Jamilah Lemieux at Ebony magazine has a hunch that some black men's resentments about interracial dating lie at the crux of their opinions of Scandal and the black women who adore the show. That's the real reason they didn't lose any sleep over Kerry Washington's Emmy loss.
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Let's go back to last month, when Kerry Washington lost the 2013 Emmy for "Best Actress" to Homeland's Claire Danes. Many people, most of them Black women, cried foul—and it was safe to say that a lot of those complainers had never seen Homeland. Yet, it's easy to feel like "Once again, a Black person isn't getting her due." She would have been the first Black actress to nab that award and considering that she's the first Black woman to be the lead on a drama in 40 years, it should be no surprise that there were people who look like her have become emotionally invested in her success.
That considered, it was hurtful to see Black men on blogs and social media break their fingers to explain why Kerry Washington didn't deserve that statue. When brothers grumble about a Black man getting passed over for something, we're usually grumbling too. When Kanye West was bumrushing award shows on his own accord pre-Swiftgate, we didn't spend time breaking down why he didn't deserve to win in the first place …
Instead, I am here to say that we can have a healthy two-way conversation. We can move the needle forward. Brothers, that means being willing to put everything on the table and being honest about your emotions—and for some of you, that means admitting that the 'love is love' attitude you claim to have about mixed couples can be challenged when it isn't Black man doing the mixing. (Welcome to the Mixed Feelings club!) But berating us or deliberately trying to make us feel bad because youfeel bad and don't want to/don't know how to articulate that? That's not productive and it's certainly not fair.
Read Jamilah Lemieux's entire piece at Ebony magazine.
The Root aims to foster and advance conversations about issues relevant to the black Diaspora by presenting a variety of opinions from all perspectives, whether or not those opinions are shared by our editorial staff.
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