The Kenya Barris hate needs to stop
23 reasons why Cancel Culture (and biracial gripers) may want to read more and talk less
What do the following 23 black women all have in common?
Christina Anthony
Chloe Bailey
Halle Bailey
Iman Benson
Eve Jihan Cooper
Ava Duvernay
Regina Hall
Tiffany Haddish
Leslie Jones
Jenifer Lewis
Nia Long
Marsai Martin
Dana “Queen Latifah” Owens
Issa Rae
Ilyasah Shabazz
Justin Skye
Jada Pinkett-Smith
Tika Sumpter
Wanda Sykes
Teyana Taylor
Trinitee
Lena Waithe
Jessica Williams
They’re all unambiguously black women who have been in TV shows or movies courtesy of film writer/producer Kenya Barris. But you would swear from this Twitter thread and this user in the thread (who blocked me after naming a few of these women) that these projects and women are nonexistent. Another user even went as far as saying some weren’t dark-skinned enough to count.
Recommended Read: “Productively teaching black children about colorism”
I’m not even biracial, but the skin police are exhausting sometimes. There are moments when I have conversations with my skinfolk and wonder do they realize they’re doing slaveowners’ work for them, keeping colorism alive and well.
Recommended Read: “‘Stop acting light-skinned’ and other stupid colorism comments ~ Why black folks need to knock it off with skin color jokes”
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As an Amazon affiliate, I earn a percentage from purchases with my referral links. I know some consumers are choosing to boycott Amazon for its DEI removal. However, after thinking about this thoroughly, I want to continue promoting cool products from small businesses, women-owned businesses and (specifically) Black-owned businesses who still feature their items on Amazon. As of the first date of Black History Month 2025, each new post will ALWAYS include a MINIMUM of one product sold by a Black-owned business. (I have visited the seller’s official site to verify that Amazon Black-owned logo.) I am (slowly) doing this with older, popular posts too. If you still choose to boycott, I 100% respect that decision.
More importantly, not only is it insulting to cherry pick which black women are black enough for their liking, this mindset insults the work of a laundry list of the brown-skinned black actresses mentioned above.
So what have these women starred in or been featured in that Kenya Barris either wrote or produced?
Christina Anthony (“Mixed-ish”)
Chloe Bailey (“Grown-ish”)
Halle Bailey (“Grown-ish”)
Iman Benson (“Black AF”)
Eve Jihan Cooper (“Barbershop 2”)
Ava Duvernay (“Black AF”)
Tiffany Haddish (“Girl’s Trip”)
Regina Hall (“Little” and “Shaft” and “Girl’s Trip”)
Leslie Jones (“Coming 2 America”)
Jenifer Lewis (“Black-ish”)
Nia Long (“You People”)
Marsai Martin (“Black-ish”)
Dana “Queen Latifah” Owens (“Girl’s Trip”)
Issa Rae (“Black AF” and “Little”)
Ilyasah Shabazz (self in “Blood Brothers: Malcolm X & Muhammad Ali”)
Justin Skye (“Grown-ish”)
Jada Pinkett-Smith (“Girl’s Trip”)
Tika Sumpter (“Mixed-ish”)
Wanda Sykes (“Black-ish”)
Teyana Taylor (“Coming 2 America”)
Trinitee (“Mixed-ish”)
Lena Waithe (“Black AF”)
Jessica Williams (“Entergalactic”)
Mind you, that doesn’t make Tracee Ellis Ross, Rashida Jones, Lauren London, Yara Shahidi, Shari Headley, Alexandra Shipp, Onika Tanya “Nicki Minaj” Maraj-Petty and so on any less skilled at their roles. I’m just making a larger point that this anti-black woman narrative is more myth than reality.
There have been many instances where I have had to remind Cancel Culture to tweet less and read more. But if something (or someone) is trendy to hate, they latch onto it. I’m not saying I don’t sometimes join in. I had plenty to say about Keke Palmer calling fictional character Clair Huxtable “uppity,” but that was more for the historical weight of calling any black person “uppity” and seeing the hypocrisy in not liking Heathcliff’s wife but then being such a fan of Angela Bassett. You’ll never convince me that one isn’t as classy and sophisticated as the other, regardless of the characters they play.
Recommended Read: “Humor is beer goggles for women ~ Why 'You People' makes some men so angry”
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As an Amazon affiliate, I earn a percentage from each product purchased using my referral link.
I do not fully understand the frustration with Kenya Barris taking on biracial storylines. How do you blame a man for wanting to discuss an actual storyline that he lives with on a daily basis with his real-life wife? Is he supposed to be ashamed of Dr. Rainbow Edwards-Barris and bury her in the background to make a bunch of Cancel Culture tweeters happy? Or, is it possible for him to acknowledge that there are indeed biracial families?
I would understand the frustration with him so much more if all the brown-skinned black women were the kind of losers that TLC rapped about on “Scrubs.” (I truly wish whichever Asian men pissed off Mindy Kaling would apologize because she loves to make her Asian male characters the worst people on Planet Earth.)
Recommended Read: “I’m not Asian but ‘Never Have I Ever’ is making me uncomfortable ~ The difference between indifference to interracial dating and self-loathing”
The difference is I actually watch Mindy Kaling’s shows enough to notice this pattern — and try to support the Asian actresses who never seem to make it to any other shows. But this anti-Kenya Barris hate comes not only from people who don’t know how to properly use IMDB but also from people who don’t watch his productions or his screenwriting. In the end, it makes them look foolish, not Kenya.
Did you enjoy this post? You’re also welcome to check out my Substack columns “Black Girl In a Doggone World,” “BlackTechLogy,” “Homegrown Tales,” “I Do See Color,” “One Black Woman’s Vote” and “Window Shopping” too. Subscribe to this newsletter for the weekly posts every Wednesday. Thanks for reading!