Raven-Symoné, the woman many girls once looked up to, is now an attention-seeking ignoramus.
She’s up there with Stacey Dash, who is ranked extremely high on the “black people that black people can’t stand” list.
Last week, as The View’s co-host, Raven-Symoné said, “I’m not about to hire you if your name is Watermelondrea. That’s just not going to happen. I’m not going to hire you.”
I suppose she would also never hire Beyoncé, nor herself. Both of their names aren’t conventional.
Whoopi Goldberg, the only other black co-host, showed exactly how the black community feels through her flabbergasted reaction to Raven’s comments. She had a look of shock and disapproval, while Raven found her opinion humorous.
Even her own father, Christopher B. Pearman, disapproves of what she said. Through a Facebook post, he let everyone know he doesn’t agree.
Her remarks are unfair. People are born into their names, so punishing someone for something they have no control over is absurd.
The former Cheetah Girl was my role model for the longest time, so after her first couple of ludicrous comments, I looked for a way to defend her. I thought maybe it didn’t come out the way she wanted it to.
After claiming to be an American rather than an African-American and implying everyone should be able to use the n-word, she was on strike two. Now, she swung and missed — officially striking out. I have no desire to defend her any longer.
To add insult to injury, she decided to open her mouth with this “Watermelondrea” ignorance during a segment of the show called “Are You Judged By Your Name.” The segment was done to shine light on a recent study proving people with stereotypically black names tend to receive discrimination.
Raven’s stardom removed her from reality. As a black woman with an abnormal name, she should be aware discrimination for having a stereotyped black name exists.
A study done by Colin Holbrook, a research scientist at the University of California Los Angeles Center for Behavior, Evolution and Culture proves there are people with the same mind set as Raven.
Holbrook’s study shows people with stereotypical black names are more likely to be labeled a troublemaker by teachers and less likely to receive an interview or a response after contacting local government.
In an email to the The Huffington Post, Holbrook says, “The participant sample, despite being slightly left of center politically, automatically attributed violence to individuals based solely on having names like Darnell or Juan; whereas names such as Connor automatically led to expectations of prestige and status.”
Raven should know there is no way for her to prove Mary can do a job better than Watermelondrea just by looking at their names.
There is no other logical explanation for Raven’s outrageous comments other than she knows her relevancy exhausted years ago. She’s desperate for attention.
At one point in time, all attention was on her. Her role on “The Cosby Show” earned her the label of “black poster child,” and even into her early adult years, she remained prominent with movies like the “The Cheetah Girls” and her hit Disney Channel series “That’s So Raven.” Today, however, she brings nothing to the table. Maybe she’s just showing her true colors, but even then, there’s no reason for her to broadcast them to the world unless she’s looking for attention.
If she keeps up with her ignorant comments she’s better off staying irrelevant. Raven who?
Clarke Perkins is a 19-year-old political science sophomore from New Orleans. You can reach her on Twitter @ClarkePerkins.