We’ve been here before, too many times before with Raven-Symoné spewing ignorance that she thinks is witty humor. We all tilt our heads, slanting our eyes and furrowing our brows into an epic side eye as we collectively exhale at the idiocy of Raven-Symone. Whether she is telling us that she is not Black or African American because she is from “every continent” in Africa or justifying the racist remarks of a Univision host who compared Michelle Obama to an ape, we knew that Raven being added to the cast of hosts on The View, was not going to be good. We rolled our eyes as The View hopped on the road of trolling for clicks via controversial ignorance with Raven-Symone as their go to girl.
Pause. Who the hell does Raven think she is??????? pic.twitter.com/f8Mf0JzJC5
— Ash Rouen (@ashrouen) October 9, 2015
Today on the buffet menu of what-can-Raven-say-that-is-completely-asinine-now: we have Raven, one who identifies as a Black lesbian perched upright with a cockadoo styled red mohawk and brightly painted purple lips, admitting that she would not hire someone based on their name. So says the one with the arbitrary accent on her hyphenated first name that reworks the classic spelling of “Simone.” That’s so Raven. Lets clap for adding one more way to oppress people, and by people I mean Black people because Raven used the example of “Watermelondrea,” ok sis. Watermelondrea is the fictional character portrayed by YouTube comedian Tré Melvin as a caricature of a crass-mouthed, not too bright Black woman.
What’s so amazing about Raven-Symoné, is how much she believes in and vocalizes narrow-minded respectability politics, while in reality living so far out of the bounds of what her own moral code book. She laughingly admits to being “discriminatory” because…funny…and then in a sorry but not sorry fashion fails to see what her words really mean. By Raven’s own standards she isn’t worthy of respect. Judging someone by their name is a supreme prejudice that blindly revokes ones rights without any consideration to the actual human being. Who named you Raven-Symoné? Did they council you after the age of 18 about what name you would like to legally be known by? Who decided to add a ‘y’ and (silent) e-acute to Simone? Right, your parents, typically at birth. It does not denote your education, status, or work ethic, only that you’re parents thought it was a good name, whether it be for it’s meaning, inspiration or cultural value and you’re comfortable with it. Ripping ones pride in their name from them because of your discriminatory practices, is absurd.
Discrimination based on name is a deeply ingrained facet of respectability politics that many of us passively carry on. I, myself, have been guilty of turning my nose up at various names, spellings and pronunciations, but I refuse to proudly own that fault, instead working towards doing better and letting go of a prejudice. I don’t puff up my chest, ask you to identify it as “discriminatory” instead of “racist” and then assert that I have the domain to deny a person based on their name. Rather I think about what my words mean and how my actions matter, seeking to just be overall a person of good intentions and integrity. Is that too much to ask of Raven dash Symoné as she attempts to inflect what she believes is intelligence on cultural conversations that air on national television? Maybe it’s too much to ask that someone think of the world out side of self, because that’s not enough controversy for The View to use a clickbait.
This is when Raven decided she had enough of our shit & now she’s with the beige people trolling us on The View. pic.twitter.com/BaUbup47i0 — Nessa. (@curlyheadRED) June 15, 2015
