This response has sat on my desk and on my mind for a while now.   It sat because I wondered whether or not it would be the right thing to say. In the end, now I am publishing it because it had to be said and so many others are coming forward as well.

It begins with the question. Why now?  Some of the same people who are upset about what this show is doing to the image of Black culture are the same ones that watched every other show that has done the same for years.   Why wait until after years of the new minstrel shows such as Real Housewives of Insert Whatever City Fits, Love and Hip Hop, The Braxtons or whatever low budget reality show came on the air demeaning the overall Black image of our people?   Why wait for nearly 2 decades of shows that have stereotyped us and allowed the return of shucking and jiving for the masses, for people to get riled up?  What upsets me most is that I hear from a lot of my BGLO friends when asked ‘what about these other shows’ is ‘well it’s not a show that represents me.’ Please stop it. It is about all of us. When you see all of these shows from Flayva of Love and College Hill through whatever today’s trainwreck is, it’s a sad reflection of what we are today. Sure, we can say “it’s just make believe” but a lot of people buy into it. And it’s just not here in the US, it’s anywhere in the world where it’s broadcast.  That’s why so many of these shows still come on.

It seems to me that it was all fun and games until TV producers came after the BGLOs.   Now everyone organized to shut this show down. I said it before and I will say it again. If people could get this hopped up over one show, then the same passion could get some of the other shows that degrades us as a people could be shut down.

I know I may lose a few friends over this but I feel in my heart that I am right. When I see some of the things that people are doing especially via social media to get Sorority Sisters shut down, I applaud you for the anger. But, at the same time, I want to ask you all, where has this anger been when people like Kenya Moore was disgracing her legacy (what little there is) on screen? Why was it ok when Whitney and Bobby paraded their issues on screen? How many of you really feel a need to know what goes on with Tamar and Vince every week? Where was this anger when TV producers were allowed to sully some of our HBCUs? Some of you still watched right? How about that time a TV show was made going after the Black church?   Yes, there was some uproar but, another season is coming and there is a spin off coming as well. So, what makes Sorority Sisters so special? Because I have a hard time believing anyone telling me that this time ‘it’s different’. There is no way you can tell me that TV producers have gone too far especially when shows like these have been on for nearly 20 years. Longer, if you really want to count Cops into the equation of shows that demean Black people.

We as a people should have been asking for a long time why has the image of Blacks on US TV been allowed to degrade?   We had Claire Huxtable in the 80s (Ironic to bring up considering what Bill Cosby is going through) we had Living Single, Everybody Hates Chris, A Different World and so many other shows that gave varying degrees of positive images of Blacks in America. Of course, the one thing that has eluded us is a drama. One that is not The Wire or The Corner but a TV show that is more substantial. We haven’t had a substantial one since Soul Food went off in 2004. The closest thing we have right now to anything positive of us on TV is Black-ish and in my opinion, it’s a pale comparison to what we have had before. And before you try to remind me, I know I didn’t mention Scandal and How to Get Away with Murder, but again, I am talking about POSITIVE roles and in my opinion, while these shows make for good soap opera watching, I don’t exactly see them as good positive role models.

To wrap up, to anyone in a BGLO, I understand your anger.   I understand your passion to not allow that show to drag down your good names. However, this is a natural progression based on what has already been allowed.   TV has been allowed to degrade ordinary citizens, our entertainers, our athletes and our role models.   I feel that it shouldn’t not have taken this to happen before people got angry at how their image was used to broadcast us to the world. Only now when they start attacking established Black organizations did people get angry. Do not be hypocritical in your stance. If you go after one, then you need to go after them all.   Stop supporting these shows that allow us to make fools of ourselves on TV.   The reunion fights, the cattiness, the degradation and exploitation of Black men and women, and so on.  The real life lawsuits and arrests that come at cost of filming a fake reality.  Each and every one of those shows on misrepresents ALL of us.  We have allowed ourselves to be exploited for far too long and I am sure, Esther Rolle, Isabelle Sanford and so many who came to put positive images in our homes and who still won’t get the credit they deserve, would be angry at how far TV have been allowed to let us regress.

A lot of people may say that the other shows ‘do not represent them’ but let’s remember one thing. When you took your letters, swore your oaths and so on, it stopped being about the individual. Regardless of what you do, if you are in letters, people associate that first before they associate the individual. Same rule applies when it comes to these shows. The world doesn’t see, Monica, Tamar, Nene, Portia, Kenya, Snoop, Deion, Ray J or T.O.   All they see are Black people.