[on the roles given black women in tv/film, with focus on a couple from about 2004-2011]

A while back, I started a poem called “The Black Girls Club”.  It was inspired by the feeling that when you’re a Black woman living in a America, it’s like you’re part of a club.  You don’t remember signing up for it.  It doesn’t have a specific charter or goal.  Everyone else always seems to be on the outside looking in, sometimes whispering, sometimes yelling.  They pick apart your clothes, hair, and flesh like vultures.  You feel like the wealthy celebrity who can’t catch a break in the media.  You feel like the poor girl who can’t catch a break at school.

And though some people do worship the ground you walk on, most people just loooooooove to hate you.

Our own dear Llama who comments here at the bar recently emailed me about Person of Interest starring Taraji P. Henson.  You remember that one…you know, where Henson was left off the cover of TV Guide when it covered the show, and the editor issued that standard no-pology which made your stomach want to eat itself?…[continue reading more over At The Bar]