Stacey Dash is clearly just as “Clueless” as the role she played in the popular 1995 film as Dionne, the best friend of Cher (Alicia Silverstone). On Jan. 20, Dash sat down with Steve Doocy, host of “Fox and Friends,” to discuss her interesting views on racism, Black History Month and the television network, Black Entertainment Television. Dash, who is a Fox News contributor, was invited onto the show to discuss the boycott several black actors, including Spike Lee and Jada Pinkett Smith, have proposed as a response to the lack of diversity for Oscar nominations.
When asked how she felt about the boycott, she said the idea was ludicrous. When Doocy asked why she felt that way Dash said, “We have to make up our minds. Either we want to have segregation or integration. And if we don’t want segregation, then we need to get rid of channels like BET and the BET Awards and the [NAACP] Image Awards where you’re only awarded if you’re black. If it were the other way around, we would be up in arms. It’s a double standard.” Dash not only attacked the BET and the Image Awards, but she also said that Black History month should not exist because there is no “White History Month.”
Dash’s remarks are so ridiculous that the interview almost seems like a very successful “Saturday Night Live” parody, and I am convinced that based on her remarks, she must suffer from either amnesia or a general disregard for not doing her research before making such wild accusations on television.
Firstly, whites are not excluded from winning BET Awards. In fact, last year singer Sam Smith won an Award. The BET Awards were created in response to the very thing that Lee and Pinkett Smith are boycotting — lack of inclusion.
Created in 1967, the NAACP Image Awards seek to showcase “outstanding achievements and performances of people of color in the arts, as well as those individuals or groups who promote social justice through their creative endeavors,” according to the NAACP. Angelina Jolie, Sandra Bullock, Steven Spielberg, Al Gore and many more have won Image Awards. So Dash’s statements that these awards exclude whites are just plain false.
But even if the BET Awards were limited to only blacks, that would not be a problem. Janell Ross of The Washington Post points out that a large part of BET’s existence is attributed to the fact that popular television networks such as MTV refused to air music videos created by black artists. Ironically, Dash’s career has personally benefitted from BET. She has starred in several music videos and even a BET original series, “The Game.” This weekend the television network threw an immense amount of shade at the actress, asking that she give them their check back for the show and including hashtags that read “#NeverForget” and “#YoureOneOfUs,” “#EvenIfYouDontWantToBe.”
Now to address the importance of Black History Month. The fact that it is now the year 2016 and I find myself having to argue for its relevance is very disheartening. Do not be fooled, Dash is not the only one who harbors such simpleminded opinions about this topic. In fact, I have seen several NC State students make similar remarks about Black History Month.
First of all, to the people saying that we should have a ”White History Month,” literally every other month besides February is White History Month. We were stingily handed the shortest month of the year and told to be happy about it. Not only that, but we have had to endure haphazard and vague lessons about slavery, Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks all throughout our K-12 schooling.
If the BET and Black History Month make you uncomfortable as a white individual, then good, you now know how it feels to be black and underrepresented in America. Dash stated that we are all Americans. That’s fine and dandy, Ms. Dash, but until we are all treated as equal citizens in this country, we have every right to be angry and boycott. Also, since when does being American mean that we don’t learn about American history? Schools do a phenomenal job of erasing the portions of history that make whites look bad. We learn about slavery and abolition, but we don’t learn about the creation of projects and housing discrimination. We are taught about racism as if it were a thing of the past, and not an ever-present force.
If I had not yet convinced you, I’d like to present you with an analogy. Imagine two children. The children have a cookie each. One of the children snatches the cookie away from the other. The second child, not to be easily defeated, rejoices over the crumbs and celebrates the little. The first child becomes angry, “How dare they be happy,” and snatches the crumbs. This is what it is like to be black in America.
We are often given the scraps and then berated for celebrating the little that we do have. Remember, inclusion is never important until you are the one being left out.
