I was stuck for a title – “Skin is Deeper than Water”, “There is No Bad Publicity” – until I wrote them down. “A Tale of One Skin” was perfect. It happens that way. More than what I deserve. Less than what I crave.
“Condoleezza, Omarosa: A Tale of One Skin”
Unless you’re blind and deaf, or breathing in an unconscious state, you know of these two women.
And I do so swear, as long as my memory serves me (which is generally 5 minutes), every year, on April 8th, I will pay homage to them.
You understand why don’t you?
Come on. Think. Think I said. THINK.
“April 8th became an official holiday when this occurred.”
(Theme music from ‘Jeopardy’ is now playing.)
Do, do do do do do do, do Do.
Buzz.
“No one got the ‘Final BlackBerry Question?”
“Ooh, ooh, I did Alex.”
“Renee.”
“What is ‘Black Girl Thursday?’”
Bing bing bing bing bing bing bing.
We woke up –
”National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice will testify before the 9/11 commission.” CBSNews
“National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice’s testimony before the 9-11 Commission today is bound to give critics of the Bush administration more ammunition.” PhoenixvilleNews
“Panel may avoid partisanship in public questioning of Condoleezza Rice. The heads of the 9/11 commission urged members to try to avoid questions that could undermine public perceptions of their work.” Forbes
We went to bed –
”Lawmakers respond to Rice Testimony Along Party Lines.” Magic City Morning News
“Rice says the President ‘understood the threat’ of terrorism.” AtlantaJournalConstitution
And somewhere in-between –
“The notorious Omarosa might still be living in obscurity, needlessly abusing people in private rather than for our entertainment.” Wichita Eagle
“Her stint on “The Apprentice” wasn’t the first time Omarosa Manigault Stallworth heard the words “You’re fired.” People magazine says she was bounced from four jobs in two years with the Clinton Administration.” WOAI TX
“Oprah Winfrey’s famously loyal fans are scolding their idol on her own Web site for allowing hated “Apprentice” reject Omarosa to grace the hallowed TV stage while well-liked castoffs Ereka and Heidi had to sit in the audience.” NewYork Post
It went on and on and on and on.
Two Black Women.
Highly educated. Articulate. Coiffed. Coutured. Fine. Dignified. Black Women.
DOMINATED THE NEWS!!
RULED THE INTERNET!!
AND OPRAH!!
BUMPED EVERY OTHER RACE, CREED, COLOR, ETHNICITY AND GENDER SIX FEET UNDER THE OBITUARIES.
Don’t believe me? Name on other thing, just one thing that occurred on April 8th? And going to lunch with Nancy doesn’t count. And if a tragedy occurred in your life, you have our empathy.
For the rest of us … forget the music.
I’m right.
Two Black – Women – Who didn’t commit a crime (that’s supported by evidence admissible in a court of law), had game and game face.
April 8th – ‘Black Girl Thursday’
The day the world got an international view of the new Angry Black Woman. Your coming nightmare.
When most folks hear these words, it’s an immediate picture of someone loud and out of control . Drawing all kinds of attention as the object of her disaffection realizes too late – ‘I’ve gone too far. Fricked with her last ‘f’ nerve. And now, now I’m getting it.’
And there’s nothing wrong with this picture because sometimes you just have to go there. We may regret it while we’re screaming. Like an out of body experience we begin to wonder, “Who the hell is this woman acting all crazy and that!! Up in here, up in here. (Sorry, had to throw that in.) The regret may come later – ‘Dag, I wish I hadn’t gotten so ugly.’ Or it may not come at all – ‘Hmph’ and we turn our heads as a fresh new warning that the world needs to back it up. Now.
The Angry Black Woman.
When ‘I’m angry my voice gets lower and slower. E-very word enun-ci-ated pre-cisely.
Okay that’s how I want to do it. And 7 out of 10 times, that’s how it comes off. In the other 3, all hell breaks loose. Then when reason reenters my bursting brain cells, a deep breath, the eyes become cold again, and every word clips off my tongue.
The Angry Black Woman.
Hell hath no fury like the Angry Black Woman.
It’s not our world. We just barge into the sandbox because ‘it’s not nice to fool with mother nature.’
We take umph all day.
We take umph all night.
Because we gotta.
Sometimes we let it out.
Sometimes we make our point.
But there’s so much. A continual barrage. It’s the subtleties that build up. Create residue. Harden.
Until all of a sudden …
The Angry Black Woman.
Condoleezza was angry. Condoleezza’s been angry. A black female Republican. With power. In the White House. Working with a bunch of testosterone laden white ‘ride em cowboys.’ Working for a white man who has a tendency to stick his foot straight up. Yes, the race card. Being played with no apology.
Like Condoleezza. No apology.
Condoleezza was angry. Trying to do her job. Navigate the waters. Cover her butt. Cover a lot of butts. Not because there’s a cover up. The workplace is just like that. Something always happens that needs handling. So she handled things. A lot of things. And now some folks want her to explain myself? And the people around her? And not asking nicely because they have their own agendas and anger?
Condoleezza was angry.
But you never saw or see her sweat.
Even when the people who look most like you and bond over a plate of grits call you a traitor til nobody acknowledges you but your mama, and that other black man in the White House.
The Angry Black Woman.
Omarosa was angry.
You knew it the minute she went off in the limosine. She didn’t get loud, but she jumped from A to Pee-issed in a nanosecond. ‘Your problem is you don’t know how to deal with a strong black woman,’ she said or something like that to a car full of her white female teammates, but specifically to Erika. Who has now been accused of using the ‘n’ word. Another commentary.
Omarosa was angry.
Before she showed up.
I can’t speak for what happened before we heard of her. And it’s too easy to play the ‘grew up in the projects’ card. Daddy died when she was 7. No longer allegedly fired from four jobs during her two years at the Clinton White House. Maybe it was this and none of this. Who knows. What we do know …
Omarosa was angry.
It’s bad enough you got to work off your turf but live there too? With strangers? A black black woman would automatically feel out of place. Not from insecurity, but experience. Like high school all over. You were the best, but sometimes ‘the girls’ picked you last. Because. High school girls never reason anything.
So which one of those women were going to pick Omarosa? Which one of those women picked Omarosa as the first person they spoke to the first time they all got together? I’d lay a dime none of them. It’s their world. We just barged into the sandbox.
Omarosa was angry.
But never stopped smiling that megawatt smile, two seconds after going off.
Sociopath?
Psychopath?
Just damn smart?
This is being debated in chat rooms. Especially after she ‘backstabbed’ brotha Kwame. Does anybody think she was hired to be the saboteur from the git? For one so smart, she can’t be that dumb. So many times.
But she never sweats.
The Angry Black Woman.
Making everybody else angrier.
Condoleezza and Omarosa.
Angry Black Women.
Strong Black Women.
Who are holding the nation hostage.
Scares ya, doesn’t it.
April 8th. Black Girl Thursday.
We rock.
