Will this ever die?
A skit of questionable taste was featured during the pregame show on Monday Night Football earlier this week. The skit featured Nicole Sheridan, star of ABC’s “Desperate Housewives” and Terrell Owens of the Philadelphia Eagles. The scene featured Ms. Sheridan in nothing but a towel and imploring T.O. to forget about the game and stay with her. T.O. blew off the game and stayed with the damsel. (I must add that T.O. had his best game of the season with 3 TD catches and 134 yards.) Talk of the Mandingo image ensued for the next few days.
Should this image still plague African-Americans? Admittedly, I didn’t think much of the skit and didn’t think of the Mandingo angle until an African-American sister brought it up to me. I think that the overriding factor in choosing T.O. and Ms. Sheridan was that he was the star of the game (and possibly the NFL right now) and she was the star of one of ABC’s top shows. But the Mandingo image, specter, curse, is subconscious.
It seems that every ethnic group has an albatross or stereotype they are not proud of. I’m sure we can all think of more than a few. But we know that the stereotypes say little about the people as a whole. The difference between other stereotypes and the Mandingo is that the latter was used as a marketing tool sell a race of people into slavery. No other ethnic group has been subjected to that in recent history. That is a huge difference.
It begs the question, however, of when Mandingo will become just another annoying stereotype. Can it ever be just another annoying stereotype?
Filed under: Uncategorized
