Do not turn the presidential campaign into Spike Lee's 'School Daze'
Do not turn the presidential campaign into Spike Lee's 'School Daze'
Why I vehemently disagree with Christiana "Professional Hater" Mbakwe Medina
Update on Sept. 7, 2024: I did not think this woman could make herself more unlikeable, and yet she did. On the “Elon Effect” episode, Medina self-identified as an “Obama hater” for him being more of a political centrist but she did love how a “black woman married a rich man.” At this point, I will lower the volume to avoid hearing more clueless comments like this, and turn it up when Josh Johnson and Trevor Noah talk. I like the podcast too much to stop listening, and I love it so much more when Trevor has a celebrity guest or one of his childhood friends. Josh has a funny and politically savvy YouTube page as well. Support it here.
ORIGINAL POST JULY 28, 2024: All week, I have been enjoying hearing about women uniting around the possibility of Vice President Kamala Harris becoming the 2024 president. But the latest episode of Trevor Noah’s “What Now?” has me groaning at the frustrating self-loathing tactics that pit black women against other black women.
Quite frankly, I wish Trevor Noah’s British friend Christiana Mbakwe Medina would shut up until after Election Day. The election, and black women overall, do not need yet another colorism debate — and we definitely don’t need to harp on Kamala Harris’ hair type.
From Trevor Noah’s “What Now? podcast:
“I don’t particularly like her that much,” said Christiana Mbakwe Medina. “Honestly. She’s not my — we wouldn’t be homegirls. My hair is too natural. I’m too loud … I don’t have the silk press.”
FACT CHECK: In her interview with actress/talk show host Keke Palmer, Vice President Kamala Harris has already confirmed she does not get a silk press. She doesn’t even use a curling iron. She just uses a round brush with boar bristles.
Without even fact-checking something that trivial, Medina went on and on for the rest of the podcast episode making snarky remarks about her own natural hair versus Kamala Harris’ straight hair — as if that somehow counts against her (or for her) as the commander in chief. Not only are these thoughts bringing up the same self-hating that pits black women against each other, but a president should be more than her hair texture and the paper bag test.
I am not my hair
Whether conservative or Liberal, it takes the whole package to be considered as a president or any role within the judicial system — especially for black women. Brown-skinned Candace Owens has been the voice of conservative rhetoric, and she still wouldn’t stand a chance as the commander in chief. I’m not even being petty when I say this, but Candace Owens is not someone who would be featured in hair magazines at your local beauty shop. And Owens’ complexion leans more toward Medina’s than it does former President Barack H. Obama’s.
Meanwhile, although American voters didn’t directly select Ketanji Brown Jackson as the next Supreme Court Judge, by voting for President Joe Biden, we were essential in Justice Johnson getting the opportunity. And Justice Johnson’s hair is clearly as natural as Medina’s and as brown as both of us. That still doesn’t mean the Supreme Court Judge would automatically want to hang with the British “professional hater.” (Trevor Noah gave her this nickname, not me.)
That’s two black women with completely different politics — and not “silk press” hair.
If we were talking about somebody being a supermodel or even on a TV show, then fine, we can have this discussion about colorism and hair types. But my goal for a president has zip zero to do with how “palatable” someone is or how pretty she is.
Kamala’s face may be ambiguous but her background isn’t
Kamala Harris isn’t a passing black woman. People know that she is as proud of her Jamaican heritage as she is her Indian heritage. She is not hiding her membership in a Black Greek Organization (Alpha Kappa Alpha) and graduating from a historically black college (Howard University). She is not a biracial woman who doesn’t want to be claimed. She’s got her arms out in a welcoming hug for both groups.
Recommended Read: “Biracial and (not) proud ~ When your skinfolk don’t want to be claimed”
Instead of pointing out actual policies that Medina doesn’t like in the vice president, even during her prosecuting attorney days, she harped on the physical comfort for white people and the VP going to cotillions. (I may have missed that story, but I’ve never heard Kamala Harris say a word about cotillions. However, all sororities within the Divine 9 have their respective, fancy dinners.)
This critique was giving me vibes of the 1972 women’s caucus at the Democratic National Convention in Miami for Shirley Chisholm’s presidential campaign. That caucus was looking for a reason to not support Chisholm, and I’m not tolerating that in 2024. Focus on Kamala Harris’ political views, not whether she can get more “likes” than you on an online dating app!
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From a superficial standpoint, yes, she married a white man. But Harris’ background (outside of the sorority, alma mater and profession) also includes everything from her childhood memories of listening to Nina Simone to listening to Too Short. Who she married does not change that.
Meanwhile, it’s not like Medina’s husband is the complexion of Idris Elba. And her wedding day pictures could make her easily fit in with the Gamma Rays versus a … “non-Greek organization.” (No, I’m not going to call them that name that Spike Lee wrote in the script for dark-skinned, black women. I’ve met him in person. He’s unbearable, and I returned his autographed book the same day I bought it.) But to talk about how you wouldn’t be friends with a woman for the same kind of critiques that the podcaster could give her own husband is even more baffling.
Regardless, I don’t understand why all these snipes were made at the vice president when Medina is as equally pretty. She voluntarily chose to sound jealous and cattier than she usually does in every single “What Now?” episode, and startlingly cruel in her closing thoughts about Biden. Even worse, another black woman guest Tressie McMillan Cottom was cheering on this pettiness in the background. Thank goodness for Josh Johnson to lighten the mood.