Be Careful With What You Call Coonery
I am not a television person at all. In fact I miss my favorite shows unless I’m reminded that they’re on. Since my ultimate favorite show, “Girlfriends” left The CW, television has been almost nonexistent in my life. Well, except for Tuesday nights at 10 p.m. My new guilty pleasure is watching “The Tiny and Toya Show”. I’m quite sure that I will also be sitting in front of my TV when “The Frankie and Neffie Show” airs.
When I watch these shows I don’t see people like Tiny, Toya, Frankie, and Neffie as “ghetto” or as “coons”. I see them as women who have been through trials and tribulations just like every other normal human being.
After watching an episode of “The Tiny and Toya Show” as well as a preview of “The Frankie and Neffie Show” I started to think. I thought about how tons of people are calling these shows “coonery”. BET has actually picked up more flack than they already have gotten due to the airing of these two TV shows. I think that some Black people specifically tend to categorize TV shows that depict people who would be considered “ghetto” as “coonery”.
When I watch these shows I don’t see people like Tiny, Toya, Frankie, and Neffie as “ghetto” or as “coons”. I see them as women who have been through trials and tribulations just like every other normal human being. I also see courageous women who are strong and liberated enough to share their trials and tribulations with millions of viewers. Regardless of the fact that these women may be loud, “country”, emotional, and dramatic I see the beauty in their struggles.
What I also see in these women is a few of my family members. I can name several people in my family who hold some of these same characteristics. I also can name several people in my family who have been through some of the same things that they have been through. What’s funny is I know I’m not the only one. So my question is why do we sometimes peg a show that easily reflects some of our closest loved ones or people that we know as “coonery”?
Is it that these shows sometimes hit too close to home? Or could it be that these shows depict parts of ourselves that we often try to reject?
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I really think it was a joke!!! Lighten up!
Met, btw, so far I have not seen either Tiny or Toya act loud and obnoxious. Tiny is actually rather reserved and Toya’s lighthearted. Don’t confuse this with Real Housewives of Atlanta, which actually deserves criticism.
Are stereotypical images a problem in media portraying Black people? Yes. But are we as a community sometimes uneccesarily critical of other Black people and paint them in the same broad strokes other white people have? Damn right.
Again, let’s give our shows a shot every now and then before we start using the same unjust stereotypes. I remember when Stomp the Yard came out Black folks talked about how coonish it was..before the movie came out! In reality, the film was inspirational and made me want to look further into the history of frats/sororities. It honored an African tradition, had quality directing, and did well in the box-office.
We are essentially sounding just like non-Blacks and doing the whole prejudicial job for them while using their language on top of it.
I love this article G. I also love your questions. Whats funny is the same people who call Tiny and Toya ‘ghetto’ are JUST AS ‘ghetto.’ Now we have to then think about how we perceive words like ghetto–i really dont have a definition b/c i see as nuances of your upbringing, the colloquialisms you use, etc. And these are things that I have learned to EMBRACE! i mean I’m not tryna walk around loud or nothing all the time. Man, my mind can take this in multiple places–let’s define ghetto as being ‘thinking and actions that you carry from your hood.’ <–basic and not the best definition. So what people do is put down what is ‘ghetto’ to make themselves feel better even if they are living in the heart of it or around the corner from it. Im learning it’s certain things from the hood (defining all of detroit as the hood lol) that I need, that I want but there are some things that i can do away with it b/c i don’t find them healthy for me…
grrr i wanna keep this concise.
One thing I don’t like is them being looked at negatively b/c of their accents. We in the north, especially place like Michigan can be as country as they come because of our roots. If we go to the West coast people will call us country. But it’s this degree–I’m not AS *blank* as them. And so being country is sometimes equated to not being smart, so connect ‘country’ to ‘not being smart’ to ‘ghetto’, you have a formula that everyone thinks they can tear a part. But it’s a stereotype and ridiculous and just another way for us to divide and put down others b/c of their own ignorance. Know what i mean? There is an accent hierarchy in this country, a right way to speak english measured against Standard American English and it’s so wack.
idk, this is too long. but people need to grow up. maybe im biased b/c i like tiny and toya so thats why im going so hard, but really people are judging people who mirror them in some way.
gosh this is too long! ok thats it for now
Everybody has a place but unfortunately for blacks…negative images is all I see.
But TV is changing for everyone. They just cancelled ALL MY CHILDREN!!!! How does that happen. White actors are now competing with reality stars. Seems that the only demographic not falling into the coon-ni-lization are the Koreans and Indians.
Hmm. . . as a black African, no one on these BET shows represent a member of my family. No one can tell me that hardship turns you into what I see on these shows. My family, being immigrants, have seen hardships. They have endured more crap from fellow black people then from whites. They have had to deal with crap because they had strong accents, despite being college educated (Master’s level). I don’t agree with this article. Maybe it does represent black Americans, but to say all blacks have relatives like this. . . no ma’am.
Everyone has problems not matter who they are, what religion they choose or not choose to practice, what careers they hold or where they live. The hue of our skin is not exempt from problems either. Perhaps minorities and poor people have more problems then others, but they are not immune. It is life and for me to believe that these people who choose to air their problems publicly differ from anyone else, is totally canard. Well, perhaps I’m wrong. Uh huh, perhaps in a perfect world.
