Do We Really Need Hoda Kotb To Represent For Black Women?

October 19th, 2012 - By Marissa Ellis

It may come as no surprise that while we go throughout our day looking for stories on relationships, ratchet entertainment, and crazy news to entertain you with, we find inspiration from morning talk shows like The View and the Today show. This morning, while watching Kathie Lee & Hoda and wondering (yet again) about how these two manage to drink merlot at 10am, one of the editors inquired about Hoda Kotb’s ethnicity. When I noted that she was Egyptian, my co-worker asked “how come Hoda doesn’t identify as a Black woman?”

Well, I didn’t realize that she didn’t identify as a Black woman. Does she really need to publicly exclaim herself to be a Black woman continuously in order to show pride?

Black folks are definitely representing in morning media: we have Robin Roberts, Al Roker, Whoopi Goldberg, Sherri Shepherd, and Michael Strahan to name just a few. Although Hoda doesn’t necessarily come to mind when we think of Blacks in the media, do we need her to make a big to-do about being an African-American woman?

Personally, I don’t feel any type of way about it mainly because Hoda doesn’t seem like she’s trying not to be Black. She’s just herself. To be fair, when does she have the chance to speak out on Black issues on The Today Show? Between segments on makeovers, budget fashion and fluff celebrity interviews, I don’t know when she’d have the chance to really make references to her “Blackness” although I faintly recall her referencing her African roots when she discussed her personal hair care. The only thing I know about her that makes me question her self-identity is the title of her book: “Hoda: How I Survived War Zones, Bad Hair, Cancer, and Kathie Lee.” The fact that she refers to her hair as “bad hair” may or may not shed some light on how she interprets her ethnicity. But since I haven’t read the book, I’ll withhold a lot of my comments on that subject.

Who knows if she is embracing the “ambiguity” zone she’s occupying, alongside celebs like Rashida Jones and Maya Rudolph, and playing it to her advantage? Who knows if she simply doesn’t think about her ethnicity? Although I’m a strong proponent of Black celebrities leveraging their star power to advance Black causes, I can understand when certain celebs choose to keep a low profile on issues of race and rather lead by example.

What do you think? Does Hoda need to be more outspoken when it comes to her identity and speaking out on Black issues? Sound off in the comments section.

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http://twitter.com/brwnbarbie24 Stefanie

I think she considers herself Arab, which is not black. North Africans don’t consider themselves black or African, but Arab.
tracy

Black is very stereotyped, to be black according to many non-black people who have no idea of what is black (and many blacks do not either) you have to be very dark skinned, kinky haired, large lipped, wide nose and that is not true. Black is the most diverse race on earth. There are many variations of blacks and blacks are not heavily mixed if they do not have these features. With all the discrimination against blacks no one would really claim black unless they were not actually black. Most of the non-black world is racist and insane in thier concepts of blackness.
tracy

I think Americans really need to travel outside of America . I am a black South American woman and im definitely not typical hispanic looking , even though I have native indian and white blood, I look black and dark skinned. But Egyptian or Hispanic are not a races, they are cultures. There are many many black Egyptians who identify as such. Some I know who look like Hoda. Its odd that a person can be black, with majority African blood and if they have a non black ancestry relative the genes can return. Or the person may be majority non black and the black genes can return ie. Paula Abdul.
Just because a person has ancestry or another race does not take them out of being a black person. All races are mixed.
Black wifey

Africa is a Continent…Egypt is a country in Africa.
So that would make Hoda an Egyptian American!!!!!
Why do we care about her “blackness”!!! Honestly, I really don’t.
I just want people to realize what they say when referring to Africa.
Wow

Honestly never knew what her ethnicity was, you know she’s not white but she doesn’t elicit the question of “is she or isn’t she black?
Lesley

I agree with Candacey below. I don’t think she even identifies herself as Black (American). I would more identify her with her Egyptian heritage which relates closer the middle eastern culture. I think she is very authentically Hoda which is why she is so widely adored.
pfeiffer87

You know what I think that this shows – that the rest of the world don’t think in terms of black/white. Europeans don’t identify as “caucasian” or “white” they think of themselves as German or Swedish or Bulgarian etc. Asians don’t think of themselves as “brown” or yellow” or “black” they identify as Tamil or Korean or Pashtun. Black and white was created by the white man to make black folks different from then.

“I am Nigerian because a white man created Nigeria and gave me that identity. I am black because the white man constructed black to be as different as possible from his white. But I was Igbo before the white man came.”
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – Half of a Yellow Sun
Appalled

Hoda is not black. Not throwing shade or anything but people from Northern Africa or the Middle-East do not characterize themselves as black cause they simply aren’t. They are Arabs. Granted they have darker skin, but if y’all characterize them as black then I really don’t know what to say to y’all. And for those of you saying that because her hair texture is similar to ours it makes her black then you’re honestly just ignorant.
- Thea
  
  She’s not “black American” but she clearly is of African descent, hence black. Learn the difference between race and culture.

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