Jill Scott recently sat down with rolling out TV and we asked her to give us her take on Race in America. Check out her response below.
“We have to start; we have to start looking at things in an educated way. We cannot respond from emotion all the time, we have to start paying attention too! Why wouldn’t … put it like this, if I’m in another country and all I see are Mc Donald’s commercials why wouldn’t I think that that is all that America is? When the representation of an entire people is based on fictitious shows, or fictitious reality shows it builds a certain box of whom and what we are. I mean to be perfectly frank we have doctor’s wives fighting in ball gowns, what do you expect from a black woman? But to be angry, angry and loud, and violent is what? You know so if the videos are of young black men who don’t take care of their children (insert shrug of disbelief), all black men don’t take care of their children (insert sarcasm), come on? The television and the internet is creating boxes for us and I believe that we are starting to fall for it, so why wouldn’t someone else? Why wouldn’t everyone else? You have to have a balance and yes, there are some people that are prone to violence, who were born angry absolutely I have met some. But there are some intelligent, confident, hard working, great fathers who are diligent and love the women who they married or are in a relationship. We are not so simple! I think that that is a part of the problem and I think that that is where we are different because I cannot expect you to think differently when all you see is a specific image and unfortunately it is a tarnished image.”