@Mariah: I get so sick of people like you. I understand there are huge differences between black americans and african black people, but by making ignorant, smug comments like yours you are doing nothing but furthering the divide. i am sure you know this, and that you don’t care, ma’am.
eloquently put anonygrl. i’ve been trying to figure out how to write what you just said.
Yes, eloquent indeed. In any case, you don’t offer any alternative to what I said. What was smug? Saying that my parents are educated? Saying that not ALL blacks have relatives like that? The article above put black people in a box. I simply let my opinion be known that no, not all blacks are like that or have relatives like that. Be specific if you are going to judge my comment.
Now, what I HATE are people that roll their eyes and ignore the FACT that there is a significant gap between black Americans and other blacks, specifically those from Africa. My comment did nothing to alter that gap. It is no bigger or smaller than before I left that comment. We don’t even have to go to the Mother Land to see the divide. Look at how Rhianna was thrown under the bus by black women! Many of whom repeated tired, ridiculous, stereotypes of the “loud, aggressive, Caribbean ” girl.
I’ve said my piece.
@Mariah: it has nothing to do with your parents being educated, it’s interesting that you would think that’d be my problem with your comment. i just noticed that in the need to talk about, “well MY family isn’t like that” you then made BROAD generalizations about american black people, i’ll quote you:
“Maybe it does represent black Americans, but to say all blacks have relatives like this. . . no ma’am.”
not all american black people behave this way either. every group of people have those who fulfill a stereotype, but it seems like others are always so happy to highlight those in american black folks and then proclaim how “well i’m not like them.” what you did in that comment would be no better than me getting my worldview of africa from the infomercials i see on my tv at 1am, or to counter your argument about *your8 family being educated with all of those who aren’t–who are not in the US, but i don’t. i don’t feel the need to down others while raising myself up.
“Look at how Rhianna was thrown under the bus by black women! Many of whom repeated tired, ridiculous, stereotypes of the “loud, aggressive, Caribbean ” girl.”
most of the people i know were completely on rihanna’s side and thought what chris brown was horrible and thar there was NO excuse for it. however, i did see on gossip sites some people saying he must’ve been “provoked” or that, “oh, rihanna makes songs about fighting men, i bet she’s a spitfire.” and do you know who most of those comments came from? black women? men? no–white people. but i forget white people never od anything wrong and it’s just *black people never getting along.*
@ceecee: thank you!
@anonygrl Im going to have to disagree. If you look back at the archives for Chris Brown and Rihanna articles on this site alone you would be surprised at the overwhelmingly negative remarks and bashings about Rihanna posted by FEMALES!
@Mariah As a woman of Nigerian and African American descent I see your point, but I don’t think the author was trying to put everyone in a box, she is simply stating that she and many people know family members like Toya, Tiny, Neffe and Frankie It’s not even a Black or a White thing. It’s a humanity thing.
That being said, I did watch the Toya and Tiny show and it wasn’t that bad. I didn’t see anything “coon like” in their behavior. Don’t know about Neffe and Frankie but if it’s anything like the Keyshia Cole show I don’t want to see it.
I believe the problem lies in the lack of balance. There is a lack of African Americans being portrayed on prime time tv. Period. There is no Girlfriends, Living Single, Cosby Show or Everybody Hates Chris. However, there are enough reality shows (Thanks VH1) with us shaking our rumps, fighting each other or acting a damn fool over some washed-up celebrity. It can be frustrating and I think that’s why people put Frankie Neff Toya and Tiny in the coon category.
It doesn’t surprise me that there is a lack of balance on this so-called Black Entertainment Television channel because it hasn’t been owned by “Us” for a long time…
Once again black women can dish it out but NOT TAKE IT YOURSELVES!! You rush to agree when some HAS BEEN white female and hypcorite attacks black men but when YOU face criticism out come the millions of excuses for how YOU act. Or you start whining about how you don’t ‘care’ what white people think unless they are targeting BLACK MALES right,right?!! And as for Chris and Rhianna I didn’t see ANY sympathy for Stacy Dash from black women when her WHITE husband beat on her guess she wasn’t ‘worthy’ of the outrage.
the only problem i have with these ‘type’ shows is that it’s the only shows being “picked up” by the networks. there is no balance. for every ‘frankie and neffe’ there needs to be a ‘different world’. for every basketball wives there needs to be a living single. i know those shows are really old but thats my point. when other races view these shows thats how some view our race as a whole. they dont have any other examples. of course we as black people can relate, as well as know that we are not all like that. but middle america suburbia may not have a huge exposure to black people so all they have is whats imported via tv/internet. ie, sports figures, bet vh1, news. and i dont see a ton of publicity for whats being done in the black community thru the previous examples. you may get a little [pub] to trickle thru but not more than the promos you’ll get for a fight on the reunion show of basketball wives. there’s just no balance. i think shows being aired that come with this reality show type format based on a ‘girl from the hood makes good’ or ‘gold digger’ concept is completely lost on the average (non-black) viewer who doesn’t have anything to base it against. which in turn angers some black people and urges their emotions to call it coonery or buffoonery because its adding to the perception placed on black people in society.