Black Girls Don't Get Rewarded for Being Mediocre
“It’s different for you and I. I’m an African-American woman. You get to walk around and be mediocre and you still get rewarded with things. We have to be exceptional to get anything in this business,” Omarosa said.
Put the boxing gloves on for this never ending saga. The dueling rivals, Omarosa and Bethenny Frankel are back at it and this time the race card is thrown onto the table.
During an interview on “Bethenny ”, Omarosa shares why she believes it’s hard for Black women to catch a break. In her opinion, it’s because white women are stealing the shine, bedazzled in mediocrity.
As the studio camera takes a quick glance at the audience reaction, the crowd is vocally displeased with Omarosa’s statements. Between the heckling and series of boos, one can only notice that Bethenny’s target audience is predominantly white women and would obviously be there to cheer on the woman of the hour.
Omarosa can be quite long-winded, therefore she did not have an ample amount of time to express much of her thought. She instead tells Bethenny in a roundabout way that her opinion is based on “truths” and religious facts. Long story short, Omarosa failed to substantiate her claim that white women attain fame by simply being simple.
I will give Omarosa some help by attempting to elaborate in my own words.
Many of the accolades given to African-American women, especially in the entertainment industry, do indeed stem from great works. No one is going to let a Black woman walk away with a huge honor without making her fight for it. If you look back at this year’s Emmy Awards, Kerry Washington had to fight tooth and nail just to get a nomination.
I don’t make that speculation because of her acting talents, rather the obvious fact that it took nearly two decades for another African-American woman to be nominated for best actress in a drama.
I cannot go down the list of who’s been in the category since 1995 but surely by 2013, someone should have snagged it. Luckily shows like “BET Honors”, the “NAACP Image Awards” and “Black Girls Rock” continually recognize the contributions of African-American women in society.
Glorified, white reality stars and one-hit wonders that attain great fame don’t hang onto that title for very long. If you notice, they’re the ones infamously shown in the media acting as a buffoon just to keep an ounce relevancy. African-American women with great honors seemingly strive to outdo themselves with something a little better than before.
My competition lies within, not with anyone else.
There will always be someone a little faster, a little stronger and maybe a little prettier than you, however you are your toughest competitor. A new day yields a second chance to outshine the day before. Challenge yourself. That is the best way to be rewarded. Your gift is homespun growth and excellence.
The rest will always fall into place.
If there is an ounce of truth to Omarosa’s statement, then it’s really not a negative thing, depending on how you see it. All women should be pushed to be exceptional. Setting the precedence at average is not an option. At the end of the day, no one remembers mediocre.
Tyler Young is a Morning News Producer in Charlotte, N.C. She's a 2010 graduate of Winthrop University and loves writing in her spare time. Her motto: Be Original. Be Free. Be You! Follow her on Twitter @sheistyler /www.sheistyler.blogspot.com
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