Hypocrisy, conformity, and gaffes: That’s so Raven

Apparently, many young African Americans possess a character flaw that will get their resumes tossed, at least if they apply to work for Raven-Symoné (sic). The co-host of The View admitted a short time ago that she is “very discriminatory” when it comes to nonstandard, black-sounding names.

“I’m not about to hire you if your name is Watermelondrea,” she said. “It’s just not gone happen. I’m not gonna hire you.”

She didn’t say whether they should use aliases instead. Nor did she offer to explain the etymology of her own hyphenated, misspelled name. That being said, it’s not every day that a celebrity tells millions of Americans it’s acceptable to violate employment discrimination laws when it comes to black people. One can only assume she thought it was funny. But all of this giggling over ghetto names and watermelon reeks of exactly the kind of Don Imus foul up that can ruin a career. Many African Americans are appalled, and judging by the public reaction, the former child star is fast becoming a 21st century Clarence Thomas—another black reprobate uninvited to discussions about African American advancement.

But is the little girl from The Cosby Show really a self-loathing racist as so many accuse her of being? I doubt it. It would take more than a stupid punchline to convince me she’s headed to a meeting of the Aryan Nations. What lies at the root of her comment, I believe, is the notion that status comes only with conformity, and that to be different from the mainstream—to be “other”—is punishable by marginalization. Despite her own eccentricities, her wisecrack was nothing more than the admonition of an unwitting conformist who thinks she’s different—the condescending posture of a successful American woman who wanted to school all those ghetto girls out there (snap-snap!) and tell them to stop giving their kids those names, ‘cause honey they will never get a job'.

“It’s just not gone happen…”

How heartbreaking it must have been for her fans to learn, on air, that many of them are the very individuals who need not apply if she’s in charge of the hiring. And the notion that people with names such as Shonda, Ta-nehisi, Quvenzhané, Condoleezza, and Shaquille would be unemployed in Raven-Symoné’s America exposes how ill-conceived her ideas on this matter are, especially at a time when a “skinny kid with a funny name” is president of the United States.

Discrimination of any kind is never funny and should never be a punch line. We should aim for a society that promotes inclusion—a society where even shock-jock pop stars won’t deride an individual because of appearance, preference, or a phonetically misaligned construction that has been that person’s identity since birth.

I expect Raven-Symoné to be unemployed soon. My guess is she will find it hard to secure a job with her name on the application.

It's easy for Ben Carson to be brave

Published October 11, 2015
Miami Herald
by Eddie Mark

Republican Presidential Candidate Dr. Ben Carson

Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson soured a few stomachs last week when he suggested that the victims of the Oregon mass shooting were complicit in their own misfortune. In other words, they should have rushed the shooter rather than submit to being massacred...more.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article38760402.html#storylink=cpy

Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson soured a few stomachs last week when he suggested that the victims of the Oregon mass shooting were complicit in their own misfortune. In other words, they should have rushed the shooter rather than submit to being massacred...more.
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article38760402.html#storylink=cpy

On the Red Carpet in Harlem

Saturday October 3, 2015 was a memorable night. I attended the African American Literary Awards Show, where I was officially nominated for “Breakout Author of the Year” for my debut novel, The Garden of Unfortunate Souls. The event was held in a banquet hall of the Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building in Harlem, New York, steps away from the legendary Apollo Theatre on 125th Street. The nomination was a great honor, though the award ultimately went to celebrity author Miko Branch, whose bestselling non-fiction book is one of the hottest titles of the year.

Eddie Mark with author/entrepreneur Miko Branch

Surrounded by a room full of big names and important people, I felt out of place at first. But everyone was so welcoming and friendly and treated me as if I really belonged there. I even had a chance to meet bestselling author and Image Award winner Reshonda Tate Billingsley whose book Let the Church Say Amen was recently made into a movie directed by actress Regina King and produced by Queen Latifah.

Eddie Mark with award-winning author Reshonda Tate Billingsley

Actress-comedienne Keisha Zollar was there as well. Many know her from The Today Show, Comedy Central’s Broad City, and the drama series Orange is the New Black. Keisha was one of the presenters, and she was hilarious ("Zollar, like dollar").

Eddie Mark with actress-comedienne Keisha Zollar

A few members of the Go On Girl! Book Club were in attendance. They have more than 30 chapters in 13 states. During the event they gave me a shout out via Twitter to thousands of their members across the country. Thank you, G.O.G!!

Eddie Mark posing with a few members of the Go On Girl! Book Club

From the food to the people to the celebrations, the entire event was excellent. I plan to attend again next year even if I’m not nominated for anything. Harlem is the place to be!! But although there were many big names present that night, the most special person in the room was the woman to whom my novel is dedicated. Thank you, Thabitha. “Because you said it would be, and it is.”

On the red carpet with my biggest fan, Thabitha

Winging it at the Baltimore Book Festival

On Friday September 25, I was in Maryland promoting Garden at the Baltimore Book Festival. We were outside right along the water at the Inner Harbor, where rain was threatened, and gusts of wind were whipping my lecture notes right out of my hand. If you know me well you know I hate speaking without my prepared notes. Nevertheless I went ahead without them, and everything turned out just fine.

We actually sold quite a few books that afternoon, and I had the pleasure of meeting readers and authors from all over the country (I even think John McCain was there one of the days, but I missed him). I especially enjoyed meeting fellow authors Tracey Fagan-Danzey, Kyle S. Taylor, and Dr. Zekeh Gbotokuma of Morgan State University, who, along with his wife, kindly invited me to dinner though I was not able to because of my planned return trip to Toronto. 

During my speech, the discussion became most interesting when I talked about how some events in the book demonstrate a link between corporal punishment and the larger culture of violence in African American communities. A woman in the audience brought up the case of Toya Graham, the Baltimore Mom-of-the-Year, who became famous (or infamous) when she publicly attacked and beat her teenage son during a Freddie Gray protest. When she asked what I thought, my answer was simple and consistent with my beliefs on this issue: if her son was an adult, this incident would have been deemed a criminal assault. But because he was a minor, the attack on him was condoned by society and applauded by the media. Of course, there were opinions on both sides of that, but I enjoyed the exchange.

Before we left the event that evening I had a chance to meet a few members of the Sassy Sisters Book Club of Phoenix, Arizona, who all bought a copy and said they would be arranging a live discussion with me via phone in the near future. Can't wait!!