Roseanne Barr is Out of Her Mind

Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj.”(https://twitter.com/therealroseanne) This joke of particularly bad taste was made by Roseanne Barr, the star of television sitcom Roseanne, of top adviser to Barack Obama, Valerie Jarrett – a black woman. Roseanne is a highly praised show that follows the working-class Connor family in Illinois, in which Roseanne argues “was built around her actual life.” The “fierce working-class domestic goddess” returned to ABC in March after a two-decade absence only to be abruptly cancelled by ABC because her tweet was “abhorrent, repugnant, and inconsistent with the network’s values” (https://www.nytimes.com).

Even though this most recent racist outburst from Ms. Barr may have been the straw to break the camel’s back for ABC, her twitter feed has been filled with both conspiracy theories and racist views (that doesn’t not exactly align with her sitcom persona) for years. Back in 2013, Barr tweeted a racially and misogynistic tweet about Susan Rice, another black woman who served on Obama’s national security council.

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/42899_Susan_rice_is_a_man_with_big_swinging_ape_ball s._–_Roseanne_Barr Does Roseanne claim to be taking ambien when she tweeted this to her followers five years ago as well? Ashleigh Coss, a spokeswoman for Ambien, tweeted Wednesday morning: “While all pharmaceutical treatments have side effects, racism is not a known side effect of any Sanofi medication” (https://www.cbsnews.com).

It is imperative that we analyze Barr’s tweets with a sociological lense to see what would could possibly warrant such behavior. Barr’s racial etiquette is one that draws on the historical and ideological shames of America’s history. Barr’s racially charged ape comments play on the racial formation of African Americans hundreds years ago rooted in the essentialist perspective. The essentialist perspective, as explained by William G. Roy’s Making Societies, is the theory that race is rooted in biology and deeply ingrained in a person’s being. This in turn led to and worked hand-hand-hand with biological reductionism to oppress black people. Early scientist tried to use brain structure and even color to denote black people as a “lesser” race and inferior to the white race. Consequently, the “lesser” race was thought of to be the most primal and possess characteristics of animals. This ideology was fundamental to black people being regarded as monkeys and apes. Barr’s tweet was not only in bad taste, but it also perpetuates racism by tapping into a long legacy of dehumanization driven by “science.”

http://www.theinclusionsolution.me/the-buzz-the-ape-controversy-obamas-depicted-as-apes/

The process of tweeting accidental racial slurs like this is greatly irresponsible in a sense that media has the power and the capacity to both reflect the dominant racial ideology and also shape it. Middle to upper class black women such as Valerie Jarrett are “safe” from blatant discrimination as long as they are “ladies.” Patricia Hills Collin tells us that middle class black women have been subject to the notion of the “mammy”– the loyal female servant created under chattel slavery, has been resurrected and modernized as a template for middle-class Black womanhood. Maneuvering through this image of the modern mammy requires a delicate balance between being appropriately subordinate to White and/or male authority yet maintaining a level of ambition and aggressiveness needed for achievement in middle class occupations (Collins 140.) This status of the mammy is already a tender line and an ideology that is trying to take hold, so if the media therefore helps push this dehumanization of black women through things like Twitter, the ideology will surely secure footing; especially if the head of this country manages to tweet ridiculous sentiments every hour, the rest of the country will definitely have the urge to follow suit. Ideologies can only persists if they are being reinforced in societies every day in some fashion.

Moving forward, we must keep in mind that the intersectionality of black women is a complex phenomena and one that I believe is the most oppressed and scrutinized; as we observe in the case of Roseanne Barr’s tweets. Black femininity is fragile and has been since the formation of this country. Black femininity can’t find a place in the world of white femininity or in the masculinity of black men. We must learn to either build up others, or simply refrain from destructive language.

 

Works Cited

“Breaking News, Streaming Live, 24×7.”

CBS News, CBS Interactive, http://www.cbsnews.com/.

Collins, Patricia Hill. Black Sexual Politics: African Americans, Gender, and the New Racism. Routledge, 2006.

Gus356. “‘Susan Rice Is a Man with Big Swinging Ape Balls.” — Roseanne Barr.” Little Green Footballs, littlegreenfootballs.com/article/42899_Susan_rice_is_a_man_with_big_swinging_ape_balls._–_ Roseanne_Barr.

Koblin, John. “Roseanne Barr Incites Fury With Racist Tweet, and Her Show Is Canceled by ABC.”

The New York Times, The New York Times, 29 May 2018, http://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/29/business/media/roseanne-barr-offensive-tweets.html.

Roy, William G. Making Societies: the Historical Construction of Our World. Sage, 2001.

Winters, Mary-Frances. “The Buzz: The Ape Controversy: No It’s Not OK To Depict Black People As Apes.” The Inclusion Solution, 28 Mar. 2014, http://www.theinclusionsolution.me/the-buzz-the-ape-controversy-obamas-depicted-as-apes/.