*ABC’s “Bachelor” franchise, which has been criticized and even sued for its severe lack of minorities, is the target of a new social media campaign launched by a woman trying to be the first African American in franchise history to hand out roses.
Misee Harris, a 28-year-old pediatric dentist from Tennessee, has fired up a Facebook page to help in her endeavor.
Harris – who does charity work and loves sports – was actually chosen to be a contestant on “The Bachelor” but bowed out for fear of being the “token” black chick, reports Jezebel.
As previously reported, there were four black contestants vying for Sean Lowe’s hand this season.
Please excuse the long comment but I felt it needed to be said. This article caught my attention so I decided to take a look at some of the things she’s shared about herself on-line. To say the least, Misee is beautiful and intelligent, respects herself, is aspiring and wants to be a role model for our youth. I would Love for her to fulfill one of her dreams by being the first Black woman to be ‘The Bachelorette’. And if we were living in a just, equal and balanced society, even though I’m not into much tv and so-called reality shows, I would be one of her biggest supporters. But guess what? Our society is the complete opposite of being just-equal-and balanced. And because it’s the complete opposite, most likely, the outcome as it relates to her best interest and the best interest of the community will be imbalanced, unequal and unjust. I know people will disagree, and that’s to be expected. But based on the large amounts of evidence made available to us, daily, we should be able to see where this is possibly~probably headed…and where it’s headed is this sister becoming the first Black woman to be ‘The Bachelorette’ while a white man wins as the bachelor.
“Why is he trippin?”…some may say. Well, I don’t watch much tv but when I do, what I’m seeing more and more, is “programs” that market and promote 1) the Black woman in the vicinity or coupled with a non-Black man either subtly or openly; 2) the Black man in the vicinity or coupled with a non-Black woman either subtly or openly; and 3) the token Black woman and/or man in a group of non-Blacks in social or work settings. I understand this does happen in real Life but not nearly as much as it’s shown on tv as compared to what’s not shown. I rarely see a group of sisters during a night out or in a home setting, etc., having a good, respectable ‘time’ together in peace…and the same goes for the brothers– but this happens enough to market it more. So why don’t they? The more they market it, the more it will happen and be accepted…and racism is not designed to promote Black Unity. Is it just me but has anybody else picked-up on how this society aka ‘The Media’ is instead pushing interracial relationships more and more? Is it just me but has anybody else seen more and more bi-racial people placed out in front? I’m curious. And think about the last ‘time’ you’ve seen a Black couple together where they’re both medium- to-dark brown AND they look happy together AND they represent themselves together sensibly WITHOUT one of them (usually the woman, by design) being upset or disappointed or looking/acting like “whateva!” Don’t get me wrong, it is shown but not nearly as much as light/dark together or the Black man looking like a coon with big eyes acting silly (prime example: Kevin Hart on the Home page) or the Black woman talking loud and snapping her neck. Granted, some of us really do act like this but many more don’t – this goes for all races…but it’s ‘The Media’ that in many cases is the only source other people can or choose to go by that represents the Black community. So at the end of the day, they equate what they see on tv-in magazines-on the Internet with what is real, and the “only” thing that is real. Remember, now, these are “programs”. You may ask, what are they programming? The answer is YOU and them [unless the person watching is Aware and understands exactly what is happening].
Stop right there. Before I try to make my point and move on, please know and understand – PLEASE understand – that I am NOT caught-up in the light-skin vs. dark-skin foolishness…that’s foolishness created by racism to keep us divided. A person’s skin color is not important to me because all colors are beautiful in their own unique way. Also, I am NOT prejudice against bi-racial people, white people or any other race of people. I Love and accept All people because I know that we are All extensions of The One Source~The Creator. [Note: I'm definitely not a racist either because (1) racism requires prejudice and (2) racism is just a less-offensive term used instead of 'white supremacy' and I’m not white.] Based on the articles and comments I read on this site, other sites and hear amongst friends, family and out in public, what we as Black people have the biggest problem with is RACISM/white supremacy. THAT IS WHAT I DO NOT LOVE – IT’S THE #1 PROBLEM. I don’t have an issue with her wanting to be ‘The Bachelorette’ nor a Black man or Black woman being married to or being with a non-Black man or woman. I have a problem with the hidden agendas behind it, underneath it and what will happen to us as a people if interracial marriage and dating becomes more and more prevalent and accepted which is why it’s marketed and promoted in the first place. It goes much deeper. But common sense tells us that what happens to anything…ANYTHING…when it is mixed – over and over – with something else other than what it is/was to begin with, eventually, it will no longer exist…period.
I think we all – well, nearly all – can come together and agree that racism has never helped us, is not helping us now and will never help us…it is and was designed to do the exact opposite. So, since we have all the evidence we’ll ever need to justify why we feel this way, it seems the best thing WE can do is simply not allow it to happen nor continue. How can we do that? First, WE can begin to become Aware of how racism works against us by recognizing that what “looks” one way is, or can be, just as easily something else. In other words, WE must begin to look more closely and be more focused on what is actually happening. Here are a couple of examples out of many: 1) Politicians are not put into office to help people, especially Black people, they are put there to help Business, most importantly ‘Big Business’ (They give ‘the people’ band-aids when we require surgery) and 2) The modern prison system is not designed to protect ‘the people’ by removing criminals from society – if so, crime would be far less of a problem…they are designed to do primarily two things which are to reinforce ‘Big Business’ by increasing the need for goods and services caused by the increase in the prison population that is disproportionately made up of Black males…and by disproportionately imprisoning Black males, various results occur like dividing families and causing an extreme imbalance in the Black man/woman unit which can cause an internal imbalance within the woman, cause an internal imbalance within the man due to the entire unnatural prison survival experience, cause our babies to grow-up under an imbalanced parenting situation or under little parenting at all therefore possibly causing an imbalance in their behavior which can possibly cause an extreme imbalance in the union of the child’s feminine/masculine essence possibly and more easily leading them to falsely identify themselves as homosexuals, in the end, depleting the Black Family of healthy, natural woman and man relationships. Those are but a few results from two examples. Now we can more clearly see how and why we’re in the position we’re in as a people.
And it’s because of the ways that racism works against us, something as simple (in appearance) as a young Black woman wanting to be ‘The Bachelorette’ bothers me– it’s because I see and understand the agenda…an agenda which, in the end, will directly/indirectly affect our young girls and young women who watch and are exposed to it, indirectly affect our young boys and young men who watch and are exposed to it, the family structure we have left will directly/indirectly be negatively affected by it and it will directly/indirectly affect the mindset of the Black woman, in general, if she watches it and is not aware of what is being done. We’ve got to take a closer look at what’s happening so WE can help each other and ourselves reverse the affects of racism by identifying where it is, why it’s there and what it’s ultimately set-up to do.
She has every right to campaign for this so shut the f**k up! It’s time we see more of these Bachelors and Bachelorettes who are minority and mixed race people. Enough with the bland White ones.