When and where I enter, then and there the entire race enters with me.
It's too bad Sherri Shepherd hasn't read this quote from Anna Julia Cooper since it's not in the Bible. Come to think of it, based on her statements on The View, homegirl needs to expand her reading list.
I'm actually pining for the days when Star Jones was sitting at that table.
Sherri Shepherd is not only an embarrassment to herself, she's also an insult to every intelligent Black woman in this country, myself included.
Every time she says something ignorant and stupid, she not only provides fodder for our detractors, she gives them ammunition to validate every negative thing that our detractors have ever written, uttered or thought about African-Americans regarding our intelligence.
My displeasure with her predates the insultingly stupid 'I ain't having my son wear a dress' comment in reference to a discussion on transgender children. As a teacher's kid, I have a low tolerance for naked displays of ignorance. Seeing this from Ms. Shepherd on a narionally televised TV show and justifying it by hiding behind the Bible just works my last nerve. I'm a Christian, but I don't subscribe to the view (pardon the pun) that you must turn off your brain to express your faith. For example, Dr. King was not only a great minister and orator, he had an intellectually keen mind as well. There are scientific references laced throughout many of his speeches. I used to enjoy talking to AC's late father in law because he was not only a distinguished geology professor, but a devout Catholic as well.
So I fail to understand why some Black Christians feel the need to buy into this white fundamentalist anti-intellectual hate on people definition of Christianity.
But back to Ms. Shepherd. I suggest you take a trip to a museum, preferably the Smithsonian in DC or the Field Museum in your hometown of Chicago, not the Flintstone's one in Northern Kentucky. A trip to the Adler Planetarium is a must as well. I would also suggest you balance your Bible reading time with books on history, geography, astronomy, human sexuality and Black history.
No check that, you need to read more books besides the Bible, period. For good measure you need to annually buy a copy of the World Almanac as well and read them from cover to cover like I do. An Internet connection wouldn't hurt you either.
Better yet, can we not only see more of Whoopi but bring back Jacqui Reid, Gayle King, or any intelligent sistah? If ABC and Barbara Walters are gonna keep this walking stereotype on the air, I want some intelligent sistahs on the show for balance.
Sherri does have braces on her brain, and she is pitiful, but Whoopi balances it out, at least for me. This woman does not know if the world is round or flat? "I never thought about it".
ReplyDeleteMonica, she is a Jehovah's Witness but I know all Witnesses are not that dumb. However, Witness members by their own rules, do not follow politics, vote, protest, or serve in the military. Sherri had said she has no clue about government or politics. So I wonder with the prez campaign and soon primaries and all going on, wouldn't Barb Walters see this coming with Sherri?
My fear is if Sherri opens a damn book or she starts to think outside her religious box, it will shake her to the core. Meltdown!
But not defending Sherri, but I can see the panel beating up on her about the not voting and all the ignorant things sure to escape her mouth very soon. My question is, why would Walters bring on "The View" someone with such limited views?
Jackie,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, Barbara blew it. Maybe it was a reaction to having a strong, educated (law degree from my alma mater) sistah like Star Jones on preeviously that made her for whatever reason want to go in the oppposite direction.
(FYI, Star and I were on the UH campus at the same time but didn't see much of the legal boys and girls since they were on theor own corner of the campus and had their own law library.)
Had I been making that decision I would have takem Jacqui Reid. I've liked her ever since I used to see her on KPRC-TV in H-Town and she would had made an excellent panelist on The View with her news background.
It would have chilled a lot of Elisabeth Hasselbeck's conservative propaganda, but then again, Whoopi won't let much of Liz's crap slide either.
Like you I've grown up with Witnesses, and I'm heartened to know that there are some who realize that you can't be African-American and not keep up with politics or NOT vote.
Hi Monica,
ReplyDeleteI agree; What the heck was B Walters thinking?
If the trans-gendered perspective on the issue is to be respected why would you not respect the opinion of others. I don't believe that she has braces on her brain. I believe that she has a religious viewpoint and more importantly a parental viewpoint that she is entitled to have.
ReplyDeleteWhen we get to a point that we so disparage someone because they believe that little boys should be told to not wear dresses we are in trouble. That doesn't mean that boys cannot it means that a mother who feels that she does not want to see her young son in a dress should not be demonized. She may also decide that he should not wear fur, guns and holsters, big gawdy gold chains or whatever.
Parents have a job of raising their children. That is the job. With that job comes the right to make decisions for the child. I grew up with a brother who was gay. The fact that he was gay was not an issue in my family; however my mother set standards of what was acceptable behavior in her home. As a mother she had that right as does Sherri Shephard.
Valarie,
ReplyDeleteYou're right, she's entitled to her viewpoint and how she raises her children.
The problem is that like it or not, when she's on The View she is representing us as a community.
I'm criticizing her thoughtless comments that she's made on various issues during her time on this show that expose her lack of knowledge on many issues.
I'm a Christian, and being one is NOT an excuse in an Internet knowledge age to be woefully misinformed on issues.
Speaking of transgender issues, one of the reasons this blog exists is to correct disinformation about us that much of the time is put out there by people claiming to be Christians.
Monica. Thanks for your comment. You say that when she is on The View she is representing us as a community. Who it the "us" which community is she representing. Isn't she a representative of the black female, Christian, non-internet savvy portion of America?
ReplyDeleteBelieve it or not there are intelligent people who share her views. Who represents them? I just believe that there is a difference in being thoughtless and deciding to think differently than others.
Like you said, your blog exist to dispel erroneous information. Couldn't someone with a differing viewpoint suggest that you were ignorant about biology? I'm not saying that you are. I'm saying that we become better and stronger when we can deal with the substance of someone's argument rather than characterizing and diminishing the person who made it.
I believe that is what you are asking for. Right? You want to be heard and respected for your views not because they are right and popular but because they are valid from perspective. I can choose to disagree with you are Sherri without the disagreement being a mark, show or display of your intelligence.
There is something that I teach, that I call The Six Relational Truths. One of them is:
If you cannot first assume that you just might be wrong it is impossible for you to ever be right.
Victoria,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your response.
I'm well aware of the intelligent Black people out there who share Sherri's views and REFUSE to get 'ejumacated' on various issues.
While we know those people exist in our community, the problem is that as African-Americans we ALL get painted by and judged by our detractors by the WORST of us, not our best.
That anti-education thread is probably making Carter G. Woodson and other people who painstakingly built our traditions of collective education spin in their graves.
Unfortunately the conservative 'culture of meanness' that has been fostered over the last twenty years has taken our society away from using reason and logic to debate the merits of thought-provoking questions and turned public discourse into a WWE wrestling match in which he or she who shouts the loudest wins.
As to your point that someone could make the allegation that I'm ignorant of biology, they could try, but they'd be mistaken to go that route.
If they'd put down the Bible for a minute, the science over the last decade increasingly leans in my direction as a transgender person that gender identity doesn't neatly line up with the genitalia between your legs.
So I could counter with: Possession of a penis or a vagina is not the end all or be all (nor should it be) in determining whether you have an M or F on your driver's license. Is the only way you define youself by your genitalia?
Keep those thoughtful comments coming. I'm one person as you probably guessed from this blog that ain't 'scurred' of a little intellectual exercise.