What Were Tyler Perry and the AP Thinking?

Tyler Perry, the 47-year-old entertainment magnate known for creating opportunities for black actors and vehicles for black stories, reportedly received backlash from the black community over his newest project, the TLC drama Too Close to Home. The show features a predominately white cast at its center.

Ahead of the Jan. 4, premiere of the second half of the show's first season, Perry called the criticism he's received from the black community for producing the show 'reverse racism.'

"That’s totally reverse racism, because it was coming from African-American people," Perry said in an interview with the Associated Press.

"I don’t know if it was because they thought I should only be giving jobs to black people. Well, I think that’s ridiculous. If you look at the hundreds of black people I’ve given jobs to and even the ones I’ve made millionaires, people of color, I just think it’s unfair.”

OK. I have problems with this -- a lot of them.

TP... 'reverse racism'? C'mon man. REALLY? There's racism and that is it. Reverse racism is fantastical at best. Part of the problem is that we need to drastically redefine racism so that we can distinguish the systemic issues of racism from individual bigotry . Merriam Webster defines racism thusly:

1 : a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race

2 a : a doctrine or political program based on the assumption of racism and designed to execute its principles

b : a political or social system founded on racism

3 : racial prejudice or discrimination

This definition is an inadequate one written by those who have never experienced the malignancy of systemic racism. Racism should be defined strictly in terms of systemic racism. Streamlining the definition of racism to reflect systemic issues will make it easier for people to understand what it is that people are talking about when they use the word. I would personally define racism as:

1 : a social construct that works through multiple levels in a society to preserve and ensure the societal supremacy of one racial segment, and in which the members of the social majority receive unearned benefits whether they tacitly or implicitly participate in the system

2 : any action, including bigotry, that supports a power structure built on racial inequality

In the discussion on racism and how it affects us as a nation and in analyzing its effect on the global community, it is of utmost importance that we take care to realize that bigotry (while sometimes a highly visible symptom of racism) and actual systemic racism are separate concepts. Also referencing Merriam Webster, bigotry is defined as the following:

1 : the state of mind of a bigot

2 : acts or beliefs characteristic of a bigot

Bigot is defined as:

: a person who is obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices; especially : one who regards or treats the members of a group (as a racial or ethnic group) with hatred and intolerance.

In short, being called nasty names is not nearly the same as being quoted higher prices for homes in nice neighborhoods, 'comply or die' policing, gentrification, cultural appropriation, or stiffer sentencing for identical crimes -- all based solely on the color of your skin. Anyone can experience the pain of racial bigotry, but everyone is not subject to systemic racism. To equate the two is a false equivalence.

I'm quite sure that some of the comments you received were bigoted, Tyler. I can sit here and imagine some of the absolutely ignorant things you've had to hear and read over this show. I get that they are ignorant and bigoted, but to term them reverse racism enables people to continue to draw that imaginary connecting line between systemic racism and individual bigotry. That imaginary line makes the conversation on race relations so difficult, because it allows people to continue to discuss apples in orange terms. If all racism is described in terms of systemic discrimination against a group or groups of people, it most certainly contains elements of bigotry. But, all bigotry and discrimination aren't necessarily based in racism.

Yes! You are absolutely right for calling out people who make bigoted, ignorant-assed comments. Just make sure your word choices don't make life difficult for those who are fighting the fight against systemic racism and working to dismantle the harmful systems and ideas that work against the advancement of marginalized peoples.

I'm not convinced, however, that the spirit of the backlash that you received was completely rooted in bigotry. Did you stop to think that your intensely loyal fan-base, may have felt a sense of abandonment? Is it not a possibility that the very people that propped you up and made you a crap-ton of money thought you might be jumping ship on them? You probably should have explained that you were presented with an opportunity to expand your business's footprint, but that it did not mean that you were abandoning your traditional target audience.

Instead of taking an opportunity to thank your audience for putting you in a position where you are being given additional opportunities to expand your brand, you made a lazy statement that alienated your core audience more than I think you intended (even though we'll keep giving you mad amounts of money). With more effort, you could have made a statement that better benefitted ALL parties. Next time lead with the artistic bit about you not seeing stories so much in terms of color. I really got what you were saying there. I agree that we need to find ways to embrace our similarities as humans being. We cannot, however, make progress through erasure.

My problems with all of this do not end with Tyler Perry. I also take exception to a well-respected news service making an ignorant assumption, and the fact that this assumption made it through every phase of the editing process.

The AP story called Perry "more color blind than ever," as Perry continued his comments.

"I’m just finding out more as I travel the country and world, the more I meet people, we’re all the same," he said. "We all got the same dramas. So I’m not seeing color as much as I did anymore in the sense of our stories. Our stories are so similar."

Morons, it is a Carl Lewis caliber leap from, "I'm not seeing color as much as I did anymore in the sense of our stories," to "I'm color-blind." WTF?! Really? That's what you really heard right there? An artist tells you that he sees similarity in black and white stories, and you hear color-blindness? Are you channeling Stretch Armstrong or Mr. Fantastic? That simple statement stretches more than spandex on a professional wrestler.

I guarantee you that Tyler Perry sees in technicolor, else the stories that he's known for creating wouldn't exist. What he's saying is that he, as a storyteller, is seeing that people's stories really are similar. He's seeing the same struggles, the connections that can bring us all together. There are still cultural differences (and these should continue to be celebrated), but the stories could be interchangeable. (TP... take notes. This is probably on the list of things that you should have said.) That's not color-blindness; that's ENLIGHTENMENT!

#racism #TylerPerry #Equality