Prometheus 6

The responses to Nobody's Archetype are too good to bypass, so without further ado...

Distorted View of Black Women
Saturday, February 19, 2005; Page A29

I found Eugene Robinson's Feb. 8 op-ed column astounding and sad. He writes of the "distorting lenses through which African American women are viewed."

Viewed by whom?

There are many people, myself included, who don't think much of Condoleezza Rice's politics or the administration she serves. But I don't know anyone who sees Rice, or any black woman for that matter, in the stereotypical ways outlined by Robinson. It sounds to me as if Robinson has some serious issues in how he sees black women. Why is it that he can't "take [Rice] at face value," and think of someone other than an obnoxious Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth, who has now finished her 15 minutes of fame? Why is it that when Robinson thinks of Josephine Baker he sees a banana skirt, not a woman who overcame racial limitations, worked with the French resistance, adopted 12 children and was a civil rights activist? I would consider her a role model for anyone.

Does Robinson really believe that people can't see Rice as a successful and powerful black woman without seeing a colored or distorted picture? It is Robinson who points out Rice's piano lessons, figure skating and doting parents, possibly making her a "Black American Princess" save for the fact that she likes football, is often escorted by a former athlete and doesn't get upset if she breaks a nail. How insulting to Rice in particular and to black women in general.

-- J. Harry Jordan

Eugene Robinson's piece was extremely offensive.

Under the guise of explaining how Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice defies "repellent stereotypes" of African American women, Robinson indulged in a gratuitous recitation of the very archetypes he deems "silly" and "insulting."

Rice deserves to be assessed on the basis of her intelligence, talent and record -- not on the basis of antiquated and offensive perceptions of African American women. Robinson, an African American man, may have personal experience being perceived through an "optician's kit of distorting lenses" and may feel that this experience gives him license to discuss how Rice -- and other African American women -- are similarly stereotyped. But by reciting (even while ostensibly rejecting) these offensive images, Robinson merely perpetuates them.

-- Stacy E. Beck