesting? Not that I don’t empathize with the plight of black society in america; but, coming from my perspective, of a man who wishes the world to see men and women–not “blank” men and “blank” women, some of your posts put off as much bigotry as the conservatives’ posts on confederate flag “heritage” and “straight” rights. Coming from such a harsh perspective tends to polarize the moderates, so why hate-monger? I really do ask this without disdain or sarcasm: purely cuirious; and I’m saying all this privately/informally because I want you to understand that this isn’t a challenge.”
Aftr reading his message, I decided that it was something that I should address publicly because I thought many white friends may have similar thoughts and they should have the benefit of hearing a thorough response as well. I made another post:
”
Re: My Last Post
A high school associate sent me a very genuine message, I assume after seeing my post, asking me why I was mongering anti-white messages.
Let me be clear: my last post had nothing to do with “anti-white” messaging. It was important for reasons outside of hating white people. I was struck, so much so that I had to remark about it, by an image that so strongly countered the traditional images one sees of black people in the media, and most especially black women. Black people have been, and largely are still, expected to be in subservient roles to whites in film and media. We are the black friends, the black receptionist, the black nanny, the black repair guy, the black store clerk, the black neighbor, etc. There is an inherent second-classness to those roles. We are placed into the supporting roles to keep the main focus on those who are important to the storyline–whose love lives matter, whose successes and failures matter, whose badassness is demonstrated time and time again, who is allowed to be the hero, who we want to see get the girl. We are presented a full character to identify with and appreciate–who is almost always a white person–while we are presented a flat cutout minority to say that there is diversity in representation.
And when we are not subordinate, we are offensive. We are not just the black receptionist–we are the rude black receptionist who speaksin ebonics to her friend on the phone instead of tending to the needs of the polite white person who has come to see our white boss. We are the ghetto gold tooth black repair man who speaks in broken english to tell you that you are going to have to pay more than you would like to for that repair, suh. We are the black friend who seemingly has no love-life or goals outside of responding to those of our white friends’ with stock tag lines. We are the angry black woman.
We have fought hard for images of ourselves to be represented on television that validate our humanity by allowing us to be full people and not just the supporting background characters because our children watch and digest this media, and when they see themselves as nothing greater than the support, the nanny, the repair guy, the sidekick, they internalize that as the reality of their limitations and role in society.
But I remarked on what I saw on last night’s episode of Suits because it crossed the line of what I had previously seen on television. This isn’t a “black people” show, one of the safe spaces we have cultivated in order to allow for more full representation of all we are and all we can be. This is a mainstream show with a wide audience from different demographics and the message was this; not only can a black woman be in a powerful position in a powerful sphere of society–but we can step outside of the role of subservience and we can dare to tell a white man, a member of the very group that traditionally has dictated the standards of our society, that WE are in charge here. We can take control and convey dominance without being portrayed as unreasonably bitchy and angry. It startled me because just 20 years ago, this image would have been unthinkable–and unaired. It impressed me because this image is now thinkable and is right there on my tv. A black woman was in control, was aggresive, was dominant, and that didn’t make her a bitch or a hag…it made her a badass. She got to be what white men have been since the country started. The boss.
Is that anti-white? Well, it depends on how you see whiteness. If the ability of a minority to be dominant in a situation (and my celebration of that moment) is anti-white, then that explains a lot about why this country is in an uproar right now. I guess if our society is viewed as a zero-sum game, then in order for blacks and other minorities to game equal footing (and in some cases even excel against their counterparts!) someone has got to give something up, and based on the current set-up, it has to be white mainstream society.
But in my eyes, my celebration of that moment was not anti-white. It was pro-me. It was me, as a young lawyer, looking at a reflection of what our society FINALLY thinks that I have the possibility to be–a main character, a boss, a dominant and intelligent woman who is not a bitch, and a badass.
And as a testament to the role of media in our society, I would like to note that Jessica Pearson is a fiction–there is NO black female managing partner of a large New York law firm. Many large New York law firms don’t even have a black female partner, period. But the kids who are watching Suits may not even know that–and they may not think its uattainable or the way things should be, because if Jessica can do it, why not me?
Why not?”
I hope this is an opportunity for many to learn to and rethink some of their own visceral responses to what they see and hear from people of color. I hope.
