Source: The Washington Post / Getty
While MadameNoire has worked with him in the past, social commentator and scholar Dr. Boyce Watkins has a problem with Black women. He likened Tiffany Haddish to a “talented minstrel show.” He said that Amanda Seales was a crazy White woman. He wrote an entire article for our sister site News One about how Black women can find a good Black man. And as you might have guessed, he played into stereotypes about Black women saying that we’ve strayed from “necessary” gender roles and stated that women need to have less attitude. All of it is to be taken with a grain of salt of course because by his own admission, Dr. Watkins is not married. And from as far as I can tell, he never has been.
While he has a lot to say about how Black women can do better, in true Hotepian fashion he came to the defense of Rachel Dolezal in her quest to identify as a Black woman. He claimed that she does more for the Black community than 99 percent of the Black people he knows.
There’s a pattern and a problem here.
And it’s an ongoing one. He’s been particularly critical of presidential candidate Senator Kamala Harris. Now, there are reasons to be critical of Harris. Her record as a prosecutor has disenfranchised Black folks. And surely that’s something to take issue with. And people have called her out on it numerous times at this point. But this is not where Dr. Watkins has decided to throw his hat.
Instead, he wanted to criticize her for her choice of romantic partner.
The sexism is jumpin’ ain’t it? If a woman is not be scrutinized for her attire or her “likability,” people want to know who she sleeps with. In fact, this is not the first time Kamala Harris’ romantic life has taken center stage since she announced her bid for president. It’s a low blow and a tried and true tactic when it comes to women in positions of power.
And it’s particularly disheartening to watch these attacks come from Black men—the same week Kamala had a great win in the Democratic debate. What a coincidence. Not only is Harris’ love life none of Watkins’ business, it doesn’t speak to the woman she’ll be as leader of the free world. Furthermore, interracial marriage is rarely an issue when it comes to Black men.
But what makes all of this particularly hypocritical is the fact that Watkins’ own daughter is married to a White man. And interestingly enough, he had to come to her defense against the people who had a problem with it.
Watkins argues that because Kamala is married to a White man she won’t be in touch with the African American community. By that logic, we could say assume Watkins’ daughter didn’t have a good relationship with her father because she decided to marry a White man. It’s unfounded and unfair. A+B doesn’t always equal C in affairs of the heart.
At the end of the day, I think we’ve learned as a people that we can’t expect Black presidential candidates and Black presidents to be revolutionary leaders. They walk a fine line and taking that type of militancy into the White House wouldn’t get anything accomplished, if they were elected in the first place. But to insinuate that a White husband compromises Harris’ Blackness or her concern for Black people is sexism mascarading as care for his people.
You can see what people had to say about Watkins’ comments on the following pages.
