Fox News: There Are no "Non Angry" Black Women

I'm sorry y'all we posted about this over at Michelle Obama Watch early this morning and someone reminded me that folks over here might not know. Fox News of all channels was attempting to have a conversation about the portrayal of Michelle Obama in the meid and in the discussion about her being branded an Angry Black Woman, Cal Thomas, a contibutor basically said that there aren't any Black women who are not angry. His examples were Maxine Waters, Cynthia McKinney and Black mothers whose children have been killed and appear ANGRY on the evening news. now whose fault is it that that he had so few examples? Here is the transcript and a link to the full video.

THOMAS: I want to pick up on something that Jane said about the angry black woman. Look at the image of angry black women on television. Politically you have Maxine Waters of California, liberal Democrat. She's always angry every time she gets on television. Cynthia McKinney, another angry black woman. And who are the black women you see on the local news at night in cities all over the country. They're usually angry about something. They've had a son who has been shot in a drive-by shooting. They are angry at Bush. So you don't really have a profile of non-angry black women.

(CROSSTALK)

PINKERTON: Oprah Winfrey.

THOMAS: Oprah Winfrey. Yes, there you go, Oprah Winfrey.

Dear Fox News,

Please hire more Black folks or something because I don't know if y'all are going to make it to November at this rate. Terrorist fist jab, Baby Mama, There are no Black women who are not angry? I mean seriously. It isn't even July yet.



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Comments

[Chris]

Sorta offtopic, but if you notice: every woman on Fox News is a blonde.

Even Greta Van Sustren.

[La Belle Femme]

I'm so tired of Faux Noise.

[nineanais]

More than once, this blog has forced me to watch Fox News and I don't know if I should thank or scold, but I had to get these comments in context. Cal Thomas was trying to say that the only images we see are of angry black women and he has a point. I think that image is perpetuated by the media and (for once) Cal Thomas caught on. Does he believe that all black women are angry? Probably. However, if someone that right-leaning can see the consistency in media images, you have to give him some credit for being bold enough to say it. Unfortunately it was not well received. Fox News is not at all about the news, but it's a gift. It gives insight into how a LOT of people think in this country, and we need to stop ignoring the possibility that these people constitute a majority. Bush being elected once may have been a fluke, but twice? Shame on us all. Many may be scared to admit that so many of our countrymen agree with the commentators and "journalists" on FNC, but the numbers speak for themselves. We need to take a minute and stop being so appalled that people are so "ignorant" and start trying to understand them and do something about it.

[msladydeborah]

I believe that we are also seeing the affects of white fear and guilt. It is coming out in a remixed old school media package. Designed for a viewing audience that has been raised to have that mindset about people of color period.

Fox News is good at getting and keeping national attention on its press coverage. From all sectors of the society. Shock journalism that knows no boundaries. It is an organization that thrieves on the attention that it receives from the public. No one had to school them on the use of baby's mama and what it implied. It is like scolding a child who intentionally misbehaves to get your attention. It is obvious that it was done to draw attention to their coverage.

The tools are available for us to counter that imagery. There are some very talented sistahs on the net. Who have already produced from out of anger and outrage. There are some very well thought out sistahs who are prepared and willing to do battle against whatever ceiling or wall we are facing.

Given how the media has already included and excluded black journalist, I am not sure that hiring black folks will improve the coverage at Fox. Given how the network functions, I see the image of an outrageous or always angry black commentator.

The black woman's battle within the MSM, is a big one. The type of coverage, the lack of coverage, the imagery, the stereotypes and the messages that generate out into the public is like a major civil war battle.

We are not just keeping an eye on how Michelle's image is being projected by the media. We are also watching ourselves being packaged as well.

I also believe it is up to black women to counter that image by creating attention to our good works.

The beauty of technology in my mind is the allowances that it creates.
There are film makers, radio broadcasters, publishers that can also generate focus on black women from our perspectives.

This could also be the time when the stranglehold we have been locked into can be broken. I expect that before we see the end of national campaign, there is going to be some major battles fought among this society about mindsets, imagery and attitudes concerning black women and men.

We have that task of being warriors within our race, with others of the same gender, and the national population.

When I consider that we are all stepping out on different American turf, the question is: Are we truly prepared for the fight?

[Anxious Black Woman]

I agree with msladydeborah. Fox News is probably the most "honest" we're going to see white folks talk about racial politics. As a matter of fact, looking over the video, I have to agree with Cal: most of our images ARE as "angry black women." There's no getting around that, and much of the criticism leveled against Michelle is all about painting her as some angry black woman.

The question is: now that Faux News has created this discourse about us, what are we going to do as a counterpoint? And, I also agree: hiring more black journalists is not the answer. At least with white conservatives, we know what we're going to get (as opposed to "liberal" whites who always surprise us because their racism is so repressed, it comes out at unexpected moments).

[G. Rivers]

I don't believe the discussion at Fox News was purely to state that the majority of black female images are angry, it was an attempt to connect the "angry black female images", which in many of the commentators minds is a standard, to Michelle Obama. Mentioning that those images are in the MSM is one thing, but he also mentioned Cynthia McKinney and Maxine Waters and called them angry. Why are they angry, but while male congressmen Jim Webb, Robert Byrd, heck even Ted Kennedy are passionate?

While I am offended by this persistent view of black women as angry, I am equally taking the black community to task for the existence of this stereotype. Even when we are in control of certain images by way of movie or other media content developed by black people the "angry black woman" character is ALWAYS present. We can't black that on news outlets. In fact, I'd say that this stereotype is largely promoted by black men.

[DROCK]

The media does mostly show images of angry black women, or black women fussing, fighting and cusing on reality shows. So when they see Michelle Obama, they don't have a category to put her in so they will try to portray her as angry also. But in her case, I think it will backfire because WE are not going to stand for it..

[Pecola]

I agree, Cal Thomas was pointing out a trend without endorsing it. If you watch carefully, he actually says, "So you don't really have a profile of non-angry black women of who there are quite a few." The last half of that sentence is spoken over by the rest of the panel. And I agree with him. MSM LOVES showing the image of the angry black women.

On a side note, I've also noticed that if I am in a political debate with a commenter on a message board who knows I am a black woman, they suddenly ask why I'm "so angry." As long as we're not donning aprons and smiling through ten layers of makeup, and as long as Michelle Obama is not silently gazing at her husband with her eyes batting, it's a stereotype that won't go away. I call it "Omarosa'ing."