By shelz.

Surface, catty, puerile and asinine are all adjectives I’ve seen others use to describe the personalities and behaviors of the cast of Bravo’s smash reality hit, “The Real Housewives of Atlanta.”  It’s to be expected.  I’m sure that’s how all the casts of the various “Housewives” are described.  These shows amplify the drama and edit out much of the normal because viewers tend to tune in more for the carnage. Who wants to watch someone mother their children and tend to their charitable lady of leisure duties with class and decorum when you can watch them get drunk, backstab, fight in public, and attempt to yank out each other’s weaves?  

As much as we bitch and moan about how these women represent us (which they don’t by the way), we tune in for eye rolls and the giggles and we accept the unrealistic attributes of reality TV in stride.  Well, most of us do.  I’m assuming no one passed that memo along to the NAACP.  

I have always defended the organization that most new millennium folks believe is horribly out of touch.  They do something, while most of us sit back and just complain about what others are doing.  The battles they pick may not excite you, but at least they manage to pick and battle.  Honestly, it’s more than many of us will ever do with our lives. However, this curious list of Image Award nominees that includes RHOA along with some other questionable selections leads me to believe that those on the selection committee are a bit confused about what healthy black image is all about.

The core concerns of these housewives tend to be as plastic as the surgery.  Their buying patterns are beyond questionable, especially considering the rumors that these ladies aren’t wealthy; they simply play rich on TV.  Their public behavior displays a glaring lack of socialization, and they generally appear loud, brash and pretentious.  I’m not suggesting that these are their true personality traits.  We all know a crack editing staff can take a pile of film and say whatever it wants.  However, this is the image the good folks at Bravo have chosen to push forth.  It’s also an image that the ladies are obviously comfortable with, since there hasn’t been any protest from the cast.

With that in mind, the NAACP’s nomination is worrisome.  While RHOA’s image is perfect for a reality TV show that lures in viewers with a dramatic mix of wine, bad attitudes, bitch fits and over the top fuckery with a sprinkle of Maury-like paternity cliff hangers and bad pop songs, it’s not an image the NAACP should be co-signing as positive for the community it represents.  I wonder if money is the overriding factor here.  If someone swapped the chinchilla for rabbit, the Louboutin’s for Payless and the large houses for 1-bedroom subsidized apartments would this behavior be acceptable?  Of course not.  Then they would be on Worldstar instead of Bravo and the NAACP along with the rest of us would be condemning their actions instead of handing them a prize. It’s amazing how conspicuous consumerism, adultery, and drunken public cat fights become acceptable when a couple of dollars get thrown into the mix.

I know it’s just a television show and the NAACP has the right to nominate whoever they want.  I’m not a member so I don’t have a vote.  But maybe this is one small action in a long line of odd decisions they have made that has, in effect, stopped folks from joining and, in the end, caring.  50 years ago, they were out on the front lines fighting injustice and effecting change through legislation; change that all of us should thank them for.  However, their devolution has led them to some very strange stands as of late including the suggestion that keeping up with the Joneses on a bologna budget with a hangover is an image worth emulating.

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