Welcome To The Antione Dodson Minstrel Show

The reprehensible Antoine Dodson interview/minstrel show has been opening to rave reviews in mainstream America’s living rooms and has also become the number one video on YouTube and other sites.  There’s even a musical version that’s been viewed 2,422,813 as of this writing.  (I refuse to post the video.)

Dodson, an effeminate, loud, neck-winding Black male burst onto the media scene because of an  interview he gave about running into his sister’s housing project room to help her fight off a rapist who had climbed into her window and hopped into bed with her.

Dodson’s flamboyant interview, sprinkled with threats (aimed at the perpetrator) and “drama,” caused a national uproar and his instant fame confirmed, once again, the American mainstream’s ongoing hunger for racist caricatures and stereotypes when it comes to Black people and particularly Black men.

Even Black Entertainment Television (BET) contacted Dodson and gave him TV time to perform a hideous rap routine on the BET Awards.  The Black audience looked perplexed, witnessing what all had to believe was a glaring example of BET committing an act of Black-on-Black crime.  But would you expect anything different from BET?

Whether it’s another Black athlete in trouble or another obnoxious movie starring a Black man in drag, America took its Dodson stereotype “straight with no chaser,” as if Dodson was a legitimate representation of Black men worth glamorizing in a twisted sort of way.  For some reason, Eddie Murphy’s parading around as Rasputia in Norbit and Martin Lawrence’s Shenaynay  character came to mind when I saw the Dodson interview.   I mean, where else could he have picked up such outrageous mannerisms and language other than from movie characters?

Thanks Eddie and Martin. (By the way, never send a Black comedian with a “joke knife” to a Hollywood “Image Gunfight.”  The Black comedian will sell Black people out for a few laughs every single time.  One could only wish that the rest of the Black buffoons would have a conscience like Dave Chappelle and cut it out.  But I digress.)

How do Black men explain Dodson to their young sons?

Son:  What’s that (Dodson), daddy?

Black Father:  That’s a Black man that’s given up, son.  He let America’s Emasculation Hammer knock him down and out for the count.  Son, whether you’re sitting in school or out at work, America, through the American Media, is going to call you – by showing you in a negative light – stupid, violent, and even try to convince you that you ought to try being a girl.  And “they” ain’t gone neva get off of your back until you accept your fate, that you’re a nobody, and you quit – so you might as well be ready to fight at any time and place.  Even your own people are going to try to hurt you, lie about you and demean you because they’ve learned to hate anything and everything Black, especially if it’s something positive.  Black men like Dodson and most of the brothas that have succumbed to the streets and found themselves in and out of prison have quit.  The prison system tells them when to get up, when and what to eat, and when to go to bed.  But don’t you quit, son.  It’s better that you stand and fight than die on your knees.

I say shame on the reporters who did follow-up interviews with Dodson.  One tried to accuse those who complained about her interviewing him of censorship.   And shame on Dodson.   Black people always step in and take the lead in their own demise.    Dodson acts as if he’s a celebrity now, enjoying all the attention.

It’s obvious he is being exploited (and he has to be somewhat aware of this) as a glorified stereotype in White America’s mind: he’s poor, Black, ignorant, flaming gay, and unapologetic.  Like any stereotype, Dodson’s persona is simplistic in nature and a Black Character Assassination Time Bomb that will continue to explode across the Internet and other mainstream media forever.

What’s dangerous about stereotypes is that they’re easier to internalize than positive, normal images of Black males in the media.  Little Black boys and girls deserve to see positive Black male role models.  However, you cannot watch a movie, TV show – especially on Black-run networks like BET, TV One, and Centric TV – and not see some Black male hairdresser or stylist following some Black woman around like he’s some sort of pet (think NeNe Leake’s Dwight; and Lisa Raye’s live-in cousin; even Monique’s opening promo shows a Black male stylist switching around like a woman).

No wonder so many Sistah’s can’t find a man; they’re confused.  They don’t need an “Obama man,” a skiddish Black man who won’t speak up about race or on behalf of his people – they need a Black man who will stand up and speak up for his family and his people.  But you see, Black women like “floss” and Obama’s powerful, rich and famous.

The reality is that Dodson is part of a generation of young boys who like to act like girls, street fighters, and Black female Internet booty shakers.   This generation also has a groundswell of Black girls bopping around holding their crotches, looking like boys, pimping teenage Black girls online and offline.  Not to mention, so many middle class Black kids are imitating the derogatory aspects of so called ghetto life (not all bad, but an example of the U.S. government, as well as the Black middle class, failing a large segment of the Black population, poor Blacks).

Black people have lost their ever-loving minds.

So the question that Black people must ask is: is it too late for us to save ourselves?