I have joked with friends, my people, that the Kardashians are Blacker than me, with the wigs, nails, grills and dialogue. For the most part, I had no intention of discussing the Kardashian effect on mamas. Watching any form of them is like watching “Charlie” (Bijou Phillip’s character in “Black and White) still in her Blackface in her late thirties. Although, like most Black women we feel stung by their appropriations of our looks, conceptualizations and just plain ole vulture culture antics. But we all know that so why blog about it… However this Jordyn Woods boomerang has caused me to weigh in. I just couldn’t say no. Starting with the concept of family and big sister-little sister relationships. As a big sister it actually instills the basis of mothering. You provide, you encourage, you have expectations that align with the little sister’s potential and goals. It is a pedestal relationship where you pray for more blessings for them at each stage of their life than you ever experienced.
All these “big sister” Kardashians are mature in age, (approaching forty lets keep in mind) and they used the hype to promote themselves, confirming rumors/stories, portraying the victim and insulting a “baby girl.” A mature sisterly bond is not cyber bullying, aggression nor capitalizes upon a individual, this is more like the treatment to a servant in their “Kardashian” court, where you clearly do not have the same rights.
Throughout, this past week “Kardashian we love the attention” spectacle there are videos and numerous posts of grown women, who always claim how hard it is to live life in front of cameras and the anxiety of unwarranted attention it brings berate a young Black woman half their age/life experience on social media. Even one utilizing Nivea’s “Don’t Mess With My Man”; the irony, as though you’ll riding looking for a sis. Using all of the finger pointing, face ticks, looks and lisps they could find on sale in the hood to deliver a message to a twenty-one year old Black girl who has done less than any of them has ever been accused of in headlines. But that’s their little sister, right….
The most disrespected and unprotected woman in American culture is the Black woman and to watch rich White women harass her with innuendos and “disses” inspired by Black artists in the company of their “my other Black friend Maliqa so I cannot be viewed as systematically racist” was intentionally disrespectful and the definition of cyber-harassment in itself from fueling rumors, creating a threatening community and spreading sexual remarks repeatedly, which is exactly what was done to Jordyn. Public postings of harassment that could be dissected for hours with a Sociology/Gender Studies class or a foundation of a lawsuit; you choose.
Now let’s talk parenting. Black America knows its fair share of marital success as well as balancing the single parent relationships or a parent not present at all with or without reasoning. However, this cupola that family is sacred, once established by a Kardashian, is laughable and non-laudable. They basically invented the reputation defense “they broke up at 12 noon and our first date was at 3pm.” To claim you are broken and betrayed by a woman of color for a future reality show storyline further instills the stereotype of the promiscuous full-body Black woman and clearly is the utilization of Jordyn as a ploy. Showing the Kardashians use the Black female body in many ways as long as it is for their means to an end. To embarrass this young twenty-one year old woman which was claimed as “family” for a publicity stunt is abuse, disrespect and disconcert of the Black woman by rich white woman as though it is the Suffrage movement once more during titled “Women’s History” month. Black women have been in the line of fire, without anyone protecting our virtue, many times before and we always survive.
Women of color have quickly entered and exited the Kardashian paradigm, famously or infamously. However, not many have represented themselves, and represented themselves well in the media regarding a scandal. Mrs. Jada Pinkett Smith gave an extraordinary platform for Jordyn Woods to speak her truth, compassionately, while putting a real face to the reality show scandal. However, I wasn’t a fan of the pleading; she owes the famous family nothing, you were pushed up on aggressively and then bashed by his baby mama and her publicity antics. It is illegal now to own a person and you do not owe them Jordyn.
Although, it was a mature direction the older Kardashian women involved should have taken, for the man involved dominately came onto on a young woman of color and relied on her youth confusion following to do and say nothing; which is exactly what she did. Nonetheless, Jordyn Woods is fortunate to have Auntie Jada along with her mama, and Uncle Willy remind her of her stock. You learn throughout life that everyone won’t be best friends forever, and you learn quickly as a Black woman to identify when you are being “led astray and bamboozled” to avoid being “hoodwinked,” and that’s a lesson money just can’t buy for the Kardashians, as they roll thru the streets of a hood in a Rolls Royce seeking culture to replicate.
Say Hey to Mama 