Creativity Is Innate, Not Forced Stupidity

The history and generality of black creative excellence go way back to their undying culture of survivability. Emanating from the menace of slavery into the horrific life of segregation in a country that systematically institutionalized a variation of racial classification that exploited differences in color and appearance, black people knew they have very limited options to shine against the odds.

Armed rebellion was a mindset, but it was pretty much untenable being hopelessly outnumbered. Therefore black people had to look inward to find and summon what little slivers of tenacity and leverage to conquer the predicament as best as they could. And from that desire to survive against the odds came that creative instinct—the innate will to thrive in the midst of when body and minds are policed, silenced and brutalized–producing something out of nothing to become something. It was from that survival instinct that would later transform into today’s black creative excellence that gave birth to creative black intellectuals and geniuses in any arena you can think of, from scholarship to fashion, sports and entertainment.

If you cannot collectively kick the ass of people who perceive you as being “sub-human” and so do everything to keep you subjugated, then you are obliged to convince them of your humanity through other means. That is exactly what black culture has done and that’s the primary reason Afrikans dominate arts and humanities, not just in America, but in other parts of the world too. What an impressive achievement that continues to flourish till now, and it was born out of that undying black creative excellence.

But, NONE of that has anything to do with Tiffany Haddish eating fried chicken on the red carpet. In fact, there is nothing comical about munching fried chicken (like a hungry refugee) at a red carpet event. It is uncreative, degrading and outright foolish.

Senseless Comedian Making No Sense On The Red Carpet

Tiffany Haddish isn’t a strange name to many people that love movies and comedy shows. While she may not have that widespread popularity as an actress, she is certainly a well-known figure in the stand-up comedy segment of the entertainment industry. While she has been relatively successful in her career, the event that took place, the MET Gala 2019 Red Carpet Event shows that Tiffany (as with quite a few other foolish black celebrities in times past) understands very little or nothing about self-esteem and the reality of racial stigmatized imagery.

Now, you might be wondering, “what do you mean?” Well, let us explain and you will understand better.

Oh no, she didn’t physically harm anyone or snatch some lady’s man at the red carpet, but what she did might be worse than both.

Like every other guest, Tiffany Haddish arrived Monday at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The night was very “colorful” to say the least and decked up in her Michael Kors designed zebra-print-trouser suit, complemented by a clutch bag and hat that bore the artistic values of British Milliner, Stephen Jones, Tiffany Haddish was gloriously extra. But had the zebras in the African forest foreknew what was to follow shortly, one would have wasted no time to “morph” out of her zebra-striped trouser to deliver a “what the hell is wrong with you” super hinge-leg knockout blow to her silly ass. Unfortunately, the gods were sleeping and it was all quiet in the African forest.

Unfortunately Tiffany had her way and the unthinkable happened.

Tiffany Haddish unveiled a bag full of “Fried Chicken” she had hidden inside of her bag and started munching away on them right before the glaring view of guests and the media.

Someone who’s a sympathizer could easily excuse her nonsense and say “Hey!!! What are you talking about? Is there a law now against eating fried chicken??”

If someone really has to ask, seriously, let’s not get stupid. No, there is no written law against eating chicken nor is it a sin to eat fried chicken. But there is an unwritten law of racial stigmatization and lawless depiction of black people as slaves when a black person is filmed eating fried chicken, especially a popular figure during an important occasion.

The Fried Chicken Racial Badge Tagged Against Black Imagery

Yes, there is a fried chicken stereotype racially designed in the slave era, implanted in the minds of people even in the modern era, and is inferred whenever it occurs, to assassinate the character of black people. It depicts them as a buffoonish people, an unruly breed that no one should associate with.

This African-American and fried chicken stereotype comes straight out of the slave era. According to Claire Schmidt, a professor in Race and Folklore at the University of Missouri, fried chicken is a particular utility for slaves because they were easy and cheap to feed. Then she went on to mention the 1915 D.W Griffith racist movie called “Birth of a Nation.” The movie hailed the supposed heroics and prominence that follows the creation of the Ku Klux Klan. A particular portion of the film saw some actors depicted as shiftless negro elected officials behaving crudely and rowdily inside a legislative hall. The message of this particular scene to the audience is: “these are the dangers if blacks are allowed to vote”. The scene went on to show some of the depicted black legislators drinking to stupor and some with their feet kicked out and up on their desks. Of particular interest is one of them that was flamboyantly consuming fried chicken like there is no tomorrow.

Professor Schmidt rounded up by saying; “That image efficiently solidify what white people thought (and still think) about black people and fried chicken.”

Just as watermelon is used as a mainstay food to racially demean black people, fried chicken is also used to paint an image of black people as idiotic, buffoonish and uncouth.

Watermelon (and chicken in most cases) is a food that people eat with their hands, and therefore leaves a dirty mess. According to Schmidt, “Table manners is a social way of measuring and determining who are or who are not is worthy of respect.”

Despite the fact that fried chicken is a staple diet in America, the country is still drawn and practically exists along racial lines. So people’s mindset still revolves around such racial line of perceptions and some still see it as a way of expressing racial contempt without creating a serious backlash. Enter “closet racism.”

