These people love telling Black women to be quiet and stay in place. The notion is so pervasive and damaging, so I’m here to drag this as the tired, misogynoir laden, crud-on-the-bottom-of-the-shoe mess that it is.
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Context and Controversy: What’s Happenin’, Amanda?!
Amanda Seales, actress/comedian/multi-hyphenate social justice advocate widely known for her performance on HBO’s Insecure, recently posted a video thanking fans for being consistent supporters, because her peers in the Black entertainment industry have not been as inviting. Amanda mentioned several Black mainstream outlets such as Black Girls Rock, Essence, and the NAACP Image Awards that have not invited her to awards shows or recognitions, even when she has contributed to those shows previously.
In response, the video has started going viral, and at least three headlining articles were written by prominent media outlets, with two response articles on The Root (1,2), and one from Essence (3). The op-eds essentially doubled down on their stance that this was an Amanda problem of her own making, since she is supposedly difficult to work with and unlikeable.
My Take: Let’s Look At The Bigger Picture
I take issue with this being framed as an individual’s self sabotaging demise. The framing here minimizes larger social dynamics at play and makes this into an individual level problem. Rather, we need to recognize the pattern of discrimination and group pressure Black women face to be palatable. Particularly, it is Black women with strong opinions, confident demeanors, and no-nonsense standards who end up being scoffed at, shamed, and otherwise ostracized for their public presentation. This framing also obscures how “likeability” is coded for how much someone can align with hegemonic standards in service of imperialism (read: siding with racist, cis/sexist, classist, nationalist, homophobic, transphobic, ableist ideals and norms).
These articles considered this as possible explanation, then chose to stand on the weaker, person-centered position. When issues are approached from an individual level, it’s considered a personal problem and a failing of character. However, this is a phenomena not only socially experienced among many Black women, but structurally entrenched in how Black women are able to navigate their position and exercise their power in society.
Black women are multi-faceted and deserve space to show up in their full and flawed being. In this society however, Black women aren’t afforded space to have strong characters, especially outside prescribed and familiar tropes like Mammy and Jezebel.
Yes, Amanda uses “big words” and has a high standard of quality. These are qualities that contribute to, not take away, from the authenticity of her message and ability to show up fully. She has a master’s degree in African American Studies from Columbia University. Her variety game show is Smart, Funny, and Black – this is her brand!
Give Black Women Space to Express
There’s a difference between someone being intimidating and someone feeling intimidated. The first is a perception of energy, the second is how one reacts to that perception.
Similarly, on her Small Doses podcast, Amanda talks about how a group of roommates from college collectively decided they didn’t like her, with the lead of the group saying she didn’t like how Amanda was a show off (4). First, this is subjective and a matter of perception, much more likely a reflection of the person who initially said it. And well, that characteristic certainly would have been to Amanda’s benefit as an entertainer and stage performer. We are quick to demonize qualities in Black women that aren’t submissive to social hegemony and hierarchy. So, in their eyes, they experience her as a woman who shows off or is full of herself or narcissistic… or any other snide remarks that are used to demean and devalue confident and assertive Black women.
Am I saying Amanda is a faultless saint? Not necessarily! To be honest, I don’t really know her like that. From what I’ve seen of her shows, she is honest about her shortcomings and growth areas, mentioning at one point how she lost her fuse because a pillow color wasn’t what she requested (4). The bigger discrepancy here is that this characterization and blackballing justification comes off as disingenuous. It’s odd that people can name the ways Black women are largely limited to expressions that appease the quo at risk of being ostracized, then in the same breath turn and propose that Amanda is the exception to acknowledged patterns of misogynoir in society!
What’s Really Happening Here, BFFRRN
Of all the people who Hollywood accepts – countless abusers and harmful people – the towel is being thrown in at Amanda? For being *checks notes* …unlikeable? (3)
What seems more likely to me is that Amanda is a woman with brains and bite, has a high caliber of execution, knows the game, and certain dusties wanna bring her down a peg, into the mudslinging games she no longer wants to or has to play (5). She’s creating avenues of independence as Black women often do. And when she’s gone, the industry will miss her. She’s unabashed, forthright, incisive, clever, and speaks truth to power. So much so that I think she makes people uncomfortable to reckon with how they’ve bended and balked to secure their position in the industry.
