Everyone has an opinion….Can’t we Just Get Along

Comments, they are everywhere.  They are just merely opinions dialed down a notch, or are they?

I propose this question, swirling around in my head for one reason…. Raven Symone.  The last Cosby Kid to leave the nest, if the series had continued on for at least 8-10 more seasons.  Bill Cosby himself shut down production, after he wanted to quit while on top of Thursday night lineup.  I don’t blame him.

Fast forward, about 25 or more years later, and the youngest kid has given Miss Oprah Winfrey an interview to catch up viewers and fans on what she has been doing since the last episode of The Cosby Show.  She was on Hanging with Mr.Cooper, That’s so Raven, and other shows and other guest appearances and is a singer, but I’m not here to tell you about Raven’s many achievements, you can read about them on the web.  What I want to talk about is what she said in the interview.   In case you missed it, you can read about it here.   

Basically, she said that she did not want to be labeled, simply put.   What doesn’t she want to be labeled as?  She did not want to be labeled as a Gay and an African American Woman.  At first when I saw the interview, I said, “OK, your opinion.”  She wants to be called just “American”, no judgments is the name of the game.  By the way, she is currently dating a woman. 

The reason behind the “colorless” remark was, she does not know what part of Africa her people came from.  I can see that reason, because I, myself do not know what part of Africa my people came from.   When people see Raven Symone, They see a light-skinned black woman, which she does not mind people calling her, but she said that she feels she represents the Asian, white, and Indian American too.   I feel the same way too, because although people see me as a medium to dark skinned black woman, my bloodline is also Caucasian American (nationality unknown) and Cree American Indian.   Just like Raven Symone, my parents, parents, parents never discussed the origins of the African Slave trade with anyone in my family, to be passed down to me and my siblings and cousins, on what part our family played in, but that does not mean I am in denial of where my roots come from. I prefer ‘Black American’ as oppose to ‘African American’ for that reason alone.  But does it matter?  It should for this reason:  Actual Africans have come by way of plane to live here.  They are the ones who should be called African American.  Most of us, who are born in America, were mixed in with other races during the time of slavery.  Masters wanted a child or a side thing, without the little woman knowing about it.  After that, the slave woman was often shipped off to the next plantation, while the child was cared for by another slave.  They often became the ‘house slave’ so that the master can make sure that their offspring thrived without as much as a peep from the others.   Side note:  Did you know that Raven Symone played a young Queen in Alex Haley’s Queen, later played by Hale Berry?

So my next question is why light up Twitter?  I thought that Facebook or even Google plus would be a better arena for this little firestorm.   To me, that is Raven Symone’s opinion.  If she does not want to be labeled, let her be.  She isn’t killing anyone.  She just wants to be labeled “An American human who loves humans.”  I can see her point.  In other words, she does not want people to say, “You know, that Lesbian African American Woman who had a hit show on the Disney Channel.”  To that I have to say, “at least they are not calling her “Angry Black Woman”, and some of the other names people usually call black women, when they do not know your name.  I prefer, Miss Logan myself.  At least they have my last name right.

My point to the firestorm is this:  People have an opinion.  We all have opinions, and if Miss Raven Symone Christina Pearman (her full name) does not want to be labeled a Lesbian (the correct term for women who fall madly in love with another woman sexually) and African American (the correct term is Black American), do not waste my computer bytes by complaining about it, but then again, You have the right to your opinion, and the moral of the story is, at least she has you thinking about it.