That is exactly the case and what followed afterwards when professional golfer, Sergio Garcia, made the fried chicken comment about his rival, Tiger Woods, by saying;

“We will have him around the house every night. We will serve Fried Chicken.”

Immediately, Tiger Woods responded to Garcia comments by calling them wrong, hurtful and out-rightly inappropriate (because he knew what Garcia meant when he mentioned “Fried Chicken”).

In return, Garcia wasted no time in providing a textbook apology for such racially motivated comments.

A similar incident happened at a private school in Northern California when officials of the school (Carondelet High School, Concord) came up with a menu meant to celebrate Black History. When the menu was announced, it contained fried chicken, cornbread and watermelon, which immediately sparked outrage amongst students and parents. The school immediately gave a public apology and withdrew the racial days’ reminder menu.

From the foregoing, it is clear that there is a connection between black people and fried chicken and that connection has its roots in racism as such that when inferred, used or demonstrated publicly evoke inferiority, depicts black people as slaves and create an image of a rowdy, lawless, manner-less, low-life breed. That is something no black person wants to be reminded of again, especially by black people who are supposed to represent that race in a respectable and reputable way, telling the black story by the way they conduct their public presence while in the course of their business.

That is where Tiffany Haddish failed miserably—a black celebrity who clownishly and happily reminded every black American what the dominant society thinks of them while thinking she was being funny and creative.

That is the sin Tiffany Haddish committed right before the entire world at a red carpet event.

When she pulled out that bag of fried chicken, she went back to memory lane and depicted the black community as buffoons who are incapable of decorum and unfit for public positions and events.

Oh yes. She stole the show as people came over to look and “admire” her, only if she can see the mockery and racial slurs most likely going on in the minds of some of those people, and the damage she was doing to the minds of black people.

The excuse she gave for bringing the fried chicken to the occasion is even more pathetic and asinine at the same time. It closely mirrored the racial mindset that revolves around the fried chicken stereotype.

“Last year there was not much food and I was very hungry. So this year, I said I would come prepared.”

You hear how stupid that sounds? If you knew you were going to be hungry, what stops you from loading your stomach at home before coming to the Event?

Okay, you don’t like going to KFC or Popeyes and you prefer to cook? Good, you should’ve been much more cognizant of how stupid you would’ve looked walking around in that “The Welfare Queen” outfit and pulling out a bag of fried chicken. It makes one wonder if she wasn’t capable of cooking some other food (and eating before the event) that still would have satisfied her hunger without attracting unnecessary attention and recreating racial imagery that mocks at the personality of black people in general? These are just some serious questions.

It is clear that at 39, Tiffany Haddish can’t differentiate between self-management and social life composition. She had so forgotten that whatever she does in the name of her blackness reflects on the rest of the black community. She thought she was funny and being creative, but black creative excellence has nothing to do with bringing fried chicken to a red carpet event. She was being buffoonish, self-inflicting and unapologetically assassinating the character of the black community. No wonder black people and other supporters have been leaving her shows recently. She is no longer funny..

Here is another stupid comment made by Tiffany;

“I’ve already called a few people that I know are going like, ’So, I’m going to bring the chicken. You bring the hot sauce, okay?’”

She said this in addition to sharing pieces of chicken with white women. If this isn’t a modern day minstrel show, then who knows what is.

Black Artists Should Be Using Their Platform To Promote Black Excellence, Not Black Degradation

Black artists should be using their platforms to not only promote black creative excellence but to create powerful counter-narratives to negative stereotypes. But what Tiffany Haddish is doing is a far cry from such expectations.

Regurgitating negative black stereotypes and reinforcing the imagery on white media apparatuses is foolish and needs to be reprimanded by black people who demand more positive imagery.

Don’t get it twisted, this has nothing to do with being politically correct or pushing respectability politics, but what Tiffany Haddish did was in no way funny, creative or pushing the envelope in any way.

No matter how popular you are, no one will take kindly to you if you should go to say Italy, Germany or Russia and raise your hand in a Nazi/Fascist salute because people everywhere hate to be reminded of their sufferings and pains in the past and present. That is what Tiffany did.

Fried chicken in and of itself isn’t racist and it is OK for black people to like and enjoy fried chicken, but when you’re a public figure and you play around with that stereotype at a major televised event, it just further pushes the negative stereotype about black people and fried chicken. If fried chicken is to be utilized in any way, it should be utilized in a way that encourages discomfort amongst racist people and creates important dialogue.

Until someone like Tiffany Haddish can stop with the nonsense and not be a modern day minstrel show, the fried chicken needs to stay at home. The fried chicken needs to stay in the house until she becomes sophisticated enough to use fried chicken (or any other food for that matter) to create food for thought instead of food for token negroes and racists worldwide. Maybe Tiffany and other black celebrities who engage in buffoonish behavior will change up in the foreseeable future, if they are forced to deal with possible empty shows and increasingly dormant bank accounts. Art and entertainment can be used to agitate while empowering or to degrade while diminishing. Choose wisely.