Solidarity
So I stand with Amanda and all the Black women who are told they have attitudes, who are pitted against one another and told there’s only room for one, who’ve been asked (or threatened) to turn down their volume and quash their fire, who have had passion mistaken for aggression.
I don’t know Amanda Seales but I do know what is said of Black women. I have seen how Black women have been dragged through hell while striving for public success and curating a delicate balance of so-called likeability. And I do know how dusty muhfuckas love to “humble” a woman who dare make a name for herself without their approval. So these antics are getting my full side-eye and garnered my immediate suspicion. As I dig further the brows furrow more deeply and the glare intensifies.
At best, this seems like an unfair evisceration, not comparable to the scale with which this is picking up steam. There was a comment on Threads that stood out to me, essentially asking: ‘what are “we” mad at her for?’ Essentially this person was poised to pile on to the witch hunt without even knowing why. And my use of witch hunt here is purposeful. The witch hunts were essentially a campaign of patriarchy to disempower and annihilate women who were seen as “too powerful” “too strange” or “too much.”
Am I Too Much? Or Are You Insecure That You Aren’t Enough (oop)
Amanda gives it to us straight in her most recent three-part Small Doses podcast, talking about the notion of being “Too Much.” And while she addresses this topic more widely from the vantage point of her life growing up and in society at large, it’s clear this is correlated to her current treatment in the industry and how she’s perceived and interacted with, especially in the past week.
Let’s name what’s really likely at play here and keep the focus there. Say misogynoir, the hatred of Black women. Say racism and sexism in the entertainment industry. Say anti-intellectualism and rampant white supremacy culture. Say anti-Blackness and respectability politics. Say anything other than a lukewarm ‘I dunno… I just don’t like her, you know?’ Say you standin on oppressive social expectations and keep it a buck.
Whether intentional or not, this campaign to discredit and disarm Amanda hurts all Black women and does not advance us. It really doesn’t. Because these denouncements show we are not allowed to be fully realized people. We aren’t allowed have dissenting opinions. We cannot complain or want to see conditions for ourselves and our people improve. It’s a load of bullshit.
I stand with the people who aren’t having this old tired mess anymore. We’re done with it. You’re gonna miss us when we’re gone.
Testing the Ice
Everyone loves to cheer on the brazen person willing to speak up and say what everyone else is thinking. That’s what Amanda does. These people simultaneously decrease the risk for the group while gaining wins for the group. But inversely, these people take on a lot of risk, and in turn see little allegiance when it’s time to take up a defense or find themselves in need of protection. Psychology researchers called this the ‘testing the ice’ phenomena.
To dig deeper into what this phenomena means, imagine being on a frozen lake, unsure if the ice will hold. One person goes onto the ice to test its ability to hold weight. The testing person inches forward at the perimeter of the unknown, claiming more and more ground and gaining confidence. Their teammates cheer them on to keep going while standing safe on shore. If the ice breaks, will their team rescue the one who dared venture out? That’s an uncertain tossup.
The concluding recommendation of the researchers who discovered this phenomena was to not venture so far out into untested waters without having a support team (i.e. those that provide more than vocal praise and verbal encouragement and who will take up your mantle when called upon). Work with people who have skin in the game with you. Because let’s be real. Hollywood entertainers are removed from the issues of the majority of everyday people. Class and socioeconomics create a rift between these worlds that makes it easy to turn a blind eye or pay lip service without putting any real skin in the game.
Final Thoughts
Amanda is trailblazing and saying things that speak truth to power and ruffle feathers of the elite. She has a platform and she’s using it to uplift causes that matter, such as our collective voting power, spotlighting candidates, and calling for an end to the genocide in Gaza. Let’s give space and grace to this Black woman who has dedicated a career to being a truth bearing light in the community and the entertainment industry.
In Amanda We Trust.
References:
1 – https://www.theroot.com/if-everyone-says-the-same-thing-about-amanda-seales-co-1851348276
2 – https://www.theroot.com/snubbed-by-the-naacp-image-awards-is-amanda-seales-bee-1851346291
3 – https://www.essence.com/news/money-career/amanda-seales-competence-likability-career/
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